Stand back, denizens! It’s another one of those toys from the 80s loved by wacky suburban White kids!

Actually, the Magical Musical Thing hit the market in the late 1970s. It was, quite possibly, one of the silliest things I can remember from my childhood…and that’s saying a lot since I did have Strolling Bowling (and willingly admit to still having it stored in my closet).

The Magical Musical Thing was a long plastic stick, Smurf blue and trimmed in white (at least mine was). Along the spine were rows of pressure-sensitive pads, little color-coded rounded rectangles whose coloring always reminded me of billiard balls. Maybe this was the root of my future fascination with that game…who’s to say, really.

I remember going through the little music book that was included with the Magical Musical Thing, tapping out stilted renditions of classics such as “Oh, Susanna!” or “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” for a little while before growing bored and rubbing the Magical Musical Thing against the top of my head to make it make a noise not dissimilar to someone trying to cram a synthesizer up an android’s bum.

I had mad skillz when it came to the Magical Musical Thing, denizens.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywz7vN0GF_Y&w=640&h=480]