Innocence Lost

Never in my life did I ever think that I would be writing a blog about this particular subject. Thank you Mario for bringing this to my attention. Chuck E. Cheese has lost his innocence, so to speak. No the big rat didn't fondle or grope a kid on the arcade floor or anything like that, but the musical selections that throughly entertained us over the years have been compromised.

Now, back in the day, when Chuck E. Cheese was Showbiz Pizza, I loved going there. It was great,fun, magical even. They used to sing this song..." I love Cheese pizza, I eat it all the time...." It was a catchy little diddy that I still remember 22 years later. That's powerful. So when Showbiz Pizza changed to Chuck E. Cheese's I was excited and disappointed at the same time, because I had grown to love Munch- the ape mascot. He was now replaced by a Rat aply named Mr. Chuck E. Cheese. His rhythmic band played melodic sounds to entertain the kid in all of us and embed the Chuck E. Cheese brand in our brains. I soon forgot about Munch and Showbiz and embraced Chuck E. as I swayed back and forth to the music as I gobbled my hamburger and red onion pizza accompanied by my salad from the neverending salad bar. I even had my 22nd birthday party there, equipped with College aged friends terrorizing the kids in the arcade. It was fun for everyone. Where a kid can be a kid right?

So imagine my shock when I witnessed a video of the Infamous Chuck E. Cheese band playing Usher's Love in this Club. You have got to be kidding me. Has Mr. Cheese's profits sunk so low that the band now has to play hip hop and R&B to boost sales? Last time I check that piece was slammed up and jammed up with screaming children and parents popping excedrin. Every single time I drive by, the parking lot is full almost to capacity and on the weekends, Forget about it. My son loves it and I keep the token bucket stocked with at least 100 tokens at a time for his sudden urges to visit the Cheese. I understand and agree that the band needed to change its reportoire and choreography for a hipper, fresher audience, but Usher? And, Love in this Club of all things? A sexually charged song not really made for kids. I would like to think that Mr. Cheese would not stoop so low to get a rise out of the patrons. I hope for his sake and the sake of the children frequenting his establishment that the video was the prank of a bored Cheese employee playing around after hours, because if this is the direction Chuck E. Cheese is headed, what's next, Strippers at Disney World?