John Waite - Restless Heart

Long time readers of ERV will notice that this is the second John Waite video on the blog ("Change" was posted last August). Waite is another artist who fits in perfectly here, as he recorded a ton of great pop and rock songs, with some success, but never really became a big big star (as Counting Crows might say).

Case in point:  The Babys (Waite's band before he went solo) never had a top ten single or a top 20 album.  Case in point #2:  While Waite's breakout 1984 album No Brakes hit #10, and produced a #1 hit with the ever-present (in 1984) "Missing You," the other singles did not do that well.  "Tears" barely broke the top 40 (#37), and "Restless Heart," a solid song with a strong video peaked at #59.  Go figure.

At any rate, "Restless Heart," a well-crafted song with a black & white 'story' video, would be on my short list of the best lesser-known videos.  It is well worth a look.  By the way, we think the hat the Waite wears at the start of "Restless Heart" is an allusion to a similar hat that he wore in the "Change" video.  Or, maybe he just likes hats.

After No Brakes, Waite released two more studio albums in the 80s, and then joined Bad English, who released two albums before breaking up.  Waite then returned to his solo career and continues to record and tour as of this writing.

Missing Persons - Surrender Your Heart

Missing Persons were an iconic early 1980s MTV band.  With their visually flamboyant style, including singer Dale Bozzio's pink highlights and fishbowl bras, they seemed tailor-made for the new music video channel.

The background story of the band goes back to 1976, when Bozzio ran into Frank Zappa in LA (after walking out of an interview with Hugh Hefner to be a valentine for the annual Playboy party).  Zappa hired her on the spot, and she performed with him throughout the late 1970s.

In 1980, Dale Bozzio, along with her husband Terry and several other member of Zappa's band ventured out on their own as Missing Persons.  Two years of working the LA club scene led to a record deal, and Spring Session M (an anagram of the band's name) was released in 1982.  It became a huge hit, and videos for "Words" and "Destination Unknown" went into heavy (and we do mean heavy) rotation on MTV.

For their second album, the band decided on a somewhat more experimental sound.  Although many critics think that 1984's Rhyme & Reason was their strongest album, it did not resonate with fans.  1986's Color in Your Life did even worse, perhaps impacted by the deteriorating marriage of the Bozzios (they divorced and the band broke up in 1986).

Dale Bozzio went on to record one album on Prince's Paisley Park Records, and then mostly disappeared from view.  Terry Bozio continued on as a session musician, and worked with Andy Taylor (of Duran Duran fame) on his only solo hit, "Take It Easy."

For the blog, we went with "Surrender Your Heart" from Rhyme and Reason.  The video uses paintings from Peter Max and is one of the more interesting/artistic videos of the era.

Missing Persons' video for "Destination Unknown" was posted on ERV in October 2022, as part of our annual All Hallows Even party.

Alphaville - Big in Japan

There were a number of continental European bands that had hits during the 1980s, especially in the dance and synth pop segments.  Among them was Alphaville, a German group named after the influential 1965 film by Jean-Luc Godard.

Alphaville came out of the Berlin music scene of the early 1980s -- the members had been part of the Nelson Community, a short-lived art collective.  The band consisted of keyboardists Bernhard Lloyd (real name: Bernhard Gößling) and  Frank Mertens (Frank Sorgatz) along with singer Marian Gold (Hartwig Schierbaum).

The trio released the Forever Young album in 1984, and it would go on to be their biggest LP.  In the U.S. , "Big in Japan" and "Forever Young" both charted, and hit #1 and #2 on the Dance Charts, respectively.  While the Forever Young LP barely broke into the top 200 albums in the U.S. (peaking at #180), it became a top 20 album across much of western Europe.

The backstory for "Big in Japan" is interesting -- unlike the other songs on the album, it had been originally written by Marian Gold in 1979, and the title came from the name of Holly Johnson's band at the time.  (Johnson would go on to form Frankie Goes to Hollywood.)  Gold has stated the the lyrics were inspired by a story of a couple trying to get off heroin.  The idea of going far away seemed to fit this story, so he used the phrase "Big in Japan" as the chorus.

As with many other groups, Alphaville was unable to keep it together, as singer Marian Gold left the band in early 1985.  Alphaville continued on and had some modest success in Europe in the mid 1980s, while Gold's solo career never really gained any traction, leaving "Big in Japan" as their biggest hit.

Cool trivia fact:  the video was directed by Dieter Meier of the band Yello.

Dwight Twilley - Girls

Mixing rockabilly, country and British Invasion pop, Tulsa-born Dwight Twilley does not fit neatly into one music segment.  Combine this with nearly unbelievable bad luck throughout his career (including plane crashes, bribery scandals, and O.J. Simpson) and his lack of real success is understandable.

In spite of these issues, Twilley had two top 40 hits -- 1975's "I'm on Fire" (as the Dwight Twilley Band) and 1984's "Girls," from Twilley's solo album called Jungle.  Coincidentally, both singles peaked at #17 on the charts.

The "Girls" video is a Porkies tribute, and there even is an R-rated version with nudity (FYI, the version here is PGish).  The video shoot was co-funded by The Playboy Channel, and featured Bunnies.  We believe that at the time Playboy was looking to create R-rated videos for its own music video show.  As an aside, we originally saw this video on the old USA Network show Nightflight, a truly great TV show that mixed videos, interviews, concert footage and indy films.

The video is great, cheesy fun, complete with male and female shower scenes, and features the coolest full uniform football player pretending to play guitar solo scene ever.  (Yes, really).

Cool trivia fact:  Tom Petty sings backup vocals on "Girls" -- he and Twilley were on the same label and became friends in the late 1970s.

Steve Perry - Strung Out

By 1984, the relationship between Steve Perry and the rest of the Journey had become strained, so Perry did what all 80s lead singers did under similar circumstances:  he released a solo album.  Street Talk went on to become an enormous success, selling more than two million units and peaking at #12 on the charts.  Four songs broke the top 40, including "Oh Sherrie," which hit #3.

"Strung Out" was the fourth single from Street Talk, and it charted (at #40), before fading into relative obscurity (until now, that is).  The video was shot after "Oh Sherrie," but plays like a slightly amusing prequel (for those who are not familiar with "Oh Sherrie," just watch them back-to-back).

While "Strung Out" is admittedly pretty basic (i.e., commercial), we have always had a soft spot for it (call it a guilty pleasure).  It is, we think, a catchy, well crafted song.

After Street Talk, Perry waivered over whether to leave Journey, and actually started work on a follow up album, tentatively called Against the Wall.  Eventually, Perry returned to Journey and sang on 1987's Raised on Radio, before leaving the band (Perry actually left the industry as well, for seven years).  Against the Wall was never finished, but a few of the songs made it on to Perry's 1994 solo album For the Love of Strange Medicine.

Queen - Hammer to Fall

The first video for today is Queen's "Hammer to Fall," and is posted on what would have been Freddy Mercury's 65th birthday.  (Special shout out to Google Doodles and my friend Liz for pointing this out to me.)

We will point out that it was not easy finding a suitable 80s video for Queen -- most of their best work was recorded in the 1970s.  And much of their work in the 1980s was ... well, not great.

"Hammer to Fall" was the final single released from Queen's 1984 album, The Works.  The song did not chart in the U.S., and the video received limited airplay on MTV.  It some ways, the song is a throwback for Queen -- it reminds us of their earlier work, with a strong guitar riff, and of course, the wonderful overdubbed vocals.  For readers who have not explored Queen, they recorded some truly great songs.  Aside from "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Will Rock You," we particularly recommend "Tie Your Mother Down," "You're My Best Friend," "Fat Bottomed Girls," and "Don't Stop Me Now."

But we digress.  The video for "Hammer to Fall" was shot on The Works tour in Brussels and features Freddy Mercury in his typical understated outfit (yes, we are kidding).

Cool trivia fact:  Queen's guitarist, Brian May, does not use a pick to play guitar -- he uses a sixpence coin.

Whitesnake - Slow An' Easy

Make no mistake -- Whitesnake was lead singer David Coverdale's band, and he hired and fired musicians to suit his tastes.  By 1984, the then 33 year old Coverdale was becoming increasingly focused on commercial success, and when the Slide It In album peaked at #40 in the U.S., he made his move.  Coverdale fired guitarist Micky Moody and replaced him with John Sykes.  The 1987 follow up album, simply titled Whitesnake, went on to sell 8 million copies and rose to the #2 position on the Billboard chart.  Ironically, Coverdale and Sykes didn't get on either, and Sykes was fired just as that album was released.

While Slide It In was a commercial disappointment to Coverdale, it did introduce American audiences (including your humble author) to the band.  In our opinion, this is one of the best hard rock albums of the 1980s, and we are particularly partial to the blusey "Slow An' Easy."  Yes, the video is dated and the story makes little sense, but the song rocks.

Note that Whitesnake's "Love Ain't No Stranger" was posted on ERV in June 2014.

Jon Butcher Axis - Don't Say Goodnight

Great, nearly forgotten video and song from Jon Butcher.  We love the intro guitar hook.  Butcher was a mainstay on the Boston music scene in the 70s and 80s, and by all accounts is a nice guy to boot.  He is now in a band with Charlie Farren, another Boston guy who did some great music as well (see above).  From the 1984 album, Stare at the Sun.