Kool & The Gang - Fresh

As ELP once said ... "Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends."  Welcome to another year of rare, spooky, and/or atmospheric videos ... it's ERV's All Hallows Even celebration!

Leading off this year is Kool & The Gang's, "Fresh," which was a pretty big hit in 1985 (it was released in November 1984).  The song hit #9 on the charts, while the Emergency LP peaked at #13 and went double platinum.

Long time readers may note that this is Kool & The Gang's third time on ERV, as "Misled" was posted in 2018, as part of a previous All Hallows Even collection, while "Get Down On It" appeared way back in 2013.  As we noted then, the group had 16 (!) top 40 hits between 1979 and 1986, including 11 (!!) top 10 singles.  In spite of this, the video remains rare in our view, primarily as our favorite video music channel was more rock and pop focused.

The video is all 80s goodness, and uses a Cinderella theme ... which reminded us of Cinderella's "Shake Me" (now how's that for a strange link).  The strong bass line is one of our favorites for the decade, shown here with a Steinberger headless model, because of course it was.  Add some "Kool" atmosphere, "Fresh" costumes (OK, we'll stop) and voilà, an excellent Halloweeny video is born.

Grateful Dead - Hell in a Bucket

The Grateful Dead occupy such a unique place in rock history that it is difficult to even describe them.  Here's my attempt:  The Dead were a counterculture jam band with modest commercial success who built one of the most loyal fanbases in all of rock.  Their music was an eccentric combination of folk, blues, rock, jazz, and country.  Lives shows were an event and lasted for hours and many fans would travel to see them - some even effectively toured with the band. 

The group formed in the San Francisco Bay area in the mid-1960s and released their first album in 1967.  By the mid-1980s, they were seen as performing aging hippy/druggie music, though they had a series of FM radio hits in the late 70s/early 80s - "Good Loving," "Shakedown Street," and "Alabama Getaway."  However, few would have predicted the success of 1987's In the Dark LP.  "Touch of Grey," "Hell in a Bucket," and "Throwing Stones" all picked up a bunch of radio play while the videos went into heavy rotation on MTV.  The result was a bit of a renaissance for the band, though the new, younger audience clashed at times with the older Deadheads.

In typical form, The Grateful Dead didn't attempt to capitalize on their new success; they simply continued to tour, up until Jerry Garcia's death in 1995.  The remaining members of the band remained active in the industry, even touring under "The Dead" name, but have mostly passed on at this point.

For the blog, the obvious video choice would have been "Touch of Grey," so we went with "Hell in a Bucket."  We've always been partial to the song, and the over-the-top insanity of the video sealed the deal.

Cool trivia fact: The Grateful Dead are an official one hit wonder; only 1987's "Touch of Grey" (#9) broke the U.S. top 40.