These guys ruled MTV?????

Duran Duran!!!!

Most people credit this band for making MTV a thing to watch. The band understood the marketing theory of making a great video to help sell a good song to a willing public......well, this video in no way proves that theory.

It tries...it really does, but I think the whole video suffers from a touch of what I like to call....Overacting!! Simon Le Bon, who, I will admit, only has to sing along with the song while looking like the teen heartthrob that he was, totally misses the mark here. He must have thought that their whole career is resting on this one video, 'cause man, is he acting his ass right off the screen while he poorly lip syncs to his own song.

Take a moment and watch this lowlight in their stellar video career. And ask, What We're We Thinking??

Here's Careless Memories.

Songs That Need Our Love...part 6

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know what you're thinking. Pass The Dutchie....well, you'd be WRONG. Have patience, my young Padawans.


Musical Youth were exactly what their name implies...young musicians. They were made up of two sets of brothers, the Grant brothers and the Waite brothers. The lead singer isn't related to anyone else in the band but again, I digress....Most people mistakenly think they're from Jamaica. They're actually from England. They released only 2 albums and they really only had that one big hit...but their other song that was released off their first album was a personal favorite. Watch closely and see what happens when you try to steal a kiss from a Jamaican girl if you're a bass player.

Please enjoy Never Gonna Give You Up by Musical Youth.

Songs That Need Our Love.....part 5

John Waite......

Now here's a guy that understood what kind of fun you could have with music videos. He often added little in jokes during the videos for his fans to look for. In this video he has a moment that carried over to his next hit, Missing You, where he walks by a crowd of people looking up (go look for it on youtube after you watch this song)....this is one of those great songs that just rocks from the get-go.

But just to give you some background....

John Waite first hit it big with the band The Babys....I'll be honest here and tell you I couldn't tell you anything about The Babys other than John Waite was their lead singer and Jonathan Cain (who later played keyboards for Journey...Yeah, that guy) played keyboards. But it was as a solo artist that John found a bit of success. After a few albums he would join a supergroup (which I will post about at a later date). But lets get back to this gem that needs our love..

Please enjoy Change by John Waite.

He Looks To Have A Promising Career.

Every so often I will sit down and watch old music videos from the 80's (its called research, people) and I'll often come across something that makes me laugh, makes me say What The Hell??? or even say Wow, How'd I miss that before? This video falls into all 3 categories.

This is a video by the band Scandal. Patty Smyth was the singer and they had a few hits, including Goodbye To You and The Warrior. But this is from before that.....in fact legend says that it was from this demo video that the band got signed to a recording contract. Very impressive. The song, Love's Got A Line On You, is significantly different from the released album version with this version not having the rockin' groove of the later version but the part that stands out from the video is the rhythm guitarist....ITS JON BON JOVI!!!!!!

Look for the future multi-million selling artist playing guitar in a silly looking purple shirt and ask the question....What We're We Thinking???

Songs That Need Our Love...part 4

Camouflage.

Ok...I bet you're wondering who these guys are. Well, you wouldn't be the first.

Camouflage is a band from Germany and I'm about to introduce you to the only song they ever charted. And it did very well back in 1987 when it topped the US dance charts for 3 weeks. After that accomplishment.....nothing. Ok, that's not entirely true. They have continued to record, creating 8 studio albums....but no hits, other than this one.

I can tell you that I've purchased 3 copies of their debut album. 2 versions on vinyl and 1 on cd. The first copy was not returned to me be an ex-girlfriend (Shannon...if you're out there...can I have my records back?). But I think this song is worth every dime I've spent on tracking it down.

Take a look at the video and tell me that "Propaganda Man" isn't really Jools Holland.

BTW....the girl in the picture above is Paula Yates. She was once married to Bob Geldof and was Michael Hutchence's girlfriend when he died. But I digress.....

Please enjoy The Great Commandment by Camouflage.

Songs That Need Our Love...part 3

Pat Benatar!!!

You want vocal power? You want commanding stage presence? You want skin tight leather pants?

On August 1st, 1981 just a few minutes after midnight Eastern time, MTV went on the air. The first video to air for those of us who actually got to see the start of the worlds first all music television channel....Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles. I see what they thought they were doing with that selection but they improved their cool ratio 3-1/2 minutes later when they put on Pat Benatar's rendition of an old Rascals song called You Better Run........and indeed you should. She looked amazing. She looked like a rock star, she acted like a rock star and she sang with the power of a woman that was in charge....and she wore those leather pants so tight, it made you forget your own name for a minute. The video, while not first to be aired, can claim several firsts of its own. First guitarist, first solo artist, first female artist and first super hot pair of leather pants (I wonder why I like this video?).

Take a moment and watch how the world really changed that hot August night.