Dr. Blair, Dr. Blair... Dr. Jay Hamilton, Dr. Jay Hamilton

September 22, 2005 11:34 AM

"Dr. Blair, Dr. Blair... Dr. Jay Hamilton, Dr. Jay Hamilton"... what's the deal with this sound bite?

I first heard it on the Operation: Mindcrime record by Queensryche, circa 1988. Then I was amazed to hear it soon thereafter on an episode of The Cosby Show. One day, I overheard it on a episode of Days Of Our Lives. Just recently, I head it again on a (medically-related) commerical. Why is this? It's just supposed to be situational background noise, typical "hospital sounds", I assume. But why this one, all the time?

posted by Witty to media & arts (17 comments total)

Didn't we just have this very question recently?
posted by Pollomacho at 11:38 AM on September 22, 2005

Previously.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 11:38 AM on September 22, 2005

Previously discussed here.
posted by ericb at 11:38 AM on September 22, 2005

What soundofsuburbia said!
posted by ericb at 11:39 AM on September 22, 2005

Wow... I didn't even think to look first. I figured my question was bizarre enough. Thanks... and sorry for the double.
posted by Witty at 11:42 AM on September 22, 2005

What's funny is, I've been curious about this question for pushing 20 years... and it was only today that I thought of checking it out.

I wonder why it's that particular sound bite that seems to stick in people's minds. I mean, surely there are hundreds of others that are used over and over. I figured there was some sort of industry-related contract legality that forced TV shows to use certain bites. But the fact that it was on a QR album as well was throwing me off. Anyway...
posted by Witty at 11:49 AM on September 22, 2005

Paging Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard....
posted by briank at 11:55 AM on September 22, 2005

Oh, God, now it's stuck in MY head...
posted by mkultra at 12:40 PM on September 22, 2005

Well, you can never have enough questions that involve Queensryche as part of the answer.
posted by scratch at 12:41 PM on September 22, 2005

Word.
posted by Witty at 12:44 PM on September 22, 2005

Also on "Ghetto Bastard" by Naughty by Nature.

Strange bedfellows.
posted by Methylviolet at 12:45 PM on September 22, 2005

Since the question's been answered (more than once, which is incredibly hard to believe!) can I piggyback on this and ask how Queensryche is pronounced?
posted by iconomy at 12:50 PM on September 22, 2005

Queen's Reich (or Rike/ryke if you're sensitive) is how my momma taught me to say it.
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:52 PM on September 22, 2005

The only debate on pronunciation I've ever had is on which syllable to stress. I used to stress the second, but somehow I've switched to stressing 'Queens' in my later years. Now that I think about it, I think I used to stress both syllables equally.
posted by Witty at 12:55 PM on September 22, 2005

mmm, Queensryche.

I enjoy freaking people out when this soundbyte comes on a tv show. As soon as I hear "Dr. Blair" I pipe up with the rest.
posted by xyzzy at 4:10 PM on September 22, 2005

I think Motley Crue used some of the same hospital sound bite thingies that were used on Operation: Mindcrime on their Dr. Feelgood album. It may not have been the "Dr. Blair.. [etc.]" sample, but a different one that also appears on Mindcrime.
posted by Clay201 at 11:40 PM on September 22, 2005

I think Motley Crue used some of the same hospital sound bite thingies that were used on Operation: Mindcrime on their Dr. Feelgood album.

Verified as accurate!
posted by Witty at 10:00 AM on September 26, 2005