The Age Of Video-Good and Bad

[Spaz]

Luckily, I was never an avid MTV fan and missed many of the videos that people speak about here. Sure, I saw my fill of videos, but I didn't have MTV until around '83 or '84 and was never one to sit and watch it....

I'm glad I didn't for a few reasons. Looking at some of the vids on Youtube.com, I am appalled at the ridiculousness of it all. Even back then, seeing a video could ruin the image of a song that I had in my head. And tha was the fun of being a non-video lover. I was able to listen to the song without having a set image thrown at me and forever stuck in my brain. Sure, it happened on a few occasions, but I was more for the vibe and feel of the song and very few videos stuck to what the mood of the song was.

For example, I could live with the Icehouse "We Can Get Together" vid cuz it does feature just simple performance mixed with animation, but have you seen the video for "Crazy"? Iva Davies perfected the AWFUL mullet years before Billy Ray Cyrus. I knew he had an awful mullet (and I mean really really awful) so that visual would have been in my head for 20 odd years if I had seen the vid back then.

Also, Bucks Fizz are a likable, if not cheesy, pop band from the UK. Sort of like Abba except less talented (and they didn't write their own songs). I'd never seen anything apart from album covers for 20 plus years but the other night I watched a video on youtube.com for their song "Making Your Mind Up" and it was just plain horrific. Kind of like what Las Vegas would have done to new wave music if it had the chance. I'm surprised I never saw them on the Jerry Lewis Telethon. I was very embarrassed. I do recommend anyone to check it out if you want a giggle. Still, the music is commercial and pleeasant and cheezy. I will never watch another Bucks Fizz vid again or I might be tempted to throw away my remastered CDs!

Then again, there were some great videos back then and best of all, MTV introduced new music (good and bad) to a public that lapped it up. I am grateful for that. Personally, I felt they took away the mystery of music and didn't allow the listener to have their own mental image of the song.



SPAZ
Born of innocence. Free of ignorance.

[Rubbeet921]

LOL! I remember being so grossed out and disappointed seeing The Smiths on video for the first time! I love the band but, oh man, what a torture to watch Morrissey dance![V][B)]

[SwampThing]

I watched plenty (well a lot) of videos in the 80's and didn't think too much about the quality or artistic merit. I even went through the trouble of taping every episode of 120 minutes in the late 80's.

Now I've been sampling some VH1 classic, purchased a couple of new wave dvd's, sampled videos from YouTube and the Hub I have come to realize that a lot (if not most) of them really suck.

I agree with you Spaz, but allow me be honest with you, I think Buck Fizz, really, really suck. I can't really consider any artist who don't right their own music and rely to heavily on producers. I think I remember Beavis and Butthead making fun of their videos by the way. I'd get rid of those remastered CDs If I were you (assuming they hold any value at all [:D])

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[Rubellan]

I worship the old videos. It was a new format so people were very creative with the limited budgets. I hate the overblown nature of most music videos from the mid-80's to the present, but those early shot-on-videotape cheapies were the best. For example, I still find "Mickey" by Toni Basil a charming video because it empitomizes everything I loved about early 80's videos:

Shot on videotape
Colorful outfits
Insane choreograpy, given the impression of a free spirit
The solid white (we only have a $20 budget) background

That's not too far removed from a personal favorite, "I could be happy" by Altered Images.

There was so much creativity going on, and it didn't have to have the budget of a Hollywood film to be good. Sure, not all were successful but the majority had their own charm. It's like video games. I'll take my single-screen Pac Man anyday over these overblown, endless adventure games. Sometimes less is better.

[pinkyblue82]

Brilliantly put and I couldn't agree more! I must give credit where credit is due. See Scott, even when your generally nasty and self-righteous posts on this board have me fuming, I can still be a rational adult. [:)]

[scramjet]

OK, Spaz, I just watched the Bucks Fizz video. I think Bucks Fizz might have been made from refugees from the Dani & Armi dancers.

[SomebodySomewhere]

In the early '80s, MTV was my escape from... a lot of things. Nowadays? It's the thing I escape from.

As for Bucks Fizz, I think I've only seen 2 or 3 of their videos so I won't say I'm the greatest expert, but it's kind of hard to use them as an example of how silly MTV was in the early '80s when they were never on MTV in the first place.

It's possible I'm stuck in a time warp, but there was something about the promo clips from 1985 and before -- something special -- that hasn't really been recreated much since. Not even when bands are trying to do a throwback. (Well, OK, Blink 182 succeeded with "I Miss You," but not too many others have.)

And apropos to nothing, but Bucks Fizz's rendition of "Talking in Your Sleep" has got to be one of the worst covers I've ever heard. The Romantics don't have a European hit with their original, but [i]they[/i] do?!!

[floordrawn]

music videos are meant to be fun and creative. their goal is to entertain. depending on your tastes, some will achieve that goal and some won't. i happen to like Bucks Fizz and have 16 of their promo videos on dvd and am missing 3 others. the "making your mind up" video on youtube is their eurovision song contest entry, which they won by the way. there was never a promo to "making your mind up." i could care less if they don't write their own songs, it's just a music video. if you find music videos cheesy and stupid you are most likely entering your senile years and will go bald soon, if not so already.

[Spaz]

I DO like Bucks Fizz on CD...and just like most artists, I don't like them on video. I've got the five Bucks Fizz remastered albums, a few compilations w/non album material and plan to purchase that new CD of unreleased tracks.

I don't have a problem with them not writing their songs either. I usually don't prefer 'manufactured' bands but I do like them. Very pop, very catchy. And I'll have to agree that their version of "Talking In Your Sleep" is rather pointless and empty.

But videos have never been my cup of tea. As I stated before, I like the visuals that the music puts into your mind, not the visuals that a video puts forth. And I'm also referring to videos by some of my fave bands, so I'm not just commenting on videos by bands I could care less about.

And I've got a full head of hair and, although I'm not senile, I am most definitely crazy.

SPAZ
Born of innocence. Free of ignorance.

[tomfin2000]

I'll never forget seeing Pat Benetar's video for "Love is a Battlefield" for the first time on MTV. Between the opening minutes of dialogue to set the story and the professional chorography, I knew that it was the beginning of the end.

And so it was.

Two years later, MTV was a punchline.

Give me the video tape, amatur choreography, white backgrounds, and the band's friends and girlfriends (as opposed to the professional models, dancers, and actresses) any day of the week. Yeah, it was kind of goofy at times, but at least it was fun.