View Full Version : This would have been a great song for the Brady Kids


Tankeryanker
05-15-2025, 08:35 PM
Not quite as bizarre (maybe that isn't the word) as Lawrence Welk doing the theme song to M3S but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_rHSTjyWNk

stevea
05-15-2025, 10:05 PM
That song was a hit in the late 60s. The group that had the hit was called Harpers Bazaar or Bizarre.

Those guys looked silly in those outfits.

But yes, that would have been perfect for the Brady kids.

BestTVever
05-16-2025, 08:48 AM
That was a huge hit. But it was before the Brady Bunch so it would have dated them. Groovy was sort of out when the Brady Bunch aired. The kids said many times they hated saying that word because the writers were lost in time and thought it was still cool. However because of the Brady Bunch people associate that word with the show.
There would have been major copyright issues unless they would have paid for permission which on a budget show like the Brady Bunch was not going to happen.
The Brady Bunch is post flower child era.
H.R. Puff N Stuff was sued over the likeness of its theme song with this song and the writers were then given credit on the show.

Tankeryanker
05-16-2025, 08:52 AM
That song was a hit in the late 60s. The group that had the hit was called Harpers Bazaar or Bizarre.

Those guys looked silly in those outfits.

But yes, that would have been perfect for the Brady kids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuRBynDwo60

DJM77
05-16-2025, 08:28 PM
That song was originally recorded by Simon & Garfunkel. When I finally make my post about what cover songs that I like, which will be a long list, it will be on there.

Tankeryanker
05-16-2025, 09:04 PM
I asked GROK about the brady bunch and the flower child era.

Was the brady bunch part of the flower child era

The Brady Bunch wasn’t exactly part of the flower child era, but it overlapped with its tail end and reflected a very different cultural vibe. The show premiered in September 1969 and ran until 1974, which coincides with the waning years of the hippie movement (roughly fading by 1970-1973, as we discussed). However, its squeaky-clean, suburban family sitcom style was practically the opposite of the counterculture’s free-spirited, anti-establishment ethos.
Here’s the breakdown:
Cultural Context: The flower child era was all about peace, love, communes, and rejecting mainstream norms—think Woodstock, tie-dye, and protests. The Brady Bunch, with its blended family of six kids, a housewife mom, and a suit-wearing dad, embodied wholesome, middle-class conformity. It was more about reinforcing traditional values than grooving to the hippie beat.

Subtle Nods: The show did occasionally sprinkle in 60s-70s trends that brushed against the counterculture—like bell-bottoms, mod clothes, or the kids digging pop music (think their band episodes). But these were sanitized, family-friendly versions of the era’s style, not the raw, rebellious spirit of flower children.

Timing and Tone: By 1969, the hippie movement was already fracturing (post-Altamont, as mentioned). The Brady Bunch leaned into escapism for a broad audience, offering a comforting contrast to real-world turmoil like Vietnam or social unrest. It was less “flower power” and more “family power.”

If you squint, you could say the show existed in the same cultural moment as the flower child era’s decline, but it wasn’t part of that movement—it was more like its mainstream foil. Want to dig into specific episodes or how other 70s shows handled the hippie vibe? Or maybe another laugh to keep the good times rolling?

BestTVever
05-17-2025, 05:25 AM
The pilot was definitely recorded around the flower power era and drafted during it. Its first season was definitely different than the rest. My memory is the kids don't use the word groovy and its much more straight laced in the first season. The mother played a very traditional role in season 1 too. As the seasons went on the show got more relaxed and drifted into the comfortable 70s. 60's fashions and haircuts were actually very proper unless you were counter culture. In the 70s everyone including men had longer hair, bell bottoms, loud patterns, etc. You did not have to be counter culture to dress like that since it was the fashion of the 70s. The kid actors have said many times they hated saying the slang the writers wrote because they were considered dorky and dated, most specifically "groovy." I suppose it would be like someone using the phrase "jive turkey" in the 1980s :lol:
However because the Brady Bunch is a time capsule of the 1970s it has put groovy into that time capsule no matter what. Even if things were not in style the show is so iconic that every aspect of it is what we remember of the 1970s. In a nutshell the show is so 70s pop culture that everything in the show is vintage 70s whether or not it was in style or not at the time.