#FlashbackFriday – What’s So Cool Going Down?

And we made it to the weekend!

So let’s celebrate!

Related: #ThrowbackThursday – No Mistakin’, It’s the One!

This week’s installment of Flashback Friday has a common thread to yesterday’s Throwback Thursday, in that both commercials advertise Diet Coke.  But while Elton John was busy entertaining digitally-remastered (and long deceased) celebrities (and even performing alongside one), Paula Abdul was busy hoofing it up with white-clad male dancers in a giant mansion of ice in the name of singing the praises of Diet Coke.  This wasn’t Paula’s first go-around with Diet Coke – in 1992, she also did the “perform with a late celebrity” trend when she “danced” with Gene Kelly and Groucho Marx (well, I guess it was dancing) in a commercial for the product.

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But, this version was her first.  And it was excellent.

In this 1991 commercial, made much in the style of one of her music videos of the time, Paula, clad in a white sparkly dress, shows her stuff in a mansion made of ice, alongside men clad in white as her backup dancers.  Her song is different from Elton John’s – rather than saying that there’s no mistakin’, it’s the one, Paula wants to know what’s so cool going down, as her backup dancers show their stuff around her.

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That’s the rhythm, that’s the taste of Diet Coke!

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Just for the taste of it…

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And boom.  Awesomeness.

Words alone can’t really describe the brilliance of Paula Abdul’s choreography.

But video can!

I’m an admirer of Abdul’s choreography – it’s brilliant and fluid, like only the best choreography has the right to be described.  She was a force to be reckoned with in the height of her celebrity, and I’m not ashamed to admit that her album Forever Your Girl is still one of my all-time favorite albums I’ve ever owned.

Oh, and if you’re feeling nostalgic for the time she danced with Gene Kelly and Groucho Marx, here’s that commercial.

Pure brilliance.

And there you have it – a twosome of brilliant commercials, featuring talented artists doing what they did best, surrounded by the talent of yesterday’s stars, all to sing the praises of Diet Coke.  There’s no mistakin’ the one, it’s so cool going down.  Just for the taste of it!

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So brilliant.

And yet, her commercial was missing something…

*Rubs hands together and laughs evil-like*

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