ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield

😈 The Exorcist theme was a top ten hit. Seriously. There's more to it than that though.
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[@thomasrobinson9148]

dropping a monty python sketch as a single inbetween your 40 minute plus prog rock albums is a very baller move

[@GrizonII]

Tubular Bells itself was originally meant to end with a sketch segment in which Vivian Stanshall (who does the voiceover announcing each of the instruments earlier in the song) gave a drunken improvised house tour, but it was ultimately cut (though it later appeared as a bonus track on various deluxe edition releases). The original unfinished recording of Ommadawn had something similar too, where two copies of Mike can be heard telling increasingly nonsensical riddles.

[@eddyp483]

I wondered if that was Terry Jones playing the matador for a min

[@kevintyerman1906]

I am glad I am not the only one who thought Monty Python when that showed up!

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

I see Todd went all out with his costume, the colored contacts, face paint and makeup was perfect

[@lazyrmc]

He really looks fantastic

[@Hermititis]

I almost didn't recognize him!

[@Champiness]

You joke but I’m having a genuinely bizarre experience right now where if I use the skip-back function on the KZbin app during the piano intro of this video, I can clearly see his face for the roughly half-second where the left side of the screen brightens before fading back to normal. I’ve seen photos of his face under normal circumstances so it’s not like I’m desperate for Additions To My Evidence File or w/e but there’s a real ghost-caught-on-camera vibe to the whole thing. It doesn’t show up in screenshots

[@LadyTylerBioRodriguez]

I didn't know you were a fellow TITS enjoyer. Nice!

[@greablood1072]

I’ll have to turn up my brightness I guess

[@OverlySarcasticProductions]

Nothing on this channel has blown my mind harder than "Tubular Bells guy did Nuclear for MGS" -R

[@OsKarMike1306]

MGS Misunderstood Legacies Detail Diatribe when ? (Love the new Spider-Man episode btw)

[@Eddie_da_head_]

Oh shit what up Red

[@TheREALTheRealAdam]

Wait, I thought you played guitar. That makes you the first guitar player I've ever met who doesn't have encyclopedic knowledge of Mike Oldfield's entire discography.

[@stilljamming]

This is the best crossover ever.

[@M0b1us_118]

Finally someone said it.

[@paulojrneto]

Funfact: In 1992, Maggie Reilly, the singer on multiple Mike Oldfield's 80's hits, released a single called Everytime We Touch which would become more known in the 2005's Cascada eurodance cover version.

[@user-vo6hy4ns5n]

“Moonlight Shadow” is also more famous for its Eurodance cover in North America, where people only know that song (if they know it at all) from the cover on Dance Dance Revolution

[@juliusnepos6013]

Yes, that is where I first found out of Maggie Reilly after seeing a video on songs you didn't know were covers and that is when I eventually found out about Mike Oldfield aswell

[@Patterner]

no love for Electic Callboy's cover?

[@PennyAfNorberg]

ahh that's the origal for that song

[@grzesfu]

There's some new EDM song on the same melody now, I heard a bit of it on the radio but can't google it, since they changed the lyrics.

[@Caseyuptobat]

Today I learned that Moonlight Shadow never fucking charted in the US despite hitting #1 in multiple countries. Thanks, Todd.

[@m.s2912]

I was really confused when I saw the name Mike Oldfield next to "One Hit Wonders" and was even thinking maybe he wasn't the same guy who wrote Moonlight Shadow (highly unlikely but how could Moonlight Shadow not be considered a hit?) Thanks for explaining.

[@TheBT]

Whenever I hear that song there is one thought and one thought only - Dave Angel (I haven't yet watched the video)

[@Smooterino]

As a nearly middle-aged American that was raised on classic and 80s rock stations, I can say that I’ve never heard of Moonlight Shadow until this episode. Surprised it left no impact in the states, it’s a pretty great song!

[@angrypom]

@@TheBT Shirley! You can't just burn old tyres!

[@VideosSmokin]

​​@@m.s2912you can also add "Foreign Affair", another song that I love by him.

[@justme0910]

As a European with a very ... selective ... understanding of pop culture, my reaction to this episode can be summed up as "Wait, the Moonlight Shadow guy also made the Exorcist theme????"

[@ratonbox]

you're not the only one. And on top of that "Nuclear" has been in my playlist ever since I stumbled upon it and I never made the connection.

[@juliusnepos6013]

Same, I was bewildered when I first found about it years ago (let alone that it was a hit like what Todd said at first)

[@lady_stog]

As a fellow European, you summed up my thoughts perfectly!

[@anaritacoelho6689]

My thouhts exactly

[@TheLadySilverMoon]

Yeah, I pretty much only know him for that song too ^_^

[@Whomobile]

Mike Oldfield is like a musical cryptid who just appears every now and then without anyone actually noticing it's him

[@markusnashorn1145]

When I think of Mike Oldfield, I don't even think of Moonlight Shadow (In fact I first noticed this as a Eurodance cover). I think of Get to FRANCE (with Maggie Reilly) and SHADOW ON THE WALL. Both are such big hits that still are played like a week since I was a baby to this day on Bayern 1 (which mostly has oldies from the 1950s up to some 80s) and Bayern 3 (which mostly has "modern" hits starting from the 70s to today, and I think the numbering also works for HR1 and HR3 in Hesse and SWR1 and SWR3 in BadenWürttemberg) and the private Antenne Bayern, the three biggest radio stations in Bavaria. I always figured he was a big music legend. My mind was blown when I found out Get to France was made by the same guy as Shadow on the Wall! (BTW Get to France, Johnny B by the Hooters and Kiss from a Rose by Seal were in the same category for me as a kid... Songs I didn't know the artist but had a similar intro feel. Does anyone know if there is a name for instrumentals intro melodies like these)

[@afterdinnercreations936]

Mike Oldfield is not real. It's just some guy in a costume and any evidence can be easily fabricated.

[@TheBlackQueen]

You missed one notable thing: After the success of Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield was on his way to become a national star, being invited for interviews, specials, and other events. Mike, however, was severely isolated and suffered from intense social anxiety and depression. He hated the fame that he was brought to and refused to do any special promotions, retreating to a wintery country home to get away from it all. He wasn't as big following the album's success because he didn't want to be.

[@sunnysurfer101MA]

Respect to artists who do this. I'm sure Oldfield is comfortable with the amount of fame he has. And Tubular Bells keeps putting money in his pocket he definitely can't complain.

[@orlogskapten4161]

I'm sure Nuclear and Moonlight Shadow were big too. Not as big, but the fact that a zoomer like me knows them is big enough.

[@gibby8179]

Bro casually dropped arguably the greatest debut album and then dipped from the spotlight, massive W if you ask me

[@optiquemusic6204]

To appease Branson and Virgin with a follow-up, he recorded 'Amarok' in 1990. It's an hour-long track where he repeatedly inserts himself(?) saying "Happy?" then puts "Fuck Off" in morse code through-out the EP.

[@raleighsmalls4653]

Fame is annoying. Who can blame him ? R. Branson lofted Virgin airlines on the basis of Tubular's monstrous success, though. Isn't that weird, kids, hunh, hunh ?

[@liamannegarner8083]

"In A Gadda Da Vida" is now no longer the only One Hit Wonderland shorter than the song it's covering.

[@VinchVolt]

Even better, it's true regardless of whether or not you're counting the whole album or just the first side (which is a few minutes longer than the video).

[@Hydons]

Todd mentioning Mic the Snare for a second is like when your favorite artist mentions your other favorite artist

[@Blindtechnician]

Mike has been on Song Vs. Song with Todd several times just in case you weren’t aware and you wanted to go check that out.

[@evergreen1798]

​@@Blindtechnicianyo????? I gotta watch now

[@cryptiddmashups0011]

@@Blindtechniciando you know which ones???

[@HomerSimpsonIsCool]

​@cryptiddmashups0011 Episode 78 "Get Lucky" Vs "Uptown Funk"

[@Warkipine]

The most frightening part of the whole video, a real jumpsnare

[@Tulemasin]

"Moonlight Shadow" was is and remains an absolute banger. I hear it play on Estonian radio basically every day and I unironically love it every time.

[@auroreboreale69]

same here in France!!

[@MrApocalisse]

Same here in italy, it's really fucking awesome.

[@KirstyBaba]

I've only heard it a handful of times but it's one of my brain's default hold music songs. Genuinely think about it all the time.

[@KathyClysm]

oh 100% here in Austria too! I swear if you turn on the radio and drive for more than 3h it will play at some point in those 3 hours without fail!

[@hiimemily]

This is now the second song that Todd has covered on OHW that is longer than the episode itself, the first being "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida". The inverse of this, an album that is shorter than its own Trainwreckords episode, has happened once, with "Mission Earth".

[@lilithroyer4679]

Thank you Emily! This is the kind of nerdy analysis I love and it made me smile to know that someone counts those occurences!

[@Fnidner]

I would say "go outside", but then I realized i'm chronically online....

[@Skull_Millione]

Its Toddigami

[@hiimemily]

@@Skull_Millione Oh shit, another Jon Bois fan?

[@Skull_Millione]

@@hiimemilywe're everywhere nowadays. Honestly reading your comment and immediately thinking, "yeah this person will appreciate a jon bois joke", is one hell of a called shot on my part

[@inaccurateprophecy8971]

The whiplash I felt connecting the Exorcist theme, a Hall and Oates song, and NUCLEAR of all songs was insane. What a talented guy, sheesh.

[@denisdrozdoff2926]

He also had two albums worth of folk songs (and folk inspired songs) that would fit way better on pure mood. And "Man on the rocks" (nuclear) slaps in it's entirety.

[@lukehope4484]

Only just learnt he did nuclear from MGSV and audibly gasped fucking go mike Oldfield

[@AndySola]

You'll get mind blown again when you realize that the "Can we get much higher?" One Piece meme is also a Mike Oldfield sample.

[@MixMasterLar]

The only other episode to have such a journey would the Thomas Dolby/Blinded Me With Science one. Learning what all Dolby actually went on to do is a trip I won't spoil here but I lost my mind

[@mel0-NRG]

Mike oldfield is a genius

[@Stjurgeon]

I've always wondered if a series on "no hit wonders" would make sense. A short overview of the careers of the likes of Bob Marley, Marilyn Manson, Judas Priest, Björk or the Wu-Tang Clan, why they never charted in the US Top 40, what their most successful singles ended up being, etc.

[@killianhackenschmidt4987]

An episode on X Japan would be phenomenal for this. Most people in the west only know who they are through the song that was made for the end credits of the 4th Saw movie. But in their home country? They’re pretty much seen as one of the most influential bands of their time.

[@TricksterModeEngaged]

oooooh that sounds like a great idea. Could be genuinely very very interesting, both as individual stories and in exploring the larger question of "how is it that someone can be massively well known or creatively influential and yet not a 'hit'?"

[@leonidtimofeev1178]

Would've been cool if Todd added "Did they make anything else?" section for Trainwreckords videos as well because it's always interesting to see how artists try to recover from their fall from grace. One of the most interesting albums in that regard is "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants", next album by Oasis after Be Here Now. They tried to imitate Blur's late-90s move from britpop to more eclectic stuff but didn't make it artsy and lo-fi enough so while Blur's self-titled album and "13" became their best-selling albums outside of UK, gave them tons of street cred from hipster Radiohead enjoyers and inspired Gorillaz, Oasis' album was quickly forgotten.

[@MCastleberry1980]

Marilyn Mason hit # 3 on the Billboard 200 w/ Antichrist Superstar, and went # 1 with Mechanical Animals, and both albums had singles that charted pretty high on the rock charts

[@konto1ification]

Gravel Pit went to number 5 in the US for the Wu Tang Clan.

[@Spalfos]

The fact that the compilation album at 11:28 also had the Twin Peaks theme is absolutely incredible

[@Thedjbj2]

It also includes a trance remix of the X-Files Theme. It's like they accidentally mixed in a few tracks from their "Halloween music" compilation into the tracklist.

[@justincoleman3805]

Nothing is scarier than Orinoco Flow.

[@AP-mn4hj]

It's everyday bro, with that Orinoco Flow.

[@BANZ1111]

@@justincoleman3805 South Park S01 E06 nailed it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6rclYZpap5pp8U

[@kapparomeo]

You joke about Tubular Bells being played at student mixers, but that is actually quite literally how I learned about it. I was at a university house party in England in the mid-Noughties and asked someone, "what's that one that goes doo-doo-doodoodoo-doo-doo, doo-doo?", miming tinkling the ivories with my fingers at the same time. I was told "oh, that's Tubular Bells" and by the end of the week I'd bought half a dozen Mike Oldfield albums.

[@blazicgd]

fun fact; Mike's frequent collaborator , Maggie Reilly would have a major solo hit in europe, in 1992. it was called Everytime We Touch. 13 years later, Cascada would borrow the chorus and create one of the biggest Eurodance songs ever

[@TheDancerMacabre]

So I have the Exorcist to thank for Cascada

[@1lovesoni]

Hell I LOVE Cascada and Mike Oldfield. I should probably check out Maggie Reilly.

[@chrisheimva4857]

You just blew my mind!

[@mor3gan285]

Nightcore really is just europop huh

[@IsaacMayerCreativeWorks]

every time Todd posts I get this feeling

[@ob1quixote]

That live BBC version is an achievement in television and it is absolutely worth the time to watch.

[@joaquinlezcano2372]

Is like when different musicians unite to play a song... Except is not Hey Jude or Johnny B Goode

[@ob1quixote]

Also, I will not hear any disparagement of _Pure Moods_ the best record to ever come direct from Europe.

[@casperchristiansen2458]

Facts

[@elpusegato]

​​@@ob1quixotePure Moods helped me tremendously when my friend Vladimir was murdered. I went to St. Maarten and played Life In A Northern Town on repeat while crying my eyes out. RIP VLAD

[@bigcheese2128]

Todd has found such an interesting way to kinda keep the spirit of “old KZbin” in format and concept while staying remarkably modern in his attitudes and the way he thinks about songs in general

[@jeanclaudevanswag]

I love the Todd ethos of “don’t fuck with the formula”

[@ricequin]

In the U.K. we probably consider “Moonlight Shadow “ as his big hit but “In Dulci Jubilo” is an permanent fixture of Christmas playlists in shops everywhere.

[@OrgaNik_Music]

My dad used to play it every christmas. Probably still does.

[@judsonsnell]

This episode was sponsored by Pure Moods. 3 CD's of your favorite European trance and ambient classics.

[@Pheonixco]

The next one going to be sponsored by Classical Thunder?

[@AP-mn4hj]

You mean I get all these great electronic and trance classics on 3 CD's or cassettes?

[@willeliot7090]

This episode was well-timed not just because of the bad Exorcist sequel but because this kind of music is coming back in a big way (the kids just call it "x synth" where x = dungeon, cozy, desert, etc)

[@ThatShaggyMatt]

From the day I first saw the ad to today, I'll never stop laughing that they threw on a trance remix of the X-Files theme in the ad. "Yeah, that's the vibe."

[@LongShaynx]

Oh man, I can't wait for the Enigma episode

[@Venomous9]

Fun story about Tubular Bells II that you missed out here. You mentioned that Oldfield was pissed off at Virgin by the end of his time there, particularly for the direction Branson pressured him to take. Now, his second last album for Virgin was an hour-long fuck-off masterpiece called Amarok, which constantly changed and from which you couldn't pluck any singles. At one point Oldfield plays 'FUCK OFF RB' in Morse code, and somehow that was missed by Branson himself. Virgin wanted him to call it Tubular Bells Ii, but Oldfield refused, especially since it sounded nothing like Tubular Bells. But hey, Oldfield did end up recording Tubular Bells II in 1992...for Warner Bros.

[@Jasonhanika]

Amarok is really brilliant!

[@quasarsphere]

@@Jasonhanika Tubular Bells and Ommadawn are wonderful, but Amarok leaves them both in the dust!

[@rechargeandrelax1618]

Thank you! (You saved me a lot of typing.) 😃

[@stapler942]

The Virgin Tubular Bells vs. the Warner Chad Tubular Bells II?

[@dansheppard2965]

@@quasarsphere Amarok and Ommadawn are both amazing albums. But I'm the only person in the world who rates Hergest Ridge above Tubular Bells, 😀.

[@user-oo6bl5wm3x]

Whenever this show covers a British artist I'm always shocked to hear that they're only One Hit Wonders in the States, but I am truly, genuinely devastated that Moonlight Shadow didn't make it big across the pond.

[@dieSchreckschraube]

At this point, are we still surprised that the yanks have no taste?

[@leaffinite2001]

​@@dieSchreckschraube not hearing that from a german

[@SeanStrife]

At least not until it became a Eurodance song.

[@user-gy3bi3do3w]

Gen Z girl here who grew up listening to Mike Oldfield (my dad was big into prog and art rock). Seriously, his catalogue is INTENSE. Guy has a lot of range from the new agey stuff to prog rock to straight up classical and traditional folk music to club music literally inspired by Ibiza. It’s amazing. Also - the artist formally known as Kanye West literally sampled Mike Oldfield on the song Dark Fantasy. Another fun tidbit for y’all. Mike Oldfield is a pretty epic and influential musician, I’m very much a fan, so it was cool to see him mentioned here.

[@RidleyJones]

His sister Sally was in the prog scene as well and had the most enchanting voice

[@freyprevett8000]

Hello fellow Gen Z girl with a Mike Oldfield dad!

[@StudioScarecrow]

Holy shit, I think I knew that about the Dark Fantasy sample but never registered that that was the same Mike Oldfield! What a career. And what a great song.

[@BaseballPlayer0]

wht's your name

[@antcantcook960]

@@StudioScarecrowGuy who can actually play twenty instruments vs a guy who hit the “sample” button!

[@rosebyanyname]

“Much like Linda Blair, we’re gonna bend on this” is Todd’s greatest one liner since “Timothy himself was probably delicious.”

[@skyllalafey]

Ah, the Timothy episode... thank you for reminding me of that, seems like a great re-watch for the spooky season!

[@ZapperRS]

TIMOTHY TIMOTHY

[@bullmonty764]

I like “Timothy himself was probably delicious” better because of how off-color it is

[@shredsquidabominog4928]

The power of Todd compels you

[@technodumpsterinc]

What an excellent day for the One Hit Wonderland

[@anone.mousse674]

@@technodumpsterincTrack Reviews sucks cocks in Hell

[@bullmonty764]

…Where’s my lemonade?! (If you get that reference, I welcome my fellow geeks)

[@technodumpsterinc]

@@bullmonty764 SpongeBob?

[@bullmonty764]

@@technodumpsterinc Technically yes, but it’s more specifically from a SpongeBob KZbin Poop that involves both Can You Spare a Dime and the Exorcist. In the YTP, that quote was Squidward’s response to being saved by SB. That’s why I said I welcome my fellow geeks; because the specifics to the reference were incredibly niche, thus I felt no one would completely understand the joke. Thank you for listening

[@scoob8851]

At 8:47, Mike Oldfield goes one step beyond the likes of The Darkness. Justin Hawkins knew when to announce a guitar solo by yelling "Guitar!", but stops short of specifying the exact type of guitar.

[@craniifer]

Damn, I kinda like Oldfield's weird medieval stuff. With Bardcore all the rage, I really can't complain to find more of it.

[@TheEvilCheesecake]

i can since bardcore is twee garbage that people pretend to like in order to feel like they're in on the joke.

[@maxresdefault_]

Can confirm that Oldfield was MASSIVE in the UK. Every 40-50 something in Britain has Tubular Bells sandwiched between their Phill Collins and Pink Floyd CDs

[@djsmeguk]

Am 51. Can confirm. It lived in my cd collection for years.

[@rosehipowl]

Agree! I'm British and in my late twenties, and the Mike Oldfield CD was in amongst all the other many random CDs my parents have! As a creepy child, and now creepy adult, I loved that we had the spooky song.

[@ILikedGooglePlus]

Facts. Of course my dad lives him, everyone's does

[@jcardboard]

Yes, more of an album artist than a singles one, mind. I'd imagine you could probably call Pink Floyd a one hit wonder in a similar fashion (doubt any of their sixties stuff hit in the US). It's a little odd but makes sense from a us perspective.

[@barttcounts8456]

​@jcardboard DSOTM had Money hit Top 20, and they charted several times in the 80s & 90s. Plus, Todd doesn't count bands that just weren't Singles Bands, but were massive successes otherwise.

[@zoggoth]

I always love the "not really a one-hit wonder" ones. But I can't even imagine how weird a Hendrix one would be, what could you even say

[@samueltitone5683]

Honestly, I keep hoping he’ll do a one hit wonderland on Jimi Hendrix for April Fools.

[@piusott]

Lou Reed is also technically a one-hit wonder. Walk on the wildside is his only significant chart hit

[@jeffr.1681]

The Grateful Dead too.

[@canyounotmydude9155]

“Drive” by Incubus was Incubus’s only top-40 hit (and by extension their only top-10 hit) in the US so you can call them a one-hit wonder If they weren’t one of the most well known and respected names of alt-rock with numerous other big songs regardless well into the 2000s

[@krisdaschwab912]

Can confirm that basically everyone here knows Moonlight Shadow in some way or another. Regards from Poland.

[@jessethomas9221]

I can testify that I have personally heard 'Tubular Bells' played on the radio. Granted, this was in the late '90s, but rumor has it that it was popular among DJs as a record that they could spin while they took a bathroom/smoke break.

[@ursidae97]

I've only ever heard it played at amusement parks on Halloween

[@woopvonwoop1133]

Maggie Reilly was inadvertently one of the greatest contributors to DDR and rhythm games through covers of her stuff, my sleeper cell was activated not expecting to hear Moonlight Shadow in a Todd video

[@xenrusxenomorph2268]

I just say it in the comments and thought nothing of it until it came on and yeah. It was a sleeper cell moment.

[@JonathanLedbetter]

I personally love that the Exorcist Theme was included on the Pure Moods CD advertised to anyone who watched Nickelodeon in the 1990s.

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

I still don't know how or why that happened, LMAO!

[@redred222]

@@pervertedalchemist9944 because pure moods was big back then, anything unique was popular in the 90s

[@JeonardShadby505]

Not to mention "Crockett's Theme" from MIAMI VICE. Nothing says new age like MIAMI VICE!

[@matthewburger2801]

Without those commercials, I am not sure if I would have ever been a fan of Mike Oldfield, Loreena McKennitt, enigma, and many other 90s and 2000s world/trans artists.

[@jordanwhite352]

And the X-Files them. The 90's was one hell of a drug.

[@katiegoode]

In UK, we studied Tubular Bells in Music class. The album is stunning, but something that stuck with me is the fact that Oldfield played and recorded all his own instruments for it, in a time with no digital recording, having to keep time with his previous self.

[@samsonau8205]

Pretty much everything had to be played manually perfectly before he could mix it. Imagine doing all those repetitions at the end of TB Pt1 .

[@justinsixx90]

As did Prince!

[@GregorBarclay]

Yeah but click tracks existed, he could have played the first part to a set tempo, after that everything else is just overdubbing, just the same as you’d do today.

[@judsonsnell]

@@GregorBarclay I did it with an analog 8-track long before ProTools was a thing. Where there's a will....

[@hankhill7827]

Which is very apparent if you examine it, it's pretty loose and loses time which was more a product of it being recorded in a few weeks meaning the mistakes had to be left. Which is why after the 25 year limit in the contract was up Mike re-recorded the whole album for the 30 year anniversary released as Tubular Bells 2003.

[@cashnelson2306]

Wow. Between Moonlight Shadow and Nuclear this man has been secretly a huge part of my life apparently

[@KainGerc]

Ok, when 'Moonlight Shadow' and 'To France' started playing my brain exploded. You couldn't escape those songs in the 90s. (At least in europe)

[@SeanStrife]

Or if you played DDR.

[@GrandNagusEli]

It's crazy to me to think to Mike Oldfield being lumped in as a One Hit Wonder. Label fits. Mostly. But it never occured to me. Love the Tubular Bells album deeply

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

Even crazier is the fact it was the first release from Virgin Records.

[@pawnhearts8785]

Yeah, he has Moonlight Shadow and Nuclear.

[@georgie7109]

Yeah this seems a little odd to call a one hit wonder. It's not even his most streamed track on Spotify. Moonlight Shadow was a number 1 hit in several countries.

[@kawaiilotus]

yeah his rendition of In dulci jubilo is a classic!

[@J.S.3259]

Richard Branson has said that he owes all of his success to Tubular Bells@@pervertedalchemist9944

[@tereziamarkova2822]

"I bet most of Europe thinks of this as his big single." - YES, THAT AND TO FRANCE, BOTH AMAZING SONGS, ABSOLUTE FUCKING LEGENDS

[@juliusnepos6013]

Yeah

[@Mynnia]

And that Sailors Hornspipe on Christmas markets.

[@venichen1]

On Spotify, his top song is Moonlight Shadow. Meanwhile, I had to click on the "See more" button to find Tubular Bells.

[@GeldtheGelded]

And Shadow on the Wall too

[@PsychoSavager289]

This episode was like watching a spider web form. I knew the Exorcist theme. I knew there was a track called Tubular Bells. I knew there was a Christmas instrumental named In Dulci Jubilo. I knew Moonlight Shadow. It's only now that I finally realised they were all connected by Mike Oldfield.

[@SeanStrife]

Plus fucking Nuclear from Metal Gear Solid... which... weirdly makes sense since MGS was published by Konami... who also published Dance Dance Revolution... which is likely the only reason we Yanks know of Moonlight Shadow....

[@Malum09]

Very funny to think that years later William Friedkin said that had he listened to Tangerine Dream earlier than he did he would have gotten them to do a full score for the movie.

[@haferstenproductions3515]

Fun fact about Maggie Reilly (the singer on "Moonlight Shadow", "Family Man", and a few of the other 80s Oldfield hits Todd shows in this video) is that she is one of the songwriters of "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada because that song actually lifts the chorus from a song of the same name she did in 1992.

[@MonsolEnsagia]

Well my mind is blown.

[@brg2147]

all these songs have iconic nightcore versions

[@littlemisspipebomb4723]

The queen of nightcore

[@saberlike659]

I'm a diehard Mike Oldfield fan, and I actually think he's one of the few 70s artists that got BETTER in the 80s. Five Miles Out through Tubular Bells 2 is an untouchable run of albums. I think some of it was his age: being so young (he turned 27 in 1980), he was closer in age to 80s artists than his 70s prog peers. Instead of selling out to go pop, he mixed pop sounds with his symphonic style. Most of his 80s albums still had lengthy instrumentals, and even in his most pop moments, he uses really unique instrumentation and arrangement (using both synth horns and real bagpipes in the same song, for example). It sounds pop compared to Tubular Bells, but put it next to whatever was on the chart at the time, and it's much weirder. A couple of great things you glossed over. First, his song In High Places (with Jon Anderson) was prominently sampled in Dark Fantasy by Kanye West. Second, he had a 4 album run that tells the story of a massive middle finger to Richard Branson and Virgin Records. They forced him to go super pop on Earth Moving (actually my 2nd favorite album of his, and one he stands by, saying in an interview that even though it's pop, he was still able to be creative within that realm). In response, his next album, Amarok, was a single, hour long song (his best single song album imo) that was constructed to be impossible to edit a single out of. His next album, Heaven's Open, was his last for Virgin, and it's incredibly angry and very obviously directly aimed at Richard Branson. I have no proof of this, but my theory is that he chose to make it super experimental but with very pop sounds and textures to piss off all sides of his audience. Then, after leaving Virgin, his first album was Tubular Bells 2, which Virgin had been pressuring him to make for years. Kinda funny how you played Magic Touch as an example of a terrible song, that's one of his best! Just last week, I was listening to that whole album, Islands, twice in a row for several days on end. Tubular Bells 3 is also really interesting. He recorded it while living on Ibiza in the late 90s, so it's really influenced by then-cutting edge club music. It's a super unique album, and I'm disappointed he never made anything else in that vein. Lastly, I can confirm that Tubular Bells was actually played on the radio. When my dad was in college in the late 70s, his friend was playing it on the campus radio station, and ended up melting down the entire board while it played because he put a 5 amp fuse in a slot for a 1 amp fuse.

[@antsmoveaway2087]

Now this is a youtube comment! Thanks for the read! I'm now going to check out Earth Moving.

[@LynnHermione]

Most people dont "sell out". They just make music. this x sold out but y didnt because i like what he did is very silly

[@hayaokakizaki4463]

CAN WE GET MUCH HIGHER

[@TheNotoriousDUDE]

@@LynnHermione Absolutely! Shaming people for choosing not to restricts themselves to the boundaries of their original genres is just childish imo.

[@hjalfi]

Tubular Bells 2 was the first piece of music I've ever bought (on cassette!), and I've never seen the Exorcist. I love his long form stuff, but I still think that a lot of his 80s stuff is great too --- they're way more interesting melodically than most pop. And yes, I'm from Britain, and Moonlight Shadow was _huge._ (I was very disappointed by Tubular Bells III because, while I think most of it's great and I wish he'd done more of it, _Man in the Rain_ is basically the same song.) I think my favourite piece of his is _The Songs of Distant Earth,_ from the Arthur C Clarke novel, which makes me tear up every time. Even though the segment with the bagpipes is super cringe.

[@nicholasteale8982]

As someone whose dad is both an art-rock geek AND a Brit, Mike Oldfield will never be a one-hit wonder to me, but I'll never complain about hearing one of my favorite KZbinrs covering one of my favorite artists! And while I totally understand your aversion to covering prog rock, I'd certainly love to hear more if you're up for it! In particular, Union is a Trainwreckord and a half. It was the album that was supposed to unite elements of 70s prog Yes and 80s pop Yes, but it only killed the relevance of either iteration.

[@auroreboreale69]

as a prog fan, I think Union is not bad, I like some songs, I think it's a nice effort despite of everything

[@nicholasteale8982]

@@auroreboreale69 Honestly, me either, I even play Masquerade at some of my solo sets, and I think it even got Steve Howe a Grammy. But yeah, definitely a demarcation point for Yes’ chart relevance.

[@VinchVolt]

It'd also give him more of an opportunity to dive into the very tangled history of Yes given that he already briefly covered their association with the Buggles.

[@Chrnan6710]

Onion

[@Aquatarkus96]

​​@@nicholasteale8982Id love to see Todd sit down and finally tell the whole story of Yes it's kinda ridiculous in a fun way and they keep popping up in the background of different stores he's told

[@banyarling]

YES I was hoping for Pure Moods to come up. Despite being a grunge alt-rock kid, I unironically loved this album.

[@devenscience8894]

I listen to mostly punk and metal, but I wore out my Pure Moods CD way back when! The dance version of the "Dr. Who" theme, the Enya songs, the whole record was great.

[@cremetangerine82]

Hey, that collection slapped!

[@summerbummer1930]

Same. I had a massive CD collection back in the day filled with grunge/nu-metal/metal albums, and then Pure Moods lol. I listened to that CD so much it got all scratched up and skipped. It was a favorite on road trips in particular. Idk what exactly drew me to this CD that was more or less musically opposite of my usual tastes, but man I really loved it.

[@buckleygeneration]

Moonlight Shadow is one of my favourite songs of all time. That guitar solo is top tier.

[@richardmetzler7909]

Oldfield's guitar playing is generally underrated. How many other guitarist have such a distinct sound and touch that you can recognize them by a few notes?

[@lollerkeet]

It was big in Australia too. That felt like burying the lede. I expected his albums sold, not oh yeah he has another #1 hit later.

[@redrohX]

It’s the perfect song imo. Catchy, great vocals and lyrics and two awesome solo’s, within 3 minutes.

[@m.cantsin7385]

Moonlight Shadow wasn't a thing in the US? I am quite surprised by that as I would describe it as one of the most recognizable pop songs ever

[@RangeWilson]

It was too beautiful for the U.S. market. If only Kim Carnes had covered it...

[@gregorywiederecht]

I only know the song because it was a really popular choice for Sailor Moon AMVs back in the day 😅

[@rachelghoul1835]

It's not completely unheard of but it wasn't a big hit.

[@nosprings82]

I only know of it through the Vampire Hunter D amv cover and DDR

[@lawrencescales9864]

Never heard of it or her either, looks like we missed that song

[@jeanclaudevanswag]

Weird fact: In former Czechoslovakia, pretty much any western pop hit that crossed over the iron curtain would get its own state sanctioned cover that would be played instead of the original on the radio. So there are a lot of older Czechs and Slovaks who don’t know that the beloved classic ‘Bílý Měsíc’ (a cover of Moonlight Shadow) is also by the Tubular Bells guy.

[@mangaanimefan3089]

18:21 WHAT THE HELL?! He did Moonlight Shadow?! Oh, I loved that song! It was one of the first songs I ever watched an amv to! I was probably only in middle school. That's such a nostalgia trip!

[@Posiman]

I am a continental European. And just like he said: I was shocked that this was his only hit in the US. "Moonlight Shadow" and "To France" are fuckin unescapable over here. And talking about Mike Oldfield as a one hit wonder definitely has a same vibe as talking about Pink Floyd as a one hit wonder for me. Every single European music nerd will talk andlessly abou how amazing this guy is. Every single mom will listen to his singles with Maggie Rielly on repeat. And SHADOW ON THE WALL (the one Todd did not even mention) might be among the greates rock tunes of all time...

[@HollowGolem]

Good to hear someone else mention "Shadow on the Wall." That and "Poison Arrows" are two of his darker pop tunes worth a listen. And then the 90's happened and he managed to get even better. Even _Return to Ommadawn_ is an excellent, mature atmospheric piece that pays tribute to the original while also adding to it. What a career.

[@Carewolf]

For me Man in the Rain, from Tubular Bells III is the best of his.

[@samsonau8205]

if you notice, almost all of the big prog rock type bands are out of the UK. Pink Floyd, Yes, Renaissance, MO, the list goes on. Something in the water those days.

[@samsonau8205]

@@HollowGolem as far as his pop tunes are concerned, I like Family Man, Tricks of the Light, Crime of Passion, To France, Pictures in the Dark, and a few others. Moonlight Shadows was OK. Islands too. Catchy for sure, but I need to be in the mood. Never liked Shadow on the Wall much. His Ibiza days stuff is not quite my thing, but I own them. I returned with more enthusiasm when he started to more instrumentals again. Return to Ommadawn was quite nice and did recapture a feel I was looking for, but not as good as Ommadawn. I also have to say that Songs of Distant Earth was a pretty good 90s-influenced album...all I could think of was Enigma when I was listening. Being in North America, it was hard to find his stuff in the 90s. I had to hunt down bootlegs and vocals by meeting European folk online. Not an easy job, but there were people out there who shared the same interests as me.

[@nikolaos9652]

​@@Carewolfman in the rain is a masterpiece!

[@GleeChan]

I can't believe the Exorcist director, desperate for a new theme for his movie, listened to an over 40 minute song, and was like "we got a winner here boys! just wait until the creepy part."

[@sunnysurfer101MA]

To be fair, the exorcist theme is RIGHT at the beginning

[@harrisonengstrom7922]

The story is even more insane than that. He had a composer already put a full score together and when he heard it, he literally told them all to get out and took the score sheets and threw them into the parking lot behind the studio. Friedkin himself tells this story in a doco on The Exorcist.

[@grmpf]

@@harrisonengstrom7922 That checks out. Friedkin, like many big directors of those times, was kind of insane.

[@optiquemusic6204]

What always struck me about 'Tubular Bells' was that despite its strong association with horror, it only keeps that dark sinister tone for the first few minutes, gets brighter and (like Todd says) whimsical like a Pagan dance. By the end of Part 1, when Mike(?) starts listing off his instruments, it sounds almost triumphant. If we bring it down a note or two, it might meet Friedkin's intent. Having finally seen the movie, its also funny how this track appears for less than a minute halfway through and during the credits. Some theme, huh?

[@undeadMonk]

@@optiquemusic6204 Given that he died and had to be replaced in the 2003 version, I'm gonna assume that it wasn't Mike announcing the instruments

[@ianshaliczer]

I’d love to see a “Technically One-Hit Wonders But Not Really” top ten list. For example, the Grateful Dead only had one top forty song! Some other examples: Jimi Hendrix, Garth Brooks, Nora Jones, Rush, Janis Joplin, Iggy Pop…

[@sunnysurfer101MA]

Kate Bush!

[@cremetangerine82]

Bob Dylan for "Like a Rolling Stone".

[@ShadowSorel]

Daft Punk

[@jennyknopps1291]

I'm pretty sure that Garth Brooks has many hits on the country music charts.

[@samanteater]

​​@@cremetangerine82Rainy Day Women was a hit. Possibly others too.

[@paulgauntlet7921]

As a prog fan I was absolutely delighted to see Todd cover him today. Just hearing Todd say “Kevin Ayers” was surreal

[@volodymyrbilyk555]

Next - Todd saying Robert Wyatt. And then - Daevid Allen.

[@Dogy0909]

And after that? Fred Frith

[@Ben9096]

And a shot of Steve Hillage playing live 😉

[@bobbybeard1497]

Just the mere mention of soft machine got me. Was listening to their self titled album recently.

[@bobkaasman]

As a prog fan, I'm still wondering if he'll ever get to Focus. A pretty bizarre band to have a US top 10 hit.

[@borisbrosowski6630]

The follow-up One-Hit wonder should be Cascadas "Everytime we touch". The original was written and sung by Maggie Reily, who was Oldfields preferred singer. It is rumoured (and quite obvious if you listen to the song closely and watch the video closely) that the guitar work on this song was done by Mike himself....

[@kathrinwolf8514]

Cascada had two top 40 hits in the US! Evacuate The Dancefloor charted in 2009, it hit number 25.

[@borisbrosowski6630]

Well then. Let's NOT do Cascada. @@kathrinwolf8514

[@mattiasgarbi9470]

​@@borisbrosowski6630Todd here and there did artist who were "one-and-a-half-hit-wonders" in the past, so it's up to him

[@juliana_fernandez_casas]

Moonlight Shadow was also a hit in Argentina, and a local artist recorded a version in Spanish, too.

[@Brownd55]

Marcela Morelo! I first knew the song from her version, I think there was a radio show that used it as its theme. Revisited it recently and it's kinda funny how the whole gunshot murder aspect was omitted from the lyrics, but the overall vibe still remains and the arrangement is actually quite decent.

[@bridgetttaylor2089]

That sound you think is the bell is ABSOLUTELY one of those bells. Used to play them in band, they were the best thing about band class.

[@LegoManiac_101]

Tubular Bells is the “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” of the 1970s (Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is also known as the Dracula theme)

[@wayfaringspacepoet]

funny that, I remember my piano teacher once recommending me Tubular Bells when I showed him L's theme from Death Note

[@casperchristiansen2458]

@@wayfaringspacepoet Damn, true.

[@darkservantofheaven]

Which Dracula?

[@idnyftw]

​@@wayfaringspacepoet yep, glad it wasn't just me who saw the connection

[@broadway331]

The move from The Exorcist to Hall and Oates was such a swerve that I haven’t been so surprised from a One Hit Wonderland episode since the Crazy For This Girl episode.

[@SeanStrife]

And the swerves didn't even stop there.

[@DrewDesign]

I unironically love Moonlight Shadow, but i was 8 when he released it so it’s intrinsically linked to some pretty formative memories.

[@MasterMote]

Mike Oldfield is insanely underrated...i freaking love the guy and everything hes done. Hes written a bunch of amazing pop songs that by all rights and logic should have made top charts...cmon, moonlight shadows, man in the rain, to France or basically any song from his album Discovery

[@timdupill9839]

As an american who wasn't alive for The Exorcist, and never played MGS5 but was aware of the song Nuclear....this ep was a journey.

[@AlbertHamik1]

Oldfield's siblings are also accomplished musicians. Sally Oldfield, his sister, has this one album from the early 80s, Celebration, with the track "Blue Water" being a particular favorite of mine. Just wanting to give that a shoutout because I've never had an excuse to bring it up before beyond sharing it with friends.

[@harry2.01]

Mirrors is a great song.

[@Amanda_Harper]

Mandala for me, I listen to it at least once a week.

[@chrislawuk]

well you're among friends here! (Read: Todd in the Shadows fans and Mike Oldfield super nerds)

[@sapphichazard]

Bending the rules to appreciate a great piece of music should always be allowed/encouraged. :)

[@blue_shiner]

Just finished the exorcist for the first time, listened to the theme on Spotify after seeing it was by Mike Oldfield, then I open KZbin to see Todd did a video on the exact song I’d just listened to. Is Todd possessing me?

[@crojasa06]

Love "Moonlight Shadow" and "To France". Maggie Reilly's voice is absolutely beautiful!

[@Betta66]

One of the last albums he made under his contract with Virgin had "FUCK OFF RB" (for Richard Branson) playing in Morse code. Legend

[@VinchVolt]

That album, Amarok, is literally just one song, it's an hour long, it's even more experimental than Tubular Bells, and it's one of Oldfield's best works.

[@HollowGolem]

@@VinchVolt He made it 60+ minutes long so it HAD to be on a CD, and couldn't have a casette release. It's also janky, bizarre, and spectacular. "Happy?"

[@Brownd55]

​@@HollowGolem It did have vinyl and cassette releases with the song split, what they couldn't do was make any singles out of it. The closest they ended up doing was a promo with random untitled excerpts.

[@VinchVolt]

@@HollowGolem "Hahaha." The weird thing is, it actually did get LP and cassette releases in certain regions, namely continental Europe South America, and Canada. Judging by the album's listings on Discogs, Virgin just awkwardly split the album in half wherever they ran out of space (and since the album's an hour long, the vinyl releases -- all of which only use one disc -- had to pack the grooves closer together at the cost of reduced sound quality and increased playback wear).

[@chrissennfelder7249]

The final minute of this album might be the greatest thing ever recorded.

[@skyllalafey]

This episode's "failed follow up" was the most curve-ball of a follow up I think I've ever seen on this channel, and I'm sad there's not more info about wtf was going on with that one. Also, that clip at 16:11 may be the most unsexy thigh-high boots I've ever seen in my life.

[@vojaivanic9734]

"Shadow on the wall" was a big radio hit in the former Yugoslavia, certainly one of the better riffs I've heard in my life

[@CJJC]

The fine, semi-rare combo of hard rock and a banjo

[@alexathegator]

I get giddy whenever new people find out about Mike Oldfield. His life story is a rollercoaster ride and a half, and he's done so much gorgeous, versatile music over the years, it's hard to get bored of it. My fave factoid about him is how he sang on the entire last album he made for Branson out of spite, cause Branson asked him for more "actual" songs 😂 Mike's love-hate relationship with him could be made into a documentary of its own. Also, Oldfield made TWO artsy MMO games in the early 2000s, way before this kinda thing was common, and a Vocaloid album before Hatsune Miku was introduced. I always admired him for boldness, flexibility and having a sixth sense for emerging artistic trends, while still staying true to himself.

[@yourstruly9013]

A vocaloid album? Fascinating

[@alexathegator]

​@@yourstruly9013 Yes, the album is called Light + Shade and it was released in 2005. He used vocaloids Miriam and Cantor - those old english ones that were released before Miku :)

[@samsonau8205]

I think the only song he sang before that was On Horseback, and that was a good one. Yeah, he intentionally made Amarok for his hardcore fans and completely uncommercializable and did Earth Moving and Heaven's Open with a bare minimum of outside help to complete the last two contractual obligations to Virgin. He didn't give a shit if they made $$. Branson knew about the TB2 plans and was really excited to produce/release it...then MO jumped to Warner and put on a big show at Edinburgh Castle. They have since made up apparently.

[@VinchVolt]

@@alexathegator Another interesting fact regarding that album is that the Miriam voice was based on someone who he performed with on-stage in the past, Miriam Stockley.

[@pop_ulation]

mike oldfield made direct eye contact with the world, released that matador song, and didn't say a damn word. genius.

[@thatotherguy8138]

Songs of Distant Earth. Still one of my fav albums of all time.

[@MasterAndreRaven]

Five Miles Out has been one of my favorite tracks of Mike Oldfield since I was a kid. That said, my *real* favorite Mike Oldfield song is the part in Tubular Bells called "Piltdown Man". Give me that sweet _"SSSssshooo-wAAACHHH DUGHHH UGUGHWAAH"_ any day, my friend.

[@MasterAndreRaven]

@@rommix0 That's absolutely fair, buddy.

[@CardCaptorKaren]

My dad owned 3 albums that weren't by The Moody Blues. Appetite for Destruction, Ring Ring by Abba and Tubular Bells so I can confirm here in the UK it was just one of those albums everyone seemed to have.

[@nickrustyson8124]

Wait Appetite for Destruction as in Guns N Roses, what a weird album choice to be paired with Tubular Bells

[@pip-pip5029]

Abba gold and tubular bells

[@clare2401]

I'm 42 and British, and I can hand on heart say, I remember ALL of my friends' parents having this in their music collection. It was sat next to Pan Pipe Moods and Enyas Greatest Hits. Mike Oldfield encompasses the "sophisticated" album your parents put on in the background when they had guests over 😂

[@sep.s]

Also 42 and British, can confirm.

[@djbeema]

Was just watching the RLM review of Exorcist and they brought up Mike Oldfield as needing his "own separate video", so I'm glad you provided that video!

[@najtrows]

I'm from Sweden born in '89 and Moonlight Shadow is not only one of the most notable hits from Mike Oldfield. It's also one of the biggest songs from pop culture in the 90's and ofc 80's :P I bet most people born before 2000 would recognize it :D I knew he had weird prog albums but never knew he wrote the Exorcist theme. Very interesting video!

[@InkAndPoet]

This is the first time since Hanson where Todd covered a TECHNICAL one-hit-wonder!

[@jcole3097]

I would say that S Club 7 and The Waitresses are also technicalities too.

[@InkAndPoet]

@@jcole3097 good point

[@Maitch3000]

Barbie Girl was also a technical one hit wonder. Aqua had like 7 top 10 hits in the UK alone

[@joshthefunkdoc]

@@Maitch3000 Yeah there's a ton of those if you count other countries, like a bunch of the 80s acts he covered early in the show's history (A-ha.......)

[@Maitch3000]

@@joshthefunkdoc To be clear, I was commenting on the original post that it was the first time since Hanson he covered a technical one hit wonder. No, Todd's last one hit video (Barbie Girl) was also only a technical one since they had multiple hits all around the world - just not in the US due to poor decision making by the label. But yeah, a lot of them are technically one hit wonders since it is hard for a foreign act to compete in the US market. A-ha really annoys me. They wrote a fricking James Bond song and had many great songs

[@YoItsEvanAdams]

Interesting note unmentioned in the video: Tubular Bells 2 was produced by Trevor Horn of a previous one hit wonderland band, The Buggles and their very famous hit Video Killed the Radio Star

[@Thomasmemoryscentral]

Horn produced quite a few one hit wonders. 3 of them worthy for Todd's coverage: 1. Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Relax 2. Godley And Creme: Cry 3. Tatu: All The Things She Said

[@quinnnewman9538]

Trevor horn is one of the most prolific music producers ever so no wonder that he worked with oldfield

[@YoItsEvanAdams]

Also since Hall & Oates made an appearance in this video I'd like to point out that isn't their only prog connection. Daryl Hall and King Crimson guitarist and only consistent member Robert Fripp have worked together several times including Fripp producing Hall's solo album "Sacred Songs" which is a fantastic album I highly recommend

[@wellurban]

@@ThomasmemoryscentralI was about to say that Frankie Goes To Hollywood wasn’t a one hit wonder because Two Tribes was at least as successful and both The Power of Love and Welcome to the Pleasuredome were also big, but then I checked and found that none of them broke the top 40 in the US. It really is another world!

[@Brownd55]

Also worth noting TB2 was the first album he decided to do on Warner purely out of spite, as revenge towards Richard Branson and Virgin for making the latter years of his contract absolutely insufferable. Not only did he also do TB3 eventually, he even re-recorded the first one (as Tubular Bells 2003) under Warner when he was legally clear to do so.

[@tonymarshall3978]

my dad hates prog but loves Tubullar Bells and you got it perfectly when you compared it to Dark Side of the Moon in terms of its standing in UK culture especially for anyone alive at the time

[@leocomerford]

15:40 The comedy influence in Mike Oldfield's work goes at least as far back as _Tubular Bells_ . The Master of Ceremonies in the _Tubular Bells_ album, the person who actually says "plus: tubular bells!" at the climax of Site A 8:40 , is Vivian Stanshall. Stanshall was in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band: you know, the band which plays "Death Cab for Cutie" in the _Magical Mystery Tour_ TV special. Vaguely arty or off-kilter comedy had quite a lot of cred in post-war Britain, going back at least to the Goon Show in the 1950s, while old music-hall comedy was still familiar, so comedy was a natural part of the mix for an English prog kid like Oldfield. (And for older '60s bands like the cult Incredible String Band kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5bSi3iVg9eiqbs ... and the Beatles kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXXGdXaQfMiNoJo and the Stones kzbin.info/www/bejne/habWcnd6qMRmptU ... to say nothing of the Kinks!) 8:08 IIRC the intention was to hold back the tubular bells until they get introduced at that climax at the end of Part A. The whole Master of Ceremonies segment is a parody of Benjamin Britten's _Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra_ (here very nicely narrated by Sean Connery! kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHzNgp98YpeKn6M ) in which Britten introduces different parts of the orchestra and instruments one by one, with the percussion as the last segment to be brought in.)

[@VinchVolt]

Regarding the comedy element, there's also the fact that Tubular Bells ends with "The Sailor's Hornpipe" specifically because it was a goofy and out of place tune, which lightened the mood after a relatively dark penultimate section.

[@gabrielledebourg2487]

I’d love to see Todd do a “Technical One Hit Wonders” compilation (perhaps even a top ten?) where he goes over some technical one hit wonders and gives us a look into what’s more they’ve done and if they deserved better/or to be checked out. Artists like the already mentioned Hendrix or Devo.

[@ladysorka]

My dad was super into this kind of instrumental music, so I grew up surrounded by it. And I have never been into horror. Or, today is the day I learned that Tubular Bells, which I heard constantly as a kid, has any connection to The Exorcist. The more you know.

[@FIXTREME]

I've never heard such a dramatic improvement to an already decent song such as Mike Oldfield's Sentinel

[@red-rax]

Honestly, you should do more technicality one-hit wonders, because the way you go through an artist’s discography and related it to their most well known song is extremely interesting

[@user-ii8dz4vu7n]

You really need to talk more about Maggie Reilly, because she's really fun to learn about. Like, you know Everytime We Touch? That's her song, HEAVILY sampled by Cascada. It also has tubular bells in the beginning lol.

[@shakobenmyerz]

The second One Hit Wonderland this year to invoke Hall & Oates!

[@EdJonesVideos]

In Dulci Jubilo does still get a fair amount of radio airplay every year in the UK - actually it's one of my favourite Christmas records. It occupies a similar space to Steeleye Span's Gaudete to my mind - both seventies remakes of traditional festive songs which, even though I'm not religious, feel genuinely timeless and mystical. Also, I can confirm that Moonlight Shadow was the first Oldfield song I knew of growing up in Europe, and that's more of a guilty pleasure.

[@Thedjbj2]

I'm in the US so I didn't know Oldfield's version, but I did grow up singing In Dulci Jubilo (aka 'Good Christian Friends Rejoice!') in the Episcopal (Anglican) Church. I'm not very religious anymore, but I still listen to traditional English Christmas music every year. It puts me in the holiday spirit, much more so than modern pop Christmas music. You're right, it does feel "genuinely timeless and mystical".

[@DashingPunkSamurai]

This is going to be a good one. Mike Oldfield is near OCD to the point of being crazy. And a real technofile, always trying to produce the EXACT sound in his head.

[@dazwold]

As much as Tubular Bells is iconic, Ommadawn is criminally underrated. One of my all time favourite albums.

[@Brejan]

It is, but I'm not sure why so many people seem very harsh on Return to Ommadawn, which I also think is fantastic. I think I actually like it a more, which is basically heresy to many.

[@lRedPosion]

And he was just 19 and 20 years old while he made it 😮

[@NotesReviews]

The follow up Return to Ommadawn hits just as hard too

[@unhelpfulrevelations7989]

Yeah its more cohesive and consistently enjoyable than Tubular Bells if I'm being real

[@martinhsl68hw]

Tubular Bells can be more of a novelty, but Ommadawn is just the best thing ever

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

'Five miles out', 'Moonlight Shadow' and 'To France' are as perfect singles/songs as you could get. 5 miles out is a bit out there, definitely prog, telling the horror of an aviator caught in a storm with the added voices of the air traffic control (vocoder) and a loved one back home (Maggie Riley). But the other two with their folk rock feel and a touch of the old school romanticist whimsey certainly was a welcome tonic to deal with the New Romantic hangover we were all having at the time.

[@AndySola]

Five Miles Out is my favorite "pop" song by him. It's so good!

[@Grassdragon193]

Five Miles Out is a beautiful mess. I love it, but it's def an acquired taste compared to his other radio-friendly singles.

[@stagpie6449]

When I was in a school play as a kid, they made us do a weird dance routine to this song. We all ran around pretending we were being rained on. It was only years later that I watched the movies and was like "ahh that's the rain song!" It's funny how your first exposure to a piece of music really shapes how you experience it for the rest of your life. Makes me think of how many songs were ruined by being in advertisements.

[@ThatOneJustMe]

Here in the Netherlands we have the Top 2000, a fan voted greatest hits list that plays on the radio between Christmas and New Year's. Tubular Bells has, as far as I know, always been one of the 2000 hits and they usually play the 25 minute version. When I hear this song I don't think of horror movies (didn't even know it was connected to the Exorcist until I watched this video), I think of Christmastime. Also, Moonlight Shadow indeed immediately comes to mind when I think of Mike Oldfield :)

[@VinchVolt]

You gotta hand it to the DJs that have the guts to play a side-length suite on pop radio considering that even five minutes is pushing it for most stations in that category.

[@delphidehavilland]

I'm not from the Netherlands but I also always thought this was a Christmas song! Absolutely no idea why though 😅

[@DoubleU_Nld]

I'm also from the Netherlands and I'm giving you two names explaining it's status etched into our collective consciousness: Bassie & Adriaan.

[@CmacDaMan09]

Love the review, and can I also say it weirdly warmed my heart to hear you call out the BS “going to therapy ruined the music” thing. Mainly because I feel like the idea of “real music” being associated with mental health struggles is both toxic as hell and sadly more prevalent than many like to admit.

[@darkerSolstice]

People try to do this with Van Gogh too.

[@ericvernooij2917]

Also: did it actually ruin the music? Did it really? 'Moonlight Shadow', 'To France', 'Shadow On The Wall'... If those had been all he ever did they'd still be bloody impressive.

[@CmacDaMan09]

@@ericvernooij2917 Exactly! So the toxic BS doesn’t even make sense in THAT regard. But, again, people decided it wasn’t “real music” because it wasn’t a 49 minute epic from a person that, rather than needing their praise, might need…Yknow…HELP WITH THEIR MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES!

[@ericvernooij2917]

@@CmacDaMan09 Well there's that, too. The notion that great art comes from pain is a fallacy. As a creative person I can tell you that a mental health problem mostly just prevents you from making anything. Your brain needs to be agyle enough to play.

[@CmacDaMan09]

@@ericvernooij2917 My partner is an artist and has expressed basically that as well. I think that’s why that fallacy grinds my gears in such a specific way.

[@trixxart777]

It's crazy moonlight shadow isn't a big hit in America it should have been it probably his best song

[@gab_v250]

In Italy, Moonlight Shadow has been more popular than Tubular Bells, because of the constant radio airplay

[@trixxart777]

@gab_v250 yeah I am from the UK and I have heard it way more than Tubular Bells

[@LordBaktor]

I have no idea what die hard Oldfield fans think of it, but I love his album "The Songs of Distant Earth". As for singles, Man in the Rain from "Tubular Bells III" takes the cake for me.

[@Brownd55]

Fun fact for the unaware, "Main in the Rain" directly samples the drums from "Moonlight Shadow". Like, the song was essentially written on top of the unmodified full drum recording, and yet it's still fresh enough that you might not realize on first listen.

[@VinchVolt]

@@Brownd55 Tubular Bells III sampled a lot of past Oldfield pieces, which is fitting given that it released in time for the 25th anniversary of the original Tubular Bells.

[@BizarreBrews]

Holy Crap, I've been asking for this for years!

[@joaquinlezcano2372]

Moonlight Shadow is the definitive proof that sometimes (just sometimes) top charts are overrated, especially the US one

[@shocksystem8675]

Yeah, something not all great music, especially the one you're familiar with, happens to hit the top charts.

[@maxpowr90]

The only Moonlight Shadow for me is Missing Heart's version: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z53WZWWojsxmn7M

[@1lovesoni]

It WAS a great song, I also really enjoy "On Horseback" and the Ommadawn album. Didn't he also do the theme for MGS5?

[@EilonwyWanderer]

Ha! I hadn't realized that Groove Coverage wasn't the original version 🤔 kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5ireHyPZrZgr7csi=AyIRPP81BVu7L9do I was shouting "wait, WHAT?!" at the screen when it got to that part...

[@Brownd55]

@@1lovesoni It's mentioned in the video. "Nuclear" was part of his "Man on the Rocks" album with Luke Spiller and Kojima picked it for a trailer

[@BurningOleander]

To France is genuinely one of my all time favorite songs. I love his extensive prog rock compositions too, but the man made excellent songs with vocalists as well.

[@MultiBeerme]

Why didn't Moonlight Shadow ever chart here in the US? It's such a beautiful song. I play it all the time.

[@VinchVolt]

If I had to guess, it's because of bad timing. Oldfield scored a US contract with Epic Records in 1980, and he got three albums out under their banner -- QE2, Five Miles Out, and a reissue of Tubular Bells. However, they didn't do so well Stateside, and Epic dropped him as a result, one year before Crises came out. Consequently, the only part of North America that got the album on-time was Canada thanks to it being a British satellite state; the US had to wait until Virgin imprint Caroline Blue Plate reissued much of Oldfield's back-catalog in America in the early '90s.

[@kaliora7047]

Fun episode as always! As an American, my exposure to Moonlight Shadow was the DDR cover version. This was fun timing though because I recently rediscovered pure moods and had a whole ton of childhood flashbacks unearth.

[@thebasedgodmax1163]

moonlight shadow is absolutely seen as Mike Oldfield's biggest hit here in the UK. Tubular Bells is obviously iconic but I think I've heard Moonlight Shadow MUCH more. that Christmas record is also very popular.