Ladies and Gentlemen, rock-n-roll.
MTV Launch August 1, 1981
The impact of MTV on the lives of music fans who came of age in the 80s remains incredibly powerful. Many of the most popular of the bands from that era continue to tour and release new music forty years later. Maybe it was seeing these artists in our living room hour after hour that created such a lasting attachment. I find it harder and harder to explain MTV to younger music fans as there is nothing to compare it to. From 1981 to 1984, MTV was an unhinged celebration of music with questionable production values that eventually evolved into a commercial giant. However, those first few years were far less polished. And they were better than anything that came after on MTV.
This week, I revisited a random segment of MTV from these golden years. It’s always a fun exercise and what was getting airplay isn’t always what we remember. Duran Duran and Van Halen weren’t on every ten minutes and some of the most creative videos were often from artists that faded into obscurity. So, happy birthday MTV and thank you for shaping my life as a music fan during my most impressionable years.
MTV – March 2, 1984 (watch along here)
The video tape jumps right into Scorpions “Nobody Like You” which isn’t at all weird. Before turning this on, I bought some of the $20 Live Nation concert tickets and, you guessed it, Scorpions were one of the shows. What did I just say about these bands remaining timeless?
Hello, Martha Quinn. Ohh, Friday Night Video Fights promo and tonight it’s Duran Duran vs. Van Halen! I did NOT know that when I mentioned the two bands a few paragraphs again. Heading into the commercials, a two-record Rolling Stones hits collection can be ordered for only $14.98!
Here come The Pretenders with “Middle Of the Road” performing at a fictitious teen-dance program. Chrissie Hynde remains the epitome of cool and MTV suited her just fine. A fake protester walks through the crowd with an “Against N.L.P.” sign so The Pretenders are against mind-control. Noted.
Now this is why you have to watch these old programs! A Pirates of the Caribbean Budweiser commercial that ends up in an 80s disco! Back to the music with Elvis Costello’s “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding”. Costello’s videos have always been unexpectedly good and this one has always been charming. I have to admit that they didn’t move my needle on actually buying his music. It wasn’t until “Veronica” that I entered his discography.
Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” which you know before you even hear a note because the image of the white suburban house has been burned into our brains. This video deservedly received a ton of play and it still looks innovative. The band always stayed ahead of the curve artistically and that tends to age better than a Dokken video.
Great commercial for MTV programming. The Basement Tapes! I forgot about some of this. Even the candy commercials look like 80s videos. Do they still make Baby Ruth? Marta Quinn back to talk King Crimson and now Robert Fripp is talking about symbolism of their cover art and I’m just as lost as Alan Hunter is during this interview.
Happy Birthday to Dale Bozzio but Martha Quinn said her actual age is unknown. Quinn cuts to a pre-recorded interview with Bozzio talking about her unique style. She made her famous outfit using fish tube, plastic, and a cut up poster from her bedroom. Now that is fashion!
“Lipstick Lies” from Pat Benatar on now and it’s classic Benatar. She was comfortable acting and this opens with her and the other factory women hanging out after work having a few beers. Don’t remember the song or video but it’s a solid single. She does some dancing in a partially shredded white gown that looks like a precursor to her “Love Is A Battlefield” outfit. Best part of the video is the glowing violin bows at the black-tie dance. Also, I lost the plot of this.
Hey, it’s “Young Turks” from Rod Stewart with its “Fame” choreography. In addition to the Scorpions, I snapped up a $20 ticket to Rod Stewart today. Starting to think MTV in 1984 is the foundation of all the music I’m still listening to. Rod Stewart’s 80s era doesn’t get nearly enough credit. This and “Lost In You” are fantastic rock songs!
Marta Quinn says goodnight and a Footloose commercial comes on. I tried to watch this again and stumbled into a terrible re-boot. Avoid at all costs. Another hilarious Budweiser commercial. Say what you want about the beer, their marketing has usually been stellar.
Bon Jovi “Runaway” comes on and I’m caught off guard. I didn’t think the glam metal crept in until 1985 but here we are. The production quality on their videos drastically improved when the label decided Slippery When Wet was going to be a global phenomenon but their early stuff has a wonderful cheesiness to it. The little runaway of this video seems to be a bit of a fire starter and may have just set her parents on fire.
Let’s get ready to rumble! Mark Goodman has arrived for the Friday Night Video Fight with Van Halen’s “Jump” taking on Duran Duran’s “New Moon On Monday”. David Lee Roth talks about Alex building his own drums for each tour and we’re off. I resisted buying a Van Halen album until 5150 because I was too deep into Duran Duran but this song is undeniable. When you have David Lee Roth, an empty stage is all the set you need. Hit record and let Diamond Dave be himself.
As for “New Moon On Monday”, I went a bit crazy about it awhile back and tried to rebuild it using Google Maps. Can the Fab Five take down Van Halen?! Simon LeBon discusses their current tour and the stage design with “rather large phallic symbols” across the back of the stage. I think he means the Roman columns but maybe I’ve been seeing them wrong all these years.
Vote now for Van Halen: 1-900-720-1501 or Duran Duran 1-900-720-1502! I am now emotionally invested in these results so stick around. Oh man, Schlitz beer commercial promoting the ZZ Top Eliminator tour. Great live footage. Classic beer. RIP Dusty. MTV Who’s Who In Rock Video book commercial comes on and I’ll be on eBay for a few minutes trying to find a copy of this. Enjoy the “Footloose” video while I do some shopping. Be right back!
A few clicks on eBay, offer sent, and back to catch Kevin Bacon doing some dancing. Joe Jackson’s “Stepping Out” comes up next and this is one that belongs in the Lost Classic pantheon. Not only does the video make me want to buy a Joe Jackson record, it makes me want to visit New York City and meet the maid who spends her nights cleaning rich apartments dreaming of stepping out in high fashion. In this ongoing blog of coincidence, wife just received an email that Joe Jackson is playing the London Palladium in March of 2022.
Mark Goodman back with a Friday Night Video Fight update. Duran Duran started at a club called Rum Runner? Interesting. Standings so far: Duran Duran 54% vs Van Halen 46%!!!
Back to the music with Huey Lewis & the News. I didn’t know much about drugs when I was eleven so I didn’t need a new one. This video made me want to visit San Francisco. MTV was a passport to the world for kids who couldn’t travel yet and when I finally did see these cities, the videos always popped into my mind.
Here is one I don’t remember at all. The Parachute Club’s “Rise Up” featuring a freaky mime. Hints of world music are all over this track as is some breakdancing but it’s mostly forgettable. However, it’s clear that Arcade Fire had a few The Parachute Club albums growing up because the parallels are striking.
John Waite wants us to “Change” and the video makes it clear that cocaine is bad. Hopefully, that isn’t the new drug that Huey Lewis wanted. The video is pretty dramatic with Waite trying to stop a woman from jumping to her death after she sells herself for fame. And she jumps! But wait, it was all a movie set and this was all for a laugh. Stop messing with us John Waite.
The third time seeing the ZZ Top Schlitz commercial. I yearn to live in a time when Schlitz can again afford three commercials in a two hour block. Sony Video 45s now on sale with Iron Maiden. Also available, Rick Derringer. Did these sell much? I bet Maiden did.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band video for “Runner”. I present this to you as Exhibit A on why I disliked prog-rock as a child. This is terrible. In comparison, Journey’s “Chain Reaction” looks pretty ground-breaking. It is not, of course. The song sounds a lot like “Separate Ways” but the video is even worse. Putting a rock band in black-tie with some pretty mannequins must have looked good on the storyboard. Neal Schon strikes me as the type of guitarist who was measuring how much screen time he was getting compared to Steve Perry and always complaining about it.
Mark Goodman with more Duran Duran news. Thousands of fans in Memphis, TN have signed a 120 foot banner asking the band to come play their town. This is the fourth city to petition Duran Duran. In other news, the band is filming a new video for “The Reflex” in Toronto soon and it’s expected to be 14 minutes long. Hmmm….
World Premiere video! John Cougar Mellencamp with “Authority Song”. I was a tremendous JCM fan back in the day but it hasn’t aged well. He always had a chip on his shoulder when it came to being popular and that eventually wore me out.
Time for a Closet Classic now, “Mony, Mony” from Tommy James and the Shondells. I forgot about the Closet Classics but these were a significant part of my musical upbringing. They gave kids a chance to see the music that influenced the music they were listening to. Hell, “Mony, Mony”, “I Think We’re Alone Now” and “Crimson and Clover” were all huge 80s cover songs that I wouldn’t have known were covers without the Closet Classics. Full disclosure, I didn’t know Tiffany’s “I Saw Him Standing There” was a Beatles cover until years later.
Def Leppard with “Foolin'” and it’s a pretty impressive performance clip for 1984. The British Invasion continues with Clash’s “Radio Clash”. I would have called it “This Is Radio Clash” by The Clash but early MTV was doing what it wanted with the naming. I loved this song as a kid because the video showed NYC and I was spending summers there with family in The Bronx. The giant boomboxes and early hip-hop culture were starting to permeate the city and it was exciting. There’s a social message to the song and video but I wasn’t catching it as a pre-teen.
Oh boy. “99 Luftballoons” by Nena. Don’t give that red balloon crap. They are always luft to me. Does that mean red in German? It must, right? Catchy new wave songs about nuclear annihilation are still cool. While we are contemplating the future of the world, I just had the eBay bid accepted so the MTV Video Guide I mentioned earlier will be mine in 10-14 days!
More from the UK with Madness and “House of Fun” which still gets the feet tapping. I’m not giving Madness all the credit for my love of British humor but these early videos are such a gas. We just hit a Juicy Fruit commercial and I remember this chorus: “the taste is gonna gonna move ya!”. This could have been the b-side to “Jack & Diane” if we’re being honest.
This block of MTV from the archive is wrapping up with Roger Taylor (the Queen drummer) discussing his solo album which I have never heard and let’s just keep it that way. April Wine are also releasing a new record with their sights set on MTV success. (Well, that never happened.) And then we finish off with the beginning of a new John Lennon clip called “Stepping Out” which I’m sure I don’t remember. Sadly, I guess I’ll never find out who won the Friday Night Video Fight!
So there we are. A few hours back of MTV from March 2, 1984. The channel still had some of the “let’s just wing this” flair but more polished videos were starting to arrive. The channel still lacked for content to some degree but that allowed for a more diverse range of music though the lack of black artists which David Bowie called out was still very obvious.
This was probably near the peak of my own MTV experience as I watched pretty constantly from 1981 to 1987 before it faded away. I watched the occasional episode of The Real World but the change in programming lost me as a viewer. The video medium started to become a codified art form designed as a marketing exercise plotted by industry people. As beautiful as videos became, they lost some of the magic that comes with giving an aspiring young film director a few thousand dollars and 72 hours with a band.
In the end, video may have killed the radio star but my generation never knew the radio stars so we were innocent to the damage done. We loved every second of the video era and we still do. Happy birthday MTV!