Remember when MTV was actually cool?

[Dave2112]

Anyone here remember the golden age of MTV when the videos were well-thought out and were played constantly, not between game shows and Noxema commercials?

What were some of your favorite videos from the old days (say, before 1990 or so)

I was partial to:

Don't Cry-Asia (Wonderful scenery, and the traps in the pyramid were devious)

Big Money-Rush (The infamous Monopoly board vid)

In my Dreams-Dokken (again with the scenery)

Never Let You Go-Steelheart (Yet more cool scenery)

Sledgehammer-Peter Gabriel (a true classic, love those chickens!)

 

[Ultratickler]

Cradle of Love - Billy Idol (reason should be obvious)

 

[tklr5150]

Good lord, a media studies major and one-time MTV junkie like myself could go on and on about the highlights from the last 20 years of music video, but instead, I choose to point out the inimitable crop of hilariously bad vids from the very early days ('79 - '83 or so, anything pre-Jacko)

MTV aired a special about the 25 Lamest Videos of all time hosted by Jon Stewart, Janeane Garafalo, Dennis Leary, and Chris Kattan. I direct your attention to these stinkers for one of the heartiest laughs you'll ever have.

Just to name a few, anyone remember Journey's "Separate Ways" vid? Toto's "Rosanna"? BLC's "Burning For You"? Just about anything by Billy Squier?

Seriously, there should be a channel for just this stuff.

 

[Prime]

didnt the genesis video "land of confusion " use claymation or muppets....scary stuff man.

 

[Dave2112]

I hear ya, 5150! Nothing like Buck Dharma in his undies...

Or was that the "Take me Away" vid? And by the way, my band still plays "Separate Ways", great song, lousy vid!😎

 

[tklr5150]

got that right Dave

Is there a more compelling image in all of music video than Steve Perry drowning his heartache at . . . um . . . a shipyard?

Except for possibly Jonathan Cain playing the air keyboards.

 

[dodger]

1982-1987 is when mtv was at its best.

 

[dvnc]

Y'all realize we're announcin' ourselves as elders here? I know some of us already did, but this thread brought back near and dear trivia. Back when videos were experimental, and not all the patients survived.

Who was the fine woman who did "Hey Mickey" and what about all the fine cheese of Wierd Al?

OTOH, Watchin' The Who and The Stones dust themselves off one more time was kinda cool (and incidentally, The Who STILL do a fine show).

Truth to tell, I didn't dig MTV so much, 'cause I saw too many bands choke in video production that performed REALLY well, live, meanwhile, Huey Lewis was on all the damned time. I respect that the man made it. Props to any musician that can, but damn... All the time? Painful.

I blame MTV, for instance, for trickin' me into thinkin' The Cars could perform a live show. Dry. Musically accurate toast.

Alas,

dvnc

 

[CurtWild]

having seen alot of MTV in my 20 yrs

MTV has seen better days,there are to many crappy shows on there now...there are some that i can watch.as for music,every 3 out of 4 videos is a boyband or a britney spears type....which drives me nuts

 

[Strelnikov]

Seems to me that MTV did its best to kill off good music, with the emphasis on showmanship as opposed to musical talent.

Look at those old, grainy B&W tapes of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964. Or look at the old concert tapes of, say, Cream, or Led Zep. They just STOOD there and made good music, and that was plenty.

THEN = bands composed of strong musicians, no need for flash.

NOW = superstar leads with highly professional but completely interchangeable bands, maximum flash.

Sheesh! I feel like a dinosaur. DVNC - what's your take on this, you're closer to the music scene than I am.

Strelnikov

 

[Dave2112]

I agree with you Strelnikov. Nothing on MTV can ever compare to "The Song Remains the Same", "Jimi at Monterrey"....or even "Spinal Tap" for that matter.

 

[sk8punk01]

Quote

I think the dead kennedys said it best with the song "MTV Get off the air".

 

[General Zod]

Acouple of my favorite vids are Don't pay the ferryman by Chris Deburgh and Our house from Madness

Ababy seal walks into a club

 

[Oddjob0226]

It's so embarrasing.....

I still have- and occasinally watch- my "Al TV" VHS tapes.....Wierd Al would take over the MTV studios, play videos he'd like and mess with all the other ones; funny but innocent stuff.....


Ah, Toni Basil- "Oh, Mickey"... just found the Spanish version she did on CD! And she was in Easy Rider back in the 60s!

I liked Godley & Cream's "Cry" because it had this wierd, super-imposed effect...turned out that was the video that first ever used "morphing" and it was still in it's early stages...

1982 - "Who can it be Now?" Men At Work... Colin Hay dressed in a school girl's uniform..."There's nothing wrong with my - state of mental health!"

"New Years Day" and "Meet your Maker", passing for 'serious' videos then (well, not that they weren't, but.....)

The cute mowhawk girl singing "I want candy" -And Thank God I actually got to meet her in 1998! Close to tears, I was... felt like SUCH a nerd...

I need to stop now, or I will never stop typing....... Nena's English & German version of 99 Luftballons... the "One Night in Bangcock " video and everyone's dissapointment in it... Must stop!

Although last year I saw a cool video where the band did a video similar to the James Bond title sequences...THAT was neat!

M

 

[Bagelfather]

Empty Vee

Do you remember way back when, in the early days of MTV, when they actually played Music Videos?


Yes networks must grow and demographics rule. But I rememer the first few years of MTV when they played everything and didn't cater to a narrow audience range that thinks Watergate is a dam somewhere or spends all their time immitating VJ styles.

I still remember coming out of the house and getting my sister "hey you won't believe this there is this new station that plays videos of music on tv!"

MTV seems mostly like the video equivalent of "Music for Dummies." The only fun thing I got to see recently was when Wierd Al hosted MTV the last couple of times.

 

[dvnc]

Strel said: Sheesh! I feel like a dinosaur. DVNC - what's your take on this, you're closer to the music scene than I am.

My perspective is that the quality of music today isn't so much less, as hidden. You get bands like The Dave Matthews Band, and them kids are able to play their axes with a skill few master, AND they're "popular". Toad the Wet Sproket was much the same with the songwriting skills.

There's some killer stuff being done. It's just no longer forefront. Now, you gotta dig past the flash. There's LOTS of flash. These days, I'm happy t'dig around t'find the good stuff, like Radiohead's latest, or David Grey. Just gotta look, hard and often.

dvnc

 

[mastickler]

Yes, MTV is completely worthless nowadays. I agree. I never watch it anymore. MTV stands for "Music Television", not game shows, sex shows, real life shows television.

 

[mastickler]

By the way I'm new here. Hi.

 

[dvnc]

Welcome, mastickler!

 

[headtripper25]

I never liked MTV, it's always been more about hair styles and attitude then good music.

 

[guitman69]

I haven't watched MTV in about a year and a half, when I got DirecTV. Since I don't have to flip through the channels to find out whats on (I just use the on-screen guide), I never have reason to watch it. I have a few times watched MTV 2 when they're showing rock videos. And why is the MTV2 Rock only an hour long, and the MTV2 Hip-Hop 3 hours long?

 

[QBWeaver]

DVNC said... "The Who STILL do a fine show"

Who?
Yes, the who?
I don't know who. Who?
The Who?
I DON'T KNOW who. WHO?
I already told you. Who!

(kinda like Who's on first?)
LOL

 

[guitman69]

Animaniacs

Who's playing on stage?
Yes they are.
No, the band on stage!
No, they don't play until the next set.
Who?
No, they're playing now.
Who?
Yep!
What?
They're not even playing at this concert!

 

[Daumantas]

My two problems, all along, with MTV were:

1) If everybody HAS to make a video, new albums get reduced to "What does the video look like?" instead of what the music is about. (Rock critic Dave Marsh put it this way: imagine that, say, in 1969 the Stones "had" to make a video for "Gimme Shelter".)

2) Since everybody HAD to make a video, the predictable result was that people who were innovative in the first place made good videos, and the lame, talent-free bands who clutter up the charts even during good times made bad videos (since they didn't have enough talent to make good music, how could you expect them to have the taste to know a good video when they saw it?).

 

[Oddjob0226]

Ach! Fish Heads! Whip It! Evil Queen- you are where it's at! I still watch these on rare occasions on my "Al TV" videotapes I saved! Possibly remeber "Dog Police?" Man... what a video.

Jan, just to let you know... that little Who/ Who's on First exchange- well something similar actually occured in a court session some years ago... the case was about- if I remeber - who was reponsible for injuries at a concert and the infamous Who concert where 11 people died was brought up. Through my faulty memory, it event kind of like this...

Lawyer: blah..blah..blah.. "....Similar to the Cincinatti event with the Who"

Judge: "Who?"

Lawyer: "The Who"

Judge: "Who? THE Who?"

Lawyer: "The Who. They're a punk band."

Judge: "THE Who. This is kind of a little like that old 'Who's on First ' routine."

And everyone laughed. The end.