Holly, former Big Mouth Billy Bass owner: I had one in my father’s house in the early 2000s. I remember seeing it in the store, and I was absolutely smitten with the singing fish. I can still remember one of the songs was “Take Me to the River,” and I’d sing that song to myself in the hallways at school. I’m a huge Muppets and animatronic fan, so having something like that was a big deal to me. I have no memory of what became of it though — it might have been sold in a garage sale. Big Mouth Billy Bass Survivor Edition 2022 Remake: Released in 2022 for the holidays, a remake of the Survivor Edition from 2018, but featuring a new skin design and sold exclusively at Academy Sports + Outdoors. Like the original 2018 version, this version sings a parody of "I Will Survive". 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] Future iterations of the project will also include sound, and we’re already wondering what use we might have for our own singing and dancing Big Mouth Billy Bass at Pi Towers. NEW FOR 2021 Gemmy Animated Big Mouth Billy Bass Singing Fish". YouTube. October 30, 2021. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021.

Waters, Mike (October 20, 2017). "Guy Turns His Big Mouth Billy Bass into an Alexa!". 105.7 The Hawk. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017 . Retrieved November 4, 2017.

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There’s a lot left to do here, and I welcome all your suggestions on making this better. I'd love to post a version 2.0 for this in the near future. 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.

Pellettieri left Gemmy in 2010, and now serves as VP of product development at another Texas-based seasonal toy company, Occasions Limited, where he has been granted even more creative freedom (he’s currently working on Halloween of 2021). Sometimes, Billy Bass sings very slowly and his voice is pitched down to -14.5 semitones. Finding a Billy Bass with this feature is incredibly rare. But Billy’s origins were about as humble as any fish’s could be — thought up outside a Bass Pro Shop in Grapevine, Texas, in 1998. The Spawning of Big Mouth Billy Bass In 1990, Bill Dance was fishing at Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. As he cast his line into the lake, he felt a tug on the other end. After a thrilling fight lasting nearly 20 minutes, he finally reeled in an impressive largemouth bass. The fish weighed in at 11 pounds and 4 ounces, making it one of the largest bass ever caught in that lake. Big Mouth Billy Bones: A singing skeleton fish made for Halloween. Released in 2000, Billy Bones appears to be the deceased brother of Billy Bass. He sings "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood. His bones also glow in the dark.Dubbed the “Big Mouth Billy Bass,” Pellettieri’s product came to life in the summer of 1999 –– and retailers who saw the prototype loved it. By early 2000, Billy became a prized trophy in a slew of speciality stores.

Intelligencer Journal , July 18, 2000, excerpt from “ Gore Shows Off Big Mouth Billy Bass Gift ”: Ever wonder what President Clinton is up to while his wife and No. 2 are out campaigning for offices of their own? The Shopping Channel, guesses Vice President Al Gore. Gore laughed — but asked not to be photographed — as he showed off the singing bass recently given to him by Clinton. 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. The creation of Big Mouth Billy wasn’t all sunny brooks and full fish hooks. When he initially pitched the idea, the higher-ups at Gemmy “hated the look” Stewart: That kind of lifespan is fairly typical and that’s what defines it as a novelty product. People buy it because it’s different — it’s novel — but the very fact that the appeal is that it’s novel and different means that over time, it’s not so novel and not so different anymore. So it loses its appeal.The viral video was actually created by a company called Gemmy Industries, as part of their “Famous Friends” series of animated characters. The singing fish was officially named “Talking Big Mouth Bass”. This plastic fish had sensors that would detect movement in the room, and it would then begin to sing when it was disturbed. Big Mouth Billy Bass is a singing fish made by Gemmy Industries in 1998-1999 and popular throughout 2000. He resembles a realistic-looking rubber Largemouth Bass mounted on an ordinary looking plastic plaque with a wood design. When activated by pushing the red button or passing by the motion sensor, Billy Bass will spring to life! He flaps his tail, turns his head outward to face you, and moves his mouth to the words of the song. Billy Bass sings "Take Me to the River" by Al Green and "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby Mcferrin. 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] Robbins was inspired by stories he heard of mechanical animals that were able to interact with their environment, and he wanted to create something similar with a fish. He used his knowledge of robotics and engineering to create a talking fish that could be triggered by a switch or lever. The talking fish was able to repeat phrases like “hello” and “goodbye”, as well as move its fins and tail in response to commands.

Gemmy Industriesrelied exclusively on word of mouth to sell their newest product.Additionally, they purposefully produced only a limited number to ensure that they could properly anticipate demand while also boosting profits. Big Mouth Billy Bass Jr: A smaller version of Billy Bass on an oval plaque released in 2004. This version was made to mark his 5th Anniversary, and was sold until 2006. This version sings a parody of "I Will Survive" and "Take Me To The River" (same recording as the original). Some models sing "Take Me To The River" and "Don't Worry Be Happy" just like the original. These models were sold mostly in the UK, Germany and Australia. Cleaner code. I’m certain there’s a lot of leftovers in the code from the mashup I did. I welcome any efforts to clean it up. You should remain on this step until you are able to control the head, mouth, and tail by the motors of the same name in the Arduino sketch. This will be needed when we add more sophisticated actions. Bob] had a few problems to solve, including making Billy’s mouth move when there was audio playing, detecting when the Echo was on, moving the motors and playing the audio. After a bit of research and a lot of tweaking, a Fast Fourier Transform algorithm designed for the ATtiny was used was used to get the mouth moving. The mouth didn’t move a lot because of the design of the fish, and [Bob] modified it a bit, but there was only so much he could do.

Remember Big Mouth Billy Bass? That’s the singing fish with which you could torture family members by having it endlessly perform a rendition of either “Take Me to the River” or “Don’t Worry Be Happy”. Robbins’ invention soon became popular and was exhibited in several public exhibitions, including the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. It was also featured in several newspaper articles and magazine stories, which helped spread the fame of the talking fish around the world.