The place for great and not-so-great nearly forgotten videos from the decade of Miami Vice, mullets, and acid wash jeans. All praise to the bands, YouTube, and the original posters of these videos.
John Hiatt has already appeared twice on ERV -- once for "Slow Turning" and a second time for Bonnie Raitt's cover of his song, "Thing Called Love." Astute readers may now be wondering what this has to do with Jeff Healey ... and we'll get to that in a moment.
Canadian Jeff Healey saw significant success with his first album, 1988's See the Light. The LP reached #22 on the charts, helped by "Angel Eyes", which hit #5. [In typical ERV style, we are going with "Confidence Man," the first single off the album, which did not chart.] Healey was also a unique guitarist in two regards -- first, he was blind, and second, he played the guitar laying flat on his lap (almost like a steel guitar).
The John Hiatt / Jeff Healey link is this: Hiatt wrote both "Confidence Man" and "Angel Eyes." It is somewhat ironic that Hiatt (who never has had a top 100 hit in the U.S.) wrote the songs that helped to launch two separate artists' careers.
In any event, Healey's commercial success peaked with his first album. While he remained successful (particularly in Canada), he did not have another top 40 hit in the U.S., making him an official one hit wonder. Later in his career, he transitioned to jazz, and even played trumpet and trombone on his albums. Sadly, Healey died of cancer in 2008.
Coll trivia fact: The Jeff Healey Band was the house band in the 1989 film Road House (staring Patrick Swayze).
The political music and concert trend of the 1980s was somewhat weird. The whole thing started with Bob Geldof's Band Aid project "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in late 1984. In 1985, seemingly every musician on the planet was recording an all star song or appearing at a concert. USA for Africa, Live Aid, Farm Aid, Hear 'n Aid (yes, we kid you not, there was a heavy metal charity project) all took place within 12 months of Band Aid.
The point of the video was twofold: to raise awareness of apartheid, and to pressure artists who were considering performing at Sun City, thus pressuring the South African regime. This was not a totally trivial issue, as performers such as Frank Sinatra, Queen, Elton John, Liza Minnelli, Julio Iglesias, The O'Jays, Linda Ronstadt, Cliff Richard, Johnny Mathis, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick and Laura Branigan had performed at the casino.
While an early version of the song named names, it was decided to take a more subtle route in the end. In spite of this, "Sun City" was not a huge success -- the single hit #38, while the album peaked at #31. It is likely that the blatant political message of the song, combined with the rap elements made this a little bit of a tough sell. Still, the project did generate a fair amount of publicity, and it also raised money for anti-apartheid causes. Overall, we think it was a solid success for Little Steven. And this story has a happy ending, as South Africa is now a free and democratic country in the community of nations.
Cool trivia fact: Rolling Stone ranked the Sun City album as the 100th greatest LP of the 1980s.
Face to Face (no relation to the 1990s punk band) was a Boston-based new wave band fronted by lead singer Laurie Sargent. In their heyday, they were often compared to 'Til Tuesday for obvious reasons (Both were Boston-based new wave bands with a female lead singer).
Face to Face's big break came in 1984, and for a brief period it looked like they were on their way to stardom. Their self-titled first album broke into the charts, as did the single "10-9-8." The band's music was also featured in the movie Streets of Fire, which was heavily marketed over the summer of 1984. However, sales of their single and album stalled, and Street of Fire bombed at the box office. Face to Face soldiered on for a few more years, but eventually broke up in 1988.
"10-9-8" peaked at #38, while Face to Face's debut LP reached #127. For those keeping score at home, that does make Face to Face an official one hit wonder. By the way, the video for "10-9-8" is not half bad -- it is something of an artistic performance piece. And for our younger readers, that thing shown around 1:20 is called a payphone, and was used in days of yore (before cell phones).
After the band broke up, Laurie Sargent remained active in the industry, while guitarist Angelo Petraglia became a successful songwriter (mostly roots and country rock).
Donald Fagen is one of those musicians who totally marches to his own beat. Fagen (and Walter Becker) were Steely Dan, a truly outstanding fusion (jazz-rock) band that recorded some of the most interesting songs of the 1970s and early 1980s. When that partnership ended, Fagen went out on his own and his first solo album was 1982's The Nightfly.
Conceived as a sentimental remembrance of 195's and early 1960s America, The Nighfly is now regarded as a classic, and further cemented Fagen's reputation as a songwriting genius and a studio perfectionist. The album is impeccably arranged and produced and the material is extremely strong.
The video for "New Frontier" is typical Fagen -- understated and lovingly crafted as a real work of art. No less a source than Allmusic states that it "was widely considered one of the great videos of the early MTV era." The attention to detail, down to the animation is remarkable. Fagen appears only in a poster seen in the video, underscoring him as the anti-celebrity.
Helped by the video, "New Frontier" rose to #70 on the charts, while the other single from The Nightfly, "I.G.Y." peaked at #26. The album hit #11 and went platinum.
Unfortunately, Fagen then developed a case of writers block; his next album was not released until 1993. He eventually reconciled with Walter Becker and has remained active as both a solo artist as as a member of Steely Dan in recent years.
The brother of actors Sean and Chris Penn, Michael Penn has had a long career as something of an anti-rock star. While his first LP, 1989's March did peak at #31 on the album charts, most of his successive work has not had anything close to that level of success. Nevertheless, Penn is regarded as a strong singer-songwriter and has recorded a bunch of critically acclaimed albums over the years.
"No Myth," the superb first single from March remains as Penn's only top 40 hit; it hit #13 on the charts. The incredibly catchy song received a bunch of airplay back in the day and the video was in heavy rotation on your favorite video music channel, as well. Penn was actively involved in the production of the video, mostly because he didn't want it to look too commercial, and we think that he succeeded for the most part.
Penn remains active in the music industry as of this writing, with his wife, Aimee Mann (formerly of 'Til Tuesday).
Cool trivia fact: Penn may have been cursed by the infamous "best new artist" problem -- he won the 1990 MTV VMA for Best New Artist. (Ironically, his wife also has the same award -- "Til Tuesday won the 1985 Award). See the comments section for a list of the VMAs for Best New Artist (current as of this post).
Although Lou Reed had only modest commercial success, he was an important and influential musician who reshaped the language of rock. In particular, he approached songs in much the same way that a novelist would, leading to lyrics that touched on adult and even previously taboo topics in a mature way.
For readers who are unaware, Reed got his start in the Velvet Underground. Much has been written about them; suffice to say that they were an enormously influential band who laid the foundation for punk and new wave. The famous quote about the VU was that "the first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band." [This quote has been attributed to both Brian Eno and Peter Buck.]
In 1989, Reed released his 15th solo album, a concept album titled New York. Although it was well-regarded by critics (who appreciated the back to basics approach), it was not a huge commercial success. The album peaked at #40, and "Dirty Blvd." did not chart on the main charts (it did hit #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks). We don't think that the video was played much on MTV, though it was played on 120 Minutes (the alternative video show running at the time).
At any rate, "Dirty Blvd." is vintage Lou Reed -- he does his talk/sing thing over a catchy guitar hook, telling a story with provocative lyrics. We have to say, this is a guy who was creating solid rock songs 25 years after his first band started. Impressive.
Sadly, Lou Reed died on October 27, 2013.
Cool trivia fact: Rolling Stone rated the New York LP as the 19th best album of the 1980s.
For the blog, we have chosen "Mandinka," the song that really launched her career in the U.S. The video was played on MTV a bit back in the day, including on 120 Minutes (now who remembers that show?), which helped to make it a college rock hit. However, the song did not chart on the Billboard 100.
Long time reader(s) of ERV will know that we have a soft spot for early 80s funk, and "Take Your Time" is one catchy song. We debated putting it up, since it is not a promotional video, but then we thought of all the positives:
It is a Soul Train clip ...
... which means that Don Cornelius introduces the band. Was there a cooler, more debonair dude ever? (Maybe, but you have to think that Mr. Cornelius is in the discussion)
The song has a xylophone in it. Funkiest xylophone ever? (Maybe, but you have to think that this xylophone is in the discussion)
We totally love how much Bruno Speight (guitar) and John Alexander Simpson (bass) are grooving to the song (around 1:43 for the best example ... bopping in time)
The guitar line has to be on the short list of best funk guitar lines ever (see 2:55)
The band looks like they were some kind of funky navy ... or they had been watching too many Adam and the Ants videos
So there you go ... some readers may know that this was off the first (and self-titled) S.O.S. album, from 1980. The album sold well, driven by "Take Your Time," which hit #3. While the S.O.S. band did not have another top 40 hit on the main charts, they had a string of R&B hits, four of which showed up on the Billboard 100. Most of these songs were produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis; the band worked with them starting in 1983.
Although there have been some personnel changes, the S.O.S. band continues to perform to the present day.
Cool trivia fact: S.O.S. stands for Sound of Success. The band was originally called Santa Monica (although they were from Atlanta, Georgia, as Mr. Cornelius points out), but they changed their name prior to their first album.
World Party are essentially a one-man band, formed by Welsh multi-instrumentalist Karl Wallinger in 1986. Wallinger created World Party after leaving The Waterboys; he had been the keyboard player for that band from 1983 to 1986 (so he did play on the classic "The Whole of the Moon," which was previously featured on this blog.)
While World Party's 1990 follow-up, Goodbye Jumbo did not do as well (peaking at #73), it contains two great pop songs -- "Way Down Now" and "Put the Message in the Box" and it is recommended listening. Wallinger continues to be active both as World Party, and with other musicians, although he did have a hiatus in the early 2000s due to a brain aneurysm (he has since fully recovered). And for those keeping score at home, "Ship of Fools" was World Party's only top 40 U.S. hit.
Cool trivia fact: While Wallinger did work with a few studio musicians on Private Revolution, he also listed multiple pseudonyms on the albums credits, including: Delahaye, Rufus Dove, Will Towyn, Martin Finnucane, Ahmed Gottlieb and Millennium Mills.
Part of the vibrant Austin, Texas blues scene, Charlie Sexton was taught guitar by W.C. Clark, the famed instructor of Stevie Ray and Jimmy Vaughan, among others. By the mid-1980s, Sexton had developed a reputation as something of a guitar prodigy, which led to a recording contract. Amazingly, his first album, 1985's Pictures for Pleasure, came out before Sexton's 17th birthday.
In an effort to make Sexton's sound more commercial, synthesizers and drum machines were added, which resulted in an inconsistent album. However, this formula worked quite well on the lead single, "Beat's So Lonely," and the song became a hit, landing at #17, while the LP hit #15. Unfortunately, none of Sexton's subsequent songs or albums did as well, leaving him as a one hit wonder.
Fortunately, Sexton remained in demand as a studio musician and collaborator with country, blues and rock artists including Bob Dylan, the Arc Angles, Lucinda Williams and Edie Brickell. He continues to write and perform to this day.
Concrete Blonde came out of the post-punk LA scene and became an influential alternative rock band, one of several who drove indy rock's explosion in the early 1990s. In this regard, they loosely fit in with The Pixies. However, Concrete Blonde also had a distinct sound with thoughtful lyrics that made that somewhat unusual. And as you'd expect, this led to more popularity among music critics and college students than the general public.
The band was led by singer/bassist Johnette Napolitano and guitarist James Mankey, who had worked together as Dream 6 in the early 1980s. By 1986 they had generated enough buzz to be signed by I.R.S. records, where label-mate Michael Stipe (of R.E.M.) suggested their name. The term Concrete Blond was a derogatory term referring to the bleached blonds of the LA hair metal scene, but in interviews the band claimed that they just liked the term, as it had both hard and soft connotations which seemed to suit their style.
In typical ERV fashion, we are going to skip over the band's big hit, "Joey" (which is from 1990, anyhow) and present "God is a Bullet" from 1989's Free LP. The song did not chart on the main charts (it did hit the Modern Rock Tracks) and we don't recall seeing the video at the time. However, it is a really solid, driving rock song -- perfect for the blog.
Concrete Blonde would have major success with their 1990 album, Bloodletting (which contained "Joey") and released a few additional albums in the early 1990s before breaking up. They re-formed in the early 2000s before breaking up again in 2006.
One of a handful of artists who helped reinvigorate the blues genre was Robert Cray. In fact, his 1986 major label debut, Strong Persuader, played a key role in bringing an updated, mellow form of the blues back into the mainstream. As a result, no less an authority than Rolling Stone magazine placed this album 42nd on its list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s.
Cray was in his early 30s when Strong Persuader was released, making him a younger spokesman for the blues. And while some saw his mellow sound and commercial success as signs of a sellout, most critics viewed him as an artist who successfully brought the blues back to relevance in the 1980s.
"Smoking Gun" was the big hit off the album, and turned out to be Cray's only top 40 hit (yes, there sure are a lot of great musicians on this blog who are official one hit wonders). The song peaked at #22 in 1986, while the album hit lucky #13. The video tires to capture a performance vibe, with mixed success.
Cray would never match the success of Strong Persuader, but he has had a long, solid career, and continues to record and perform to this day.
Cool trivia fact: Robert Cray played bass in Otis Day and the Knights' band in National Lampoon's Animal House.
The Universe made another request, playing this song serendipitously as we were considering the next entry, and we do try to accommodate requests (especially from The Universe). So without further ado ...
Many readers will be familiar with Roxy Music. The English art rock band formed in the early 1970s, and went on to have huge success in Britain, where every one of their studio albums broke the top 10, including three number ones. In the U.S., they were significantly less successful, although they built a loyal following through the 1970s and early 1980s.
The band was known for their sophistication, particularly lead singer Bryan Ferry -- perhaps the most debonair rock star ever. As is often the case, their sound evolved over time, and gradually became less art rock and more atmospheric pop, although there was often a strong pop sensibility to their songs. The band's final album, 1982's Avalon, represented something of a peak for the group. Incredibly lush and layered, it is a real work of art. Much of the music was written by Ferry while he was on vacation on the West coast of Ireland and their is something of an ethereal vibe that runs through the entire LP.
We don't use the word masterpiece much on the blog (we think the only other time that we've used it was for The Waterboys song "The Whole of the Moon") but we think that "More Than This" qualifies. The striking guitar line, the lyrics, the synthesizers all paint a musical picture that is haunting, with a gentle sadness. "More Than This" also has a spectacular, lingering outro that perfectly suits the song.
Amazingly, "More Than This" did not break the top 100 in the U.S. (#103), although it was a top 10 hit in the U.K. and Australia. The Avalon album peaked at #53 in the U.S., (it was a #1 LP in Britain). The video might be a tad bit overdone, but it does seem to suit the band and the song.
Bryan Ferry broke up Roxy Music soon after Avalon's release, and went on to have a successful solo career (particularly in the U.K). The band did re-form and toured in the early 2000s, but Ferry has stated that he does not intend to release another Roxy Music album.
Cool trivia fact: Roxy Music is a U.S. one hit wonder. Their only top 40 hit was "Love is the Drug" (#30) from 1975.
Cool trivia fact #2: 10,000 Maniacs 1997 cover of "More Than This" hit #25 on the Billboard charts -- higher than any Roxy Music single ever, and much higher than the superior original version. Go figure.
Cool trivia fact #3: Rolling Stone rated Avalon as the 31st best album of the 1980s (and the 336th greatest album, full stop).
"Boys in Town" was the debut single by Divinyls, the Australian rock/new wave act fronted by the charismatic Chrissy Amphlett. The song was released internationally in 1983, as the lead single off the Desperate album. (It had been released earlier in Australia, and was included on the soundtrack of Monkey Grip, an early Ken Cameron film.)
While the song was a big hit in their native Australia (#8), it did not chart in the U.S. In fact, the Divinyls did not really break out in the U.S. until their eponymous 1991 CD, which includes the #4 hit "I Touch Myself." By that point, the band was essentially a duo, with Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee (they used session musicians when they recorded or while touring).
The "Boys in Town" video is a performance clip from the Monkey Grip movie, and it shows the band in fine form. Chrissy Amphlett really did use the illuminated mike stand in her early performances; that, combined with her schoolgirl outfit and aggressive attitude, made for a strong live show.
Sadly, Chrissy Amphlett passed away on April 21, 2013 after a long battle with breast cancer.
Cool trivia fact: yes, the Divinyls count as a one hit wonder in the U.S., as "I Touch Myself" was their only top 40 hit.
"Pleasure and Pain," the cool 1985 minor hit for Divinyls was posted on ERV on December 2017.
After being kicked out of The Clash, Mick Jones was left with a daunting task. Specifically, what do you do for an encore after being a key member of the seminal punk band of the late 1970s and early 1980s? Jones started off by co-founding General Public (along with members of The English Beat, among others) but left during the recording of their first album. After a second failed band (Top Risk Action Company or T.R.A.C.), Jones finally sorted things out with Big Audio Dynamite (BAD).
To his credit, Jones did not attempt to re-create The Clash's sound in BAD, but instead pushed ahead with a dance and reggae influenced post-punk sound. While Big Audio Dynamite was somewhat inconsistent during their career, they were also interesting and adventurous.
The first single from the first Big Audio Dynamite album (This is Big Audio Dynamite) was "The Bottom Line." While it was not a hit, the song did generate some airplay, and showed the direction that Jones was moving in. I'm not totally sure if the nearly one and a half minute introduction is courageous or just indulgent, but it is quite a way to introduce your second band to its audience.
The video captures the irreverence and sense of humor of the band, as well (although we don't remember seeing much of it on MTV at the time). It also underscored just how much Mick Jones was into cowboy movies.
BAD would go on to have some success during the 1980s and 1990s, before breaking up in 1997. Jones remains active in music to the present day.
Love and Rockets emerged from the ashes of Bauhaus, an early and influential goth rock band that formed in 1978. Bauhaus broke up in 1983, but the members stayed in touch and in 1985 agreed to a joint rehearsal. Lead singer Peter Murphy didn't show up, but the other musicians -- Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins did and jammed together. The jam session went so well that they decided to form a band, which became Love and Rockets, named after a comic book series by Los Bros Hernandez.
The band had somewhat of a cult following prior to their breakout 1989 hit "So Alive." While their music was more driving and upbeat than Bauhaus (which is not saying much), it was still definitely indie rock, with a strong psychedelic vibe. "So Alive," with its T-Rex and Lou Reed influences, is a bit of an aberration and caused some controversy among the bands' supporters, with some predictably calling it a sell-out.
In any event, the song became a big hit in 1989, ending up at #3 on the charts. While Love and Rockets continued to make music until their eventual break up in 1999, they did not have another hit, leaving them as a one-hit wonder. In the years since, there have been periodic reunions of both Love and Rockets and Bauhaus, although both bands appear to be on hiatus at the moment.
"Keep Your Hands to Yourself" has one of the best opening lines of any eighties song: "I got a little change in my pocket going jing-a-ling-a-ling." And with that auspicious beginning, the Georgia Satellites burst onto the music scene. The Satellites played a wonderfully retro brand of rock and roll that owes as much to Chuck Berry as it does to Lynyrd Skynyrd. However, their hybrid rock & roll/country stylings were well off the beaten trail in the mid-1980s, a fact that would eventually hurt the band. [If this story reminds our readers of Lone Justice or Jason and the Scorchers, well, you may be on to something.]
The Georgia Satellites originally formed in the early 1980s, and actually broke up in 1984, as their career appeared to be going nowhere. Fortunately, their manager continued to shop the band's demo recordings, and eventually found a small British label that released them as the Keep the Faith EP. The positive response led to the band re-forming and they were subsequently signed by Elektra in 1986.
Their eponymous debut was a huge hit -- the album topped out at #5, while "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" peaked at #2, kept out of the top spot by Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer." Sadly, from there it was all downhill, as rock radio more or less ignored the band, although they did manage to have a minor hit in 1988 with their cover of The Swinging Blue Jeans' song "Hippy Hippy Shake." The band finally broke up in 1990.
Lead singer/songwriter Dan Baird would go on to have success with his 1991 CD, Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired, which goes on the list of greatest album titles ever. Baird continues to perform as of this writing. Other members of the Satellites re-formed the band and continue to perform as the Georgia Satellites. Additionally, lead guitarist Rick Richards is also a member of Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds (Izzy was a former member of Guns n' Roses, by the by).
Cool trivia fact: "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" was supposedly based on an argument between the Satellite's drummer and his girlfriend, and was written on a tour bus.
Cool Trivia Fact #2: The demo version of this song helped land the Satellite's recording contract. However, the band did not like any of the 'professional' takes of the song, so they put the original demo version on the album, and it is the version that you hear to this day (including in the video above).
The Satellites' video for "Battleship Chains" was posted on ERV in March 2014.
The Dazz Band were part of the vibrant early 80s funk scene, along with The Gap Band, The SOS Band, Kool & the Gang and (of course) Rick James. The band formed in Cleveland in the late 1970s, and was the result of a merger between two local funk bands -- Bell Telefunk and Mother Braintree. The name came from "Danceable Jazz" which was the musical concept for the group.
Although the Dazz Band are an official one hit wonder on the pop charts, they were R&B stars, and had 18 charting songs between 1980-88 (plus two more in 1998). However, only "Let It Whip," from their 1982 LP Keep It Live broke the pop top 40. It peaked at #5.
The video is a performance clip of the band (at the LA Roxy, we believe). As an aside, few funk bands made videos, and those that did tended to simply record their performances. This is similar to hard rock bands of the era, and opened the door to the new wave artists who embraced the video music format. We do not recall seeing this video back in the day (MTV was also not great about showing black artists until Michael Jackson broke through with Thriller).
The Dazz Band stopped recording in the late 1980s, but then re-formed in the mid-1990s as part of the funk revival trend.
MARRS (or M|A|R|R|S) was formed when Ivo Watts-Russell, the head of 4AD records in London, proposed a project to blend soul with electronica. He did this after two bands on his label -- Colourbox (electronica) and A.R. Kane (dream pop) independently mentioned the idea to him. The project was called MARRS, after the artists' first names -- Martyn Young (from Colourbox), Alex Ayuli, Rudy Tambala and Russell Smith (from A.R. Kane), and Steve Young (from Colourbox).
Unfortunately, it soon became obvious that the bands simply could not work together. As a result, each band recorded material and then let the other band provide input. Although the original idea was to record an LP, the groups recorded one song each and then the project shut down. Colourbox contributed "Pump Up the Volume," which sampled some A.R. Kane guitars, while A.R. Kane wrote "Anitina," with Colourbox providing the drum programming.
This would have been the end of the story, except that "Pump Up the Volume" sounded really, really good. Released as a single in 1987, it became the first #1 song in the UK that used samples. (It peaked at #13 in the U.S.) The title comes from an Eric B. & Rakim sample (from "I Know You Got Soul"); other samples include songs from: Fab 5 Freddy, Kool & the Gang, Public Enemy and Run-D.M.C. In fact, some samples were cut from the U.S. version, as the rights could not be obtained. Overall, the U.S. version has 23 samples (the original UK version has 26 samples).
In spite of the huge success, the bands had no desire to record together again, and the project was never re-formed. Colourbox broke up in 1987, while A.R. Kane remained active until 1994. Interestingly, while both bands were well-regarded by critics, neither had much commercial success either before or after the MARRS project.
Child has an interesting backstory, as her parents were both classical musicians. She grew up in Toronto, but wrote "Don't Wanna Fall in Love" in New York, which is why the video was shot there. While she is an official one hit wonder, her single "Welcome to the Real World" peaked at #49.
After her follow up album, 1993's Here Not There was a commercial disappointment, Child dropped out of the limelight, and became a session musician. Child eventually released her third album Surge, in 2002.
Cool trivia fact: Child wrote all of the songs on here debut album, and played all instruments except guitar.
