[Hump Day Diversions] Pete & Pete

Holy Petunia, Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Pete & Pete was awesome, wasn’t it? What started as a series of 60 second shorts became one of the weirdest and most wonderful not-quite-for-kids-but-it’s-for-kids shows in all of ever time. One of the things that made Big Pete and Little Pete so much fun to adventure with (besides series regulars like Artie The Strongest Man In The World, Mr. Tastee, and more) was the array of guest stars that read like a who’s who of 90s alternative culture. Through the show’s 3 season run the little town of Wellsville played host to such notables as Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garofalo (as an English teacher), Juliana Hatfield, Debbie Harry, Patty Hearst, Luscious Jackson (as the stage band at Little Pete’s first dance), Iggy Pop (remember, he was Nona’s dad), Michael Stipe, Gordon Gano (of The Violent Femmes), Kate Pierson (The B52s), Hunter Thompson, and Adam West.

The opening credits song and many incidental songs for Pete & Pete were by a band called Polaris (a one off project by members of college indie rock band Miracle Legion) and MAN does it sound awesomely 90s and totally like The Lemonheads.

In addition to appearing in the opening credits of each show, the band was also featured in the episode “A Hard Day’s Pete” where you may recall Little Pete becomes obsessed with Polaris’s song “Summerbaby” and in true 90s fashion, starts up his own band to keep the song alive.

Music from The Adventures of Pete & Pete was released in 1999 and contains many of the songs Polaris recorded for the show. Looky, you can get it on Amazon and party like it’s LITERALLY 1999!

And now, let the sweet sounds of the vocal stylings of Mr. Iggy Pop and the backup jams of the lovely ladies of Luscious Jackson wash over you in this clip from the show…