My buddy Kirk had sent out his top 25 most influential albums list on Facebook this week. Due to my jet lag, I've had a lot of time to think about mine between the hours of 3 and 6 AM. It occurred to me that much of what I listened to or liked in the early 80's was based on what I saw on MTV. Then I realized that there is a whole generation out there who have never known cable TV without MTV. Then I also realized that there will be a new generation of viewers who will watch MTV and NEVER see any music videos.
I really miss those days. Do the words "Hello, I'm Dave Kendall, and you are watching 120 minutes on MTV" make you smile. For those hardcore MTV fans, you should remember the first 120 minutes host Kevin Seal. Whoever thought of the concept of the music video was a genius. I'm not talking about live concert footage pieced together. I'm talking about Michael Jackson's Thriller video. A music video so powerful, there was a "Making of Thriller" video for the video. How about Mick Jones and Joe Strummer playing in an oil field with a pet armadillo running around in the video for Rock the Casbah. Oooooh, and David Lee Roth swinging a samurai sword around and doing the splits in the video for Panama. Men at Work, Talking Heads, Flock of Seagulls, Phychedelic Furs, Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello with those red boxing gloves, I can go on and on remembering videos from the 80's to early 90's.
I was able to pare my list of top 25 albums down to about 30. These would not be my favorite albums, just those that I remember during specific moments of my life. Maybe I should compile a list of top 25 music videos too.
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4 comments:
You can't mention early MTV without mentioning U2's "new years day" I think they played it every 3rd video. Without that video, I don't think U2 would exist.
Yo, where's your list? ;-) Looking forward to checking it out!
And, yeah, I loved 120 Minutes. I actually have a couple of 120 Minutes compilation CDs from back in the day.
I remember NYs days. Along with Spandau Ballet's "True". Also Richard Butler's walking on water in the Psychedelic Furs "Love My Way"
However, my fav MTV moment is Axel Rose kneeling over Stephanie Seymour's coffin thinking to himself "Dear Lord. Why did you have to kill such hot snatch?" from the video for "Don't Cry."
I remember U2's Gloria being played over and over and over in the early days. Too bad they don't bring back a retro version of MTV. It would be awesome to watch elvis costello, sparks, ABC and the talking heads.
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