Big Mouth Billy Bass - The Singing Sensation

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A Teensy 4.1 or Teensy 3.2 is used to power [Kevin]’s various singing fish builds. There are two motors inside a singing fish, typically — one motor to pivot the fish’s body, and one to open and close the mouth. Hook these up to a motor driver, and command that with the Teensy, and you’re up and running. To sync the fish with the music, MIDI data is sent to the Teensy over USB. The Teensy takes in note data and uses this to command the motors to make the fish appear to sing along. Since its initial release, there have been a number of different versions of Billy Bass released. There have been variations of the original singing fish as well as versions that are able to respond to voice commands. The most recent version of Billy Bass is able to recognize up to 20 different commands.

In the years since, we’ve kept it going and even taken the car on a few trips to the East Coast and four or five trips to the West Coast. It’s still a hit at the Art Car Parade every year — it’s evolved over the years and become more sophisticated, with different soloists and a lobster as the conductor. The car is from 1984, but it’s a Volvo and they run forever. The fish, though, not so much — maintenance of the fish has been a major concern. I actually became an early adopter of 3D printing so that I could start printing replacement parts for them instead of buying more fish online. Most people probably would have given up in the last 20 years, but people laugh so hard at this, you know? How can you give up on the people who want to laugh? On first glance, Billy Bass might be considered mere kitsch, but dismissing this singing fish would ignore some critical linkages between culture and environment. To understand Billy’s unique cultural resonance, we need to dig deeper into the historical processes that enabled Billy’s flesh-and-blood counterparts to become the most popular sport fish in the United States.

Surprise your friends with this rare catch!” exclaimed the product description for the now legendary Big Mouth Billy Bass novelty product, which debuted 20 years ago, early in the year 2000, at an Atlanta gift convention . “This realistically-detailed Large Mouth Billy Bass looks ordinary enough. But when he senses an unsuspecting admirer, he flaps his tail and sings them a song!”

Stewart: This product was also sold via word-of-mouth, which is another characteristic of novelty products. A lot of awareness of novelty products comes about as a result of exposure, so you go to a friend’s house and there’s Billy Bass, which precipitates a conversation. Then you say to yourself, “My dad’s birthday is coming up. I bet he’d really like that singing fish.” It’s called an “ imitation effect .” Arduino and Echo Dot connected to the LM386 amplifier board and internal Billy Bass Speaker. Note the white signal cable from the amplifier speaker wire terminal running to the Analog input on the Arduino. The build process is well detailed in the write-up, and [Ben] provides many pictures so the reader can easily follow along with the modification. The short version of the story is that he cuts out the original control board and wires the three motors up to an Arduino Motor Driver Shield, and when combined with the appropriate code, this gives him full control over Billy’s mouth and body movements. This saved him the trouble of figuring out how to interface with the original electronics, which is probably for the better since they looked rather crusty anyway.

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But in an industry where few products hit it big, how did a plaque-mounted singing fish become one of the most iconic gag gifts in history? It started with a guy named Joe Big Mouth Billy Bass Sings For The Holidays: A Christmas themed version of Billy Bass. He wears a Santa hat and has a small jingle bell wrapped around his tail. 2 versions were made. The 1st version released in 1999 sings a Blues version of "Twas The Night Before Christmas" (which is a parody of "Trouble" by Elvis Presley). The 2nd version released in 2000 sings Country versions of "Jingle Bells" and "Up On A Housetop" Optional) Identify the switch used to toggle the motion sensor for the fish on and off. Cut its wires and solder the positive lead from the battery terminal to pass through this switch instead, allowing it to be used for turning on and off Billy's power to the motors. This is for convenience and not strictly necessary.

A remake of the original Big Mouth Billy Bass was released in 2021. This new version cut " Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin for Luke Bryan's 2015 " Huntin', Fishin' and Lovin' Every Day" in addition to Talking Heads' 1978 iteration of " Take Me to the River". [11] When Pellettieri arrived at Gemmy in 1998, the company was peddling a mechanical sunflower named Sunny that sang “You Are My Sunshine.” But sales weren’t great. Joe Pellettieri, the man behind Big Mouth BIlly Bass (via Mr. Pellettieri)

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The animatronic latex fish could be found floppin’ and singin’ on the shelves of every major retailer and toy store. It graced the walls of George Bush’s oval office and Queen Elizabeth’s Balmoral castle . It made a guest appearance on an episode of the Sopranos . And in the process, it sold hundreds of thousands of units. Wise, Kathy (July 1, 2020). "Big Mouth Billy Bass Inventor Says He's No One-Hit Wonder". D Magazine . Retrieved May 18, 2021. When you ask Alexa a question, Billy turns to you, and then (with significant delay) lip-syncs Alexa's answers. The actual audio comes out of your Echo speaker, and it's in Alexa's feminine voice rather than Billy's growl. For third-party skills, Billy will lip-sync some, but not all, of the responses. Remember, Billy is not a speaker. There are always the people that you don’t know who to buy for , and so, a novelty gift is often a very safe gift that says, “We were thinking of you.” I suspect that these were bought more as gifts rather than for personal use. I was actually given Billy Bass as a gift by some of my students because I’d used it as an example in an MBA class lecture about novelty products. Now we bring out Billy every Christmas, and he holds a place of honor in the house.

Finally, you can use Alexa’s voice capabilities to make your talking fish come to life. You can ask Alexa to play music that matches the mood of your fish tank, or even ask it to announce when it’s time for the fish to eat. With some creativity, you can create an interactive experience for your pet fish that has them conversing and responding with voice commands. World Record Billy Bass: A giant 28" lunker singing fish sold exclusively at KayBee Toys in 2000. This giant Billy Bass sings "Take Me To The River" and "Don't Worry Be Happy" just like the original. The fish comes with an extra nameplate that reads "WORLD RECORD BILLY BASS" that can be placed via peel off tape over the existing "BIG MOUTH BILLY BASS" nameplate. Big Mouth Billy Bass Cupholder: A spinoff Billy Bass product made in 2000. The mouth is hollow so it can hold your drinking cup. It can be activated by squeezing the lower half of the head. It plays "Take Me To The River" and "Don't Worry Be Happy" just like the original. After independently determining we can make all the motors move, and that we can play music and measure from the Arduino when music is playing, we just need to combine the components.McAlinden, Carrie (June 5, 2017). "True surrealism: Walter Benjamin and The Act of Killing". BFI . Retrieved February 16, 2022. Gemmy ( / ˈ dʒ ɛ m i/) is an American novelty manufacturing company, [3] best known for its animatronic and inflatable characters. It is currently headquartered in Coppell, Texas. Founded in 1984, the company originally began producing ballpoint pens. [4] Gemmy eventually ventured into novelty manufacturing, and in 2000, it achieved marketing success with the Big Mouth Billy Bass. Following that success, the company began predominantly making animatronic figures focused on the Christmas and Halloween seasons. [5] The company distributes product internationally, especially to the United Kingdom. [ citation needed] Design and features [ edit ] After receiving his MBA in marketing and finance from Indiana University, he worked as a buyer for various department stores around the Midwest. But after a decade of retail work, he went looking for “the next big thing.” Let's start with the soldering to get it over with. To create an audio input for your fish, take two equal lengths of different color wire, strip the ends, and solder one to ground, and one to Analog 0. Clip away any excess wire running through the board. The fish is made of latex rubber with an internal plastic mechanical skeleton. At first glance, the product appears to be a mounted game fish. The item was conceived by a Gemmy Industries product development vice president following his visit to a Bass Pro Shop. [6] The mounted fish turns its head, wiggles its tail on the trophy plaque, and sings cover songs, such as " Don't Worry, Be Happy" (1988) by Bobby McFerrin; and " Take Me to the River" (1974) by Al Green. Green claims he received more royalties from Big Mouth Billy Bass than from any other recordings of the song. [7]