10 Videos on YouTube that Brought Back Childhood Memories

Ever gone onto YouTube at a random point in time and just randomly decided to type in some song or some TV show you remembered as a kid?

It may be the most vague memory or the most insanely goofy thing humanly possible, however, it pops into your head. And, on top of that, have you ever had a pure elation when you found an actual video of what you were looking for? I know I surely have. 

A lot of people put down the Internet as alienating the human race or turning us all cynical, but honestly, I think some of that is unfair to say. I'd argue that the Internet has brought people closer together, and not only that, has helped awaken childhood memories that had long since passed. 

And if you're wondering if this is yet another article somewhat influenced by the Muppets, well you're damn right it is! I promise I won't get too carried away, it's just that I saw The Muppets a few days ago and it's still fresh on my mind (by the way: Very, very, very, very highly recommended for anybody, doesn't matter who you are. Great and very enjoyable flick).

My main rule here is no theme songs because that's too easy, no matter how epic the DuckTales theme song is after all these years.

So enough chit chat, here's 10 Youtube Videos That Brought Back Childhood Memories... in no particular order:

1. "Pinball Number Count" from Sesame Street -- Well, one fun fact: The singers in this catchy ditty are the Pointer Sisters. This was one of my favorites as a kid. No lie, I actually would sing this to myself as a kid...who knew counting from 1-12 could be so catchy? And the awesomely geeky thing is that someone actually put together ALL the different versions of this song for each number. Ahh the sheer dedication of some people. 
2. "Yakko's Universe" from Animaniacs -- This was influenced pretty highly from Monty Python's version, but I don't care. First off, Animaniacs was easily one of the smartest kids' shows out there and I have no shame in saying I still watch clips from it sometimes. It was one of my favorites in elementary school. I think I picked this one because I remembered being so overjoyed because I knew who Mickey Rooney was at the tender age of 9. 
3. "Istanbul(not Constantinople)"-They Might Be Giants from Tiny Toons -- I loved Tiny Toons. It was so ridiculously absurd and just enjoyable to watch. Also I had like 3 shirts of Tiny Toons in my wardrobe for a couple years. I wanted to use the "Particle Man" video for this but I was unable to because of WMG copyrights. Anyways, this was a part of an episode in which they spoofed MTV except they used all different songs...it's just that the two They Might be Giants songs were the most notable.
4. Behind the Scenes of Star Trek: The Next Generation from Reading Rainbow -- Back in NES, they had us watch Reading Rainbow clips every so often. It was pretty awesome. This, naturally, got me watching it after school right after Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? One day, my dad had come home from work early and this was on. Lo and behold, it was THIS episode and my dad, a huge fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation watched with me and was telling me every little bit about it all. (By the way, how trippy was the theme song?) Also, Levar Burton seems like a really cool dude. 
5. "Oh How Happy"-Shades of Blue from DTV Music Video Shorts -- If you don't remember DTV, that's okay. I only remembered it because we had VHS tapes of the Halloween and Valentine's Day specials. They basically were music videos set to old Disney cartoons. Oddly enough, this was something I completely forgot about until one Christmas when I was riding with my brother and "Expressway to Your Heart" came on the radio and we started talking of these. I chose this one mostly because a) I couldn't find the "Expressway to Your Heart" one and b) I love this song and I do recall this one too. 
6. "Just One Person" from Snoopy: The Musical -- I am not including anything from Snoopy Come Home because holy crap is that movie so damn sad. We had this on VHS just like the DTV shorts. We taped EVERYTHING, which I'm not sure was a good thing or not. This was always my favorite part of Snoopy: The Musical. I loved the way that it started with one and then built up one by one. Most people think this was a song from The Muppets, but nope... however, because I'm just that sadistic, I'll link the version from the Jim Henson tribute (not the memorial...that one is just plain sad). 
7. "Put Down the Duckie"-from Sesame Street -- Actually, I'm pretty sure this was from some primetime telethon for PBS. However, let's just put it down as Sesame Street for now. I remember this one most of all because of the fact that I ended up playing saxophone myself (Baritone Sax, but let's keep this line here). Watching in retrospect, I love the crap out of all the celebrity appearances in this, from Celia Cruz to John Candy to (my personal favorite) Jeremy Irons. 
8. "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)"-Harry Belafonte from The Muppet Show -- First off, I consider this the best episode, though the Elton John one is pretty great too. Between this and the ending "Turn the World Around" piece, there was a lot of damn good memories going around. I chose this one over the latter because I remember this one far more. Why? Not sure, but I do. Maybe part of the blame is on Beetlejuice using it.
9. The 4th of July Scene from The Sandlot -- First off, anything with Ray Charles' version of "America the Beautiful" is already 10 points in the awesome category. The time period being the 1960s adds another 10 points. Baseball is 10 MORE points. However, it's just the way this whole scene unfolds and just how damn pretty it looks (even if this video's quality is godawful). I LOVE this scene so much and is one of the things that helped in my falling in love with baseball. Also, this is not only a great kids' movie, it's a great baseball movie. (Sidenote: Is it just me or does Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez look just like Jacoby Ellsbury?)

10. The Motorcycle Bar Scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure -- This was one of the movies we had on VHS for some reason. It was such a bizarre adventure and a half but it was so much fun to watch. And who didn't want to have a house like Pee Wee's as a kid? I'd pick the morning routine but this part wins because of being able to play "Tequila" in Jazz Band when I was 11 years old. That. Was. Awesome. :D (Also fun fact: One of the co-writers of this film was the late great Phil Hartman)

And there you have it – 10 Childhood Related clips that I found on YouTube. There's plenty of other stuff and there were some clips I wanted to use, but either they were too depressing (the last episode of David the Gnome, the "Worthless" number from The Brave Little Toaster, the "Sentimental Journey" part from Bon Voyage Charlie Brown), being unable to remember enough of it (Mr. Rogers... I watched him, but the only thing I can clearly remember was Henrietta Pussycat who spoke in all "meows" and my brother's complete and utter adoration of Mr. Rogers), or I remembered it only a little bit ("Crocodile Rock" and "Grandma's Feather Bed" from The Muppet Show). 

I also refused to include the scene with Dumbo and his mother because that evokes some very strong emotions (along with "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2 and the ending of the “Jurassic Bark” episode of Futurama, it turns me into a sobbing mess) that I do not want to visit right now. 

So what are some of your favorites? Feel free to comment and share!