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.
MC Lyte was a female trailblazer in hip hop and is the answer to a trivia question: who is the first solo female artist to release a rap record? (Answer: MC Lyte - Lyte As a Rock, 1988).
Born in Brooklyn, NY as Lana Moorer, MC Lyte began rapping at 12, and recorded her first song at 14. Lyte's first album came out when she was 17; though it was not a huge commercial hit, it did establish her as an important rising hip hop artist.
Lyte's second album (1989's Eyes on This) did better, reaching #86 on the album charts, and peaking at #6 on the rap album charts. "Cha Cha Cha" did not land on the singles charts, but was a #1 song on the rap charts for two weeks.
MC Lyte would go on to have further successes in the 1990s, and would expanding into acting, business ventures, philanthropy, and political causes over time.
Cool trivia fact: the video for "Cha Cha Cha" was directed by Tamra Davis, who has directed a bunch of movies, TV shows, and music videos. Davis was married to Mike D of the Beastie Boys for years, although they are now legally separated.
This one goes out to D, the biggest Little Feat fan that we know.
For all intensive purposes, there were two Little Feats. The first version came out of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, and formed in the late 1960s. This group was led by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Lowell George, and built a following in the 1970s. They were the prototypical swamp rock act, best known for "Dixie Chicken."
Unfortunately, George's erratic behavior and drug use (and differing views as to the musical direction of the band) led to Little Feat's demise by 1979. George made conflicting statements about whether he would re-form a new Little Feat or remain a solo act, but this was all rendered moot when he died of a heart attack later that year. He was 34.
The remaining members of the group managed to release one last album (1979's Down on the Farm), at which point Little Feat officially broke up. However, the now former bandmates remained in the industry, playing with other artists. In 1987, the surviving members re-formed the band, added a couple of new musicians, and set out to record an album. This became the second version of Little Feat.
Their 1988 album, Let It Roll served to successfully relaunch the band and further grew their audience. While we don't recall seeing much of them on MTV, the songs were all over rock radio in 1988. For the blog, we went with the title cut off the LP. Yes, the vintage hot rod is a little ZZ Top derivative, but the blending of cars and the band performing live mostly works, in our opinion.
While Let It Roll was Little Feat's last top 40 album, the band retained their loyal fan base, and remains active (with a few lineup changes) to the present day.
Long time ERV readers will know that we love to feature covers, especially when the remake is a big hit. For instance, we have previously posted "Bette Davis Eyes," "I Love Rock 'n' Roll, " and "Mickey" - and a bunch more. Yep, they're all covers (readers can use the Covers label to the right to see all of the videos in this category.)
"Gloria" is another song that fits - it was the single that launched Laura Branigan's career, and was her biggest hit as well. Plus, we bet that most English-speaking readers have no idea that it is a cover of an Umberto Tozzi song. In a bit of good fortune, the co-producer of Branigan's first LP, Greg Mathieson, was the keyboard player on the original version, and suggested a remake.
Laura Branigan would go on to become a pretty big pop star in the 1980s - all five of her albums released in that decade broke the top 100. In addition, her first three LPs all reached #34 or higher, and she had seven top 40 singles, led by "Gloria," which peaked at #2 for three weeks in late 1982. Interestingly, (to me, at least) "Gloria" was kept out of the top spot by two different songs - Lionel Richie's "Truly" and the previously mentioned "Mickey," covered by Toni Basil.
The video for "Gloria" ... well, let's just say that the label did not spend a ton of money on it. It's Branigan on a modestly decorated soundstage, lip-singing away. Not surprisingly, we don't recall seeing the clip back in the day, although the song was all over the radio for a time.
Laura Branigan would remain active in the industry until her untimely death (from a brain aneurysm) in 2004.
The Umberto Tozzi version came out in 1979, and was a top 10 hit across several countries in Europe.
"Fast" Eddie Clarke rose to fame as Motörhead's guitarist, and can be seen on the "Ace of Spades" video, which was posted on ERV in November 2013. However, a dispute during the band's 1982 U.S. tour resulting in him leaving the group - and he quickly set about forming a new one.
Around the same time, bassist Pete Way left UFO, and with Clarke formed a band, which they called ... Fastway. Singer Dave King and drummer Jerry Shirley rounded out the lineup. Unfortunately a legal dispute with Chrysalis prevented Way from recording with his new band; as a result he left the group prior to their first LP. (Bass is uncredited on the album but seems to have been Mick Feat.)
Fastway's self-titled album came out in 1983, and represented a solid bluesy hard rock effort. The album was a modest success, reaching #31 on the charts, though the "Say What You Will" single did not chart. However, Fastway was not able to build a following, though they released several subsequent LPs, and even played on the Trick or Treat soundtrack (now who remembers that movie). Clarke tried several lineup changes in the late 1980s, to no avail, and finally broke up the group in the early 1990s.
The video for "Say What You Will" did receive a bit of airplay back in the day, but eventually faded from view ... until now.
"Fast" Eddie Clarke remained in the industry until his death in 2018.
As we've mentioned before, The Cars appeared to be running out of steam by the mid-1980s, which led to three of the five member releasing solo albums. ERV has previously featured work by guitarist/singer Ric Ocasek ("Emotion in Motion") and by bassist/singer Ben Orr ("Stay the Night") both of which came out in 1986. However, The Cars' lead guitarist, Elliot Easton released his only solo album the prior year.
Easton's solo album was titled Change No Change and was co-written with Jules Shear. If Shear's name sounds familiar, it's because he wrote Cyndi Lauper's "All Through the Night" and The Bangles' "If She Knew What She Wants."
The resulting record was neither a commercial nor a critical success. While Easton is undoubtedly a gifted guitarist, the songs don't highlight this, and there was criticism of his voice, as well. The album peaked at #99, and while "(Wearing Down) Like a Wheel" picked up a modicum of airplay, it did not chart. It is a solid, if unspectacular song, and a nice rare video too.
In addition to the videos linked above, Ric Ocasek's earlier (and excellent) "Something to Grab For" was featured on ERV early on, in September 2011. We also posted The Cars "Since You're Gone" in May 2014. [Yes, The Cars are well-represented on ERV.]
Cool trivia fact: Elliot Easton's given name was Elliot Steinberg.
While many readers may not know who John Sykes is, most will have heard his music. In fact, Sykes' story is another somewhat sad rock and roll tale.
Sykes got his big break in 1982, when he joined Thin Lizzy just before the recording of their last studio LP, 1983's Thunder and Lightning. Sykes even co-wrote one of the tracks for the LP - "Cold Sweat." In 1984, as Thin Lizzy was winding up, Sykes joined Whitesnake.
ERV readers will recall that David Coverdale ran Whitesnake - full stop. (Note that "Slow An' Easy" and "Love Ain't No Stranger" have been previously featured on the blog.) Sykes joined the band in time to re-record some guitar parts for the U.S. release of the Slide It In LP, and toured in support of the album. He and Coverdale then co-wrote all of the songs on what became the 1987 self-titled album, with the exception of two older Whitesnake songs that the band re-recorded.
Unfortunately, the Whitesnake story then became difficult. Coverdale developed a sinus infection that required surgery and there was some doubt as to whether he would be able to continue singing. After being out of action for most of 1986, Coverdale returned to the studio and put the vocal tracks over the music. However, the delays and health issues strained Coverdale's relationship with the rest of the band; as a result, he fired everyone prior to the album's release.
Sykes would go on to form Blue Murder with Tony Franklin on bass and Carmine Appice on drums. Their 1989 album was quite solid, but did not become a huge hit. Sykes would later speculate that the label (Geffen) did not properly promote the group, perhaps due to being on the same label as Whitesnake.
Blue Murder would release a second album (Nothin' but Trouble) in 1993, but sales were disappointing. The group broke up in 1995.
Cool trivia fact: the actress in the video is Meg Register.
"Never Knew Love Like This Before" was a catchy pop/R&B hit from Stephanie Mills that became her biggest hit. The song reached #6 on the charts, while the Sweet Sensation LP peaked at #16 and went gold.
Mills grew up in Bedford–Stuyvesant (Brooklyn) and landed a recording contract at 16. Her big break came a year later, when she was cast as the original Dorothy in the Broadway production of The Wiz, a role she held from 1974-79. Known as "the little girl with the big voice," Mills transitioned to the music industry full time after The Wiz, and had 5 gold records and three top 40 singles during the late 1970s and 1980s. She also had 24 top 40 R&B singles, including five #1s. We believe that she is still active in the industry as of this writing.
The video for "Never Knew Love Like This Before" is literally Mills happily dance-walking through a park. Ah, for the simple days before MTV, when promotional videos were something of an afterthought for much of the industry ...
Cool trivia fact: "Never Knew Love Like This Before" was co-written by James Mtume and Reggie Lucas, who also co-produced the Sweet Sensation album. Hardcore Madonna fans will note that Reggie Lucas was the original producer on Madge's self-titled debut (he also wrote "Borderline.") Unfortunately, he and Madonna did not see eye to eye, and she brought in John Jellybean Benitez to remix the album prior to its release.
Way back when ... in 2011, we envisioned ERV as a site which highlighted rare videos from the eighties - hence the name. However, a funny thing happened when we started posting. It turns out that a blog that only featured rare videos drew virtually no visitors. As a result, we re-tooled, and included some rare videos, some that were less rare, along with a few covers (many that you might not know about) and an annual collection of spooky All Hallows Even videos. This mashup is the ERV that you see today.
However, we do love our rare videos, which is a long-winded way of introducing The Screaming Tribesmen. The group formed in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1981 and was led by singer/guitarist Mick Medew. Their appealing pop-influenced indy rock sound generated some buzz, and the band released several EPs, and finally an album in 1987 - Bones and Flowers.
"I've Got A Feeling" was the first single off the Bones and Flowers LP, and it picked up a bit of airplay, reaching #8 on the U.S. modern rock charts. Even better, the video was played on MTVs 120 Minutes. Unfortunately, the band struggled to grow their audience, and (after several lineup changes) broke up in the mid-1990s.
Interestingly (to us at least), the band made two videos for "I've Got A Feeling." Here is the original stripped down version:
And this is the second, more polished MTV-ish video:
For the final selection of our 2020 All Hallows Even celebration, we are going with The Cure's "Lullaby." Skeptics might point at that just about any Cure song could be considered for a Halloween celebration, but this isn't totally true. Yes, The Cure were known for their goth pop songs - they might even be the masters of this genre. However, few of their songs were genuinely spooky - although "Lullaby" certainly fits the bill.
While the lyrics of "Lullaby" are literally about being eaten by "The Spiderman," the song is likely a metaphor. Lead singer Robert Smith wrote the lyrics, and in typical form, has provided several conflicting answers as to the meaning of "Lullaby." Many fans believe that the song is a metaphor for drug addiction, a view shared by Tim Pope, who directed the video. Other possibilities include depression, sexual assault, sleep issues, and even nightmares.
The video takes a somewhat literal approach to the song, creating a spider infested nightmare - though it is worth noting that Robert Smith plays both the victim and the spider. Amazingly (considering how dark it is), the clip won the video of the year at the 1990 Brit Awards. The song would go on to reach #5 on the UK charts and become the highest charting single of The Cure's career there. In the U.S., it was less successful, reaching only #74. ("Lovesong" also off the Disintegration LP, would hit #2 and become the band's highest charting single in the U.S.)
As many readers will know, The Cure remains active as of this writing, and have become one of the most successful alternative bands of the past few decades. For other ERV videos of the group, "In Between Days" was posted in April, 2013 and "Pictures of You" was posted in September, 2014.
Cool trivia fact: Rolling Stone ranked the Disintegration LP at #116 on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
We love highlighting the diversity of eighties music at ERV, and we particularly enjoy abrupt transitions from one video to the next. This made it hard to pass up the opportunity to go from Sheena Easton to Iron Maiden as part of our 2020 All Hallows Even Celebration.
Iron Maiden made this even easier by starting "2 Minutes to Midnight" with one of the filthiest guitar riffs of the decade. Combined with a somewhat creepy video about ... well, we're not exactly sure, but it definitely passes the atmospheric Hallowweny test for us. (Although we're not quite sure why there's a yo-yo starting at 0:26).
The song would go on to become a hard rock classic, and it actually hit #11 on the U.K. charts, while the Powerslave LP reached #2 in the U.K. and #21 in the U.S. As most readers will know, Iron Maiden remains active as of this writing, and is one of the few 1980s acts that has remained successful during the intervening years.
For folks who want more Iron Maiden, "The Number of the Beast" was featured on ERV's first All Hallows Even celebration in 2011, while "Flight Of Icarus" appeared on our blog in 2015. Both are highly recommended from your friends at ERV.
Cool trivia fact #1: "2 Minutes to Midnight" is one of the few Iron Maiden songs not written or co-written by bassist Steve Harris. It was co-written by guitarist Adrian Smith and singer Bruce Dickinson. This helps explain why it sounds different (to my ear, at least) from most other Maiden songs.
Cool trivia fact #2: The video for "2 Minutes to Midnight" about spies, cults, and a stolen nuclear weapon (we think) was the group's first concept video. The theme plays off the fears on a nuclear war, which drove the title and lyrics for the song.
