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Posted by pamsterdam on 2009-03-25 16:42:47 +0000

Me and MTV - for G

So I posted two videos on Facebook today (U2's live at Red Rocks performance of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQVyXiXrI7E&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fprofile.php%3Fid%3D1174571029%26ref%3Dprofile&feature=player_embedded">Sunday Bloody Sunday</a> & Queen's Live Aid performance of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKQZpjEu3O4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fprofile.php%3Fid%3D1174571029%26ref%3Dprofile&feature=player_embedded">Bohemian Rhapsody into Radio Gaga</a>), and G lib asked me if I'd take her on a walk down my memory lane of early rock videos. I am only too happy to oblige. Feel free to add your own favorites, milestones, etc.

Alright, I have to preface this by saying that my father is really into music. In 1955 he went into RCA Victor (Elvis Presley's record company) and asked for a job. When the guy "interviewing" him figured out that Dad only wanted to work there so he could be involved in this new thing rock'n'roll, he told my father: <i>"This rock and roll business is a dead-end, [pamsterdam's Dad]. You're better off going to college, getting a real job. I'm telling you, rock and R&B will be over in a few years' time."</i> So he went to college and got a "real" job. I know. Boo.

So in the summer of 1981 when he heard that a new television station was coming out with all music all the time, he decided that it was time to get cable. We were both glued to it for the first week or so, but he was disappointed at the lack of Motown, yacht rock, and whatever you'd call the genre Neil Young & CCR belong to.

I, on the other hand, was transfixed. Addicted. Obsessed. I had just turned 8 years old, and was still reeling from John Lennon's murder the previous November. Suddenly music was something beyond my father's (nice, big) record player, my (tiny, Fisher Price) record player, the car radio, and intermittent oldies retrospectives on PBS.

For me the golden age of MTV was 1983-1986, my tween years (age 9 to 13) when I was dragged (mainly kicking and screaming) into "womanhood". Is this timing a coincidence? I think not. I was busy defining myself and my burgeoning interest in the species known as BOYS. MTV was very much a part of this.

Here are my top ten videos of the golden age of MTV, in no particular order [links provided for videos that can't be embedded]:

U2 - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQVyXiXrI7E&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fprofile.php%3Fid%3D1174571029%26ref%3Dprofile&feature=player_embedded">Sunday Bloody Sunday</a>

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody / Radio Gaga
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Duran Duran - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VugUVTg9wc&feature=related">Union of the Snake</a>

Prince - When Doves Cry (I can only find the video without audio, this is Prince's doing...)
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George Michael - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x9rtEHtubI">I Want Your Sex</a>

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Peace, Love & Understanding (can't find the original, which is the one I want, but this one is AWESOME!)
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The Clash - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAkfHShATKY">Rock the Casbah</a>

Madonna - Like a Virgin (I can't find the original lion video...)
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The Go-Go's - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo8S3iFdzUc">Vacation</a> (I can't find the original water-skiing video...)

Joan Jett - I Love Rock'n'Roll
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Any questions? :o)
Posted by jbcardinale on 2009-03-25 17:19:37 +0000
NO Bono. He's been shit on rideside enough already, bloody poseur. And I prefer this Elvis clip, even if you were only four. He was banned from SNL for playing "Radio, Radio".
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Posted by pamsterdam on 2009-03-25 17:27:18 +0000
Oh, and the Rolling Stones kicked some serious bum-bum too:

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See also:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhfEEPlt3NQ">She's So Cold</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhHODhTIvgo">It's Only Rock'n'Roll (But I Like It)</a>

The Glimmer Twins, man. Yowza.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2009-03-25 17:31:51 +0000
Yeah, I liked U2 when I was a kid. So sue me. :o)

And my bedtime was way earlier than SNL's airtime when I was 4.

Speaking of the ban - have you seen this Beastie Boys thingie?
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Posted by jbcardinale on 2009-03-25 17:50:11 +0000
Wasn't being judgmental, I once owned "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies. But if Madoff and Bono were standing side by side and I had one tomato.... Angry Elvis was so much better.
Posted by pamsterdam on 2009-03-25 19:03:51 +0000
I love that single! Pure bubblegum genius! On heavy rotation on my iPod...

And I agree, in hindsight, angry Elvis is about a million miles better.

Bono can poke fun at himself, though. At the risk of appearing to be an apologist... I recommend <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf3FJXZaYu8">this</a>.
Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2009-03-25 20:01:45 +0000
"Live at Red Rocks" is the shizzle - always loved that video.
Posted by G lib on 2009-03-26 11:16:14 +0000
I want someone to teach me how to dance 80s rocker style. Shouldn't someone come up with a class? I want to learn how to do a Mick, a Bono jig, and certainly the Freddie Mercury "Radio gaga" fist pump.
Posted by G lib on 2009-03-26 11:21:59 +0000
He got banned for this? Why?
Posted by G lib on 2009-03-26 11:28:24 +0000
Pamsterdam, I love you.
Posted by pamsterdam on 2009-03-26 12:06:23 +0000
Talk to Rory about this. Or take notes at C4RT shows.

*runs and ducks*
Posted by pamsterdam on 2009-03-26 12:07:22 +0000
The feeling is totally mutual, G lib. Throwing big hearts your way...
Posted by jbcardinale on 2009-03-26 12:18:55 +0000
http://thep5.blogspot.com/2008/12/elvis-costello-on-saturday-night-live.html
Lorne Michaels was a vindicative guy.
Posted by G lib on 2009-03-26 12:22:33 +0000
Rory does an _excellent_ Elvis. But there's no Freddy Mercury in there. I want to learn each style individually.
Posted by G lib on 2009-03-26 12:24:25 +0000
PS-- I'm glad there isn't Freddy Mercury in there-- it wouldn't go.
Posted by MF DU on 2009-03-26 12:35:02 +0000
In defense of Lorne Michaels and to be a total buzzkill / devil's advocate - running a LIVE variety show where you have a specific beginning and end time where evrything is meticulosly blocked must be anything but easy.

While as a music fan, I ALWAYS appreciate the unexpected on SNL (E Costello not doing the routine #, Ian Mackaye's NEW YORK SUCKS soliloquy before Fear, Nirvana french kissing each other over the end credits -most of my peers+ friends at my high school HATED this-, Chuck D demanding a moment of silence for Miles Davis's death, Sinead ripping up the Pope, etc) it must be a bastard and a half to get a show off the ground with everyone trying to change stuff that has been discussed, rehearsed, and planned to fit in a specific place.

I sound like a parent right now, don't I?
Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2009-03-26 13:15:17 +0000
I just watched the Fear clip. Cannot believe that was SNL. Wow!

(some language NSFW)
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And some commentary (most language NSFW)

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And I agree with your take, MF DU.
Posted by dyedon8 on 2009-03-26 18:33:25 +0000
I'm pretty sure that first stagediver is Ian.

Mr. MacKaye's commentary on the incident is <a href ="http://bbs.pearl-jam.net/showthread.php?t=3604"> here. </a>
Posted by TheFullCleveland on 2009-03-26 18:57:15 +0000
Excellent, thanks!
Posted by pamsterdam on 2009-03-26 22:25:04 +0000
I ain't no mathematician, but...

[Freddie Mercury - Broadway] + James Brown = Mick Jagger + Prince = Rory

That being said, I can understand your wish to untie the strands. We'd have to start with early blues performers and work our way up to, say Lady Gaga. Maybe *that's* what we should do chez moi.
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