In 1984, at the birth of my personal Too Cool for School Era, I must have avoided a movie called Electric Dreams, with a synth-pop soundtrack and a plot revolving around some icky new thing called “home computing,” like the plague. Or maybe the movie was a flop, with limited release and an early exit from theaters. Today, I don’t recall this film ever having existed. I also don’t recall this Jeff Lynne song and video from the soundtrack. We’re talking HVB’s Holy Trinity of Rock material! (Do you remember this, hrrundivbakshi?)
To celebrate this (at least, personal) discovery, today’s Last Man Standing seeks meta-rock video song videos, that is, songs about videos with accompanying rock videos. Songs about videos that do not have an accompanying video are not eligible. Songs about film (eg, Duran Duran‘s “Girls on Film”) are not eligible, even if accompanied by a rock video. This may be the shortest RTH LMS challenge ever—or most likely you will dazzle me with your collective knowledge!
Let the (fun and) games begin!
Well, this Buggles one, I guess – The beginning of the end of music as we knew it:
http://youtu.be/hiJ9AnNz47Y
I definitely know of the fact of the movie’s existence but could not have told you anything about it all, certainly not that Jeff Lynne in “what will I do with my life after ELO” mode wrote crappy songs for it. (I know that technically ELO still existed in 1984 but they were basically done, no?) It is precisely the kind of movie I would have avoided in 1984 and based on the box office it looks like a lot of others did likewise.
Here’s the trailer for Electric Dreams. As we say around here, it looks wicked awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek08KvgqFGM
Mmmm, this may need to be added to the Rock Town Hall Film Fest.
Last Man Standing!
Yuh right – mow-ah like totally quee-ah!
Is that a threat, Mod?
This seems like it should be easy. It seems like most videos were about songs about videos. For instance, the Phil Collins “great sandwich” video. (I had to Google “Collins”+”great sandwich” because I had no recollection of the song itself or its name.) Anyway, turns out the song is not about video. I don’t think so, anyway.
How about Christine McVie’s “Love Will Show Us the Way”? It’s a humorous video about making a video. Unfortunately I can’t find the longer version where the campy director is boring McVie to death with his ideas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pox0CBAGIt0
I forgot about that. I could think of a few videos about making videos (the Collins one I mentioned, that horrific Steve Perry Oh Sherry song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te1CVVlaJzA) but the songs themselves aren’t about video.
Au contraire! Would you like me to remove the “h” in the word you surely intended to type?
For the good of the competition, we’ll allow meta-rock videos – but they’ve got to be on the making of rock videos, not films. I’m imagining rock videos set in the silent film era with a fussy director in knickers and jeff cap and holding one of those conical proto-megaphones. Those videso DO NOT qualify.
Oh yes! This DOES look like a most delightful romp! You should program “Voyage of the Rock Aliens” and “The Apple”, as well, for a full night of top shelf irritainment!
I know the Buggles will forever go down in infamy for this song and its unintended results (MTV didn’t exist when the song was released in 1979), but The Age of Plastic was actually a quite good early synth-pop album.
Well, then, I guess I am the last man standing.
Again, likely to the surprise of no one, I have vivid recollection of Electric Dreams coming out in theaters (and later regularly being on PRISM, the local pay cable channel at the time) and the Jeff Lynne contributions to the soundtrack, as well as the title track that I think actually got some decent play at the time.
Video Killed the Radio Star was the first video MTV played when it went on the air.
In other news, radio still seems to be going strong. Stronger than videos on MTV anyway. Where do people see videos on TV anymore? I literally have no idea. Is it just all youtube now?
Pretty much, BigSteve. In my run of video/music channels there are some stations I see in flashes that do play new videos. Is Fuse one of them? There are a few others. Every once in a while, as I flip through that area, I pause to see what the kidz are watching. Sometimes I catch a station with some kind of “college” programming, and I see a video of an energetic band with young guys flopping around their bangs and bashing out power chords under the glare of a brightly lit set – and the songs aren’t half bad! More often I catch a glimpse of Lady Gaga or some rap guy acting tough with a hot woman occasionally singing a chorus while the rap guy nods his head and says, “Uh huh!”
We need to develop a portal into your mind, alexmagic.
Most digital cable providers give you a lot of ancillary music channels, such as MTV U (what now passes as college-rock), MTV Hits, VH1 Classic and Fuse.
Does Dire Straits “Money for Nothing” qualify? The character in the song is singing about watching a video on MTV…..
That’s it: MTV U! I love that name.
YES, LMS!
How about the video for “State of Confusion” by the Kinks, portraying a supposed day in the life of Ray Davies circa 1983?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waPI_nE2yIg
(Note the MTV thingie at the beginning)
David Lee Roth, “Just A Gigolo” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN-4lX0QyZc
George Michael torches all of his old video props and reveals himself to be the director of “Freedom ’90” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diYAc7gB-0A
YES! We’ve now blown by the point where I’m impressed by the Hall’s collective knowledge to astounded.
At the end of Genesis’ “Illegal Alien” video, the cameras pull back from the “street scene” to reveal the crews and the indoor sets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_61hzuGGJX0
“Time Stand Still” by Rush, featuring a comely camerawoman played by… Aimee Mann!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwUY4NobpZk
That looks like a video about video, but is it a song about video?
YES, an old RTH favorite that I’d forgotten about. HVB is LMS!
Yo La Tengo, “Sugarcube”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDgpQBaziy0