Oh, boy… this is bad. That dang Scalzi has just pointed me to a time-sink of unbelievable proportions: it’s an online repository of old ’80s-vintage music videos. Hundreds of them, enough to waste hours and hours looking at hair styles that, for some inexplicable reason, us thirtysomethings used to think were pretty cool.
The available material is somewhat eccentric in scope, seeming to consist mostly of B-sides. For example, instead of offering Sammy Hagar’s “I Can’t Drive 55,” the Hagar song that people actually remember, this site features his lesser-known follow-up, “VOA.” Or, for those of you who wouldn’t know Sammy Hagar from Sammy Sosa, here’s another example: Spandau Ballet is represented by “Gold” instead of “True.”
However, a site full of videos that you almost remember means that you can have the joy of rediscovering the stuff that doesn’t get any airplay on the nostalgia stations anymore, such as Dwight Twilley’s infectious “Girls,” the hair-a-licious power ballad “Call to Your Heart” by Giuffria (there’s a band everyone remembers, no doubt because of the totally wicked one-guy-playing-two-keyboards-at-once schtick), Scandal’s “Goodbye to You,” and The Hooters’ “And We Danced,” one of my all-time favorite pop tunes.
For the geeks among us, there’s the novelty song “Doctorin’ The TARDIS” by The Time Lords/KL. And here is an MTV classic, Every Breath You Take” by The Police, which, with its gorgeous black-and-white, film-noir-inspired imagery, is perhaps the greatest video ever made about unrequited love obsessive stalking.
Yes, I’m going to burn up lots of bandwidth looking at this stuff. I’m already wallowing in the heady vapors of nostalgia, remembering how I used to sit up until the wee hours of the morning watching Friday Night Videos in a dark room with a big Tupperware bowl of popcorn in my lap, and dreams of big-haired vamps running through my… well, I had dreams about girls. And guitars. And having lots and lots of hair. (I still have those, come to think of it.)
Ah, those were the days…
How dare you!!!!
This is a trip 🙂
I can’t believe you left off A-ha’s – Take on me video. Even today, the rotoscoping (by hand) stands up very well. Was very technically cool in the day when you only saw this in feature films. And Mr. Roboto. Probably the first music video I remember seeing on television when I first got my whif of cable.. that and Silverado on HBO. Who would have known where our multiple channel technology would have taken us… for me, right back to plain vanilla air stations. 🙂
great trip back in time. Thanks, Jas.
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed!
Oddly enough, I thought about linking to the two vids you mentioned — I also love “Take on Me,” and, as for “Mr Roboto,” well, it doesn’t get more ’80s than that — but I wanted to highlight a few of the more oddball tunes that have been largely forgotten. (“Every Breath You Take” being the exception, of course…)
“Take On Me” was parodied in a Family Guy episode last year in which Chris (the husky, zip-popping son whose voice is just about done cracking) goes too far back in the milk aisle and gets pulled into the classic video. I blew Diet Coke out of my nose on that one!