TVSquad

Let's do a little "Whatever happened to..."

Commercials can be a really strong jump start for memories and nostalgia. In fact, I think they can sometimes trigger a certain feeling in us even more than TV shows because they were repeated 700 times when we kids and we remember them strongly, even though we don't see them any longer.

After the jump we catch up with three classic commercial icons from the 80s. One famous for swinging a hammer, one famous for getting confronted by his dad, and one famous for fishing.

First off, listen to these two cover songs by a man named Reid Maclean.

Fantastic, right? You're probably wondering who the heck this guy is and where you can buy his albums. You might know him from this spot in the 80s:

Yup, Reid is the "I learned it by watching you!" kid. He's in his 30s now and an accomplished musician. Here's his site, where you can find out about his album Bright Fading Star and listen to a few tracks. "Full Time Job" and "Ne'er Do Well" are really beautiful and have become two of my current favorites.

Here's a classic ad, probably the most famous computer commercial of all-time. It ran only a couple of times, once during the Super Bowl:

The woman swinging the large hammer is Anya Major, who was a discus thrower and one of the few people who could actually swing that thing. She went on to play "Nikita" in the video for the Elton John song and also released her own album. She lives in England.

And how about the famous Oscar Mayer "Fisherman" commercial?

His name is Andy Lambros and he was four when he made that commercial. He's owned several businesses since then and is also a musician. Here's his site, though it looks like it hasn't been updated in a while.