In a Facebook discussion about some high school hijinks – yes, I did just use the word “hijinks”, thank you very much – one of my old friends mentioned the song “Open Arms”. She dropped the title like a bomb, knowing its power to conjure up dark, traumatic memories. When I was 17-years-old I went to church camp and shared a cabin with two girls from my church youth group. One of them was obsessed with the song “Open Arms” by Journey. No, I mean it. She was obsessed. She had made a cassette tape that was nothing but “Open Arms” recorded over and over and over….”Kelly” claimed that she couldn’t sleep without listening to “Open Arms” and so we listened to it played again and again each night. As I recall, “Kelly” couldn’t really do anything without listening to “Open Arms”. By the end of camp I hated that song with a white hot passion that hasn’t subsided over the years.
Oh, the memories.
I don’t hate “Journey” songs in general, though. Despite the overkill to which is has been subjected since being featured on “Glee”, I still think “Don’t Stop Believing” is a great song. “Any Way You Want It”, “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin”, “Faithfully” – all good. But there’s another reason to love Journey.
Music videos and I came of age together. MTV debuted in August of 1981, when I was 16. I still remember those super cool early promos for the station. Poor kids today; they have no idea what they’re missing. Not only did we have MTV when it was almost all music videos, all the time, but even when we didn’t have it (as on my college campus), on the weekends we could glut ourselves on hours of Night Tracks. There is nothing to stir up nostalgia for my youth like seeing those ’80s videos. Some of them I still think were well designed. Others are a joy to watch because they are so profoundly bad. And if we are talking joyfully bad videos, it is very, very hard to top this:
I’d love to do a shot-by-shot study of this video in a class setting, because it is so chock full of video techniques that now seem like parody. Believe it or not, youngsters, they weren’t played for laughs back in the day. If you don’t have the patience to watch the whole thing (what’s wrong with you?), at least behold the awesomeness that starts at about 2:30.
How can you not love the band in that video? There’s something so charmingly naive about their performance, at least when viewed in the cold light of the 21st century.
I still hate “Open Arms”, though.
Strange Figures 
all I can say is….I have no idea what you are talking about..hehehehehehe
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Hello, stranger from a foreign land. Let me tell you about our customs here….. 😉
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I love Journey. I still have a bunch of cassette tapes from like jr. high and high school. I remember listening to the radio and waiting for a song to play so I could record it. These kids are spoiled rotten!
This is the one area where The Man and I are totally incompatible. He hates pretty much everything that was popular in the 80’s. He was in high school in the 80’s, for crying out loud!! The old guy should love it.
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Yes, music videos were awesome. They gave us punchdancing, and a move I call “rock arm.” Separate Ways induces a lot of rock arm. We didn’t have MTV when it first came out, so we had to stay up late watching Friday Night Videos on NBC. Let’s not talk about Solid Gold.
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My 19 year old is an excellent punchdancer, but he picked it up off “Hot Rod” rather than from primary sources. 🙂
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Um, yeah, “Solid Gold” = yikes. Even I didn’t like that one. Having older siblings I did get to watch “The Midnight Special” back in the day, and while they weren’t videos (obviously) there were some terrific live performances.
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I had no idea MTV debuted in ’81. Cool post. Thanks for sharing.
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I love “Separate Ways” – I don’t care if the video’s cheesy! 🙂
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I love me some cheese, especially when it’s delivered so earnestly.
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LOVE THE SONG…CAN’T STAND THE VIDEO.
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Oh my GOD: Do you remember the Journey video game that used to feature their songs and bad caricatures of them? Your post totally reminded me of that game — used to spend mindless hours in the arcade popping quarters into that machine. For what purpose, I don’t know…
Great post!
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I don’t remember the Journey game, although it sounds entertaining. The only video game I spent much time with was Time Pilot 84, which I completely OWNED in my college’s student union.
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I remember that game!! Good times!
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We are about the same age. MTV, Madonna, and all the great videos. Life was good.
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I saw my parents this weekend and my mom insists she never gave me permission to watch MTV. I’m 46 and I just got busted.
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I remember there being approximately 3 videos, one of which was “Come On, Eileen”. Oh, and those hokey promos they did–“I Want My MTV!” lol
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Love it! We’re the same age, so I completely get it. I remember the days a bunch of friends and i would hang out, watching MTV for hours- completely ridiculing most of the videos. Funny thing is, that’s what made it so appealing. Like you said, “Oh, the memories”.
You need to do a blog on Billy Squier’s “Rock Me Tonight”. The video is known worldwide for being the worst music video ever, and is rumored to be so bad, it single-handedly ruined Squier’s career in music. Now, THAT’S bad.
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DUDE! You are reading my mind! I’d already planned to do a post on that very video. Not only is it universally acclaimed for its awfulness (my working title is: Can a Music Video Destroy a Career?), but I have very vivid memories of…um…dancing along with Billy, every time my best friend and I saw the video. We never stopped thinking that was funny.
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Actually, this has already been analyzed shot by shot. Starts about 30 seconds in:
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That’s great! Thanks for “schooling” me. Two comments – 1) My sophomore year of college I had the same haircut Steve Perry has in this video. It was one of those “why pay for a haircut when a girl in my dorm will do it for free” mistakes. 2) The “pretend to climb” at about 57 seconds, I’ve always read as more of a “I’m a cat and I will scratch you.” But art is subjective. 🙂
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I’m an 80’s kid myself so I love this post. I don’t even want to watch MTV anymore…it’s not about the music anymore just crappy reality shows.
I loved when I could turn on to catch one music video after another. So inventive and innovative – truly innovative.
I started watching a bit later in the 90’s because it was only that late that Singapore got MTV. And I was so thrilled that I used to watch for hours absorbed in the stories. I was hooked on Madonna then, but don’t care for her new music. Also loved the videos of Kylie Minogue – she was soo adorable. Back then music videos were so fun and it wasn’t about the special effects but the story.
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Saw Kylie Minogue in an episode of Dr. Who & was telling my son that she’s a huge star in certain parts of the world. Not so much in the U.S. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of her videos.
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Also wanted to add that back then you didn’t have to be just good looking…you had to be really be able to sing and write your own music.
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True. Of course, some have argued that videos ruined that – that they made success much more about visual appeal. Some of the best early videos (“Money for Nothing”, “Don’t Come Around Here No More”) were from artists that weren’t particularly good looking. They just made great, creative videos.
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Of course Michael Jackson videos…how could I forget…sorry for the multiple comments…this post really brought back the nostalgia.
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I’m older than you, Sharon, so I remember when they used to have jukeboxes that played filmed songs called “Soundies”, some of which were done like skits. Much later, in the 70’s, ex-monkee Mike Nesmith did the first MTV-type music vids for a show called Pop clips, which evolved into MTV:
I like the cheesy ones as much or more than the good ones.
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I’ve never heard of “Soundies”, but I just went out to YouTube & checked some out. Also watched the Rio video you linked. I’m getting all kinds of schooling today! Thanks, invisiblemikey!
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Remember Air Bands? Why don’t we do that anymore? I liked it when MTV would have video contests where kids entered their homemade videos to popular songs. My favorite was the winner to Madonna’s “True Blue.” (I think that’s the song’s title).
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We used to have an air band competition at college every year. It was hugely popular.
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I remember, and miss, MTV the way is was. These younger people just don’t believe it used to be all music. They look at me like I’m insane.
Journey is awesome! I’m with you on the ‘Open Arms’ song, can’t stand it. All their others are pretty great though. Watching that video had me cracking up and took me back to a place I’d forgotten. Back when you matched your shoes to your shirts… What the devil were we thinking?! White shoes with black hose?
Now I’m going to have to hit YouTube and find more great videos. Thanks for the flashback!
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Oh yeah, I remember when MTV played music videos! Those were days. Even Remote Control was a okay. Now we have the Real world, Teen Mom, Teen Mom 2, Cribs etc. Where’s the music?? NOw the original V-J’s are on Sirius / XM 80’s on 8.
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It seems like a lot of stuff in the 80’s happened at ship yards. Sexy ship yards!
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Astute observation!
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Journey still rules! Only with an Asian guy.
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I still love Journey- amazing stuff- thanks for posting!
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LOL! What a cute post. I love Journey- but the Glee overkill has killed Don’t Stop Believing for me… another band that fills my heart with warm memories of the same era… Chigaco… now those were smooth love songs…. :o)
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Most real musicians I know dreaded having to do promotional video’s since it typically wrecked the original message of the music in 99.9% of the cases.
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I know what you mean about songs you gotta listen to before you can go to bed…. I keep changing sometimes it’s something randomly classical like Tachaikovsky’s 1812 overture right now it’s Adele’s Someone Like You
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Adele’s voice is amazing.
Actually, I understand the going-to-sleep music, too. I don’t have this habit anymore, but when I was in late grade school & junior high it was always either Ravel’s
“Bolero” or the soundtrack to “Brigadoon”. Which is just….weird. But I was kind of a weird kid.
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At camp we used to listen to Air Supply every.single.night. It was absolutely insane that we went 9 weeks listening to the exact same cassette every night.
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You know what? You win. That’s worse than “Open Arms”. 😉
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Man, I was 1 in 1981 and I’m sad about the evolution of MTV. I miss the videos.
Crystal
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ah, yoot.
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Actually.. the musicvideo above (with the pic of a cat beside) is amazing! =)
Ismail Yalcin
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Love Journey. When the Lights Go Down in the City is my favorite! And what about Wheel in the Sky?! Now I’m going to be playing these songs in my head all day. Not a bad thing, but I have a job interview in an hour and I hope I don’t start singing the lyrics in my head instead of listening to a potential employer!
I know what you mean about getting busted about MTV. I feel the same about SNL. If my mom really knew what those skits were about and why we were laughing so hard… well, I’m not telling her!
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Used to call that song “Broken Arms” — “Heeeerree I staaand with broooken arrrrms” —
Like you – I hated it — no, I still hate it.
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Oh god, yeah nothing beats that Journey video for taking me back to the 80s. Okay, maybe Twisted Sister or Quiet Riot prancing around in their bright yellow and black stiped spandex pants. “We’re not gonna take it!” Oh, those were the days…I still remember the moment MTV first aired. I was 11 and hooked immediately. My poor poor parents. 😉
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Ah, Journey. My guys. I grew up a little Music Snob and cut my teeth musically on Brahms and opera, so Journey was just about the only popular music of that time that sounded like Real Music™ to me. 🙂 Damn it, that little man could sing.
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Yes, he could. And I had a boyfriend who used to dedicate “Oh, Sherry” to me, even though I didn’t go by Sherry. But it seemed very romantic at the time.
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This is great! Journey was the first concert I ever went to back in 1981 or 82. For me the song that drove me crazy was Small Town Girl (I think that is the title). My cousin also had a cassette recorder and listened to this song over and over again. Even now all these years later I hear this song and I still think of my cousin. Thanks for the nostalgia.
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I’m afraid the song you are referring to is the (now terribly over-exposed due to Glee) “Don’t Stop Believing”. It begins:
Just a small town girl, livin’ in a lonely world.
She took the midnight train goin’ anywhere. (Sound familiar?)
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Eek. I had no idea what that song was until reading those lyrics…. Then boom! Suddenly I remember.
The pain…
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Oh yes, the videos seemed so real and artsy back then and now look comical and low budget. I love it. And loved the old MTV videos and the news veejays.
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(Air Supply came to my mind, too.)Journey had the dramatic sing-along mastered. That is why they are still popular.
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thank you! i recently shared this video with my 15 year old son and both agreed it was hilarious, especially the keyboard. the use of the docks was inspiring, ha!
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Oh man…you took me back! Good times, good times! Hey this was OUR reality. Still better than the Rap & unseemly bump & grinding they’re doing today…spoken like a true 40 something mother! Ha, Ha!! Thanks for sharing and I’ll keep following you to see what else you’ve got up you sleeve! Congrats on FP’d. Loved Open Arms!
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Great post! Does it scare you that the advent of iPods and the long-ago death of MTV actually playing a music video will leave entire generations without the wonderful stories that come from being forced to listen?
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It’s an interesting question. One of the early comments on this thread was about the old days when one of my friends would listen to the radio just waiting for the opportunity to record a song she liked. I remember how excited I’d be to hear a particular song come on the radio: now if I want to hear something, I can hear it in seconds, even if it’s something obscure. It could produce people who are exposed to very little music (since they’re never “forced” to listen). But my son has far more diverse taste at 19 than I had, and I think it’s because he’s able to explore so much music without investing a lot of money in albums.
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During college, I made extra $$ working in a nightclub in 1981 and guess what our big draw was? You guessed it – big screened TVs with MTV on every one of them. Journey-Air Supply-Duran Duran-Madonna followed later by Wham! and Simply Red.
MTV today? Hate it.
Still love “Open Arms” but I cringe at Air Supply’s “All out of love.”
great post; congrats on FP 🙂 MJ
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Thanks! It’s made today more fun than usual.
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can’t do it. watch the video or listen to them anymore.
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Great post. Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
Words impact us… especially poetry, but many won’t sit still for it. Add music and the poems becomes lyrics and really move us. The music video industry capitalized on the impact of adding images (but all too often sadly degenerates quickly into the “sex sells” angle on the images).
Journey came a little late for me (although I, too, have heard “Open Arms” more than desired). But we work in the Philippines where Arnel Pineda filling in as the new lead singer is HUGE news and a matter of national pride. Look up Journey I see that Aynsley Dunbar played drums for them during one period. I loved his drumming for Frank Zappa during the “Just Another Band From LA” period.
That raises an interesting question… who IS Journey (or any band)? Replace band members (even the main singer) and at what point is it no longer the same entity?
Hmmm….
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I had to click on this when I saw the picture. I don’t think my 16 year old even knows that MTV used to actually play music videos and not the educational shows they rerun day after day. I miss music videos.
P.S. I think that if I embrace you in my open arms while listening to Open Arms you might change your mind about that song.
http://www.dontmakethatface.com
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Although they don’t know what they missed, many of them still hope they could get rid of reality TV. Great post btw 🙂
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I teach spin classes and once a month do a 1 1/2 hour themed ride. July was ’80s. For 90 glorious minutes we rode in the light of 80’s music videos projected on a giant screen. It was fantastic! I totally agree that kids these days don’t know what they’re missing.
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WOW!! Everytime anyone discusses how MTV once played music videos, it brings the “Oh Yeeeeaaaaahhhh that’s Right they did!! That’s why as kid I could never picture my life without cable!!!!”
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As a teenager of the 21st century who grew up listening to music created before I was even born, I must say that the videos, while some are extraordinarily cheesy, are more creative and fun than the videos of today. The music is real and has lyrics that mean something, and the artists can actually sing and perform, not just in front of the camera and on the screen, but also on stage. I have yet to hear of a group that has sold out an entire stadium– not only the seats, but the field as well.
I wish MTV stilled played music videos, even if they aren’t as awesome as the original ones. VH1 Classic is still somewhat of a haven for vintage videos, even if they are moving more towards shows on the history of rock and roll. Things could be a lot worse there. I’m glad there is still a station that keeps that era of music alive. And thank God for the radio stations as well.
If and when I have children, I don’t plan on excluding the music of my childhood (which was also the music of my parents’ childhood) from their listening. I was somewhat forced to listen to it, and I absolutely love it. They need to hear the wonders of actual singing and the playing of actual instruments. This entire section of music history will not be forgotten if I can help it.
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Good for you, teenager of the 21st century. There’s hope. 🙂
I have one teenager who has excellent (well, in my opinion) and varied taste in music – Bowie, Queen, the Pixies, the Cure, the Smiths, Radiohead….and another teen who is quite attached to Taylor Swift, Kesha, Bruna Mars. I hope she’ll diversify with age.
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Okay, even though I was very young in the 80’s, I know for a FACT that “Don’t Stop Believing” is one of the best songs ever made. End of story.
Loved this post…especially the music video. I mean, it doesn’t get much better than that, does it? 😉
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So funny your blog post came out today. Because today, on this very day, I was in the supermarket and heard “Don’t Stop Belivin” in the store’s piped in music. I was immediately transported back to the eighth grade and thought to myself, do today’s eighth graders who listen to this song on Glee even know who Steve Perry is???
Thanks for the post, and congratulations on getting Freshly pressed!
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What a great memory shaker your post is. Journey, Foriegner, The Eagles. I know there were otehr bands and singers but those stick out the most in my head. Great post.
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I loved MTV when they played music videos, then VH1, then MTV2, then FUSE, then MTVU…
I think MTVU still plays music videos, but since I don’t live on a college campus, I don’t know. Anyway, I think there should be a way that YouTube should allow one to stream random music videos. I may start campaigning for this, or perhaps even start my own channel.
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I’m convinced that music video are making a comeback, especially if they are for a good cause. And while I LOOOOOVVVVVVEEEE Journey, including Open Arms, you are most certainly entilited to your open. Either way, check out my blog, http://thanks-4-giving.com, to see some good way to feed your music video hunger pangs.
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Ok Go always has great videos. There are some bands out there doing it right, these days. I actually really like the video to “F*&# You”, despite the prolific use of the f-word.
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Agreed on both accounts!
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WOW! Wonderful memories! I was 19 in 1981, so I remember vividly how new and exciting the world that MTV opened up actually was. Images that had only been hinted at by shows like “The Midnight Special” and such were brought to life round the clock. It’s funny how “Bette Davis Eyes” and “Vienna” actually seemed like art at the time, even though I still like “Vienna”.
Oh, and my fave Journey song is “Stone in Love”…but I digress….
Great post, and thanks for the memories!
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Ooh you know, there’s also Styx, Queen, Pat Benatar, Heart … Man, they could all sing. What happened? Nowdays, it’s nothing but a bunch of porno-kiddies faking gospel singing thanks to Autotune and scowling wifebeaters saying the c-word in front of a drum synth on the downbeat and calling it music. Pull up your damn pants and stop pretending to be all “gansta,” buddy. You’re filthy rich and wearing a solid gold Mercedes around your neck — you’re as “street” as Wayne Newton.
Doesn’t anyone remember how to sing anymore, or play a real guitar?
Another great “music video” if it can be called that: the opener for Styx’s “Kilroy” tour. How cool was that? Science fiction musical theater with rock!
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Tell us how you really feel, fireandair. 🙂
Ever seen Grace Potter & the Nocturnals? We saw them on Conan O’Brien last week & I was reminded of Heart. Check it out.
http://www.prefixmag.com/media/grace-potter-and-the-nocturnals/paris-ooh-la-la-live-on-conan-video/50564/
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🙂 Sorry. But there’s only so many baggy-ass pants, backwards baseball caps, and baby-doll shorts on adults one person can take before they just have ot let it all out …
I’ll check out Grace Potter, thanks!
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I really enjoyed this post. I hate “Open Arms” too. It’s just so… ya know. My sister had the 8 track of Journey Escape and she played it all the time in her powder blue pinto. Yikes!
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This song was ruined for my last year with Glee. The sing along lost all meaning.
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Love this post! My kids would not know what a mixed tape is, but would probably roll on the floor laughing at this video. I can’t wait to share it with them. I remember when you could watch video’s on MTV…
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I graduated from high school in ’83 and I love this post! I, too, remember the overplay of “Open Arms” and am not a fan of that particular one, but I love, love, love Journey in general! Who doesn’t remember their first broken heart to the tune of “Faithfully”? Sigh…
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Haha… great post. I miss the old 80s video clips. I was born in the 80s so missed out on a lot of the good stuff, but I will never forget how terrified my brother became whenever Michael Jackson’s, Thriller can on the TV. He would scream, close his eyes, and run from the room.
Today, you have to make kids cover their eyes and leave the room for a completely different reason, that being that most video clips could now be considered soft porn.
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The video is cheezy as hell, but Steve Perry was (Maybe still is) an awesome singer. I mean, he knew how to write songs and sing on pitch. I cracks me up that many singers today have to resort to electronic corrections to find the right note.
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They blasted Journey on the overhead speakers at the fair so I remember hearing “Don’t Stop Believin” on the ferris wheel & super himalaya. Bad clothes and good memories.
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wow. I just got a memory buzz from the words “super himalaya”! I grew up in Sedalia, MO – home of the Missouri State Fair – so I spent a lot of time at the midway.
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Pallets!
Pallets in a music video – love it! Pallets and mullets! Oh the 80’s …. sigh….
OK …. so who wants to go off the deep end with a brief exploration (and actually rather serious expose) of modern day music videos and today’s corporatized youth culture? If so and IF you have an open mind and IF you are concerned about what your children are being subjected to via corporate mass entertainments, then read on ….
But first a question: is being familiar with something the same as knowing anything about it?
Answer: not necessarily. For example you may be completely familiar with the people who serve coffee at your local cafe every day but not really know anything about them. They might be swingers, satanists, naturists, stamp collectors or part of a world class barbershop quartet and you wouldn’t necessarily have a clue.
Or you may be totally familiar with music videos and the music industry but not actually know anything much about it – how it all works, who owns and controls what and why …. see where I’m coming from?
OK so check out the contemporary music video (and movie) analysis articles on thiswebsite – it might just blow your mind. Music videos analyzed include GaGa, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Jesse J, Britney Spears, Paramore, Kerli, Beyonce, B.E.P’s etc
And if you are into your 60’s music this is a stunning (and wonderfully wry) historical record of the origins of the 60’s music scene and culture. The Strange but Mostly True Story of Laurel Canyon and the Birth of the Hippie Generation
Here are some good videos about the role and history of the ‘entertainment’ industries in general:
How The Media Controls Your Mind (Alan Watt)
Hip Hop, Entertainment and Secret Societies (1 of 4)
X FACTOR – New World Order Fan Club
Michael Tsarion & Media Monarchy – Deconstructing Movies and Popular Culture (5 parts)
Not Born This Way (check out channel for more videos in this series)
HOLLYWOOD MK DECEPTION A 28 part series on Mind Control in the Entertainment Industry
The Entertainment Industry Exposed
Your Mind is Controlled
If you think all this is just too far fetched to possibly be true, just remember that thing about being familiar with something or someone but without necessarily knowing anything about them …. or what they get up to in their spare time.
Maybe you see now why all music videos look the same these days… why they are so professional and yet so empty. Is emptiness (vacuousness, soullessness, spiritual emptiness) being sold to the youth via MTV? …. ‘Empty TV’.
Has our culture has been hijacked and is it being used against us – especially the youth? Perhaps it was always so, but today the technology is far more advanced and far more powerful (TV for a start!). Mass media corporate controlled entertainment is now being pumped into much of the youth relentlessly 24/7 in hi def and surround sound! For many kids the world of corporate mass entertainment indoctrination is more ‘real’ than their real lives.
I would suggest that children are being dumbed down to the point where calling it ‘psychological warfare’ is not even an exaggeration. And deep down I think we all know this culture (CULTure) is obscene, vile, shallow, negative and ultimately destructive … yet we all accept it at ace value because we are all blinded by our *familiarity* with it.
On the flip side and thanks largely to the internet many children (although certainly not all!) are not at all dumbed down and are in fact more astute, well informed and worldly *wise* than at any other point in history. It is this awakening in this information age (where it seems all truth/ secrets must come out!) which the dumbing down and mass entertainment distraction seems to be trying to prevent and/or subvert.
You see, if the children wake up and realise the world they were told existed was a bit of a lie and it’s actually all being manipulated by some rather unsavory types then it’s game over for the bad guys and a brighter, fairer, more loving and SANE future for all the rest of us. Most criminal behaviour relies on deception and secrecy – without it it all falls apart. And we can’t have that can we! Gotta keep the world under control by keeping everyone in a state of endless chaos, misery, confusion, distraction, helplessness, apathy, ignorance and at war with each other!
And so for the sake of Art, music, humanity and peace on earth we owe it to ourselves and our children to research this more and try and understand (and discuss) what is really going on. I do not pretend to know!!! But I do know that there is no such thing as ‘mere entertainment’. ALL art is powerful – a music video is no different.
What might society look like if our culture was set free and used as a positive force for good instead of being hijacked and used to dumb down, subvert and thus control (young) people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviour?
Can you even imagine a truly positive and ‘indoctrination free’ mainstream music video being made today?! Such things are getting more and more rare these days.
To summarize!
‘To expose evil is to defeat it’.
Amen to that! 🙂
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Really enjoyed this article! Hope you keep them coming.
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Yea, MTV used to be great…you can’t find a music video on there anymore…they helped bands back then, now they have really hurt them. They need to change to the name to GTV (garbage). I was in Florida when it first came on the air on our annual summer vacation…it was the coolest thing…getting to see the people you heard on the radio before seeing them in concert!
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Music videos today are very intense. Every since Michael Jackson “Beat it” the world of music videos haven’t nor never will be the same again. MTV needs to go back to showing music videos again and leave the pregnant teens alone (although I suspect they are the reason a lot of those women are pregnant in the first place.) It kills me that a lot of the music that we raved about are now considered “oldies” and can be fallen asleep to on your local “easy listening” station. Does that mean that Lady Gaga will be heard on an “easy listening” station sometime soon. Who knows…maybe Alejandro does.
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I’ll say this, I adore the video for Seperate Ways (Worlds Apart), and my DVD of Journey’ Greatest Hit, a simple collection of their music videos, is insanely enjoyable. Seperate Ways is probably my favorite, but Faithfully comes pretty close damn close, few things are as enjoyable as Steve Perry’s mustache, you should all check it out if you haven’t seen it.
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80s – 90s music videos ftw!
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Pingback: Holy Cow! I’ve Been Freshly Pressed! « Your Way 1 Blogs
Cool post. Thanks for sharing.
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I like your post! I, too, miss the days when MTV was all about music. I grew up watching MTV and my all-time favorite video was A-ha’s “Take On Me”. I also remember the Madonna videos, “Thriller”, and Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”. And who could forget the “I want my MTV” plugs… Those were good times. Now I hardly watch MTV and all its shallow and stupid reality shows.
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i was 26 years old when MTV first aired in 1981. I absolutely had no use for the 70’s and i fell in love with MTV immediately.The 80’s were a happy decade,full of color..Everything was about color and strangely enough geometric shapes/Seems like so many of the record covers back then were designed or bordered with with colorful rectangles,triangles,squiggly lines,etc.The malls were totally full of color.Promotional signs were very colorful as well,with neon or pastel.Neon lighting was so in fashion too.Music was cheery & danceable(even the hard rock) and there was all kinds of music that fit into the catagory of rock and music videos.Debbie Gibson,Heart,Dire Straits,Nelson,Def Leppard,Bon Jovi,Tiffany,and tons more.MTV aired all of them in a 24/7 mix. The fashions were colorful and often sparkly.Music today=horrible attempt. Fashions=earth tone,no imagination and blah. The cheeriness level in music=0 Danceability level =good.
Overall social happiness level of the 90’s and 2000’s=sucky .The 80’s wins hands down.
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I guess everyone has there own experiences. My first dance with my wife at our wedding was “open arms” to me its a great song and don’t let “kelly” ruin Steve Perry’s vocal authority. Hey you got to share a cabin with girls at a church camp!!
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When MTV first came around here in the Philippines it was not for free. You drop a coin in this jukeboxlike machine, select a video and..enjoy. There was only about a handful of choices then, Madness, Kool and the Gang and oh yes Journey etc. But here’s a trivia, way way before MTV, there were music videos. But that’s another story.
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MTV used to be amazing! Now, you rarely find a channel that shows music videos non stop, never mind good ones! Some of the music videos out right now are just soft porn. Give me the old classics!
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I involuntarily clicked the link to go watch the air band play in the gritty industrial setting, and I was magically transported back to the 80’s. I forgot how much fun music videos used to be before they started taking themselves so seriously. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Pete
salvationshouse.wordpress.com
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Hahah, don’t worry about using the word “hijinks.” I said “scoot” the other day, and someone LOLed me. *sigh*
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Makes me wonder what we will say about today’s videos in 20 years…:-)
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I love journey’s Separate ways video. The song sounds amazing and really punchy, the video is just great to watch. Like you said, lots of techniques that just aren’t being used any more.
Pretty much any glee song is terrible though, destroyed Don’t stop believing I think.
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Oh the analyzed video peachgeek was too funny. It reminds me of the parody one “Eclipse of the heart”. The 80’s videos were so great back then. Now they crack me up when I look at them. It’s funny how they bring you right back to a time or memory.
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gotta love a bit of journey!!! although glee has kinda driven it a bit worng. i love norah jones before bed though
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Love Journey and I loved this post, thank you for sharing 🙂
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Steve Perry had (has?) the most amazing voice. Personally my favorite was “Lights”.
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I love your beautiful blog.
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I had no idea MTV debuted in ’81. Cool post. Thanks for sharing.
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I really enjoyed this post. I hate “Open Arms” too. It’s just so… ya know. My sister had the 8 track of Journey Escape and she played it all the time in her powder blue pinto. Yikes!
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