old videos

I'll admit it: I'm becoming addicting to MuchMoreRetro. There's something nostaglic about watching music videos form the 80s; it harkens back to a simpler, more innocent time. While today's videos have budgets comparible to the GNP of many developed countries, more celebrities than a P Diddy birthday, and narratives that have nothing to do with the lyrics, music videos from yesteryear were reassuring forumalic. When you watch one of these videos you can take comfort. You know that the terrorists won't win, that there still is goodness out there, that all will be right with the world.

I have been, as a side project of watching these videos, compiling a list of essential motiffs, themes and images in these videos. and I would like to share them with you.

Things 80's Videos MUST* have:

1) Hair! Lots of hair. Whether you're waking me up before you go go, or blaming it on the rain, you're going to need lots of style, hair-sprayed hair.

2) Shots, often black and white, of people on the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell's invention certainly changed the way we communicate with each other, but it also changed music videos! What better way to visually represent isolation and heartache than a girl on the phone?

3) Shots of the band performing. No matter what else is going on the video, we need lots of shots of the band playing their instruments and singing their song. Sometimes, there might even be elaborate dance sequences. Cross your fingers.

4) Cars. Like the telephone, another important invention is heavily featured in early music videos: the horseless carriage. What better way to express alienation, angst and mobility then with shots of the Go-Gos driving around Los Angeles? There are many videos that use the lead-singer-driving-and-singing plot... derived from the Greeks, I believe.

5) Neon. Nuff said.

*this list is by no means comprehensive. The author fully realizes that there might be many other things needed to make an 80s video.