MTV Alternative I - U68
By the mid-80's, I was one of those folks who had grown tired of MTV. To some, that was pure heresy, but once the MTV rotation list solidified and you could then predict what time Madonna's 'Like a Virgin' would play versus The Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio Star', I felt like it had reached maximum saturation for me. I began looking for alternatives, mostly on the radio. And then one evening, while channel-surfing the UHF dial (yes, you read that right. UHF occasionally had some cool things, like those Mexican monster movies from the '50's and '60's that you watched even though you didn't speak a *word* of Spanish. But I digress...) , and it was there I discovered U68. It was 24 x 7, and they played bands that I hadn't heard on MTV, on the radio, or anywhere else for that matter. Bands like the Waterboys, The Art of Noise, The Cramps, and many, many others. I rounded up the few that ended up stuck in my head for decades afterward, and I present them for your enjoyment here. Pretty safe bet you haven't many of these...
Fishbone - Modern Industry (from 'Fishbone' (1987))
Pure, unbridled silliness, this one gave me a pretty good laugh. The just-plain-nuttiness of the antics within, the endless faces made by lead singer Angelo Moore, along with the various spot-on impressions of people and music of the time provided by the rest of the band, make this a lot of fun to watch. Haven't yet found a crystal-clear version of this video, but perhaps the snowy look-and-feel was intentional. This is back when radio was Radio, and is viewed as the whole of the music industry itself, presented in several very clever ways. These guys would eventually go on to gain a wider audience, which I'll cover in another post. Keep and eye out for Angelo's faces, he uses them as punctuation at the end of almost every line.
The Blue Nile - Stay (from 'A Walk Across the Rooftops' (1984))
These guys weren't particularly my cup of tea, but this song lodged itself in my brain after my first hearing. This band would later go on to record the album Hats, which contained the hit single 'The Downtown Lights', which was not only a success for the band itself, but would be covered by Annie Lennox and others.
What is This? - Mind My Have Still I (from
'Squeezed' (1984))
Another strange group (with an equally strange video), this band
went through some personnel changes that initially had Red Hot Chili Peppers'
singer Anthony Keidis, guitarist Hillel Slovak and none other than the
outstanding Flea on bass. After Flea and Keidis' departure, Alain Johannes took
over vocal duties, and Flea was replaced by Chris Hutchinson. Johannes would go
on to later appear with Queens of the Stone Age, and after that as a
full-fledged member of Them Crooked Vultures, a 'supergroup' project which
featured Josh Homme, Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters, and none other than John
Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin. I will cover those bands as well in later posts.
A few of the technical things they do that make this song interesting are the
'ostinato' line that pounds incessantly throughout the song, as well as the
near-modal downward line that accompanies the chorus. Creative, for sure. One
caveat for this video - it contains a few scenes with strobe-like effects, so
if that bothers you for any reason, please be aware.
Guilty
Pleasures: Go West - Call Me (from 'Go West' (1985))
Okay, so the videos I've posted previously hopefully give me a little street credit to allow me this one. Short backstory - a buddy of mine whom I had met in my first job had been a college radio DJ, and I, of course, had my training in musical academia. So he and I considered ourselves Quite Knowledgeable and Important. One day we had gone to lunch, and the conversation turned to who our musical 'guilty pleasures' were, His was Prince, and me being the anglophile that I was, admitted to Duran Duran. This video falls, in my mind, under the Anglophile Guilty Pleasure category. I've been a fan of 'blue-eyed soul' for some time, and I viewed this through that lens as well.Warning: this video contains every possible cutesy, aimed-at-the-young-ladies device you can imagine, although it also references 'Attack of the 50-Foot Woman', it's one visual saving grace. And I don't get why the singer has a giant bruise on his face throughout, as if he had taken an iron pipe to the face. Is that British for 'tough guy'? And even *I* have better moves than this guy. Despite all that fluff, it's actually a pretty good tune, although it's possible time has made it that way for me. You be the judge.
Okay, so the videos I've posted previously hopefully give me a little street credit to allow me this one. Short backstory - a buddy of mine whom I had met in my first job had been a college radio DJ, and I, of course, had my training in musical academia. So he and I considered ourselves Quite Knowledgeable and Important. One day we had gone to lunch, and the conversation turned to who our musical 'guilty pleasures' were, His was Prince, and me being the anglophile that I was, admitted to Duran Duran. This video falls, in my mind, under the Anglophile Guilty Pleasure category. I've been a fan of 'blue-eyed soul' for some time, and I viewed this through that lens as well.Warning: this video contains every possible cutesy, aimed-at-the-young-ladies device you can imagine, although it also references 'Attack of the 50-Foot Woman', it's one visual saving grace. And I don't get why the singer has a giant bruise on his face throughout, as if he had taken an iron pipe to the face. Is that British for 'tough guy'? And even *I* have better moves than this guy. Despite all that fluff, it's actually a pretty good tune, although it's possible time has made it that way for me. You be the judge.
