Music Video of the Day: Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles (1979, directed by Russell Mulcahy)

Posted on August 2, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

40 years ago, on August 1st, 1981, MTV premiered.

Back then, MTV was short for “Music Television” and it actually played music videos, something that you don’t see much of on the channel anymore. Today, MTV is best known for cheap reality programming and countless shows in which D-List celebs watch YouTube videos. But before MTV became the Rob Dyrdek network, it actually used to play music.

In fact, MTV revolutionized music and, along the way, it also provided a chance for several talented filmmakers to show off what they could do with just a few minutes of screen time. David Fincher started out directing music videos. So did Spike Jonze. But before Fincher and Jonze, there was Russell Mulcahy, who went from directing trippy music videos to directing Highlander.

Appropriately enough, the very first video to air on MTV was directed by Mulcahy and it was for a song that predicted what MTV would eventually do to the music industry. Video Killed The Radio Star was the perfect debut video for MTV. Produced on a budget of $50,000 and filmed over the course of just one day in South London, Video Killed the Radio Star featured actress Virginia Hey in a test tube and Hans Zimmer playing keyboards. Hey later went on to appear in several Australian films, including Mad Max 2 where she played the warrior woman. Hans Zimmer, of course, went on to find fame on his own as one of the busiest film composers around.

Even before it was featured on MTV, Video Killed The Radio Star was aired on British television and was considered to be controversial because of the exploding television, which was seen as encouraging violence. It was a much more innocent time.

Enjoy!

Confession of a TV Addict #13: Remembering Peter Tork and The Monkees

Posted on February 21, 2019 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

Before the advent of cable and MTV and music videos, there was The Monkees. Now I know some of you are going give me flak about “The Pre-Fab Four”, how they weren’t a real band, just a commercialized, bubblegum TV concept, so let me put this in perspective… if you were an eight-year-old kid like me back in The Monkees’ heyday, you watched the show every week, bought the records, and actually enjoyed them! That’s where I’m coming from, and that’s why I’m writing this tribute to the late Peter Tork, who passed away today of cancer at age 77.

Peter Thorkleson was born in Washington, D.C. on February 13, 1942, and as a child loved music, learning to play piano, guitar, bass, and banjo early on. After college, he shortened his name to Tork and hit New York City, becoming part of the burgeoning Greenwich Village folk scene. He…

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Music Video of the Day: I Wanna Be A Lifeguard by Blotto (1981, directed by ????)

Posted on August 1, 2018 by Jedadiah Leland

37 years ago today, MTV first started to broadcast. Over the course of the day, the station aired 116 music videos.

Everyone knows that the first video to ever be shown on MTV was Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles. But did you know that the 36th video aired was Blotto’s I Wanna Be A Lifeguard?.

Who were Blotto? A new wave band from Albany, New York, they had a strong cult following among college students in the late 70s and early 80s. Much like the Ramones, all the band members used pseudonyms and took Blotto as their last name. Among the members were: Bowtie Blotto, Broadway Blotto, Cheese Blotto, Lee Harvey Blotto, Sergeant Blotto, Blanche Blotto, and Chevrolet Blotto.

I Wanna Be A Lifeguard was probably their best known song, as it was adopted as an anthem by the Jones Beach lifeguards. Before they made their MTV debut, Blotto and I Wanna Be A Lifeguard were championed by Dr. Demento and, like all good, quirky New York bands, they appeared on both The Joe Franklin Show and the Uncle Floyd Show. Today, it’s clear to see that Blotto were ahead of their time. The band’s mix of humor and music are tailor-made for the age of YouTube and social media.

As for the video, it was filmed by video production students at SUNY Albany and it feels like a cross between two quintessentially 90s shows. Starting in a shoe store and ending on the beach, I Wanna Be A Lifeguard is Married With Children meets Baywatch. Since the video came out ten years before either one of those shows premiered, I Wanna Be A Lifeguard was as ahead of its time as the band that performed it.

RIP in Blues Heaven, J. Geils

Posted on April 11, 2017 by gary loggins

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Appropriately, I was just leaving Fenway Park in Boston with my friends when we heard the news that guitarist J. Geils had died. The J. Geils Band were legendary here in Massachusetts, a gritty, down-to-earth blues rock band who had a string of hits in the 70’s, then reemerged again in the 80’s at the height of MTV’s heyday. The band, fronted by charismatic lead singer Peter Wolf and propelled by the bluesy harmonic licks of Magic Dick, released their first album in 1970, and hit the road to tour the country incessantly. They became known as one of the hardest working (and hardest rocking) bands in America, and hit it big on FM radio with their 1972 LP “LIVE! FULL HOUSE”, featuring the single “Lookin’ for a Love”: