Retro Spins: David Hasselhoff - Night Rocker

 

Turning garbage into gold, that's the David Hasselhoff touch! Say what you will about the man, he makes money across the world, and plays to his strengths in every territory he reaches.

With Knight Rider airing the second half of the fourth season, and the upcoming fifth and final, Hasselhoff was branching out, looking for his next buttered bread. Sure, he could probably go off and do another television series, but why do that when you can cut an album? Mind you, all of what I just said is from my own perspective. I don't honestly know what would ultimately lead up to the man deciding that a music career was his next best venture.

Regardless of how it happened, the point is, it did. In 1985, the world was introduced to the man, the actor, the signer, David Hasselhof with his debut album, Night Rocker. Is the title coincidence? Or was it meant to play on the popularity of Knight Rider? I'm guessing probably the latter. 

Going into this, I expected to be rolling my eyes, possibly even laughing at it from the silliness. This definitely seemed the case as Night Rocker, the song, launched it all off. The lyrics were cliche, and not helped by knowing who was belting them out. In my mind, there was no way that David Hasselhof could record an album that was anything short of dreadful.

While this wasn't entirely the case, yes, there were what I would call, "good" songs on it, when the bad ones hit, they were bad. The man isn't a ballad singer, nor is he a power singer. Meaning, he doesn't have the voice to swoon, nor does he have the range to shout. However, when he stays in the middle ground, and specifically gets help from his (at the time) wife, and backup singer, Catherine Hickland, tracks fair better.

Side Note: More surprising than David Hasselhoff recording music was how many times Catherine Hickland has been married. Four times! Yikes. Stop getting married! You're clearly not good at it!

Overall, Night Rocker fairs as subpar for me, and I'm slightly disappointed by this, but again, not surprised. My disappointment stems from the success that Hasselhof has had overseas. Between 1985 and 1993, his first seven albums went gold and / or platinum in several countries. I really wanted this to be a hidden gem for me - especially considering the price tag it came with. Because of his success mainly being overseas, finding these on CD is quite a difficult and costly task.

I suppose, at the end of the day, he still gets a thumbs up for his music. He was, after all, so popular in Germany that he was invited to sing at the Berlin Wall when it was coming down in 1989. There aren't too many American artists who can claim that honor.

Still, for me, I don't suspect I'll be tracking down his two remaining 80's albums. Again, they're not only expensive, but I simply don't think I want them. Unfortunately, saying that means they'll ultimately end up in my collection one day.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
April 25, 1981

 

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
April 25, 1987

Knight Rider (AKA Knight 2000) (Kenner)

Say what you will about David Hasselhoff. The man has a way of turning garbage into gold. Be it television, movies, or music, he's managed to turn a buck in them all, sometimes purely by playing himself, and not even a character at all. Do you realize how popular you need to be to be able to play yourself in a movie?

The original Knight Rider series began airing in 1982 and ran until 1986 for a total of 90 episodes over four years. While David Hasselhoff was billed as the star of the show, a good portion of viewers tuned in for Kitt, the talking, self driving and self aware car.

The series revolved around the partnership of Michael Knight (Hasselhoff), and Kitt (voiced by William Daniels). The two are brought together in the pilot episode when self-made billionaire Wilton Knight rescues police detective Michael Long after a near fatal shot to the face, giving him a new identity via plastic surgery, and a new name - Michael Knight. Wilton selects Michael to be the primary field agent in the pilot program of his Knight Industries-funded public justice organization, the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG).

Other notable characters were Devon Miles played by Edward Mulhare. Devon was the leader of FLAG, who appeared in nearly every episode to provide mission details to Knight and KITT. He was shadowed by Patricia McPherson as Dr. Bonnie Barstow in the first season who served as KITT's chief technician and as romantic tension for Michael. McPherson was dropped after the first season, and replaced by Rebecca Holden who played April Curtis throughout the second season. After tremendous fan backlash, including lobbying by Hasselhoff and Mulhare, McPherson was returned to the show for the final two seasons (3 and 4).

With the success of Knight Rider on the rise, Kenner licensed the rights to produce toys based on the show in 1983. The line focused mainly on the car, and never really capitalized on the characters with the exception of producing one version of Michael Knight.

The figure came packed on a fairly bland red card back which had a small square to the left of the bubble for a photograph of David Hasselhoff portraying the character. The figure was touted as being poseable, but really only bent at the arms and legs, and had the ability to turn the head. This was an unfortunate aspect that was leaving Kenner behind quickly in the world of action figures due to the impressible poseability of new toys such as G.I. Joe and Transformers.

The line didn't tend to stick with formatted toys to the size of the figure. For example, the Whip Shifter was approximately the same size as the figure (in length), and the Turbo Booster utilized the size of a car typical to those found in Hot Wheels sets.


The Voice Car was really the only toy compatible with the Michael Knight figure. Even then it was somewhat of a pain to cram the figure inside the front seat due to its limited poseability. Interesting enough is that the car actually comes with a packed in figure, making the individual carded one a rather pointlessly produced piece.

The Crash Set was a truck designed to coincide with the Turbo Booster set. The idea was to launch the car from the booster station through the side of the truck.

Last was the Radio Controlled Knight 2000. The vehicle was exactly what you would expect from the title - A remote control car.

Despite the vast differences in compatibility and proportion to each other from toy to toy, many collector's feel that all these pieces encompass the entire set, and anything less would be incomplete.

It's a curious question as to why the toys were titled Knight 2000, and not Knight Rider. Even today it causes confusion among collectors who confuse the line as something more current due to the "2000" in the title.

Today it's rather easy to track down the majority of the items from the series. The difficult part is finding someone selling it for a reasonable price. Depending on the items you're looking for, sealed pieces can sell anywhere from $100.00 to $300.00. Opened ones go for considerable less (typically under $50.00).

In a recent poll, Knight Rider was voted as one of the top twenty shows that fans would like to see remade for television today. Whether or not that dream becomes a reality is yet to be seen. But, in this day and age of television, anything is possible.

Join us next time when we take a look at Marvel's Gold!

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