eMpTy Vee!
Jan. 28th, 2008 10:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llcoolvadWow. Wil Wheaton linked to a major trip down cheesy memory lane today: Someone ripped a VHS tape of three hours of MTV from 1983, which was EXACTLY when I was obsessed with it, and posted it on Google Video (in two parts — Part One, and Part Two). I spent a bit of time tonight with it on in the background. I was such a teenager then!
Things I forgot: how QUIET it could be. Mark Goodman is a master of restraint (if I recall correctly, he was probably stoned 100% of the time). Also there are no blinky things in the background. No audience of annoying teens. No background music playing in between videos. Just like an actual old school DJ! Weird. I also forgot how cheesy and "cable" all the commercials were in the beginning. And imagine, in three hours of MTV you got 36 videos! Doing the math (3 min per song) you've got at least 108 minutes of music over 180 minutes. So almost two hours out of the three were actual songs.
Not that they were GOOD songs. LOADS of crap. Which is definitely something I REMEMBER from the good old days. For every fun song you'd have to wade through five or six hair metal or bland power pap songs. That was why mostly I watched 120 Minutes and .. damn, don't remember, the late night show on (maybe) Saturdays?
Other thoughts: Huey Lewis, so old! Even then! But still kind of blandly fun. George Thorogood — man, I loved him, I loved that song. I had found that album in my local library and taped it and listened to it over and over. [That's how I discovered XTC, actually, so the library wasn't ALL bad.] Synchronicity II: Marvel at how young Sting and Stewart were, and how carefully Sting over-lipsynchs! But the set is fun, if a little too Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
Ack! Michael Bolton doing a rock song? "Fool's Game" — looking kinda hot in his leather pants —which is horrifying — he doesn't have the receding hairline yet, maybe that's why my guard is down. It's ok, I hate myself anyway. And the song SUCKS, so at least my ears work.
Bow Wow Wow's "Do You Want to Hold Me" with the Reagan mask guitarist and the bouncy everything; empty, manufactured, but kind of fun to dance to. The Who doing "You Better You Bet", when I thought Pete Townshend was geeky-hot and smart and hated Roger Daltry and his blow-dried hair (hmm. come to think of it, that's still pretty true). The Motels doing "Suddenly Last Summer," always fun. And Madness! That video never got old for me. Even with all the forced cutseyness. I loved the lead singer's hair looking like the pelt of some exotic creature, the goofy bandmates, the cross-dressing. Cute.
P, I bet you liked Nick Heyward, right? He looks like a Patrick type. Ah, a bit of wikipedia later and apparently he started Haircut 100 (I probably should have remembered that!). So that means he WAS a Patrick type. I can usually tell! British overbite, pasty white boy, earnest and cute. Yep!
It's a good thing it was posted on Google Video, since they allow you to download it to your iPod Video (because you want it badly, right?), and there are no clip length restrictions (like the 10 min length on YouTube).
TRACK LIST:
MTV 1983 (Part 1 of 2)
Old VHS recording of MTV from 1983 (Mark Goodman as VJ) including commercials. Some of the music videos include:
Night Ranger - Don't Tell Me You Love Me
Huey Lewis & The News - Heart & Soul
The Tubes - Monkey Time
Prince - Little Red Corvette
George Thorogood & The Destroyers - Bad To The Bone
The Police - Synchronicity II
Sammy Hagar - Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy
Steve Miller Band - Jet Airliner
Kansas - Fight Fire With Fire
Michael Bolton - Fool's Game
Quiet Riot - Cum On Feel The Noize
Bow Wow Wow - Do You Wanna Hold Me?
The Who - You Better You Bet
The Motels - Suddenly Last Summer
Madness - Our House
Nick Heyward - Whistle Down the Wind
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!!!
MTV 1983 (Part 2 of 2)
ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man
Garland Jeffreys - 96 Tears
Stevie Nicks - If Anyone Falls
Elton John - I'm Still Standing
The Thompson Twins - Lies
Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself
Men At Work - It's A Mistake
Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson - Say, Say, Say
Quarterflash - Take Another Picture
David Bowie - Modern Love
Billy Squier - Lonely is the Night
INXS - The One Thing
The Romantics - Talking In Your Sleep
Jefferson Starship - Be My Lady
Robert Plant - Burning Down One Side
Talking Heads - Burning Down The House
Split Enz - One Step Ahead
The Fixx - Red Skies
The Pretenders - Back On The Chain Gang
Joe Walsh - I Can Play That Rock N' Roll
(Even for Bowie, the Pretenders and INXS I couldn't bring myself to watch Part 2, but maybe another time.)
On the other hand, and after perusing the videos listed, your nostalgia needs might be best served by heading on over to YouTube and take advantage of one of their features, which is the ability to build playlists. Take a few minutes, build a cheesy playlist from your 80s favorites, grab a headband, rip the sleeves off a t-shirt, and get 80s funky!
...or watch something ... good?!
Things I forgot: how QUIET it could be. Mark Goodman is a master of restraint (if I recall correctly, he was probably stoned 100% of the time). Also there are no blinky things in the background. No audience of annoying teens. No background music playing in between videos. Just like an actual old school DJ! Weird. I also forgot how cheesy and "cable" all the commercials were in the beginning. And imagine, in three hours of MTV you got 36 videos! Doing the math (3 min per song) you've got at least 108 minutes of music over 180 minutes. So almost two hours out of the three were actual songs.
Not that they were GOOD songs. LOADS of crap. Which is definitely something I REMEMBER from the good old days. For every fun song you'd have to wade through five or six hair metal or bland power pap songs. That was why mostly I watched 120 Minutes and .. damn, don't remember, the late night show on (maybe) Saturdays?
Other thoughts: Huey Lewis, so old! Even then! But still kind of blandly fun. George Thorogood — man, I loved him, I loved that song. I had found that album in my local library and taped it and listened to it over and over. [That's how I discovered XTC, actually, so the library wasn't ALL bad.] Synchronicity II: Marvel at how young Sting and Stewart were, and how carefully Sting over-lipsynchs! But the set is fun, if a little too Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
Ack! Michael Bolton doing a rock song? "Fool's Game" — looking kinda hot in his leather pants —which is horrifying — he doesn't have the receding hairline yet, maybe that's why my guard is down. It's ok, I hate myself anyway. And the song SUCKS, so at least my ears work.
Bow Wow Wow's "Do You Want to Hold Me" with the Reagan mask guitarist and the bouncy everything; empty, manufactured, but kind of fun to dance to. The Who doing "You Better You Bet", when I thought Pete Townshend was geeky-hot and smart and hated Roger Daltry and his blow-dried hair (hmm. come to think of it, that's still pretty true). The Motels doing "Suddenly Last Summer," always fun. And Madness! That video never got old for me. Even with all the forced cutseyness. I loved the lead singer's hair looking like the pelt of some exotic creature, the goofy bandmates, the cross-dressing. Cute.
P, I bet you liked Nick Heyward, right? He looks like a Patrick type. Ah, a bit of wikipedia later and apparently he started Haircut 100 (I probably should have remembered that!). So that means he WAS a Patrick type. I can usually tell! British overbite, pasty white boy, earnest and cute. Yep!
It's a good thing it was posted on Google Video, since they allow you to download it to your iPod Video (because you want it badly, right?), and there are no clip length restrictions (like the 10 min length on YouTube).
TRACK LIST:
MTV 1983 (Part 1 of 2)
Old VHS recording of MTV from 1983 (Mark Goodman as VJ) including commercials. Some of the music videos include:
Night Ranger - Don't Tell Me You Love Me
Huey Lewis & The News - Heart & Soul
The Tubes - Monkey Time
Prince - Little Red Corvette
George Thorogood & The Destroyers - Bad To The Bone
The Police - Synchronicity II
Sammy Hagar - Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy
Steve Miller Band - Jet Airliner
Kansas - Fight Fire With Fire
Michael Bolton - Fool's Game
Quiet Riot - Cum On Feel The Noize
Bow Wow Wow - Do You Wanna Hold Me?
The Who - You Better You Bet
The Motels - Suddenly Last Summer
Madness - Our House
Nick Heyward - Whistle Down the Wind
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!!!
MTV 1983 (Part 2 of 2)
ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man
Garland Jeffreys - 96 Tears
Stevie Nicks - If Anyone Falls
Elton John - I'm Still Standing
The Thompson Twins - Lies
Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself
Men At Work - It's A Mistake
Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson - Say, Say, Say
Quarterflash - Take Another Picture
David Bowie - Modern Love
Billy Squier - Lonely is the Night
INXS - The One Thing
The Romantics - Talking In Your Sleep
Jefferson Starship - Be My Lady
Robert Plant - Burning Down One Side
Talking Heads - Burning Down The House
Split Enz - One Step Ahead
The Fixx - Red Skies
The Pretenders - Back On The Chain Gang
Joe Walsh - I Can Play That Rock N' Roll
(Even for Bowie, the Pretenders and INXS I couldn't bring myself to watch Part 2, but maybe another time.)
On the other hand, and after perusing the videos listed, your nostalgia needs might be best served by heading on over to YouTube and take advantage of one of their features, which is the ability to build playlists. Take a few minutes, build a cheesy playlist from your 80s favorites, grab a headband, rip the sleeves off a t-shirt, and get 80s funky!
...or watch something ... good?!
