Hustle Belt is, of course, a blog devoted to Mid-American Conference sports. But there's more to the MAC than just sports: there are 12 (+1) universities turning out thousands of students a year. And some of those students go on to careers of (at least mild) renown. So to shine a spotlight on some MAC success in the world of entertainment, we're running a weekly series, "Music of the MAC." So, without further ado, this week's acts, from Bowling Green:
THE CARS. "But wait," you say. "The Cars are from Boston!" Sure. But Ric Ocasek spent his high school years in Cleveland, where his father worked at NASA's Lewis Research Center (Glenn Research Center these days) as a computer analyst. After high school, Ocasek ended up spending time at, and dropping out of, both Antioch College and -- you guessed it -- Bowling Green. Eventually, Ocasek found his way to Columbus, where he met future Cars bassist Benjamin Orr. They moved to the east coast, and the rest, as they say, is history. The Cars achieved their greatest success from 1976 to 1984, releasing songs like "Just What I Needed," "My Best Friend's Girl," "Shake It Up," and "Drive." The Cars eventually broke up in 1988, but they reunited in 2010, releasing a new album, Move Like This, in 2011. "You Might Think," the first single from their 1984 classic Heartbeat City, won the very first VMA for Video of the Year, and helped pioneer the use of CGI in music videos.
The Cars- You might think (via Ryder276)
After the jump, an extra Bowling Green treat.JUDSON LAIPPLY. If you haven't heard of Judson Laipply, you obviously don't remember 2006, when YouTube was growing faster than anyone could have imagined, viral videos took over for those Flash animations about the end of the world or badgers and mushrooms, and all of Web 2.0 was wondering how much its founders would get in a buyout. It was in the wild and wacky times of 2006-vintage YouTube that a man named Judson Laipply uploaded a video he called "The Evolution of Dance." It went on to become one of the most popular videos in YouTube history, for very good reason.
Evolution of Dance - By Judson Laipply (via judsonlaipply)
Laipply grew up in Bucyrus, Ohio, and got a bachelor's degree at Bluffton College before moving to the windswept plains of Bowling Green to get his master's. He has since put out a second "Evolution of Dance" video, and is working on a third.
And that does it for our third installment of Music of the MAC. Next week: Buffalo.