By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
December 9, 1992
Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer.
The cartoon hero’s heading for the finish line again, only this time around, Chicago’s Alpha Team is driving him past the checkered flag.
The Alpha Team has a bonadine winner with “Speed,” a re-worked dance version of the “Speed Racer” theme. Clocking in at 150 beats a minute, the song’s throbbing bass line and jaunty, “Go, Speed Racer, Go” chorus has become a staple on radio playlists of WBBM-FM (96.3), WXRT-FM (93.1) and WCBR-FM (92.7).
Not bad for an anonymous team of two that’s never scored big with anything . . . until now.
“None of the things we’ve done in the past were even remotely successful, so the popularity of `Speed’ came as a total shock to us,” says Dane Roewade, who with D.J. Attack make up the Alpha Team. ” `Speed’ came out of Andy’s head. It was his idea to do it. He came to the studio with a tape and an idea (last August) and said, `Listen to this.’ I’m going, `Hmmmmm.’ I’ve been a huge `Speed Racer’ fan my whole life, and I jumped on the chance to do something with the song.”
“Nobody had any conception of what potential this song had, not even us,” adds D.J. Attack (ne Andy Adams). “But we all thought it would be fun. Our record company cleared the rights to rework the song with Speed Racer Enterprises. It wasn’t difficult to do.”
Laughing, he adds, “But they get as much (money) as we do. Who knew?”
More than 35,000 copies of “Speed” have moved locally, and Strictly Hype – a local indie label in which D.J. Attack is a partner – is gearing the record for national distribution. The song debuted on B-96’s weekend “Dance Party” less than two months ago. Until Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” bumped it off the top, “Speed” was the No. 1 requested song at B-96.
“It’s not insulting being bumped by a megastar who’s in a hit movie and who’s married to Bobby Brown. I think we’re doing well just getting played,” says Roewade.
Roewade and D.J. Attack, both 26, owe much of their success to luck. A mixer at B-96 got an advance copy of “Speed,” liked it and played it in a less-than-prominent time slot. But enough people heard it to request the song. Six weeks ago, “Speed” moved into regular rotation and now is heard five to eight times a day.
“The song generated an incredible number of callers requesting it,” says Todd Cavanah, music director at B-96. “It’s a dance record with huge novelty value, but not at the expense of the musicianship. It’s a great song.”
Layering live bass lines and keyboards over samples from the series’ theme and snippets of dialogue, the Alpha Team has two versions of “Speed.” One was designed for radio. The second is a longer, sexier club mix that depicts Speed Racer and his girlfriend, Trixie, having an orgasm. (Although he’s drawn to look pubescent, Speed Racer was of legal tender – the writers wrote him in at 18.) The moans were nicked straight from the “Speed Racer” series.
“The actors who provided the (American) voice-overs for the show were such hams that they were always overacting,” says Roewade. “Speed would always go, `Oh!’ when he was in trouble, and Trixie would go, `Ah!’ We had about 25 of these little suggestive sounds, and having the kinds of dirty minds we have, we incorporated them into the song.
“I must admit that Trixie was always kind of a fantasy for me. She was a fine babe, and she could fly a helicopter.”
`Speed Racer’ Quick Facts
• After running for two seasons, starting in 1965, in Japan, “Speed Racer” went off the air. It was shipped off to America in 1967, where it ran in syndication for 25 years. Classic “Speed Racer” episodes are shown at 8 a.m. Saturday on MTV Time shifts to 9 a.m. on Jan. 9.
• Peter Fernandez was the voice of Speed Racer in the United States. He did double duty as director, too. Corinne Orr did the voices of Trixie and Spridle, Speed’s baby bro. Both Fernandez and Orr now are in their 50s.
• Originally, the star of “Speed Racer” was Mach 5, Speed’s car – kind of like Kit in “Knight Rider” – only cooler. In Japan, the show was known as “Mach Go Go Go.” Why three Go’s? Speed’s Japanese name was Go Mifune.
• Cowabunga! Fred Wolf – the man who brought the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” to television – is the force behind the “New Adventures of Speed Racer.” Group W Productions will syndicate the 13 new episodes in September, 1993. There’s also an animated film in the works, called “The Speed Racer Movie Show,” set for release next summer.
• The producers are editing 95 minutes worth of animation from the classic series to make the movie.
• Pop star-Japanimation fan Matthew Sweet wants to do his own version of the “Speed Racer” theme.
