As a proper latchkey kid, I didn’t miss saturday morning cartoons, no matter the quality. Pretty sure all my saturday mornings from ’85 until ’92 were spent watching cartoons. The weirdest were always the tie ins like Beetlejuice, MC Hammer’s show, Back to the Future, and ALF tales.

The institution of bright colours and ads for toys and cereals eroded away in the 90s, with the Children’s TV Act signalling the death knell for the marketing institution later on the decade. I was impervious to the ads. Not because I’m strong willed, but because the toys and cereals advertised weren’t available in Mexico.

Incidentally, you must whisper “great white Buffalo” every time you see a photo of GI JOE’s USS Flagg. THIS IS NON NEGOTIABLE.

So, where was I? Cartoons. The first weird stuff I saw happen with cartoons was that Cartoon All-Stars to the rescue! special. The Bush administration went real heavy-handed with the anti-drug campaigns, and it feels this is where the shark was absolutely jumped. Heavy handed and preachy, this special shook a few of us. Good for Peyó for damning the use of the Smurfs and kudos to Jim Cummings for asking for Winnie the Pooh’s lines to change. The only addiction should be hunny for this magical teddy bear, not dope and coke.

By the end of ’95, my cartoon obsession was pretty much a thing of the past. I’d watch the odd thing here and there, but I wouldn’t spend saturday mornings watching cartoons, I’d be writing, listening to music and helping my parents with the supermarket goods. I stopped reading comics because it was either comics or music, and music won.

My brother Bruno religiously bought Wizard magazine, and I loved perusing it. Like MAD magazine, the majority of my vocabulary came from reading different literature, especially rags like Wizard. My humour was heavily influenced by the nerdy silliness of Wizard. I clearly remember an ad for the compilation album Saturday Morning: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits. Alt rock and grunge bands covering the tv themes of the shows we saw as children? I had to listen to it. It was a gateway to bands I would learn to love later. Liz Phair, Semisonic, Tripping Daisy, Helmet, Violent Femmes. It was stacked with great bands.

Mary Lou Lord, an extremely underrated artist, covers The Archies’ Sugar, sugar, with a little help of Semisonic, before they took over the airwaves with closing time and secret smile. Mary Lou Lord’s voice is perfect. No ifs, no buts. She slips into the idyllic 50s high school fever dream that is the world of The Archies and brings a sweet (but not sickly) veneer to the track. A good cover pays homage to the original, but never fully apes it. A perfect cover lets the artist paying tribute present their own sound and the combination of Mary Lou Lord and Semisonic is simply perfect.

I want to write more about Mary Lou Lord as a pioneer of alternative music. From her busking days in Boston’s public transport, to the fleeting time on the spotlight. She deserves a listen from y’all.

-Sam J. Valdés López