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.
The Wisconsin-based BoDeans came onto the music scene in the mid 1980s, and were another roots rock band that was loved by critics and briefly viewed as The Next Big Thing in rock -- much like the Del Fuegos had been in 1985. The band's breakout album was 1987's Outside Looking In, and the first single was the catchy song below, "Only Love." The BoDeans opened for U2 and were named Best New American Band by the readers of Rolling Stone magazine. (As many readers will know, being named best new artist by anyone is the kiss of death for most acts. Don't believe me? See the comments section for a list of Grammy winners for Best New Artist going back to 1975).
At any rate, Outside Looking In stalled at #86 on the album charts, and "Only Love" didn't hit the singles charts. 1989's Home did slightly worse, and while the band continued to release albums and tour, they gradually became a successful working band (their albums tended to chart in the top 200, but not by much).
The band did get a second break, when their song "Closer to Free" was used as the theme to Fox's Party of Five TV show. The song went to #16 on the Billboard singles charts in 1996, three years after it had been originally released as the lead single from the band's 1993 CD, Go Slow Down. [By the way, the Rembrandts followed a remarkably similar path in 1994 when they wrote "I'll Be There for You" for NBC's Friends.]
While the video for "Only Love" is a basic performance shoot, it is one of the best videos of this type -- nothing fancy, but really well-shot, and the use of still images is quite effective.
Cool trivia fact: Jerry Harrison (of Talking Heads fame) produced Outside Looking In.
For people who don't believe that a pop song can be a well-crafted work of art, we'd like to present Marshall Crenshaw. He wrote a truckload of great pop songs, and his first two albums, 1982's self-titled debut and 1983's Field Day are chock full of them. It is just short of criminal that he is an official one hit wonder, as only 1982's "Someday, Someway" broke the top 40.
In retrospect, we think Crenshaw may have been hurt by the video music revolution as much as any artist -- he released a couple of performance videos in 1982, but "Whenever ..." was his first 'real' video. My guess is that he wasn't into the whole music video thing at the time. Additionally, his 60's influenced pop songs may have been seen as a bit dated in the early 1980s. Looking back on them now, however, reinforces the timeless nature of his songs.
"Whenever You're On My Mind" is a great example of his work. On its surface, it is a love song, but the catchy hook and thoughtful lyrics make it one of the better love songs written in the decade. Plus, you have to love a songwriter who uses the word reverie (go ahead, you can look it up if you like ... I'll wait). Amazingly, neither the song, nor the album (Field Day) even charted upon their release in 1983.
The video was played a little back in the day, and then seems to have been forgotten. In fact, it was hard to find even today. For folks who like it, we suggest listening to samples from his first two albums -- there are a lot of pop classics there.
Cool trivia fact: Crenshaw co-wrote the Gin Blossom's 1995 hit "Til I Hear It from You," which peaked at #11 in 1996 (the highest charting song that Marshall Crenshaw wrote). The guitar intro, in particular, sounds a lot like a Crenshaw lick.
Is there a larger, more important eighties band than Spinal Tap? Well, yes, but that does not diminish what David, Nigel and Derek achieved. They brought their special blend of music to countless audiences and in the process sold dozens of records.
As many readers will know, Spinal Tap started as The Originals (later they changed the name to the New Originals, as there was another Originals) and went through several other names before settling on Spinal Tap. They then had a period of some success, and although they have had many drummers (at least 19), the core of David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls has remained constant through the years.
For this blog, we settled on "Hellhole," from their 1982 LP, Smell the Glove. We know that some fans will regret that we didn't consider something off Intravenus de Milo or The Sun Never Sweats, but we wanted to stay on the 1980s theme.
In any event, "Hellhole" does a great job of showcasing the band's strengths -- you can almost smell them.
As a special treat, we am also including "Rock and Roll Nightmare," a great early video from ABC's The TV Show. This is rare and really interesting.
We also wanted to take a moment to thank anyone reading this. This post is our 100th on ERV, and we have really enjoyed it. Please feel free to check out the other 99 videos on the site -- we think we have a bunch of good stuff here.
For folks who are so inclined, there are a few ways to offer support to ERV. You can: like us on Facebook (link is on the right), subscribe to the blog, tell your friends about us, leave comments and / or click on our sponsors. And do not worry -- this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end (but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning, as Churchill said). As of this writing, we have 118 videos in the bullpen, ready to be added (and more are put on the list nearly every week). It turns out that there were lots of good songs and videos done in the 1980s (even rare ones).
So rock on and thanks again for reading.
And by the way, we do know that Spinal Tap is a parody (before someone posts a snarky comment). ;)
"Holiday" is a catchy tongue-in-cheek rock song that cleverly folds in several different musical styles (in particular, the chorus has a Caribbean feel that contrasts nicely with the rock verses). It was released in 1980, and was off Nazareth's wonderfully named Malice in Wonderland LP, which goes on my "coolest album names ever" list, along with Thomas Dolby's Aliens Ate My Buick and the Hoodoo Gurus' Mars Needs Guitars.
Nazareth is an interesting band who never quite made it big, but managed to have a moderately successful career, while making some seriously good music. The band started in Scotland in 1968 (!) and between 1975 and 1981, they had 7 consecutive albums break the U.S. top 100, although only 1975's Hair of the Dog broke the top 20. We believe that they are an official one hit wonder, as only "Love Hurts" broke the top 40. How "Hair of the Dog" didn't chart is beyond us.
"Holiday" did in fact chart, but it peaked at #87 in 1980. The video combines the band performing with a young man playing a video game in a seemingly random way, but maybe it made more sense in 1980. At any rate, it is a decent effort for an early video -- remember that MTV didn't even launch until August 1981. [As an aside, "Holiday" was played on MTV on the first day the channel was running -- it was video #138.]
Nazareth would continue to release albums on a regular basis through the 1980s, but without much success. They continue to record and tour to this day -- the very definition of a hard working band.
Cool trivia fact that may interest only us: The video game being played in the "Holiday" video is Super Road Champions, made by Model Racing in 1978.
The Psychedelic Furs are another in a growing list of under-appreciated bands on ERV; highlighting videos like "The Ghost in You" is one of the reasons why we started the blog. In the Furs case, we think the combination of a relatively short period when they were at the top of their game and a somewhat evolving sound combined to limit their success. However, at their peak (say from 1981-84), they made some of the strongest music of the decade.
The band started in England in 1977 and was formed around the Butler brothers (Richard sang and Tim played bass). Their name was an allusion to a Velvet Underground song "Venus in Furs." Some readers may be surprised at how little commercial success the band had in the U.S., where they are an official one hit wonder. Yes, the Furs only had one top 40 hit ("Heartbreak Beat"), although they did have three other charting singles in the top 60, including "The Ghost in You," which hit #59.
"The Ghost in You" was written by Richard and Tim Butler, and was the second single off the 1984 album Mirror Moves. It is a lush, atmospheric song, with interesting, ambiguous lyrics. The mostly monochromatic video tries to capture the atmosphere, with some success.
Although their 1987 LP, Midnight to Midnight was a commercial success, the band seemed to have lost their way musically -- something that Richard Butler has admitted in recent interviews. The Furs released two additional albums that did not do as well, before breaking up in 1991. Richard and Tim Butler would go on to form Love Spit Love before reforming the Psychedelic Furs in 2001.
Mixing old school R&B with modern pop and rock elements, Terence Trent D'Arby briefly looked like The Next Big Thing in music. His debut album, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby hit #4 on the U.S. album charts, and was a huge international hit as well. However, his follow up efforts did not generate much commercial success, leaving him as an interesting one album wonder.
D'Arby was born in New York City (as Terence Trent Howard), but grew up with his stepfather, which is where the Darby comes from. As a young man, he was a boxer and joined the U.S. Army, a path that led him to Germany and eventually London, after he left the army. Several years of working the London music scene led to a recording contract, and his first album was released with a ton of publicity and immediately became successful in Britain.
Although success in the U.S. was slower, his material gained traction in late 1987 and into 1988. "Wishing Well" was his big hit, and it reached #1 (for 1 week) in May 1988. From there, his career slowly fell apart, due to arrogance (he once proclaimed that his album was the most important LP since Sgt. Pepper), and weaker material that did not connect with his audience. He eventually changed his name to Sananda Francesco Maitreya, but continues to write and record music.
Cool trivia fact: D'Arby (Maitreya) was the guest lead singer of INXS in 1999, when they performed prior to the Sydney Olympics (their original lead singer, Michael Hutchence, died in 1997).
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.
Although she is thought of as a one hit wonder, Stacey Q actually had two top 40 hits ("We Connect" was the other, and no, we don't remember it either).
Stacey Q (real name: Stacey Swain) had an interesting career prior to her 1986 breakout. Among other things, she was an entertainer at Disneyland and an elephant girl for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus.
In the early 1980s, Stacey Q became involved in the emerging electronic music scene, and became the lead singer of Q (later renamed SSQ after ... Stacey Swain). While the band did not become successful, Stacey began using the Stacey Q moniker, and she kept it when she started her solo career.
1986's Better Than Heaven was her second solo album, and became a huge dance LP, peaking at #59 on the album charts, and providing two top 40 dance hits -- "Two of Hearts" and the aforementioned "We Connect."
While many readers will recognize "Two of Hearts," we think that few people know that it is a cover. The original (also from 1986) was co-written and performed by Sue Gatlin; the extended version of the original is below. Also of note, the song's big breakout came when it was used in an episode of "The Facts of Life" TV show. Yes, really.
As with many artists, Stacey Q was unable to maintain her success and quickly faded from view. She has released five albums since Better Than Heaven and we believe that she continues to perform to this day.
The Stacey Q version of "Two of Hearts" (a #3 hit in 1986):
The original Sue Gatlin version of "Two of Hearts":
Prism's "Don't Let Him Know" seems like the perfect follow-up to Bryan Adams, as their one U.S. hit was actually written by Adams and Jim Vallance. The history of Prism, however, goes all the way back to the early 1970s, when producer Bruce Fairbairn and songwriter Jim Vallance formed the band. Over time, Prism became successful north of the boarder, with ten top 100 hits between 1977 and 1981.
Even when Vallance started working with Bryan Adams, he remained active (as a songwriter) with Prism, and in the summer of 1981, Vallance and Adams wrote "Don't Let Him Know" for Prism. Vallance has subsequently stated that the song was influenced by "Bette Davis Eyes," and we think that you can hear that, especially in the drums. In any event, "Don't Let Him Know" would go on to be Prism's only top 40 hit in the U.S., making them an official one-hit wonder (although, to be fair, they had three other songs that broke the U.S. top #100).
We don't think that an official video was ever made for the song (if any readers know of one, please let us know in the comments). As a result, we have gone with a clip from Solid Gold, although, sadly, the Solid Gold Dancers do not make an appearance. Prism broke up in 1982, although the band later re-formed and continues to play to this day.
Coll trivia fact: Bruce Fairbairn would go on to become a hugely successful record producer for Krokus, Loverboy, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, and AC/DC among others until his untimely passing in 1999.
The "every man" rock star, Canadian Bryan Adams seems to have flown under the radar during his career -- until you consider the large number of catchy rock songs he has written and the 75 million (or so) records that he has sold.
Although Adams released his first album in 1980, it was 1983's Cuts Like a Knife and 1984's Reckless (a #1 album that went 5x platinum in the U.S.) that really launched his career. However, in typical ERV style, we are not going to go with anything off those smash records. Instead, we dug a little bit deeper into his catalog.
"Hearts on Fire" was originally written during the Reckless recording session with Adams' longtime songwriting partner, Jim Vallance. Two years later, Adams recorded the song and it became the second single off his 1987 album, Into the Fire, where it peaked at #26 on the U.S. charts. While it was not a huge hit, it is a solid, and pretty typical Bryan Adams song. No question about it; the dude knows how to write a decent rock song. The video is about as straightforward as they come (much like Mr. Adams, we imagine) -- it is a performance clip, from a 1987 concert in Florida.
Cool trivia fact: Bryan Adams sang backup on Mötley Crüe's 1989 album Dr. Feelgood (other artists who sang backup on the album include: Sebastian Bach, Robin Zander, Jack Blades, Rick Nielsen and Steven Tyler).
