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Post by chrislc on Sept 29, 2022 18:06:06 GMT -5
I started a thread a lot like this several years ago, hopefully not exactly like this.
Anyway...
Cars by Gary Numan. Yikes. That tambourine thing, and the whole video really. But especially the tambourine thing. The song was good, but the video was so Amateur Hour it became impossible for me not to find the song laughable once I saw the video.
Gloria by Laura Branigan. Looks like a hostage video. Taped in someone's basement for a total budget of about $8.95. The Rupert Pupkin of singers. Ma-a-a! I gotta' do this now! I'm trying' to tape a music video!
Wish I had another to satisfy the Rule of Three, but those two really stand out for me. Private Eyes was kind of lame, but not on the level of those.
On second thought, considering how important Hall & Oates were to RCA in the fall of 1981, it was really bad.
And that one reminds me also of Abracadabra. Not good.
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Post by jlthorpe on Sept 29, 2022 19:29:15 GMT -5
There's the famous example of Billy Squier and "Rock Me Tonite", but it wouldn't be my choice. For me, the only one I can think of is Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know". After being wowed by the song and thinking the video would be just as awesome, I was underwhelmed when I first saw it and watched what looked like grainy footage shot in the desert.
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Post by mga707 on Sept 29, 2022 19:31:56 GMT -5
I started a thread a lot like this several years ago, hopefully not exactly like this. Anyway... Cars by Gary Numan. Yikes. That tambourine thing, and the whole video really. But especially the tambourine thing. The song was good, but the video was so Amateur Hour it became impossible for me not to find the song laughable once I saw the video. Gloria by Laura Branigan. Looks like a hostage video. Taped in someone's basement for a total budget of about $8.95. The Rupert Pupkin of singers. Ma-a-a! I gotta' do this now! I'm trying' to tape a music video! Wish I had another to satisfy the Rule of Three, but those two really stand out for me. Private Eyes was kind of lame, but not on the level of those. On second thought, considering how important Hall & Oates were to RCA in the fall of 1981, it was really bad. And that one reminds me also of Abracadabra. Not good. In that same vein as those last three, Van Halen's "(Oh) Pretty Woman". Change 'RCA' to 'Warner Bros.' and 'fall of 1981' to 'winter/spring of 1982', and what you wrote stands. Incredibly cheap and cheesy-looking for a band that were consistently scoring platinum LPs at the time. Ooh, I wanna be a samurai!  |
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Post by trekkielo on Sept 29, 2022 19:32:40 GMT -5
This will probably be unpopular, but...
Tainted Love by Soft Cell
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Post by dth1971 on Sept 29, 2022 20:26:36 GMT -5
What about "Alive and Kicking" by Simple Minds from 1985?
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Post by LC on Sept 29, 2022 20:32:02 GMT -5
There is one, but at the moment I can't for the life of me remember what it was.
But one that comes close is ELO's "Hold On Tight." For over 30 years, I didn't even know there was a video for it. Then I saw it and read it was the most expensive video ever made up to that time. My reaction? They spent all that money on THIS?!? The song would have been much better served by a straight performance video, imo.
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Post by 1finemrg on Sept 29, 2022 21:52:28 GMT -5
There's the famous example of Billy Squier and "Rock Me Tonite", but it wouldn't be my choice. For me, the only one I can think of is Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know". After being wowed by the song and thinking the video would be just as awesome, I was underwhelmed when I first saw it and watched what looked like grainy footage shot in the desert. "Rock Me Tonite" would definitely be my choice. |
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Post by trekkielo on Sept 29, 2022 22:55:24 GMT -5
There is one, but at the moment I can't for the life of me remember what it was. But one that comes close is ELO's "Hold On Tight." For over 30 years, I didn't even know there was a video for it. Then I saw it and read it was the most expensive video ever made up to that time. My reaction? They spent all that money on THIS?!? The song would have been much better served by a straight performance video, imo. I can certainly understand your reaction, being an ELO fan I'd never seen Hold On Tight's music video until someone posted it on YouTube about 13 years ago, then ELOVEVO did their own upload around 2013. The mostly black and white video features footage of ELO playing the song in a lounge, intercut with scenes in the style of 1940's serial films featuring the band members, including violinist Mik Kaminski, who was no longer a band member nor had actually played on this song, "playing" a guitar, while some man who has his popcorn/drink concessions watches coming attractions inside this movie theater. PS-Does anybody here remember Hold On Tight's music video getting any recurrent MTV airplay back in 1981 or thereafter? I know its expense tells me it was made to premiere on that particular network's first day, August 1, but didn't for some unknown reason. |
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Post by mkarns on Sept 30, 2022 0:27:40 GMT -5
Honestly, the early 1980s videos people are citing are probably going to naturally look bad, cheesy, or at least dated today. They were probably state of the art, or at least watchable, in their time when music videos were new. I don't think they would have ruined my liking of the songs then, and they don't now, adjusting for time and/or the fact that I've long liked the songs enough that even low quality videos won't spoil them for me.
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Post by SFGuy on Sept 30, 2022 2:19:29 GMT -5
This will probably be unpopular, but... Tainted Love by Soft Cell
Which version. I think there are more than one. Is it the one where Marc Almond was singing to the little girl or a different version?
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Post by chrislc on Sept 30, 2022 6:53:59 GMT -5
Honestly, the early 1980s videos people are citing are probably going to naturally look bad, cheesy, or at least dated today. They were probably state of the art, or at least watchable, in their time when music videos were new. I don't think they would have ruined my liking of the songs then, and they don't now, adjusting for time and/or the fact that I've long liked the songs enough that even low quality videos won't spoil them for me. I was thinking the same thing. And I started the thread!  I'm trying to think of an impressive music video from 1981 and I'm drawing a blank. It seems like they often tried to be funny in the videos the first couple of years. Maybe the ones that impressed (me anyway) were the ones that made no attempt to be funny. I should take a lesson from that, even 41 years later. Now, Numan's Cars video was made in late 1979, I assume, and there was no (intentional) humor, and after all it was only 1979, but I still can't get it out of my mind when I hear the song. It just cheapens the listening experience. When I listen to the song Cars, I want a classy experience. Like when I shop for chandeliers. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG6sQ_7gXmQWas the Gloria video ever shown on MTV? I don't remember. It's hard to believe that video met their standards by late 1982. Or "standards". |
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Post by retrodaddy on Sept 30, 2022 10:39:33 GMT -5
What about "Alive and Kicking" by Simple Minds from 1985? I love the song and the video. The scenery is beautiful. |
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Post by matt on Sept 30, 2022 11:21:55 GMT -5
I started a thread a lot like this several years ago, hopefully not exactly like this. Anyway... Cars by Gary Numan. Yikes. That tambourine thing, and the whole video really. But especially the tambourine thing. The song was good, but the video was so Amateur Hour it became impossible for me not to find the song laughable once I saw the video. Gloria by Laura Branigan. Looks like a hostage video. Taped in someone's basement for a total budget of about $8.95. The Rupert Pupkin of singers. Ma-a-a! I gotta' do this now! I'm trying' to tape a music video! Wish I had another to satisfy the Rule of Three, but those two really stand out for me. Private Eyes was kind of lame, but not on the level of those. On second thought, considering how important Hall & Oates were to RCA in the fall of 1981, it was really bad. And that one reminds me also of Abracadabra. Not good. All three videos you list are early 80s -- in fact, "Cars" and to some extent "Private Eyes" both pre-date MTV ("Private Eyes" was released in August 1981 and the video was presumably filmed in the months before that). The music world was still figuring out what was effective in making videos, what connected with the public, etc. at a time when the number of people watching music videos was relatively low, so I tend to give videos from that era and earlier a pass. Hall and Oates mostly did the same thing with all their videos from the Voices and Private Eyes LPs -- was just the duo and their backing band performing the songs with a dark background--nothing really special. I actually like the Gary Numan "Cars" video and feel like it fits that early new wave sound well (though yes there is a cheese factor to it). Funny, I never knew Laura Branigan had a video for "Gloria" until recently--I don't remember MTV playing it much if at all when the song was in release. I tend to think some of the rap videos of the early 90s where it was just a large group of people at a pool party and girls in skimpy bikinis, etc. seemed to lack imagination (too many videos over the years in general have resorted to easily to the "sex sells" idea rather than actually coming up with something interesting). Some of the teen pop videos of the late 90s/early 2000s (think Britney Spears, NSync, Backstreet Boys, etc.) where they followed the same formula of the lead vocalist doing some choreographed dance with the backing band/dancers in a triangle like formation doing some similar dance, often with chairs or other props also seemed to lack imagination or creativity after a while. As for videos that ruined the song...hard to think of anything worse that Billy Squier's "Rock Me Tonight", which of course ruined Billy's career (and what a shame, Billy was a terrific r'n'r artist and "Rock Me Tonight" was a great song--neither deserved that). Oasis' "Don't Look Back In Anger" comes to mind -- where Liam Gallagher was unabashedly trying (way too hard I might add) to be John Lennon. It wasn't my favorite song to begin with, but the David Bowie/Mick Jagger thing for "Dancing In the Street" didn't do the song or their careers any favors. |
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Post by LC on Sept 30, 2022 11:31:16 GMT -5
A friend of mine was very disappointed in the Police's video for "Wrapped Around Your Finger." He had MTV, and apparently the premiere was hyped out the wazoo. He stayed up to watch it and felt very let down by the whole room-of-candles motif. It's been decades since I saw the video, but I think I found it boring, too.
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Post by trekkielo on Sept 30, 2022 15:13:25 GMT -5
Honestly, the early 1980s videos people are citing are probably going to naturally look bad, cheesy, or at least dated today. They were probably state of the art, or at least watchable, in their time when music videos were new. I don't think they would have ruined my liking of the songs then, and they don't now, adjusting for time and/or the fact that I've long liked the songs enough that even low quality videos won't spoil them for me. I pretty much agree with your take on the situation and just so I'm clear from before, I've always liked ELO's official music video for "Hold On Tight", although I'd understood why other people might not like it!  |
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