Master Index of Archived Threads


Music Video Reflections

A Boy Named Seo Jul 19 2006 01:34 AM

Billy Squier rocks me tonight. I hope he fired whatever peeps he had that advised him this video was a good idea. "Yeah, Billy, it's fantastic. Yes, sliding town that big red pole is very sexy! Yes, I love the little drum majorette marching dance! Very hot! I just wonder if actually picking up a guitar in the end of the video is the right way to go though..."

Johnny Dickshot Jul 19 2006 08:51 AM

That video just eviscerated his career. That's wasn't a particularly bad song either, considering the 80s style overproduction and the "rock me tonight!" chorus. I thought he was pretty promising up til then. His formula of high-pitched rawk pipes, trebley fuzzy guitar sound, and backwards-snare-drum beats coulda carried the rock torch through the New Wave jungle.

sharpie Jul 19 2006 09:20 AM

I saw John Hiatt and the North Mississippi All-Stars at the Nokia last night. The All-Stars played a set without Hiatt to open up and they were smokin'. I swear, at times it sounded like it was the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Hiatt doesn't really need such a crack band but it sure doesn't hurt. He's personable and oddly humble, played most of what one would expect (except for "Thing Called Love") and put on, what was for me, a surprisingly good show.

Edgy DC Jul 19 2006 09:34 AM

I saw a great review of that video once --- I may have even posted it here. You can almost hear the director screaming, "No, let yourself go! I mean GO! What would FREDDIE DO, Billy!? That's it, swing on the pole --- fantastic! This is YOUR world, Billy! They love you!!"

Edgy DC Jul 20 2006 09:25 AM Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Jul 20 2006 10:56 AM

There's so much going on in that Squier video. He should get a Video Vanguard Award from that alone. I showed it to Ms. Edgy. I tried to explain all the context that's hard to imagine now. Just picture two guys, maybe 20-21, veterans of arena rawk shows, sexanddrugsandrackandroll, juist knowing they were young at the best time in history to have been young. Guy 1: "Dude, what are you doin'? Guy 2: "I dunno. Just watching some videos." Guy 1: "Why are you wasting your time with MTV? God, all that gay new wave shit is so gay!" Guy 2: "I don't know. Just looking for some new music." Guy 1: "Dude, looking for what? Zeppelin is gone. The Who just did a farewell tour. Aerosmith is all fucked up. The Kinks are starting ot suck." Allan Summers: "And that was the Motels. Coming up, the newest video from Billy Squier." Guy 2: "Cool." Guy 1: "Are you serious?" Guy 2: "He's awesome. He's got a voice like Plant. Plays this big crunching Gibson. You know him. He did 'The Stroke'." Guy 1: "He sings about strokes?" Guy 2: "No, Dude, about fucking getting stroked? 'Stroke me! Stroke me!' Bah-bah-baaah-baaah! He also did 'In the Dark' You know that." Guy 1: "I guess so..." Billy Squier: "♫♫♫You want it all right / We're goin' in style...♫♫♫" Guy 1: "Um, Dude, what the fuck is this...?" Guy 2: "Just, hold it a minute..." Guy 1: "But Dude...?" Billy Squier: ♫♫♫Moonlight in the city brings the magic to your eyes! / Freezin' a moment - leave me paralyzed...♫♫♫" Guy 2: "Oh, God..." Guy 1: "Dude, WHAT THE FUCK!?!?" Guy 2: "I, I didn't know." Guy 1: "Didn't know shit! Look at that guy! Listen, I'm sorry. I, I gotta go. I've gotta find somebody else to see Judas Priest with on Friday. Take, take it easy, man." Ms. Edgy was of the opinion that a lot would have been forgiven if they just stuck a girl in there, not even in the bed, but in a cage in the corner somewhere even. That it was clearly aimed at gay men. She also felt that that the pink t-shirt/camisole wasn't that big an issue, not so much as the narcissistic writhing and fantasy dancing, but I disagree. It's the coup de grace. You put up with that first verse and its gymnastics, holding out, expecting the chick in verse two. Instead of that payoff, you get Squier putting on symbolic lingerie. Guy 1 may have long been out the door by then, but that's the point where Guy 2 cashes his chips. It's the pink cherry on top of a double scoop of homoerotic ice cream.

Edgy DC Jul 20 2006 10:58 AM

And yet, Priest survived and flourished, despite, to my memory, no wimmens in their videos at all.

Willets Point Jul 20 2006 11:07 AM

Perhaps we should split this discussion into a seperate music video thread? This message brought to you by the Society for the Prevention of Bloated All-Purpose Threads.

seawolf17 Jul 20 2006 11:42 AM

Johnny Dickshot wrote: It’s interesting I suppose that the hard-pop bands who would continue along Squier’s musical path in coming years, no matter how gay they actually were —Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Poison, etc. — made sure always to have chix in their videos, frequently with ripe melons, as their filmed appeal to their masculinity was always completely over the top. (Sigh.) Once again, hair metal gets no respect.

Willets Point Jul 20 2006 01:22 PM

Actually the whole "hair" thing is rather disrespectful.Once upon a time Heavy Metal was dangerous, rebellious music and if you saw it on TV it was during the overnight Headbangers Ball on MTV, a show that was almost scary to watch in its Satanic overtone. Seemingly overnight Heavy Metal became "hair bands" and the subject of nostalgic novelty on the formerly all-soft rock VH1. I really have no idea when the change occurred or what brought it about.

seawolf17 Jul 20 2006 01:50 PM

There's a thick, thick line between heavy metal and the hair bands. They grew from the same cloth, but neither one wants to be grouped with the other. Ask a Judas Priest fan their feelings on Poison and they'll laugh pretty loudly.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 20 2006 02:40 PM

seawolf17 wrote: ="Johnny Dickshot"]It’s interesting I suppose that the hard-pop bands who would continue along Squier’s musical path in coming years, no matter how gay they actually were —Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Poison, etc. — made sure always to have chix in their videos, frequently with ripe melons, as their filmed appeal to their masculinity was always completely over the top. (Sigh.) Once again, hair metal gets no respect. I wasn't disrespecting it. I was saying that Billy Squier was a musical and video-ical pioneer who took the arrows so that all gay men could rock in freedom.

seawolf17 Jul 20 2006 02:47 PM

"Are you implying that I needed Billy Squier to rock in freedom?!?! Come over here so I can bitch-slap you."

Willets Point Jul 20 2006 02:52 PM

seawolf17 wrote: There's a thick, thick line between heavy metal and the hair bands. They grew from the same cloth, but neither one wants to be grouped with the other. Ask a Judas Priest fan their feelings on Poison and they'll laugh pretty loudly. Well that's the thing, in the 80's all these bands were lumped together as demonic heavy metal. I never, never heard the term "hair band" at the time. Today -- rightly or wrongly -- they're all lumped together under that term.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 20 2006 03:26 PM

This thread has potential. What is this video supposed to be about?

Edgy DC Jul 20 2006 03:32 PM

She takes the Big country Brand Humidor away from them, they go back out on their ATVs, and she burns whatever the contents of the humidor were. They see the smoke and ride back angry, she punches them. "Oh, well, women," they think, and go out sporting some more. it's about not neglecting your woman, or she'll burn your brand-name stuff.

Willets Point Jul 20 2006 03:32 PM

Question: How do you embed YouTube videos in a post? When I tried it I got a bunch of html markup and no video image.

Edgy DC Jul 20 2006 03:36 PM

To the right of tthe video they usually leave you the coding you need to embed it. It's labeled as such. She also took some of their shit and dropped it offshore, leaving them a map. She's really screwing with them.

Elster88 Jul 20 2006 03:37 PM

I wonder if this is hotlinking. I do it all the time. But if it is, youtube may get pissed.

Edgy DC Jul 20 2006 03:39 PM

They give you code that says "Embed." Why would they get pissed?

A Boy Named Seo Jul 20 2006 03:49 PM

This one's almost as good as the Billy Squier one. You just knew that when the fella with the short-shorts, half-shirt, and yellow headband made his appearance, then a gay basketball game (which looks to feature the Kobra Kai's own Johnny Lawrence) would break out any minute.

Edgy DC Jul 20 2006 04:02 PM

Explain to me slowly how Puerto Rico beat the US in basketball in the 2004 Olympics

Johnny Dickshot Jul 20 2006 04:16 PM

It's obvious: Their women used their enormous belts to beat and tie up US players.

Edgy DC Jul 20 2006 04:25 PM

And apparently NBA players don't realize that pig piling is a legal maneuver.

Vic Sage Jul 20 2006 04:44 PM

Having come of age in a pre-MTV world, the music video format has never done anything for me. There have been specific ones i thought were great or terrible, or otherwise memorable, but on the whole, the entire format has always seemed silly to me. There seem to be 3 basic types of videos 1) Concert Videos - these primarily use concert footage of the band playing the song, perhaps intercut with some other images or scenes. The problem with this type is it often uses footage that was not shot for this purpose, and it looks it. Or, even if shot for use in videos, it usually fails to communicate the kinetic energy of a live concert. 2) Story Videos - these try to use the song and images to tell some kind of story, or follow some kind of narrative thru line. Sometimes the narrative is a literal rendering of the lyrics, and sometimes it has nothing at all to do with it. The problem with this type is the stories or narratives are either stupidly literal, adding nothing to the song, or so bizarrely unrelated as to draw attention completely away from the song. 3) Impressionistic Videos - these primarily use a collage of images with the song, including SFX, studio performance, animation, movie clips, etc., in an attempt to evoke some emotion, mood, theme, or for no reason whatsoever. The problem with this type is it usually degenerates into tediously self-conscious, self-indulgent incomprehensibility. The first "music videos" i ever saw were created by TV pioneer Ernie Kovacs in the early 1950s. Like his absurdist sketch, the Nairobi Trio, which a trio of gorillas in formalwear played a song as if they were mechanical, and at the end of each stanza, the drumming gorilla would hit the piano-playing gorilla on the head, and the piano-playing gorilla would grow increasingly frustrated. Kovacs would also just play a song and put a kaleidoscope over the tv lens, turning it to the beat of the song. Once he just showed the objects and furniture in a room opening, closing and slamming around to the beat of the music. His videos were like reading a Zen koan. the music video era of the 1980s made the music secondary to the image. That is why Madonna succeeded and her contemporary Cyndi Lauper faded away. Despite being the superior singer and performer, and singing better songs, Lauper was just too odd-looking, while Madonna was selling herself with great panache. As a popular song of the era said, video killed the radio star. I don't want to overstate it, because the music industry has ALWAYS sold image over music. And the music video can and does ocasionally succeed as an independent work of art in its own right. But for me, overall, its had more of a negative than positive impact on the contemporary music scene.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 20 2006 05:07 PM

I agree pretty much with all you said, tho the video certainly did Cyndi Lauper as many -- if not more -- favors to get her career off the ground than Mandonna. Madonna (or her agents) seemed much much more willing to exploit the new art form, but for a while there, the video age was Lauper's for the taking. She's So Unusual!

Edgy DC Jul 21 2006 08:43 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jul 21 2006 09:23 AM

Yeah, Cyndi built quite a video-trademarked image for herself. She even staged wrestling events, for Pete's sake. Yeah, she wasn't Madonna. Who was? That chick had naked ambition, figuratively and literally, and probably would have found a way to make herself who she became even if that medium hadn't yet been born.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 21 2006 09:16 AM

The guy who plays the Groom in the video above: Steve "Romeo's Tune" Forbert. GJWHF, by the way, is a really great song.

Edgy DC Jul 21 2006 09:23 AM

Forbert. Awesome. Probably the most MTV time he's ever gotten.

Iubitul Jul 21 2006 09:28 AM

Edgy DC wrote: Yeah, Cyndi built quite a video-trademarked image for herself. She even staged wrestling events, for Pete's sake. Gotta love the appearance of Captain Lou in that video.... I really think we should be dancing on the ceiling....

Edgy DC Jul 21 2006 09:43 AM

Thread killer.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 21 2006 09:59 AM

I was trying to search yesterday for a video where the singer is acting and singing at the same time -- that was a frequent style of the early conceptual videos, but almost always a disaster. Eddie Money IIRC may have been the worst offender, but I can't recall which song/video it might have been. I think Eddie Money may have been retarded.

Edgy DC Jul 21 2006 10:28 AM Edited 3 time(s), most recently on Jul 21 2006 12:08 PM

I think Money had been through a car accident or something and was suffereing from partial facial paralysis. They had a video --- Eddie's "Think I'm in Love" which we referred to as the Click Video. It had a vampire theme set in a gothic mansion, and as the grainy exterior black-and-white shot would artfully zoom in on the house, you think, "This might be good..." and then you hear the first notes and Eddie going "Oooh..." and you click it off as a reflex without even thinking. But yeah, he tried --- and failed --- to sing and act. The chick --- "Rosanne" --- in his "Sh-sh-sh-shakin'" video turned out to be Appolonia. I was the cheap special effects that got to me. I had a favorite by Slow Children called "President Am I" with one great cheap special effect of a woman on a martini bender who eventually starts drowning in a giant martini glass. In this sense (the cheap FX sense), Greg Kihn's "Jeopardy" may have been the best ever. It never failed to blow my young mind how record companies would spend millions in developing, promoting, and distributing this music, but force the bands to pay out of pocket and make cheap-assed videos with lameo special effects and bad lip synching --- which would get them more exposure than their old-school promotions budget could dream of. Even after Thriller, more bands than not were still forced to operate this way. And I guess that was the fun. Yeah, the videos detracted from the songs they accompanied as often as they added to them (or more often), but you got to be young, waste time, and see this new mass pop art form develop briefly outside of corporate scheming. Until Lionel Richie. I guess the Web allows even more of that for today's generation --- peeps are consuming creative writing, filmmaking, cartooning --- all unfiltered and constantly available. I don't know how any of them are going to settle into a working life. "President Am I": "Jeopardy":

seawolf17 Jul 21 2006 10:51 AM

Bizarre Eddie Money story: My wife, our MFY fan friend, and I were at a Ducks game two years ago. One of the interinning contests they have is called "Sing For Your Supper," where a fan stands on the dugout, butchers a karaoke song, then wins a gift certificate to Bennigan's or something. I jumped up at the end of the inning to run and grab a drink; as I'm standing on line, the on-field host welcomes "Ed from Levittown, who's going to sing 'Two Tickets To Paradise.'" The guy starts singing, and he's surprisingly good. I turn around to my wife and my friend (our seats are within sight of the concession stand), and we exchange thumbs-ups; the guy was really impressive. I get back to the seat just in time for the guy to finish the song, and I recognized him immediately as Eddie Money. It was totally bizarre.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 21 2006 11:05 AM

I'm sure Eddie Money would perform in front of any audience he can find these days. I don;t really think he was retarded. He was kind of a poor man's John Cougar, when Cougar was a poor man's Bob Seger, when Bob Seger was a poor man's Springsteen. But Eddie Money > Huey Lewis. All that said, I always liked "Baby Hold On" quite a bit, even the goofy breakdown bit with the heavy breathing, and think "2 Tickets," "Take Me Home Tonite," and maybe a few others of his are perfectly fine pop songs. I recall that vampire video. It turns out the chicks are the vampires! But that's not the one I was thinking of.

Iubitul Jul 21 2006 11:52 AM

Johnny Dickshot wrote: But Eddie Money > Huey Lewis. Uh. No.

Willets Point Jul 21 2006 12:29 PM

Huey Lewis rawked. And then he didn't. It may have been the most precipitous drop in coolness in pop culture history.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 21 2006 01:21 PM

Put up yer dukes! 1. Two Tickets to Paradise 2. Take Me Home Tonight 3. Shakin' 4. No Control 5. Baby Hold On 6. I think I'm in Love 7. Um... 8. Uh... 9. Hmmm... 10. Err..

Edgy DC Jul 21 2006 01:27 PM

I accept! 1. I'll Fall In Love Again 2. Three Lock Box 3. I Can't Drive 55 4. Give To Live 5 Ubba... 6..It's just... 7 Yeeeeah... 8. I think... 9. But... 10. I was in Van Halen!

seawolf17 Jul 21 2006 01:30 PM

How did Sammy Hagar get into the conversation? And where is "Eagles Fly" on that list?

Edgy DC Jul 21 2006 01:37 PM

Sammy's always spoiling for a fight, even one of Huey Lewis's fights.

Iubitul Jul 21 2006 01:50 PM

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Put up yer dukes! 1. Two Tickets to Paradise 2. Take Me Home Tonight 3. Shakin' 4. No Control 5. Baby Hold On 6. I think I'm in Love 7. Um... 8. Uh... 9. Hmmm... 10. Err.. Go for it. (hey, it was the 80's - needed a Rocky reference) 1. Heart Of Rock and Roll 2. I Want a New Drug 3. Couple Days Off 4. It's Alright 5. Hip To Be Square 6. Whole Lotta Lovin 7. If This Is It 8. Do You Believe In Love 9. It Hit Me Like a Hammer 10. Back In Time

Edgy DC Jul 21 2006 02:10 PM

Um.... vs. "If This Is It" I may have to go with Um... here.

Elster88 Jul 21 2006 02:24 PM

I would sponsor Huey Lewis and the News.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 21 2006 02:25 PM

Perhaps "vaguely uncool American solo rock artists of the 80s" can be a special 1-shot BLC but instead of 2 contestants, we could go with, like 5 or 6 Huey -- lubitul Eddie -- Dickshot Sammy -- Edgy We need takers for: Bob Seger Greg Kihn John Cougar George Thorogood

Willets Point Jul 21 2006 02:29 PM

Oh good, so we can have two BLC's that no one cares about. :)

Willets Point Aug 08 2006 05:58 PM

A masterpiece.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 08 2006 11:08 PM

Nice. Enjoy this one:

metirish Aug 08 2006 11:21 PM

Watch the great Gary Moore with Thin Lizzy..."parisienne walkways"

Edgy DC Aug 09 2006 09:10 AM

The Slade thing has everything a glam rock video should have --- old guys acting young, castles, studded leather, Celts, and top hats. Bonus points for copping the guitar-that-sounds-like-a-bagpipe thing from Big Country. Anybody can steal from their elders. Stealing from your successors is much slyer.

Willets Point Aug 09 2006 09:26 AM

I just like the funny-faced guy mugging for the camera.

Edgy DC Aug 09 2006 09:28 AM

Mugging. Also important.

seawolf17 Aug 09 2006 09:57 AM

MFS62 Aug 09 2006 12:04 PM

My most vivid music video image - the fat biker chick with a missing tooth on John Cougar Melenkamp's "Hurts So Good". Later

Willets Point Aug 09 2006 06:01 PM

Johnny Dickshot Aug 10 2006 11:03 AM

Rock n roll Citizen Kane:

Edgy DC Aug 10 2006 11:17 AM

Fewer videos. More reflections.

ScarletKnight41 Aug 10 2006 11:28 AM

I don't mind the videos. When I'm busy, I just don't click them. But they're interesting time pieces.

Edgy DC Aug 10 2006 11:39 AM

I don't mind the videos either. I dig 'em. I just want to solicit reflections.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 10 2006 11:50 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Aug 10 2006 11:55 AM

Well these things ain't gonna reflect themselves. I chose the XTC video above because the first video I ever saw, on late-nite TV way WAY back before MTV, was an XTC video. Like that one, it included chess peices as sets, which I think was a common video trick to introduce the idea of "complexity" and make use of the era's most popular pattern -- the black-and-white checkerboard. I don't recall what song it was. Anyway, I'm sure you'll agree "Simpleton" is a cool song and its video uses some gorgeous shots. Some brave soul ought to introduce XTC in the BLC. "Deathbed" I've pimped here before -- by my friend's unpopular band -- and the homage to Citizen Kane video I thought might be of interest to the film-minded. "Hurt So Good" was a big moment in JCM's career -- it turned him from an obscure guy with a couple of songs you heard on the radio from time to time to a guy you paid attention to, even tho that song isn't among his best. The whole Cougar to Cougar Mellancamp to Mellancamp thing was happening then too. I thought he used the momentum of that hit song brilliantly to introduce a large audience SCARECROW, a great record, or at least, as great as he'd ever make. I could listen to Lonely Ol' Night over and over again.

Willets Point Aug 10 2006 11:54 AM

My family finally got cable tv when we moved into a new house in 1984. My sister & I finally got to see what all the hubbub was about MTV and started watching. That Slade video was in heavy rotation at the time which is why I remember it fondly (and hearing the song again after 20+ years reminds me it was actually a pretty good song). Another video that got a lot of play was for a song I believe was called "Fine, Fine Day" by a band I don't remember and I can't locate on the internets. IIRC, the video followed the day in the life of some guy just released from prison. The third video I remember from this period that my sister and I liked a lot was this one. ZZTop were kind of like bodisattvas alieviating the suffering of the downtrodden working gal. And they did that cool thing where they spun their guitars too. And don't miss the wave at the end too. Video masterpiece.

Edgy DC Aug 10 2006 11:58 AM

Sounds like you're referring to "Making Plans for Nigel": Colin Moulding is on vocals. Could you make up a better British bandmember name than Colin Moulding?

Johnny Dickshot Aug 10 2006 12:43 PM

Great song. I think I was! The poor quality and weird sets kinda scared me, I'll admit.

Willets Point Aug 10 2006 02:50 PM

Yeah, and there's the freaky Joker/clown guy too. Edgy, can you find my video too?

Willets Point Aug 10 2006 02:58 PM

Never mind, here it is. Unlike the other two it's not as good as I remembered.

Edgy DC Aug 10 2006 03:01 PM

I'd have never thought of this again, hadn't you mentioned it. "It's a Fine, Fine Day (for a Reunion)" by Tony Carey, previously known as the keyboardist for Rainbow. It's a good refrain but a blah sem-spoken verse. Look, chessboard floors!

Edgy DC Aug 10 2006 03:02 PM

Beaten to the punch.

TransMonk Aug 10 2006 08:07 PM

Best music video ever: The Mats had making videos down...their video for The Ledge is great too. For all the pomp and circumstance that went along with MTV in the mid eighties, these guys knew how to let the music speak for itself.

cooby Aug 10 2006 08:38 PM

I just watched "Beat It' at You Tube. God, he was so freaking gorgeous, perfect; what made him think he had to change anything?

Willets Point Aug 10 2006 08:55 PM

Cuz he's a barking mad lunatic. He was even handsomer a few years earllier.

cooby Aug 10 2006 08:57 PM

Yeah, he was a beauty. I also just listened to "Ben" from 1972 and I'd be lying if I didn't mention I was in IN LUV with him back then... Right now I'm listening to Jimi..... "Hey Joe" Another beautiful face

cooby Aug 10 2006 09:23 PM

okay, I found my favorite. Back then I couldn't take my eyes off the drummer (can you tell I like boys with long hair?) The girl with the short blonde hair was my muse back then; now my niece looks just like her. That's what 20 years will do for a couple of girls...

Willets Point Aug 10 2006 09:30 PM

Whoever let in all those geeky subarbanites at the end should be fired. Can't find the great video for "Dad, I'm in Jail" by the same band.

cooby Aug 10 2006 09:39 PM

Okay, I've just watched it about six more times, I don't think I can ever see enough of that video.... Anyway, the girl suburbanite with the short dark hair, black sweater and trousers? She looks just like my blond niece's mom did way back then. That one front man looks just like Rollo, btw, never noticed that before 'cos I was always checking out the drummer, I guess

seawolf17 Aug 11 2006 06:28 AM

Cooby! Thank you thank you thank you. One of my favorites. Great find.

cooby Aug 11 2006 08:51 AM

Wakes you up too, doesn't it? :)

Edgy DC Aug 11 2006 09:49 AM

Cooby's got a family of video vixens.

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 03:19 AM

Today, some kid can probably do this on his computer, but at the time...this was the shit! Love the 80's do's. My mom always questioned the random appearance of "Flight of the Bumblebee" on the bridge.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 16 2006 07:00 AM

I always wondered if this video was funded by the Norwegian Milk Association. Love the song and the video. Team 13 beating Mr. A-Ha with a pipe wrench for losing a race? Now that's racin'.

cooby Aug 16 2006 09:46 AM

Love the song and the video. Me too...Shy, decently dressed girl wins hunky boy. If you tap in "Melt With You", you'll find an entry credited to A-Ha, which of course is wrong and brought on an ensuing argument.

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 10:09 AM

cooby wrote: Me too...Shy, decently dressed girl wins hunky boy. She's a cutie. Definitely not the type to eat and split without paying her bill under normal circumstances. I've never watched the video for "I Melt With You" before. Definitely not a high-concept video. The lead vocalist has that 80's UK gawky, impoverished look down. Great song.

cooby Aug 16 2006 10:12 AM

Willets Point wrote: ="cooby"] Me too...Shy, decently dressed girl wins hunky boy. She's a cutie. Definitely not the type to eat and split without paying her bill under normal circumstances. I've never watched the video for "I Melt With You" before. Definitely not a high-concept video. The lead vocalist has that 80's UK gawky, impoverished look down. Great song. Yes, I agree; in fact, usually when I put it on, I minimize it and do something else in another window and don't watch it at all! Love the song, though

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 10:19 AM

What's going on in this video? Are they all dating the same woman?

Johnny Dickshot Aug 16 2006 10:20 AM

A friend's band used to perform a version of "I Melt with You' but they didn't know all the lyrics, particularly the background singing leading into the "Dream of better lives.." verse (come to think of it I don't know what they say either). Pretty sure it's not what they improvised: "I've seen you nay-ay-ked." Looking up... 'You should know bet-ter" eh. Prefer the first.

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 03:38 PM

This is when I miss Edgy most. He would have made five enlightening comments about Level 42 by now. Here's another one I like -- a chimpanzee in a Red Sox jersey, a one finger keyboard solo, and a drumming rabbi. And its all set in a library.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 16 2006 05:19 PM

I'm pretty sure Level 42 is boring enough to challenge anybody to come up with 5 enlightening things to say about 'em. Maybe 2 or 3. They struck me as the band that 80s indy chix professed to like. TsfFs -- More interesting. While also leaning to chick band status, had a good Beatle-y vibe happening at times and they weren't afraid of their own sound. Head over Heels is a good example of the acting while lip-synching style I was talking about above that made so many videos so very cheesy and delicious.

metirish Aug 16 2006 07:14 PM

This guy had a great voice, wonder what happened him

cooby Aug 16 2006 07:20 PM

Wishing Well, I dang near wore that song right off my cassette...but the whole record was great I have often wondered where he got to too, metirish

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 07:24 PM

He bears an unfortunate resemblance to the guys in Milli Vanilli, which couldn't have been a boon to his career.

metirish Aug 16 2006 07:25 PM

I think he was done by the time they came out.

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 07:31 PM

Dude's changed his name and lives in Milan.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 16 2006 07:35 PM

Now let's discuss the vaguely gay, loungey dance-pop non-revolution of the late 1980s. She's hot. Yes or no? This song is great. Yes or no?

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 07:48 PM

The inevitable appearance of Swing Out Sister. I vote for hot, although some of the makeup she wears in this video is creepy. Corrine Drewery looks pretty good here: As much as I wanted to hate it when I was 12, that is a great song.

metirish Aug 16 2006 07:50 PM

She's hot and the song is a classic, Willets thanks for the info on Terrence,I was wondering when I youtubed him why I got this other name.

cooby Aug 16 2006 08:41 PM

Yogi, meet Lenny, he did you proud

ScarletKnight41 Aug 16 2006 10:38 PM

Breakout is a great song - I still love it.

Iubitul Aug 21 2006 09:54 AM

Kelly Clarkson rocking out to GnR (coarse language - be careful at work)

Willets Point Aug 21 2006 01:42 PM

Yo La Tengo go to rock school. Certainly this is not the first (nor the last time) that a music video makes fun of music videos but it's really funny all the same.

Willets Point Aug 22 2006 11:59 PM

Cool things about this video: 1. Pretty good song with nice layered vocal effects. 2. Gal's kind of cute with those big brown eyes. The up-do hasn't aged well though. 3. Band named for obscure Star Trek character. 4. Apparently inspired those De Beers diamond commercials. 5. The song was the band's debut single which flopped when released in their native UK but became a big hit in the US. The band went on to have a string of hit singles and albums in the UK and across Europe, but never charted again in the US.

Edgy DC Aug 23 2006 07:53 AM

Johnny Dickshot wrote: TsfFs -- More interesting. While also leaning to chick band status, had a good Beatle-y vibe happening at times and they weren't afraid of their own sound. Head over Heels is a good example of the acting while lip-synching style I was talking about above that made so many videos so very cheesy and delicious. Edgy's gf at the time, as well as her girlfriends (including the aforementioned Kathleen Hanley), dug TsfFs largely based on that "Head over Heels" video (third single from the album, yo), which earned me major points because they thought I was a dead ringer for the single-finger keyboardist. It was only true in profile, but I accepted the points.

Willets Point Aug 23 2006 08:23 AM

Could you catch books as well as he? Looks like you're catching up, so maybe at last I'll find out what's going on in that Level 42 video. The guy who keeps driving away from the chick is a dick. I don't know what she sees in him. Maybe that's why she's dating all the other members of the band too.

Edgy DC Aug 23 2006 09:33 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Aug 23 2006 10:10 AM

The Yo La video is funny as heck, but the plot completely sublimates the song. All I picked up were two lines. It sounds like a good song, but I'm missing most of it. They also had a funny video set during the period of rampant rumours of a Beatle reunion. They eagerly accept a job opening up on tour for the reunited surviving Beatles, but as the tour gets under way, they begin grow depressed as they never see a Beatle, and their sets are hours before those of the Beatles and their accommodations equally removed. Even though they're presumably opening for the Beatles, the Beatles remain more of an abstraction than a reality.

Willets Point Aug 23 2006 10:01 AM

"Sugarcube" is a great song and it is a pity that they talk over it. I don't know if that's supposed to be an ironical "videos are so important that the song doesn't matter" or just if they thought it was funnier with dialogue. The other video you're thinking of is "Tom Courtenay". They use subtitles in this song so they can have funny dialogue but you can still hear the lyrics. I particularly like how Beatles fans are shown dressing up as the Eggman and Maxwell's Silver Hammer. I just can't imagine people being that silly and creative if a real Beatles reunion had ever occurred.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 23 2006 10:25 AM

That video was great! Thanks!

MFS62 Aug 23 2006 10:28 AM

Has anyone else wondered how Kylie Minogue's dress stayed on (and closed) during her dancing in the "I Can't Get You Out of My Head" video? Later

Willets Point Aug 23 2006 11:07 AM

No, but I'm heading straight to Youtube to do some research on the topic now. <later> OK, that's some dress. My take is that it must be a sentient being trained to cover the naughty bits. BTW, I've heard that song a gazillion times and never realized that it was Kylie Minogue who sings it.

MFS62 Aug 23 2006 11:28 AM

Then we're even. Speaking of running off to do research, I had to look up sentient. Good word. I hat you. :) Later

Centerfield Aug 23 2006 02:29 PM

="Edgy DC"]Fewer videos. More reflections. I have a reflection only since YouTube was ordered to remove the videos. How come no one made a big deal out of the fact that Pour Some Sugar On Me and Armageddon It had basically the same video? It was all concert footage from the same concert. Right down to shots of the same pretty blond girl in the striped shirt.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 23 2006 02:31 PM

Aren't they the same song too?

Centerfield Aug 23 2006 02:42 PM

No. One goes: DAH nah nah nah nah; DAH nah nah the other goes: DAH-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah DAAAH-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah

Johnny Dickshot Aug 23 2006 02:49 PM

Oh, right.

Centerfield Aug 23 2006 02:55 PM

It worked when you did the Guns N Roses riffs a few weeks ago. Maybe I don't write guitar riffs well.

Edgy DC Aug 23 2006 02:56 PM

Centerfield wrote: I have a reflection only since YouTube was ordered to remove the videos. Or maybe they suddenly got standards. Nothing, by the way, is loading for me at work from youtube. Even the ones embedded here are just big white boxes.

seawolf17 Aug 23 2006 03:03 PM

YouTube was ordered to pull down videos?!?! Noooooooo... Speaking of videos -- and specifically the above one -- does anyone have PhD's self-titled album in their collection? I would love an mp3 of this song, but none of the services seem to have it, and the album's long out of print.

metirish Aug 23 2006 03:04 PM

Who is PhD?

Iubitul Aug 23 2006 03:07 PM

MFS62 wrote: Has anyone else wondered how Kylie Minogue's dress stayed on (and closed) during her dancing in the "I Can't Get You Out of My Head" video? Two words: body tape

Willets Point Aug 23 2006 03:20 PM

Pour some sugar on me is available.

seawolf17 Aug 23 2006 04:00 PM

metirish wrote: Who is PhD? The band that released the song in that video, "Little Susie's On The Up." Tesla covered it a few years later, and I'd love a copy of the original, but not enough to spend more than 99 cents on it.

seawolf17 Aug 24 2006 09:07 AM

metirish Aug 24 2006 09:49 PM

Anyone remember this great band.....I love this song and video...The Housemartins - Happy Hour

metirish Aug 24 2006 11:19 PM

Waterboys - The Whole of the Moon..one of my faves ever...

Edgy DC Aug 31 2006 08:59 PM

Check Waterboys doing "Crown" some time. Gold. This is a London punk expanding his repertoire, doing wicked sixties soul with great snare fills and a Beatleriffic costume.

metirish Aug 31 2006 09:02 PM

Edgy I freaking love that song and band...I submit "going underground"

Willets Point Aug 31 2006 09:26 PM

The leader of the Waterboys is known for scuffing balls.

Willets Point Sep 01 2006 08:52 AM

Moving in to the world of 90's pop here's the evocative video of a breakup song where a young woman (and her cat) takes a final walkthrough of the apartment she shared with her former beau. Appears to have been filmed all in one take although I bet some video trickery was involved. This woman is apparently still available and looking for a nice Jewish man, although Brasil loves her.

Johnny Dickshot Sep 01 2006 09:15 AM

AAAAAAAHHHHHH! In my version of that video, the cat attacks and kills her before the song is 30 seconds in.

Edgy DC Sep 01 2006 09:30 AM

Lisa Loeb cutting in on Paul Weller. It's a funny world, i'n't it?

cooby Sep 01 2006 09:33 AM

I had no idea she sang that song. I guess she's got one more fan than we thought

Edgy DC Sep 01 2006 09:46 AM

Do cats count?

Willets Point Sep 01 2006 09:48 AM

Only to 18 unless they're polydactyls.

Willets Point Sep 01 2006 11:18 AM

A strong contender for the most unlikely and probably worst song to ever reach #1 which it did in the UK in June of 1987. The video is weird too.

cooby Sep 02 2006 11:55 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Sep 03 2006 12:03 AM

Here's a great song. Video's pretty interchangable, but just to hear the song is worth it. Willets, that's a hoot

cooby Sep 02 2006 11:56 PM

Willets Point Sep 07 2006 03:20 AM

Going way, way back for this one. Hi-De-Ho.

Willets Point Sep 08 2006 12:43 PM

Every time I see the "No More Tides" thread I get this song by Berlin in my head. So I figure I'd share that song and the video which in true 80's fashion has absolutely nothing to do with the song, but is a tribute to Bonnie & Clyde.

cooby Sep 08 2006 01:09 PM

I think I'll dye the bottom of my hair black. What a weird look. I forgot all about that song

Edgy DC Sep 08 2006 01:21 PM

I've been thinking of the Berlin song because of that thread also.

MFS62 Sep 08 2006 01:32 PM

WP, I remember seeing that Cab Calloway film on tv when I was a kid. Holy flashbacks, Batman. Later

Willets Point Sep 08 2006 02:07 PM

Cooby - I think it's just that her roots grew out. A lot. Edgy - I'm glad I'm not the only one. MFS62 - I didn't know they had tv when you were a kid. :)

MFS62 Sep 08 2006 02:14 PM

Willets Point wrote: MFS62 - I didn't know they had tv when you were a kid. :) We did. But it was a Dumont. With a five inch screen. They used to sell magnifyers you could put over the screen to make the picture bigger. Of course, we had to fly a kite into a lightning storm to power it, because AC power hadn't been invented yet. :) wiseass young whippersnappers Later

Edgy DC Sep 08 2006 09:38 PM

Dumber than a box of rocks.

Johnny Dickshot Sep 08 2006 11:05 PM

Willets Point wrote: A strong contender for the most unlikely and probably worst song to ever reach #1 which it did in the UK in June of 1987. The video is weird too. Completely retarded - yet I laugh every time I hear "It's worse that that -- he's DEAD JIM."

Willets Point Sep 10 2006 07:20 PM

The #1 song the last time the Mets clinched the NL East. Metal band videos are all the same. Pseudo-concert footage alternating between color and b&w with some documentary style "on the road" footage thrown in. Booooring.

cooby Sep 10 2006 07:23 PM

I certainly hope Elster takes note

Willets Point Sep 10 2006 07:24 PM

cooby wrote: I certainly hope Elster takes note Me too. I giggled and thought of Elster when I looked that up.

cooby Sep 10 2006 08:10 PM

I don't think Slash is smoking on there, bizarre!

cooby Sep 10 2006 08:20 PM

Here is Elton's most beautiful song, and somebody came up with a smashing collage, though the beginning is kinda weird (If Elton had never sang another song, I would still love him just for this one)

Edgy DC Sep 10 2006 08:59 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Sep 11 2006 08:02 AM

Willets Point wrote: The #1 song the last time the Mets clinched the NL East. Metal band videos are all the same. Pseudo-concert footage alternating between color and b&w with some documentary style "on the road" footage thrown in. Booooring. Big move at the time was Duff in his CB's tee-shirt. Years earlier, the Replacements covered "Black Diamond" and admitted it was OK for punks to admit a fondness for metal. On behalf of metal, Duff finally returned the peace offering. Within a year or so, every hair metal boy, perhaps sensing the end was near, was wearing a CBGB shirt and churning out an "Anarchy in the UK" cover. Too late, poseurs; Nirvana already had you in their sites.

Valadius Sep 11 2006 12:18 AM

Oh shit, it's Slash!

Johnny Dickshot Sep 12 2006 04:13 PM

Don't bother with them they don't bother me.

Edgy DC Sep 12 2006 04:41 PM

Not loading.

Willets Point Sep 15 2006 08:01 PM

With all the Joe Jackson talk in another thread I thought I'd reflect on the video for the only song I know by Joe Jackson (Edgy and Dickshot wrinkle their noses in disgust). This is a great song and a good video in the daydream genre common in the early 80's. Nice vintage footage of New York as well.

ScarletKnight41 Sep 15 2006 08:02 PM

Nice choice Willets - Stepping Out is one of my favorite videos. Beautifull and stylish.

Edgy DC Sep 15 2006 08:04 PM

Listen to that Graham Maby go!

Edgy DC Sep 16 2006 02:57 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Sep 22 2006 09:20 AM

Movie soundtrack videos were a different animal entirely. A huge boon for Hollywood, they were 3-4-minute movie commercials, that were broadcast for free (as opposed to the 30 second spots on primetime they pay through the nose for) for audiences more active and engaged than those watching a more explicit TV commercial. They'd intersperce movie scenes with (usually studio) footage of the band performing, probably shot the same day the song's vocal was being cut, because of the difficulty of getting the strange bedfellows behind movie singles (Lou Reed and Sam Moore, Aretha Franklin and Keith Richards) together in the same room again. This is an fine song written, produced, and largely performed by Stuart Copeland, with Stan Ridgeway, the vocalist from Wall of Voodoo, whose voice sounds like an electric guitar, done for the Francis Ford Coppola/S.E. Hinton film Rumblefish. The Police were out performing Synchronicity, but this song could have been right off of the far-stronger Ghost in the Machine. An important rule of these videos was to include a money shot of every star and known supporting player in the movie, in order to draw in the broadest audience. So besides Matt Dillon stoomping around town in a preening rage, you get money shots of Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Chris Penn, and Tom Waits. Interestingly, however, Dennis Hopper and ---especially --- Nicholas Cage barely appear. I don't know if Francis Ford Coppola or cinematographer Stephen H. Burum were involved in the video shoot, but, in order to make the editing of the music studio shots cut seemlesly into the film footage, they're shot with the high-concept black-and-white style of the film.

Johnny Dickshot Sep 21 2006 10:50 PM

Stew was doing a radio interview the other morning pumping a documentary on the Police he put together, including lots of home movies and rare early stuff. Sounds like it's worth a look. Here's the video I couldn't wait to slot in at L (though with my luck it's already there). Those great ascending harmonies came as the result of stacking up 30-some vocal recordings, I read once. Not sure the bad-toothed Buddy Holly was the right look for this guy: He shoulda been huger.

Edgy DC Sep 21 2006 11:59 PM

A revolution in three minutes here. What can you say? Has a director ever before or since gone from shooting a cheap-ass music video to the studio feature film A-List?

Johnny Dickshot Sep 26 2006 09:19 AM

It's brilliant but also kinda stoopit, taking a 70s action cop show (I'm certain it was S.W.A.T.) and adding lots of cheese. In 1982, Eugene was getting into AC/DC while I was getting into infectious, white, near-funk. I can imagine the meeting discussing this one. Record Company Guy: What's your idea? Director: First we'll have regular footage, then add some cheesy effects, then have an unrelated animated section and finish it all off with a paint fight and human pyramid! Record Company Guy: Brilliant!

MFS62 Sep 26 2006 09:28 AM

The way Mick Jagger and David Bowie looked at each other in their Dancing in the Streets video makes Bianca Jagger's comment that she once caught them in bed together believable. Later

soupcan Sep 26 2006 09:35 AM

Possibly my all-time favorite video. And not for the reasons you think. I love Roth's emoting and the almost catoonish look of the vid. I remember watching this thing when I was in college and being so completely stoned off my ass and just loving it. Ah, good times. 21 years ago? Wow.

MFS62 Sep 26 2006 09:54 AM

Edgy DC wrote: A revolution in three minutes here. What can you say? Has a director ever before or since gone from shooting a cheap-ass music video to the studio feature film A-List? I'm pretty sure I remember reading about one. I want to say John Carpenter, but he may not be the one. (Whether or not John Carpenter is an A-list director is fodder for another thread, should someone want to start one) Later

Johnny Dickshot Sep 29 2006 03:38 PM

Not really a music video, but music, video and reflections:

metirish Sep 29 2006 07:51 PM

Dickshot that was very cool,thanks for posting it.

metirish Sep 29 2006 08:05 PM

these guys are from Ireland and were huge there for a few days...filmed at the Point in Dublin.....I can't believe I liked this as a teen,Joe Elliot produced the album IIRC.

Johnny Dickshot Oct 12 2006 07:46 AM

I'm gonna say it was 1990. There were 2 "new" comedy cable channels -- one called HA! and one called The Comedy Channel. They basically showed 12 hours of standup a day, the hans boys & Gruber, plus infomercials and then, one morning, a pick-up from a Minnesota public access channel, Mystery Science Theater 3000. For a short time it was by far the most orioginal and funny thing on TV. Then everyone copied it, the original actors left, etc. Highlighht from Season 2:

ScarletKnight41 Oct 12 2006 07:56 AM

MST 3000 is on DVD now - my daughter is very into it at the moment.

seawolf17 Oct 12 2006 09:24 AM

Weezer might be one of the most criminally underrated pop bands of their time. Everything they released pretty much turned to gold: From the top: Happy Days, baby animals, "Weeze," and the Muppets -- just four of their classic videos. I'm claiming Weezer if we ever pick up the BLC again.

Willets Point Oct 20 2006 05:51 PM

I heard this song the other day. Great song, great video. I've always liked how for the bridge ("hush my baby...") the director isolated the one vocalist (Jane Wielden?) singing shyly in the car on her own.

Edgy DC Oct 21 2006 02:26 PM

Yeah, Wiedlin is my sweet rock pixie. It's just a blip., but also note how when they pull the vintage car up on the sidewalk, it's in front of the "Trashy Lingerie" store. Janey co-wrote "Our Lips Are Sealed" with Terry Hall of the Specials. The Specials splintered shortly after, with Hall and the other two vocalists forming Fun Boy Three, who did their own bitchin' skeletal re-make of "Our Lips": Are those actual musicians backing them up or a roster of British nu wave models.

Willets Point Oct 24 2006 03:35 PM

Fun Boy Three aren't that much fun are they? They turn that song into a proto-Goth dirge. Then again I should listen to the lyrics more carefully. Maybe the Go-go's sing it too cheerfully.

Edgy DC Oct 24 2006 10:56 PM

Johnny Dickshot wrote: It's brilliant but also kinda stoopit, taking a 70s action cop show (I'm certain it was S.W.A.T.) and adding lots of cheese. In 1982, Eugene was getting into AC/DC while I was getting into infectious, white, near-funk. I can imagine the meeting discussing this one. Record Company Guy: What's your idea? Director: First we'll have regular footage, then add some cheesy effects, then have an unrelated animated section and finish it all off with a paint fight and human pyramid! Record Company Guy: Brilliant! I don't know if it was their image as a red-hot party band in the seventies, but I got the idea that the Giels Band had a marketing strategy going with all their looks, with each guy representing a decade --- the bass player going with zoot-suit forties, the drummer with greaser fifties, the sax guy with hippie biker sixties, Peter Wolf with tights-wearing bisexual Bowie seventies, and the keyboard players with mouse-and-earring eighties. I'm not sure where that leaves Giels himself. Maybe he was the future.

Willets Point Oct 30 2006 01:13 PM

This silly video raises a lot of questions. Do people actually go bowling in the UK? Or are they trying to channel the iconography of the USA in the early 60's? And if so then why the very British three-wheel car? Is Tracey running around on Paul McCartney with the greasy guy? Is she running around on the greasy guy with Paul McCartney? If the latter, why doesn't she just dump the greasy guy? Or is Paul McCartney the greasy guy grown up? Do we really need a label on the car to know it's Paul McCartney? I mean the greasy guy needs a name more than Paul McCartney. Will I break the record for dropping the name Paul McCartney the most times in a minute, previously held by Scott Muni? Anyhow, it's cute song and I'd forgotten that Tracy Ullman was pretty cute herself.

Johnny Dickshot Oct 30 2006 01:53 PM

I think Paul is the greasy guy grown up. The car in the early scenes said Paul too: I suppose they felt it'd be more confusing without the label. I think that's a great song too. Love the bells. Not crazy about the bridge but like how she comes out of it. BAY-be-be

Edgy DC Oct 30 2006 02:00 PM

But is it the greaseball pinching her bum while stocking shelves in the supermarket? And what's with the homemovie shot of a little girl getting spanked?

Willets Point Oct 30 2006 02:14 PM

Damn, just more questions.

cooby Oct 30 2006 02:32 PM

Tracy Ullman played the Princess in the Princess and the Pea on a show I saw recently and she's still adorable, though she must be pushing 50

Edgy DC Oct 30 2006 02:43 PM

Giving her old Carol Burnett roles is almost too obvious to do. They're filming Sweeney Todd. Maybe they'll let her make the pies.

ScarletKnight41 Oct 30 2006 02:45 PM

She sees her guy as Sir Paul, even though the rest of us see that he's just a garden variety frog. That's what love is all about.

Willets Point Oct 30 2006 02:46 PM

It occurs to me that the last two videos I've posted - the Go-Go's and Tracy Ullman - were songs in my sister's record collection. I wonder what it means that 20 years later I like the songs she listened to more than the songs I listened to back then.

soupcan Oct 30 2006 03:11 PM

It means you are gay.

Willets Point Oct 30 2006 03:50 PM

You're just getting back at me for calling the Cavemen gay.

soupcan Oct 30 2006 05:09 PM

Takes one to know one.

Willets Point Oct 30 2006 05:29 PM

Well, in fact, I am a lesbian.

cooby Oct 30 2006 08:27 PM

I had absolutely no idea what those girls were saying until now

Willets Point Oct 30 2006 08:28 PM

cooby wrote: I had absolutely no idea what those girls were saying until now Which girls?

cooby Oct 30 2006 08:29 PM

Our Lips Are Sealed. Sorry, I was thinking out loud and forgot it was several videos back :)

cooby Oct 30 2006 08:29 PM

Our Lips Are Sealed. Sorry, I was thinking out loud and forgot it was several videos back :)

Edgy DC Oct 30 2006 11:12 PM

This is so wonderful, I'm speechless: But B&B aren't:

cooby Oct 30 2006 11:25 PM

Now that's weird. When I click the top one, I get no sound. When I click the bottom one I get the top one (Alton Brown on a bike?) Is that right?

Willets Point Oct 30 2006 11:58 PM

I have a feeling that by take 15 in filming Tom Waits was not too keen on the concept of his being squashed beneath a table. Edgy, Beavis and Butthead! How could you?

Edgy DC Oct 31 2006 09:23 AM

B&B are never wrong about which videos suck.

Willets Point Oct 31 2006 11:18 AM

Since soupy outed me, I've put together a composite video reflection I like to call "Gay Bar, ca. 1985": Enjoy, it's fabulous!

cooby Nov 05 2006 11:59 AM

Sweet song, cute couple

cooby Nov 05 2006 12:48 PM

And my favorite Expose song

Edgy DC Nov 07 2006 10:08 AM

Expose had a different lineup for each single. Go-Gos news from Wikipedia. ]In 2006, the band is touring to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Beauty and the Beat. Good! ]Charlotte Caffey and Kathy Valentine are also planning a reality show with Susanna Hoffs and Vicki Peterson of the Bangles, that will showcase female musicians and form a new all-female band. Ungood! ]The Go-Go's are planning a project with Disney called the Po-Go's, featuring child musicians performing new Go-Go's material. Double plus ungood! Ugh!

Willets Point Nov 11 2006 07:24 PM

This is just some trippy shit here.

cooby Nov 11 2006 07:42 PM

And they wonder why so many child actors come to a bad ending

cooby Nov 30 2006 01:18 PM

Bumped this to hear Elton again, but it was in dangerously deep water anyway

Willets Point Dec 01 2006 12:11 PM

Lip-synching? We don't do steenkin' lip-synching!

seawolf17 Dec 01 2006 12:25 PM

That video is unsettling.

cooby Dec 27 2006 11:02 PM

I am posting this for no other reason than that I was just in the mood to hear this song

Edgy DC Dec 27 2006 11:08 PM

There's a lot to reflect upon in that. Plot driven, title cards, the whole bit.

Johnny Dickshot Dec 27 2006 11:28 PM

Dolby should have had a better popular career. He was creative, could make you dance and smile, brought plenty of cool new sounds and effects to his music, and, when he wanted to, did some deeper sophisticated stuff as perfectly suited for pot-smokers as for technogeeks as for dancers. And if you were a techogeeeky pothead dancer, well he was the answer to your prayers. "Science" was a mixed blessing for him to be sure -- memorable song, enjoyable for sure, but got him marketed and branded as a bit of novelty artist, and obscured some appreciably better stuff. Recommended Thomas Dolby downloads: "One of Our Submarines" "Dissidents" "The Flat Earth" all worth your 99 cents.

Johnny Dickshot Dec 28 2006 11:44 AM

So I went looking for T. Dolby stuff on the net & ITunes and whiole I couldn't located "Dissidents" I see that Dolby did a solo tour this year resulting in a new live album and DVD that was podcast and distributed all around. Clever how he uses several high-techy gadgets to record and sample himself and "build" these rich songs from scratch right there by himself. You can search for "The Sole Inhabitant" on Youtube, but several of the clips are long and include introductions (they're worth hearing anyway in my estimation), but so as not to bore you here's an intro including several highlights that should give you a feel. What a clever, underrated artist.

cooby Dec 28 2006 09:59 PM

Thanks Johnny, that's a great find (I liked him better with hair though) I took your advice and dug around a little and found some of his stuff and I may invest a little of my Christmas money in him. I always did like "Blinded me with Science", even before I knew what the heck he was singing, lol...

Edgy DC Dec 28 2006 10:07 PM

Being Thomas Dolby the Techmaster producing the studio performance himself on stage like that has sort of left him to also be Thomas Dolby the Indifferent Singer. I mean, his voice has suffered for the years, but that doesn't mean tossing off lyrics as if he's just hitting a button. Bye, bye, Empire. Empire, bye, bye.

Edgy DC Jan 07 2007 01:46 AM

Joan had been off the charts for a few years and playing colleges and then she roared back with a fury with this. It's threatening, bad-assed with a dance-floor pop stomp of a beat. So, friends what was wrong with it?

cooby Jan 07 2007 09:17 AM

It sounds just like the Sunday Night Football song?

Johnny Dickshot Jan 07 2007 10:24 AM

]Joan had been off the charts for a few years and playing colleges and then she roared back with a fury with this. It's threatening, bad-assed with a dance-floor pop stomp of a beat. So, friends what was wrong with it? Bon Jovi was better looking, I think. As "bad-assed" as the piece it is very polished, what with the echos and all, very much like BJ. Woulda been #1 had BJ done it, prolly.

Edgy DC Jan 07 2007 12:33 PM

You're on to it. What's going on here, is this is the late eighties, and some suspect is at the wheel of Joan's career. The teased-out hair, the chrome studs on her leather, the shoulder pads in her leather, all these by themselves would be OK, because, fuck you, Joan can do what she wants, but, taken together are a strong indicator that Joanie's forsaking the her winning trashy-pop-punk angle to deliver her goods through the polished-hair-metal distribution network. The goofy sideman with the fringes is particularly indicting. Is he even one of the Blackhearts from the early eighties, or did they all get traded in for her Bon Jovi gambit. I doubt a new manager was calling the shots, because the loyalty between her and Kenny Laguna is legendary. But the formula is the formula, and the hair metal formula stipulates that second singles are dreadful power ballads. "I Hate Myself for Loving You" was followed up by the particularly noxious "Little Liar" featuring a rare appearance of Joan acting against a male romantic lead --- one with a horrible horrible hockey player mullet. When the grunge revolution hit, Joan was wearing the wrong clothes for the party, and it wasn't until several years in that she got tagged as an influence by alternachicks. She took the role graciously but a relatively young Joan had been cast from the mainstream forever. Often, the seeds of our failure can be found inside the fruits of our success.

cooby Jan 07 2007 01:02 PM

Is it just my imagination, or is she playing both herself and the new girlfriend? Brunette chicks always get me confused.

Edgy DC Jan 07 2007 03:37 PM

Yeah, she's both the chick cheated on by Wayne Gretzky and the girl he cheats with. But the leather jackets are different, so...

cooby Jan 12 2007 08:52 PM

For some reason, when I was a girl, I liked the group America. Now I can't imagine why. I heard this awful song the other day and checked out the video. Is there a reason they showcased that silly little guitar riff the guy in the pink shirt does? My cat could do that. My cat's grandma could do that. Why does the lead singer really creep me out? How long did it take the guy with the black beard to learn his part of the lyrics? Why does this song give me bad vibes? Who does it remind me of?

Willets Point Jan 12 2007 09:08 PM

Man, that was like the lamest video concept ever.

cooby Jan 12 2007 09:27 PM

Isn't it though?

cooby Jan 12 2007 09:40 PM

This is a little more like I remember them. The geeky blonde guy is the one on the left here.

ScarletKnight41 Jan 12 2007 09:45 PM

Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs goes on and on about Horse With No Name. Just name the friggin' horse already!

Johnny Dickshot Jan 12 2007 10:50 PM

Yeah, yeah. Still difficult to beat that 'Ventura Highway' riff for your mellow dollar. 'Horse' might be somewhat over-rated, but what a beaut 'Ventura Highway' is. America has been doing comeback albums since like 1976. They in fact just released another one.

cooby Jan 12 2007 10:54 PM

Agreed! So did Prince get the expression "Purple Rain" from this song or was it common? Another from the same set

soupcan Jan 12 2007 11:02 PM

Mid-70s my dad was deep in the throes of a mid-life crisis. Started driving a sportscar and wearing a cowboy hat (dad was born, raised and lived his whole life to that point in Manhattan). Didn't get an earring thank God but he did start listening to what he thought of as 'young' contemporary music. Two bands he really got into were America and Earth Wind & Fire. I give him credit, he could've done much worse. Anyway, 'Horse With No Name' somehow seemed to resonate with him. Played it all the time. My whole family has known that song backwards and forwards for the better part of 30 years now because of his complete infatuation with it. The song is still dad's favorite to this day. If it comes on the radio while he's driving everything stops and he sings along. It's pretty cute really watching this 70 year-old dude folk-out. The Earth Wind & Fire thing was funny too. He liked the song 'Fantasy'. One day my sister and I started singing along to it while getting a ride to school in his 280ZX and he asked us how we knew the words. We told him we learned it from listening to him play it so much. He was astonished because he was not able to glean one correct lyric from the song by listening himself. He just could not make out what they were saying no matter how hard he tried. And believe me, he tried. As the song would play he'd say 'what did they just say?' My sister and I started just making up shit and telling him that's what they are singing. As a result of that he still thinks the alternate title of the song is 'Borneo' because that's what we told him they were singing instead of 'ba de ya'. As in Ba de ya- say do you remember, ba de ya - dancing in September, Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day. Ah, good times.

Willets Point Jan 12 2007 11:12 PM

Until last spring, I thought "Fantasy" and "After the Love is Gone" were songs by the Bee Gees. Not that I knew there song titles before then. Anyhow, a friend showed me the error of my ways.

Johnny Dickshot Jan 12 2007 11:26 PM

How about Dewey wearing a t-shirt that has his own band's logo on it?

cooby Jan 13 2007 09:38 AM

I heard my son playing "Jessica" on his guitar the other night. All of my life's goals have now been met.

Johnny Dickshot Jan 25 2007 11:55 AM

The Bears' return to the SuperBowl takes me back to the winter of 85 and this KILLER KLASSIK! This is no superbowl shuffle!

Willets Point Feb 07 2007 02:21 PM

A couple of videos for those of you who like to see people dancing with reckless abandon.

cooby Feb 07 2007 05:19 PM

I think skirgsk was briefly (five or ten minutes) a member of the Cranepool Forum

Willets Point Feb 07 2007 09:20 PM

cooby wrote: I think skirgsk was briefly (five or ten minutes) a member of the Cranepool Forum Huh?

OlerudOwned Feb 07 2007 11:25 PM

Bill Nye is just all sorts of talented. Ivy League mechanical engineer, sketch comedian, and an expert parodist. The only two videos that seem to exist online, "Smells Like Air Pressure" ("Smells Like Teen Spirit"- Nirvana) and "The Faster You Push Me" ("The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get"- Morrissey). Both are brilliant. Sadly, there is no Soundtracks of Science album, or a Not That Bad Records.

Edgy DC Feb 07 2007 11:52 PM

I've been out of this thread for a while. Thanks particularly for the live cuts from Coo'.

ScarletKnight41 Feb 08 2007 07:56 AM

That's not Bill Nye the Science Guy though, is it?

OlerudOwned Feb 09 2007 04:13 PM

ScarletKnight41 wrote: That's not Bill Nye the Science Guy though, is it? Yeah, it's from his show. They did a lot of weird stuff like that.

ScarletKnight41 Feb 09 2007 11:03 PM

Thanks OO.