An outtake from Casey Kasem during his American Top 40 days where he blows up over a long distance dedication. There's also a special guest appearance by Rick Dees. Warning: Very rough language!
Casey hated this leaked tape at first, but found it humanized him to his fans so he embraced it later on. Everyone's had an experience like that at work.
I can get where he’s coming from. I’m a mild mannered man for the most part, but after dealing with a lack of lack of empathy, efficiency and respect, I have lost my temper a few times. People take me more seriously than the person who blows their stack every other day.
I heard it before any of the bootlegs were out there, because the guy that got them out there that was in the studio when this happened is a guy I grew up with, the weekend after this happened he showed up back in the neighborhood with it on tape and played it for us, we were literally the first people outside of the studio to hear it, man we were all pissing ourselves laughing when he played it for us. It's a shame that the internet didn't exist at the time, he could have made a fortune with it but back in those days all he could do was make some copies and give them out to people. About a year after he played it for us it started showing up on morning radio stations being incorporated into their morning shows like you see Rick Dees doing at the end of this. Fun fact, Rick Dees and is the guy who wrote and released the infamous parody song Disco Duck back in the 70's.
For context, this is from the September 14th, 1985 show. The "up-tempo number" he was coming out of was "Dare Me" by the Pointer Sisters (at #13 that week). The song he was dedicating was "Shannon" by Henry Gross.
Yes! I found this one where he was coming out of the record was this one. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3V_lWd5PNnA.html And this song he played as a “Long Distance Dedication”. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-R5Wpn3dFrEs.html
First heard this on the HOWARD STERN show. Casey brightened everyone’s childhood if you grew up in the 70s-80s! That’s why it’s so funny to hear him lose his shit!!! 😂♥️
I too completely get Mr. Kasem's agitation. It was a point where stupidity met insensitivity: an upbeat song followed by a death of an animal dedication, and Casey thought it not only disrespectful, but born of producer stupidity.
Why are people calling him a jerk? I don't blame him at all for this freak out. His complaint made a lot of sense: He was trying to be very somber for the death dedication and coming from an uptempo number like that kind of takes away from it. He's upset because the thoughtlessness and insensitivity made it difficult to do right.
Sorry, but I'm not buying it; it's only a fucking dog man and if he were as professional as he was supposed to be, then he could have come out of an uptempo fucking record!
***** So, your reasoning for him being a jerk is that you're a jerk who doesn't care about dogs or if the station programmer is doing a shitty job? I'm not buying it.
***** He was talking about going into death dedication after an upbeat song. That is not a lot to request. Play a lower keyed song THEN do the death dedication. It does not matter whether it is a human or a dog. His point was the death dedication. As far as being a professional - he is performing as a DJ - not an actor. Even actors must have time to change between emotional displays.
***** You see, Casey Kasem was a good guy who was disgusted about having to talk about a sad event ---- in this case the death of a dog ---- right after playing an upbeat, happy song. You should be like Casey.
As a former radio D.J., i can relate. Casey's segues and delivery were great, announcing is difficult enough as it is without jumping from one extreme of a hard rocking, or uptempo dance tune, into a somber affair of death or loss. Personally, i think it's great to hear some RAW and unedited clips like this, it let's you know he was human like the rest of us and possibly just having a bad day. AT40 was obviously edited and processed, if you think he was perfect and "edited" OFF-AIR, then you're only fooling yourself.....who is anymore, this isn't the 1920's...
I agree with him, that job can get hectic and doing a happy song and going into "That was Walking on Sunshine by the Katrina and the Waves, and it was dedicated to Cuddles the lovely innocent puppy who sacrificed himself today by pushing a kid out of the way of a woodchipper and fell into it causing bits of bone and gore to fly all over the place like a rainbow of death."
Oh my goodness man that is one of the funniest morbid jokes I have ever read, "bits of bone and gore flying all over the place like a rainbow of death" ROFL, absolutely phenomenal juxtaposition there.
I for one will miss him, I used to listen when I was a teen he got me through some good times and bad he always knew what to say and what song would make me feel better. Im sorry for his family's loss no matter what private days lay ahead for them the sprint lives on .
On Saturday Night September 14,1985, Kasem was hosting a AT40 Death Dedication,when while Reading a Letter about the death of a Dog named Snuggles, he's given a '45 of The Pointer Sister's new single "Dare Me" and is forced and ordered to play it. The Record that the listener had ordered was the 1976 Ballad "Shannon" by Henry Gross(Which is about a DOG) but instead, Kasem is told to play Dare Me which doesn't match the context of the situation. Its an Up Tempo song, not a sad ballad. Kasem is rightfully pissed off here.
Actually, Tornado1994 has it wrong. They didn't play the wrong song, and he wasn't pissed about playing a song for a dog. Casey was upset because he had to come out of the Pointer Sisters Song, Dare Me, which was up-tempo, and go into the Long distance Dedication. He had trouble transitioning into the Long Distance Dedication because it was a Death dedication and he couldn't get a somber sad tone going and kept having to do retakes because of coming out of the fast Dare Me track. The LDD was still Shannon by Henry Gross. On the actual aired show they edited it like nothing happened.
Damn! Who knew Casey was in the Navy! If Sirius XM was around back then he would have blown Howard Stern away. I loved listening to AT40 back in the 80's.
So this is where South Park got the idea for the other kids who wanted to be the school's morning announcer. "My friends always tell me 'Dear Casey, your voice is like butter too my ears'"
G-d rest your soul, Mr. Kasem. After you went to Heaven, you were given a raw deal. I hope that you are resting well, just as you deserve to be. R.I.P.
I have been missing him ! I grew up listening to him !!!! To me he was a representative of the America's Pop culture. He made everything so classy !!!!!
What is interesting is that I got this look up after listening to a segment in a podcasting show. As a example on needing to always be ready for anything that happens in a recording
My 2c as a former top 40 radio producer: a good producer would have tried to schedule the dedication after a lower-tempo song, but as the dedication itself was a slow song, they wouldn't have wanted to put a slow song after a slow song, especially not if the song after *that* (which I presume would have been the song above the Pointer Sisters in the top 40) was also slow. It's a balancing act, and you can't always get it exactly how you'd like it. Additionally, although I don't know exactly how the production of the show worked, it does seem like Casey could have prepped a bit better. It sounds like he didn't go through the dedications in advance and he only realised the situation when he was actually reading it during the show recording. I'd say there was a certain onus on him to have done his pre-show prep a little more diligently.
I remember hearing this on Howard Stern, and he defended Kasem because he was saying he went through the same thing with getting lousy copy to read, and having to read it on air to try to make it flow and sound natural. It's the reason why he started the trend of doing live impromptu sponsorships with no copy (I mean, Stern started that trend as far as I know, unless there's someone I'm too young to remember that he stole it from)
Really did not need that silly edit of Rick Dees in there-- it ruins the experience of hearing a beloved radio icon releasing tension that's probably built up for a long while.
Okay Rick Dees is funny...haha.. Casey was out of line, but people get tired, and it happened out of combination of mood and genuinely caring about quality. I respect that. It's easy to lose your cool like that when you're giving over 100% and your co-workers are only ever giving 89% on their best days. I've been there too many times myself.
You can hear his old countdowns from 1970-1988 on iheart radio 24/7, you have to look for the Classic American Top 40 channel. I listened to his show sometimes in the 80's. I think the music from the first Kasem era was better than the crap today. I love 70's and 80's music. Music started to sound crappy after Big Willie became US president.
When your name is on a production, and you have several people who don’t seem to give a crap, you will eventually lay down the law. No one cares one fourth as much about your success as you do. Even when you write their paychecks
LOL..Howard Stern played this years ago and it still cracks me up lol....fucking ponderous! Funny for man who wouldn't say the word "sex" on the radio.
I swear, I forget every single time that Casey was the voice of Shaggy. Even with me taking a moment to comment this, one day I will hear something else about Casey Kasum and be reminded he was shaggy, again. I will probably post this exact post, again. Why this doesn't jive in my brain is beyond me.
I found this after hearing the song Shannon being dedicated, on his show on iheart podcast, then looking at the song in Wikipedia, then seeing the "Casey Kasem Incident."
I think three guys named Markley, van Camp, and Robbins sent me here, right around the time one of them had to bury their own dog, and I don't know why. I also don't know why anyone would ever think it was a great idea to have the original voice of Shaggy memorializing the death of Scooby-Doo, but...
We need more real talk these days 👍💜 good hearted people have a lot of patience but wen other people who keep pushing things too far too long,. Something is gonna pop off. Some peeps need to be told what's up sometimes in order for shit to get done right. There seems to be a lot of peeps that need to hear real talk these days.
Its like watching the kid from The Wonder Years smoking and telling a dirty joke. But then you think of the responsibilty and stress of hosting a huge entertainment show, and go " of course he lost it "
