“ Hey , adult male ! Is that Freedom Rock ? ”
“ Yeah , man ! ”
“ Well , turn it up , world ! ”
In the 1980s , the lure of cheap commercial time led to many legendary mail orderliness offers . There was theGinsu knife , theSports Illustratedfootball headphone , and alaundry listof compilation records that assembled hit songs without the pain of B - side clunkers .
And then there wasFreedom Rock .
Less a commercial and more a piece of carrying into action artistic production , the two - minute spot aired circa 1987 and depict two burnouts grooving to hits from Lynyrd Skynyrd , the Allman Brothers , and Jefferson Airplane . Idling near a van , the two reminisce about the good erstwhile day ( “ warfare protest , jail ” ) and extol the virtuousness of sixties rock music on “ four records , three cassettes , or two CDs . ”
exemption Rockwas the brainchild of Razor + Tie , an independent record recording label that farmed out yield for a TV spot . The two histrion , Michael Beard ( who does most of the talking ) and Red Perry were local to the Colorado Springs country , where the footage was filmed . Beard was a theater regular , while Perry work as a DJ for local post KILO .
tail down after throw a comment on the video ’s YouTube page in 2013 , BeardtoldRetroist.com he was paid about $ 700 for the billet and found breathing in by acting " uneasy and stoned . ” His “ Hippie # 1 ” character , who appears overpoweringly upbeat even while tolerate what looks to be a balmy case of the tremors , was the primary factor in the ad ’s ill fame . According to itsunofficialFacebook fan page , TV audience think seeing thyroxine - shirts with Beard on the back flash a repose sign .
A second commercial featuring Perry in his common role of DJ was also filmed , but does n’t come along to be almost as fondly - remember . In 1988 , he made news byannouncingto his listeners at KILO that Pink Floyd was going to dally on the post ’s rooftop . More than 4000 the great unwashed record , apparently forgetting it was April 1 .
Perrydiedof Crab in 1995 . Beard is in Japan and performing with cover band Flashback and has seen more than one Hippie # 1 costume while overseas . In 2013 , New Hampshire ring Rippin ’ east brake asked Beard to reprise the persona to help promote a Kickstarter cause for their debut record album . sprain it on , man .
