Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Joining me tonight as guest curators, that's
right, with an S, is Jim and Lindsay Butler,
the co -hosts of Children of the 80s. Jim and
Lindsay, thank you so much for joining me tonight.
Thanks for having us, Brian. We're honored. We're
so excited to be here. Well, I'm excited to have
you. And now I get to start by asking you each
my first time guest question. And Lindsay, we'll
start ladies first. What does the word mixtape
mean to you? Okay. I actually put a lot of thought
into this because I had a feeling you might be
going to ask me this. And I wanted to get it
right because the mixtape has always meant so
much to me. Started out mixed tape and then went
on to mix CD when I was in college. So this is
what I came up with. It's a medium that allows
me to revisit a time in my life and all the memories
and emotions that go with it. All right. I could
pull a tape out or a CD out that I've still got
somewhere and pop it in and I would instantly
go back to that time in my life. Well, Jim, same
question to you. Well, as a child of the 80s,
Brian, you know that you would sit by the radio
just waiting for the song that you wanted to
come on, that you wanted to hit record, wait
for the DJ to quit talking over the intro, and
then hit record. And why did they always talk
over the intro? Like they were plotting against
us. So to me, that's what I think of when I hear
mixtape. You know, me trying to get the songs
that I wanted to hear over and over and over
again. All on the same tape. Well, tonight, our
episode is going to be a little bit of a different
animal because even though we are talking 80s
music and you guys are children of the 80s, so
I think we're in the right wheelhouse for that
one. Instead of taking that audio cassette and
putting it into the boom box, we're actually
going to be tuning our set top boxes to MTV or
much music if you're one of our friends listening
in Canada. And talk about some of our favorite
80s music videos, because I'm going to drop a
truth bomb here. Not only did I make mixtapes
for audio growing up, but I did have a VHS tape
that I set to the slow speed. So it was like
six hours of space. And I use that as my video
mixtape. So I would always look for certain videos
and just add it to them. quote unquote, mixed
VHS tape as time went along. I love that. So
coming up with the songs that I wanted to bring
to the table this evening was hard because I
know I have at least six hours of those endless
memories in my mind. Lindsay, starting with you,
how hard was it for you to narrow down some of
your choices tonight? It was hard because I instantly,
I sat down and I ticked off four right out of
the gate. And then, you know, a day or two goes
by and I'm like, hmm. And then another day or
two goes by and I'm like, oh, it's hard. This
is not easy because there's so many more that
I could have come up with. We could do multiple
episodes. And that's usually the sign that we
have a good topic at hand. Right. Jim, same question
to you. Yeah, so I probably thought, Brian, of
about 25 or 30 different videos that were just
iconic to me. And trying to narrow it down was
not easy. What do I go with? Do I go with a lot
of early stuff from MTV because those are my
first memories and those are the videos that
probably meant the most to me? Or do I go with
something that was groundbreaking, you know,
a video that nobody had ever seen before, anything
like that? Or do I go with something that's a
really good song in just an average video? And
I tried to rule those out and get something that
truly stuck in your memory. So I think I've got
it all over the 80s here. That was my approach
because there's a lot of times where you can
hear a song and the first thing you think about
is the music video for it. And I'll use a reference
that's outside of the 80s, but any OK Go song.
Someone mentions the song title, I immediately
think of the ridiculously creative video they
came up with for that concept. Even going as
far back as to their Here I Go Again with the
Treadmills, one of the first viral videos to
actually get out there. I thought of the songs
I picked in terms of that, where you think of
the song, and the first place your mind goes
is the music video. So with that, let's get down
to business. Now tonight, as I mentioned at the
top of the show, Lindsey Jim and I will be curating
the ultimate 80s music videos mixtape. And instead
of using the usual cassette deck approach, since
we're talking music videos here tonight, our
list is going to essentially take over the MTV
or much music airwaves for an hour. So assume
an average song length of four minutes. a couple
of VJ talk -ups, and throw in some K -Tel commercials
here and there. We are going to roundtable the
panel until we've mapped out a dozen 80s music
video classics for everybody tonight. At the
end of the show, you can take our conversation
to the next level by visiting the episode page
at myweeklymixtape .com, where you can watch
all of the videos we've discussed tonight via
the embedded playlist. And if you like what you're
hearing on the show, you can help me out by either
telling a friend, leaving the show a five -star
review wherever you're tuning in, or becoming
a part of the Patreon mixtaper community at patreon
.com forward slash myweeklymixtape. There you'll
find ad -free episodes of the show, gain immediate
access to future My Weekly Mixtape episodes,
hear exclusive bonus banter clips, chime in on
upcoming show topics, become a future guest,
and so much more. And a few folks in the mixtaper
community told us what songs they would kick
off their hour of programming with. And here's
what they had to say. Seeker checked in from
Australia with a pair of choices from Twisted
Sister. We're Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock,
both starring the band and Mark Metcalf riffing
on his role from Animal House. Awesome. Love
them both. Jimmy Mitchell recalls the early days
of MTV with his pick The Bangles' Head Over Heels.
And sticking with the Bengals, Chad LaMassa chimed
in with their Walk Like an Egyptian video saying
he fell in love with Susannah Hoffs from that
video. And believe it or not, there's actually
a meme about the Walk Like an Egyptian video,
which is just a still frame of her looking off
camera slightly. And it reads, every guy over
45 knows this part of the video by heart. And
I have to say that's a pretty damn accurate meme.
I would agree. Ben from the Too Vague podcast
is going to go with something he calls a super
obscure pick, Peter Bauman's Strangers in the
Night, calling it a masterclass and making a
video with the most 80s tropes and elements.
Brandon from Virginia chimed in with Billy Squire's
Rock Me Tonight, calling it the video that completely
destroyed his career trajectory. So I think he
went with more of the infamous. video choice
here. And finally, Sean Goff promises that he's
not pandering to the My Weekly Mixtape host,
but the first song that he couldn't wait to see
the video play again, while also loving the song,
was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Don't Come
Around Here No More. A video that's so good,
I don't consider it pandering in the slightest,
though I'm a bit biased being the host, so I
digress. Once again, if you'd like to chime in
for future My Weekly Mixtape episodes, join the
Mixtaper community at patreon .com forward slash
My Weekly Mixtape. And now, Lindsay, with all
those choices out in the atmosphere, what video
are you kicking off our hour -long MTV block
with? Right out of the gate, I got to go with
a strong one. Simply Irresistible, Robert Palmer.
Nice. When you say 80s, one of the first things
that I think about 80s music videos, I think
about those female backup dancers and his backup
musicians and their little dresses that they're
wearing and their quirky little funky little
dance that they're doing. That with his, oh,
I'm trying to think, I can't think of a word
other than sexiness, sorry, in his suit. It's
the perfect combo. It is one of the iconic videos.
I feel like what he did was he went out and he
got a bunch of fembots and he dressed them up
all the same with the same hair, the same makeup
and everything. And they're all dancing, you
know, close together. And the video switches
back and forth between him singing and then all
the ladies there, all the models that he has
there. And so her picking that is a good way
to start out the show. But don't you think that
In total, that video cost like $100 to make.
And considering it got 6 .6 million streams on
YouTube as of this recording, I think it's safe
to say it's made its money back. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
I've always felt like somebody at the label or
Robert Palmer's management said, look, we love
the concept to the Addicted to Love video. However,
let's just get those pesky instruments out of
the way. shoot the exact same video as addicted
to love and maybe toss in just a little bit more
sex because the addicted to love video the dancers
are behind him really poorly playing their instruments
oh yeah like they're not even in time their hands
are nowhere near where the actual and that's
the music nerd in me i wasn't supposed to be
paying attention to the instruments but i was
a music nerd so i was Then when 1988's Heavy
Nova came out and I was 11 and then they took
away the instruments, basically my jaw was just
smack on the ground watching the video because
it just kind of oozed that sexiness that was
like, uh, what am I watching? They don't even
try to hide it. The chest shots and the butt
shots. I mean, they. They are not trying to be
subtle at all with what they're saying. No, and
one thing about 80s music videos, sex sells.
Yep, absolutely. The song reached number two
on the US Billboard Hot 100, number one on the
Australia ARIA chart, number 44 on the UK Singles
Chart, number 57 in West Germany, and number
six in New Zealand. And it won the Grammy Award
for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance that year.
Love the pick. It's actually... a top three Robert
Palmer song for me, probably along with addicted
to love and sneaking Sally through the alley.
I think those three, maybe there might be another
one that might push addicted to love in and out.
But then again, you got weird Al's addicted to
spuds. So that one has to stay in. Anyway, I'm
going off topic. Jim, what are you following
up? Simply irresistible with. So I mentioned
earlier that I like the early and I like the
weird. So I'm going to go back to 1983. And I
am going to choose Men Without Hats, the safety
dance. Oh, it's just the strangest video. It
makes zero sense, right? You've got a guy dressed
up in old dark ages kind of garb. He is traveling
with a little person that's almost dressed up
kind of like a jester. They're walking through
this field. They see some strange, crazy lady
who's dancing around for no reason. And they
all decide to start following her as they go
through a town. And it's almost like they're
in like a Renaissance fair type thing. It makes
zero sense with the song at all, but it's hilarious
to me and it cracks me up. And it's one of those
early MTB memories for me. Who's on acid here?
Like whoever came up with this was on some kind
of an acid trip because there's no other way
to explain what's going on. This was one of those
videos that just became synonymous with MTV.
They could pretty much throw anything at the
wall and it could be spaghetti and ice cream
and everything else, whatever sticks becomes
part of. And there were a lot of music videos
that did that. It was just like, what the hell
am I watching? But from a music perspective,
I feel like the safety dance and the human leagues.
Don't you want me? We're both. pivotal parts
of my synth pop introduction in the 80s. So from
a song perspective, I feel it's extremely important.
It's from 1982's Rhythm of Youth, and the video
currently has 6 .1 million streams on YouTube
as of this recording. It reached number three
on the US Billboard Hot 100. number 11 on the
Canada's top singles chart, and was a top 10
hit in the UK, Australia, Switzerland, Ireland,
Norway, Sweden, and New Zealand, and was a number
one hit in Denmark, Portugal, and South Africa.
So worldwide smash here, video or not, but most
importantly, in 1984, Weird Al parodied the song
as the Brady Bunch on the In 3D album. So I think
if it's gotten Weird Al's stamp of approval,
because when you talk about 80s music videos,
like the three of us discussed on your episode
celebrating Weird Al, it's in the back of my
head with every song pick tonight. Oh, wow. Yeah,
I didn't even put that together when I chose
that, but that's a good point, Brad. All right.
Well, to follow that up, when I think of iconic
music videos of the 80s, This is the first one
that comes to mind for me. And the funniest part
about it that I've learned later in my nerd life
is it wasn't the first music video for this song.
And it wasn't the first recording of this song
either. The song was originally recorded and
released in the UK in 1984 and had a completely
different music video. Basically, the band was
performing against this blue backdrop. But the
song didn't take off. So a year later, on 1985's
Hunting High and Low, A -ha released the international
version of Take On Me, which is the one that
pretty much everybody knows, and brought in film
director Steve Barron to create this absolute
masterpiece of a music video that took that...
recognizable look. As soon as you say, take on
me, everybody knows what you're talking about.
That's a technique called rotoscoping. And it
combines the pencil sketch animation with the
live action footage. And it took them 16 weeks
to rotoscope 3000 frames for this video. And
if you want to put that into perspective, I have
a filter on my Snapchat that I could take a picture
of myself and in five seconds have the exact
look from the Take On Me video. But 40 years
ago, this video was on another level and it has
over 2 billion streams on YouTube alone. Reached
number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 as well
as hitting that top spot in 11 other countries.
And then because we're talking about the song,
I have to point out the incredible version of
Take On Me that the band released in 2017. There
was an MTV unplugged performance and they did
a version of this song. If you haven't heard
it, please, please, please check it out. It's
absolutely brilliant. They slow it down to a
ballad and it pulls on your heartstrings like
you didn't think could possibly happen with Take
On Me. And then obviously. My ska punk fan has
to come out in the 90s. Real Big Fish's amazing
ska punk cover of Take On Me has to be talked
about tonight. But we're not here talking about
90s ska. We're talking about the music video.
And as a kid, this hypnotized me over and over
and over again. It was one of the first videos
I had on that VHS tape. So you sniped me on this
one because this was definitely one of the ones
that I had. that i wanted to include so i'm glad
that you've chosen it i think of aha's take on
me is one of the most iconic if not the most
iconic video of the 80s as i was going through
preparing for this trying to figure out how am
i going to narrow my list down i was watching
like i said i watched 25 or 30 videos trying
to narrow this down and i had forgotten about
the part about how they come back out of the
drawing and he's banging his head against the
wall and trying to figure it out. And she looks
so worried. I had completely forgotten about
that. So just going through, trying to just narrow
it down and watching videos was a lot of fun
for me leading up to this. So glad you picked
that. And now I guess I got to pivot and go someplace
else with my next pick. So to me, the 80s, it
was all about making music videos that really
had nothing to do with the words to the song.
So this one kind of bothers me a little bit.
And the fact that What's going on with the woman
in the diner and she goes into the magazine and
she falls in love. That has nothing really to
do with the music. So I had a hard time like
getting on board with it. But I know it's iconic.
I will accept it for that. But I have one question.
What do the race car drivers have to do with
anything? I mean, I'm going to answer this from
seven -year -old Brian and say race cars are
awesome. Okay. I'll give it to you. All right,
Lindsay. Well, with that, we are back to you
now for track four. Okay. Really, this was easy
for me. I didn't have to think at all about this
one. Girls just want to have fun, Cindy Law.
And one of the reasons, I love Cyndi Lauper,
but one of the reasons I picked this was I loved
the crossover between Cyndi Lauper and professional
wrestling. And the fact that Lou Albano is in
this video and plays her dad, it's a perfect
music video. This is the start of the MTV Rock
and Wrestling connection, Brian. I know you're
a wrestling fan from the 80s as well. And so
her getting Lou Albano, I believe, and you probably
know this story better than I do, but I believe
they were on a plane ride together and just started
talking and became friends and she invited him
to be on the video. And then he invited her into
his world and that started to grow Vince McMahon's
empire because now all of a sudden he had a lot
more eyes on his product as they're airing essentially
pay -per -views on MTV hosted by Alan Hunter.
And this video... started all of that and really
exploded wwf professional wrestling at the time
yeah definitely wwf i will recommend uh if you
have netflix the mcmahon documentary that is
on there they actually cover this for a lot in
the first episode and without cindy lopper you
might not have the wwe you have today so it's
an important part if you're a wrestling fan believe
it or not but From 1983's She's So Unusual, it
reached number two on the U .S. Billboard Hot
100, but hit number one in Canada, Australia,
and eight other countries. The video currently
has over 1 .5 billion streams on YouTube, and
we may or may not have included it in episode
104, the Ultimate Feel Good Songs playlist with
my good friend Jay Sweet, because, you know,
this song kind of just makes you feel good. Indeed.
It's a fun song. Amen to that. Jim, we are back
to you for track five. I'm going to fast forward
a couple of years here. And like I said, I like
the weird, but this was certainly groundbreaking.
I remember when this video came out, I wasn't
even a fan of the song. I had heard the song
on the radio and wasn't a huge fan, but then
heard friends because I was in middle school
talking about the video. And they're like, you
got to go watch this video. And so I went to
watch the video. And of course, that made me
a fan of the song. Peter Gabriel's hammer. Yes.
Just the most iconic, strangest video I think
I've ever seen. There's a lot going on here.
I don't even know how I would begin to describe
it. I hope, hoping maybe you have the words to
describe it, Brian, because to me, it's like
a mind freak. You know, there's just so much
going on and Peter Gabriel sitting there singing
and there's stuff coming out of his ears and
stuff coming out of his mouth and going around
in circles. And it is animatronics. And I don't
even know if animatronics is the right word for
it. It's actually a mix of claymation and stop
animation. Okay, thank you. Yes, it was genius.
It was brilliant. And again, nothing to do with
the song, right? And to me, the most iconic part
that I remember is him looking as if he's riding
on a roller coaster. When I first started thinking
of... iconic videos, and this was one that popped
into my head. I thought of the roller coaster
and I had forgotten how much you had to go through
before you got to the roller coaster portion
of the song. So I love Peter Gabriel. I like
this song. I don't like this video. Whoa. Something
about the effects that it like hurts my eyes.
I can't focus on it. And I don't, I can't even
really put it into words, but I can't stare at
the screen and watch it. But it's such an odd
video. Again, I wonder, what were they thinking
when they were like, hmm, let's make a raw chicken
dance? What were they thinking? I don't know.
I have to disagree, Lindsay. As a kid, I was
nine years old when this came out. And I had
grown up with the Rudolph the Red -Nosed Reindeer
specials around the holidays, the Christmas claymation
specials. the California raisins videos in the
commercials with the claymation. So claymation,
I always thought was really cool. This was the
first time I saw it done in a rock aspect. So
this was a rock star using something that would
be more aimed towards kids, but making it feel
modern and fresh and adult like such as like
what Jim said, that whole scene where his head
is going through the roller coaster. If you watch
that stop animation and you realize how many
frames it took to complete that, it is so groundbreaking.
And I think the absurdity of all of it is just
the fact that what is happening. And again, this
is a total guess here. It's as if you're getting
bludgeoned with a sledgehammer because it's all
just coming at you so fast and furious. It was
from his 86th album, so as far as I'm concerned,
his masterpiece. It was number one on the Billboard
US Hot 100 and Canada's singles chart, as well
as number four in the UK and number three in
Australia. And it was a top 10 hit in a dozen
other countries. And it won nine MTV Video Music
Awards in 1987, which was the most awards a single
video has ever won. Time magazine has been accredited
saying it's the most played video on MTV of all
time. And it was ranked MTV's number one animated
video of all time. So nine -year -old Brian has
to approve this one. I've watched it several
times on YouTube over the years. And so have
a lot of people because it's got over 81 million
streams on YouTube as of now. So along with the
aha video, Sledgehammer was on my VHS tape. And
because it was one of the videos I watched the
most, I have to follow this up exactly as it
happened on that VHS tape. I had these two videos
back to back, so we're in the same time frame.
We're in 1986, 1987, in that era. And Sledgehammer
would end, and you'd see this little pink room.
Chevy Chase and Paul Simon would walk in and
sit down. From 1986's Graceland, You Can Call
Me Al. Reached number 23 on the Billboard US
Hot 100, number 11 on the Canada Top Singles
Chart, number 2 in Australia, and was a top 10
hit in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, South Africa,
the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Now, just like
AHA's take on me, the video with Chevy Chase
was not... the first music video shot for You
Can Call Me Al. The original, and I'll make sure
I embed this on the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com, is a completely different concept. It's
actually Paul performing on Saturday Night Live,
but you're watching it through a video monitor
as if you're in the control room. So it gives
it this really strange Wayne's World public access
TV look. And Paul was not a fan of it. And neither
am I. So it was actually the brainchild, partly
Lauren Michaels of Saturday Night Live, that
came up with this concept for Chevy Chase and
Paul Simon to do this video. And as simple of
a concept that this video is, Chevy just cuts
off Paul Simon and starts lip syncing. Paul looks
at him surprised, walks off camera. He kind of.
Sits back down for the chorus and just twiddles
his thumbs, singing the, if you'll be my bodyguard,
the background vocals. It was just a silly, fun
video. The choreographed dance at the end, warts
and all. It just works. It's fun. It's light.
It's simple. But it's something you always remember.
And as of right now, the video has 135 million
streams on YouTube. So hopefully I'm not the
only one that likes this track. You are not.
I like this, too. This was such a simple video.
Like you said, the camera is just it's just a
one shot deal, right? The camera just sits there.
There's maybe a couple of cuts in the video.
So I'm guessing it was a couple of cameras set
up and they just shot it. Yeah. And it's genius
to have Chevy lip sync and all of Paul's parts.
And then Paul kind of fiddling around outside
and coming back in with different instruments
and just lip sync in the background. I just,
I think it's genius. It's so simple to me that
it's genius. And that's why I went with it because
of the fact that a lot of the videos, they kept
trying to go for bigger and more and bolder.
And sometimes the ones that you remember are
just like, Hey, that was creative and fun. And
at this time, Chevy Chase could do no wrong.
So this was like a big deal in the mid 80s. So
this one was going to be on my list. So a little
irritated with you that you beat me, but I don't
blame you for doing that. Yeah, you guys, you've
already said it like the simplicity of it. I'm
a huge Chevy Chase fan. So, of course, I love
that he's in the video. I love that he's lip
syncing. The one thing that always cracks me
up, is that a piccolo that Paul Simon comes out
and plays a piccolo? It's perfect for him. The
size difference between Paul Simon and Chevy
Chase, and he's got his little piccolo. I love
it. It's perfect. Well, with that, Lindsay, we
are about to start the second half. of our hour
of MTV music videos. And my apologies for scooping
you on Paul Simon, but I'm throwing it back to
you for the next pick. So this is a song where
I always do think of the video first. So if I
ever hear the song, the video and what plays
in the video is what comes to mind. And that
is We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel. I
love the fact that We go back and forth between
the different scenes that are going on in a kitchen
through different eras of time. And he's always
in the background, kind of hanging out, sort
of observing what's going on. And then we always
did flash over to just the simplicity of him,
you know, sitting at that table with his sunglasses
on. And then, you know, just the really powerful
pictures in the background that are flashing
across the screen. You guys might kick me off
the podcast when I say this, but it might be
the first Billy Joel song that I learned as a
little kid. It doesn't matter when you got introduced.
It's just that you got introduced. Yeah. And
so, of course, Little Lens couldn't even comprehend
really probably the ultimate meaning to this
song, but it was different. and i had never heard
anything quite like it and it it definitely got
my attention all right so billy joel had just
some iconic videos in the 80s right uptown girl
pressure uh this billy joel tom petty and then
somebody else that i think i'm gonna pick next
are like my three favorite artists of all time
and So I love this video. I love the fact that
it starts out, he starts out, you know, talking
in the early fifties with his references and
he's like, it's like he's in Lucy and Ricky's
apartment. Right. And then as he moves on through
the sixties, the kitchen kind of changes and
it goes looking a little bit more hippie ish
and then into the seventies and then eventually
the eighties. And essentially the song's about,
it's a history lesson, but it's also about things
just keep going on. Right. And human nature doesn't
change. And so. We can't stop it, right? We can't
put out the fire. And so I, you know, the video's
phenomenal, but to me, the song's even better.
I cannot believe the two songs that you rattled
off when you were talking about Billy Joel videos,
because I actually had two Billy Joel videos
in my list. And they were Uptown Girl and Pressure
because those are the first two. But I'm showing
my age because We Didn't Start the Fire was towards
the latter half of the decade. Still love the
video. But when I think 80s, We Didn't Start
the Fire is so close to the end of the decade
that sometimes I even equate it to early 90s
because 89 and 90 to me. is one two -year block.
That's the one blind spot I have on music. And
it was probably my most developmental year in
music, where I was choosing my musical path.
And there are some albums I'm like, that was
89. I look, nope, that was 90. That was 90. Nope,
that was 89. Stormfront was one of those. We
had to learn. Every lyric to this song in seventh
grade, and we had to do a test on this song,
so there's a little bit of PTSD from that lesson,
but I do respect the song now. When I hear it,
though, sometimes I kind of go, oh, God, did
I get that one right? You know, it kind of comes
back to me. But it reached number one on the
U .S. Billboard Hot 100, number two on the Canada
Top Singles chart. number seven on the UK singles
chart, number two on the Australia ARIA charts,
and was a top 10 hit in West Germany, Australia,
Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, and New Zealand.
The video has over 184 million streams on YouTube.
And on episode 15, the ultimate Billy Joel playlist,
I was blessed enough to have Liberty DeVito.
longtime billy joel drummer who played on we
didn't start the fire well he played on everything
from turnstiles all the way up through the river
of dreams and we curate the ultimate 20 song
billy joel playlist so love the pick love the
song love the video and now i am throwing it
to jim to follow that up all right well i've
got to pivot away from billy joel now And I'm
going to go with my other favorite artist from
the 80s after Tom Petty and Billy Joel, and that
is Huey Lewis and The News. Nice. I am doing
it all for my baby. Oh, okay. Now, they had a
bunch of iconic videos as well, but I really
like this one because it's almost like a movie.
It's almost like a quick little five -minute
movie before the music even starts. You know,
they break down. Huey's videos were always kind
of goofy and silly. But they break down and the
car falls on them and they can't pull him out
and they just figure he's dead. So they leave
him there for dead. And then they go into this
scary kind of Dr. Frankenstein type mansion.
And next thing you know, there's Huey Lewis dressed
almost like Doc Brown from Back to the Future
as the music kicks in and he starts singing,
doing it all for my baby. I think it's just a
video that a lot of people maybe forget about,
but it's so, it's just so Huey. It's just so
Huey Lewis in the news. They just like to have
fun. They didn't take anything seriously. And
the video to me is iconic. I love that the van,
well, I don't love that the van falls on Huey,
but I think it's funny that the van falls on
Huey and the band's like, eh, we'll go get something
to eat. Eh, let's go. And they leave him. But
then also the funny part is someone comes along
later and they have a... a hand saw and they
try to like they first they tried to move the
van to get him out and then they try to saw his
legs off i mean just the absurdity it just makes
me laugh and i love huey lewis so great video
i have to agree this is when in 1986 they were
working off of sports money so this is where
the video concepts they were allowed to spend
a little bit more because they were a proven
entity because of the fact that they were so
iconic because of videos like If this is it,
that was the one that was in my list, where their
heads are sticking up out of the sand. Not to
be a promo whore for older episodes, but Bill
Gibson, drummer for Huey Lewis in the News, was
my guest on episode 23, where we crafted the
ultimate Huey Lewis in the News playlist. And
I actually got to talk to him about shooting
some of their iconic videos. So really, really,
really cool story in that one. The video currently
has over 3 million streams on YouTube, and I'm
talking about doing it all for my baby again.
The song reached number six on the Billboard
US Hot 100, which I kind of thought was interesting,
Jim, because you had said it was an oft -forgotten
-about tune, but I guess in comparison to the
hip -to -be -squares, the Jacob's Ladder, the
heart of rock and roll, heart of soul, yes, this
one kind of falls down, but it was a top -ten
hit. And it hit number 30 on the Canada singles
chart, number 93 in Australia. And it was a video
that continued to push the musical boundaries
for the band. And I'll be honest, they're one
of my favorites of the 80s as well. Jim, I feel
like you and I are kind of like musical kindred
spirits here because we are kind of on the same
page with some of these. Absolutely. Love Huey,
all his videos. But this one is the one that
sticks out to me the most. Well, I'm going to
go back to my. VHS mixtape for this one. And
this was one of those songs where I found a song
that I liked. I recorded the video. I showed
it to my father and he says, Oh, you want to
hear the original? And my father pulls out toys
in the attic and puts on the original walk this
way. But in 1986 for raising hell, The amazing
Rick Rubin decided to pull that exact same album
out in front of Run DMC, load up Walk This Way,
let them freestyle over it, and then push them
to record something with it. The band was originally
against it. Run DMC was not in on this song at
first. They brought in Joe Perry, who recorded
the guitar and bass. They brought in Steven Tyler
to do the vocals. The band still wasn't sold
on it. They didn't want to release it as a single,
but the label pushed and they recorded this little
music video and it exploded. Even though Run
DMC wasn't sure about releasing it, it hit number
four on the U .S. Billboard Hot 100, number six
in Canada, number one in New Zealand, number
nine in Australia, number eight in the U .K.,
and was a top ten hit in six other countries.
VH1 ranked the collaboration number four on their
list of the 100 greatest hip hop songs. And the
video currently has 133 million streams on YouTube.
But most importantly, this song was a piece of
the puzzle that saved Aerosmith as a band. Aerosmith
had a rough start to the 80s, raising hell into
permanent vacation. changed this band's trajectory
forever. And it also made Run DMC a household
name. So I feel like there's an importance to
this video. Hip -hop was around and it was respected.
But Run DMC with this song, I'm not going to
say single -handedly, but along with a lot of
other hip -hop songs that were crossing over
and mixing rock and hip -hop together, the Beastie
Boys and stuff like that, made hip -hop. mainstream.
And I feel like this is an important song in
the video when Steven Tyler smashes through the
wall. And I don't know, that might've been symbolic
for something, but regardless the dance at the
end, I have mimicked that dance. I mean, my kids
have the just dance video game. And if you play
with the controllers, one of the, I forgot what
year has it, but there is Aerosmith and run DMCs
walk this way and you have to do the dance. With
the three steps and the kick at the end of the
video. And it is so much frigging fun. Just like
the dance at the end of You Can Call Me Al. Very
similar. Oh, wow. That's a comparison I wasn't
expecting. Oh, Brian, good job. The shuffle shuffle
kick dance. It was totally an 80s thing. It was
a thing. I'm glad you brought this up because
I would have said. and i would defer to you because
i feel like you know music better than i but
i would have said that this is the song that
made hip -hop mainstream or at least led to it
becoming mainstream and i remember this video
i actually was an aerosmith fan prior to this
video so i'm a little bit older than you and
my parents played aerosmith a lot as a kid my
best friend up the street actually had aerosmith's
greatest hits so he would bring that tape down
and we would listen to it And so I knew Walk
This Way before I ever knew who Run DMC was.
But when you listen to just Walk This Way, it's
the perfect song to turn into rap because he's
almost kind of rapping as he goes because he's
spitting out the lyrics so fast. And so I thought
it was genius to put those two together. But
like you said, this saved Aerosmith's career
and it was a really cool video. I think having
them perform on, you know, either side of the
wall and then they break the wall. I mean, I
think that's the perfect like visual of what
they did for their respective genres and music.
That wall was the boundaries that they broke
through. And as symbolic as it is, it's just
a badass moment on top of it. Little Lens in
Atlanta, Georgia with older parents, I wouldn't
have known Run DMC otherwise. I just wouldn't
have. That's just not something, you know, on
my radar. But because of that video, I was introduced
to them. And then it goes from there. All right.
Well, with that, we are back to you to follow
up with your last choice of the evening. What
do you got? OK, I'm taking it there. Parents
just don't understand. I picked this one because
it makes me laugh. Start to finish, it's funny
to me from his, what looks like to me is Huey,
Dewey, and Louie sheets on his bed, you know,
to the clothes that his mom makes him wear, to
the girl he picks up, you know, turns out she's
12. Like the whole thing is just a hoot to me.
And, you know, Fresh Prince in the, what, late
80s, early 90s. couldn't beat him i remember
the first time that i saw this video i was over
at a friend's house a real good friend's house
and we would always be outside doing something
we were hardly ever inside but we for whatever
reason this time we were inside i turn on mtv
and this video's on and i'm like what is this
and to me this was the first even though we had
run dmc we had the beastie boys i hadn't started
listening to nwa yet but This was the first rapper
to actually speak to me as a kid, right? You
know, he's talking about how parents just don't
understand. He's talking about how your parents
embarrass you because they go buy you clothes
that you don't want to wear to school. You know,
most of the time it's for monetary reasons, right?
And that's what it seemed like with his parents.
And so to me, I could totally relate. I thought
the graffiti and the artwork on the wall was
really cool. Just very simple, just white walls
with artwork on it. I thought that was really
cool. Him deciding to take his parents Porsche
out while they're out of town. Right. Even though
he's not 16 or he doesn't have a license yet.
You know, we can all relate to just kids just
making stupid decisions, especially as teenage
boys. I feel like we get dumber before we get
smarter as we go through life. But yeah, just
it's an iconic video for the late 80s. Oh, by
all means, that backdrop that he has with all
the graffiti on it's so colorful. And they shot
several different videos using that. The Girls
Ain't Nothing But Trouble video used some of
it. Even the Fresh Prince of Bel -Air is in that
for a moment. There was even a, not a music video,
but a commercial. Remember when artists used
to do 1 -900 numbers? They had 1 -900 -909 -JEFF
and it was a hip hop song. And you could call
that number and the commercial was filmed. on
that set. So it was almost like their lair at
the time. But I'll make sure I embed that commercial
over on the episode page at myweeklymixtape .com
so you could check that one out. But back to
Parents Just Don't Understand. I loved this song.
1988s, he's the DJ, I'm the rapper. The song
reached number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100,
number 28 on the Canada Top Singles Chart, number
87 in the UK, and number 49 in Australia. won
a Grammy award for best rap performance at the
1989 Grammys. And it was one of the two rap songs
to get that award before they discontinued it.
The other one, Young MC's Bust a Move. So back
to back ones. They're another great video, actually,
now that I think about it. Parents Just Don't
Understand, ranked number 96 on VH1's 100 Greatest
Songs of Hip Hop. And the video currently has
over 15 million streams on YouTube. I'm actually
surprised. I thought that number was a little
low, to be perfectly honest. Even a little low.
Feels it. Yeah. All right. Well, Jim, we are
back to you now for your last pick of the night.
All right. I am going to pivot away from the
hip hop here and go with something a little bit
heavier that would actually become even heavier
on a cover in the early 2000s. And I know that's
one of your favorites, Brian, because I think
we've talked about it over. X or Twitter or Facebook
or something. And I am going to go with the video
that I always think of with puppets. And that
is Genesis Land of Confusion. Nice. This video
sends me to a land of confusion. So it wasn't
just a clever title. Yeah, right. You got the
puppets of, you know, what you can only assume
to be Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan at the beginning,
you know, and then I love the Phil Collins puppet.
i mean it's you talk about just like when people
draw caricatures of people you know that's what
these puppets were like right they were drawn
caricatures of people i love the phil collins
puppet you know there's a whole lot of famous
people in there it was going by so fast when
i was watching this trying to narrow stuff down
that i can't even remember all the famous people
there but i believe i saw margaret thatcher but
the phil collins puppet and the ronald reagan
puppet to me are the two that stick out the most
Puppets when you're talking about Phil Collins,
because if you watch the band performance video,
Phil Collins is in front of the microphone singing.
But if you look very carefully in the background,
he pops up on drums. It just kind of waves his
arm around and then drops back down. So there's
actually two Phil Collins puppets on stage. So
right. I totally forgot about that. Yeah, he's
in the background acting like animal from. Yes,
I'm pretty sure I saw Dolly Parton in one scene.
Did you you didn't see Dolly? Well, there's that
whole spoofing towards the end of the do they
know it's Christmas and we are the world video.
So you had I think I know there was a Bruce Springsteen,
a Madonna and a Michael Jackson puppet in there
as well. So, I mean, if you talk about budgets,
this one had to have one because those puppets
were probably not cheap to make. That's what
I would think. And I'm totally drawing a blank.
But at the end of the video, one of you I know
can help me out. The. puppet that's supposed
to be i believe ronald reagan he hits a button
he was supposed to hit the button for nurse and
he hit the button for new that's it that makes
me laugh every time yeah that was definitely
part of the cold war era type music video stuff
but done only like i don't know if every band
could have gotten away with that video but for
some reason genesis could And the song is just
incredible. Like you said, the Disturbed cover,
10 ,000 Fists album. I absolutely love it. From
1986's Invisible Touch, it reached number four
on the Billboard US Hot 100, number eight on
the Canada Top Singles Chart, number 14 on the
UK Singles Chart, number 21 in Australia, among
others. And it won the Short -Lived Grammy Award
for Best Concept Music Video. but lost the MTV
Music Award to another video we talked about
this evening. Lindsay, you're not going to be
happy about this, but Sledgehammer. Oh. And this
video currently has, again, a low number, I think,
14 million streams on YouTube. And when we say
14 million being low, we're talking about the
fact that we're comparing it to the 2 billion
of Take On Me. 14 million seems like pennies
at that point. Exactly. All right. So I get to
take us home tonight and close out the evening
with a music video. And there is one music video
that stuck in my mind more than any other music
video from the 80s. It was seeing this music
video that made me come up with the idea of doing
this episode. It was the music video that made
me hide under every blanket and pillow on our
couch the first time I saw it. from the get away
all the way to the end with the eyeballs 1982
michael jackson's thriller reach number four
on the u .s billboard hot 100 number three on
the canada top singles chart number 10 on the
uk singles chart number four in australia and
number one in argentina spain belgium france
and portugal this video currently has over a
billion streams on youtube So again, putting
it into comparison with some of those other ones
we just mentioned. And once again, just like,
I think it's a theme among my videos for this
evening. Not fully because Take On Me doesn't
have a dance per se at the end, but You Could
Call Me Al has a dance at the end. Walk This
Way has a dance at the end. And Thriller has
a dance at the end. And that is one of the most
iconic, if not the most iconic 80s dance. When
the zombies do the arms up and they, oh my God,
I was horrified as that as a child, but then
my parents made me watch the making of it. And
I think in a weird way, it kind of fueled my
love of video and multimedia because I already
had a music bug in me, but I'm also a video multimedia
guy and Thriller was one of those things that
just, made me enthralled with the concept because
here I was pretty much crying watching it. And
then when I see it's all fake and you go back
and watch it again, it's like, wow, that's mind
blowing and the choreography. And it's just incredible.
So thriller to close this out for the night.
This was one that had to be picked. Right. And
I having listened to your show enough, I always
go, oh my gosh, are they going to leave the song
out? Are they going to leave? I can't believe
they're going to leave the song out. And you
always come around to it. So I kind of figured
you might go here, which is why I left it. I
don't know if you remember, Brian, because you're
a little bit younger than me, but this was like
an event. Yes. It was a buildup to the release
of the video for like months and months. They
kept talking about it. And so they aired it and
then immediately afterwards aired the making
of Michael Jackson's Thriller. And we got our
VCR out. We taped the video in its entirety.
And then we taped. the making of Michael Jackson's
thriller. And I'm telling you, I watched that
thing anywhere from 25 to 50 times growing up
because we, A, were fascinated with Michael Jackson,
right? He was like Taylor Swift is now. And B,
I wanted to learn the dance, right? And I was
just fascinated. I had already seen American
Werewolf in London, right? With John Landis and
Rick Baker doing the makeup and the special effects.
And so I was already fascinated with the turning
of a human into a werewolf. and then it being
michael jackson just made it it was like taking
it and going to the 10th power and so to me this
was an event this was something that i watched
over and over and over again i still love the
video i could still go back and watch the making
of thriller now i've probably forgotten most
of the dance moves but i'm telling you Ten years
old, I knew all of the dance moves. I was just
going to ask you, even though this is an audio
-only podcast, if you would get up and show us
what you remembered. This blew Little Lynn's,
this blew her mind. The fact that it was a music
video, but it was kind of a small film, I just
never, it was beyond anything that I could ever
come up with or picture that this was even a
possibility. I loved it. It kind of scared me
half to death. And just at the end when I think,
oh, okay, everything's okay. And then we get
that last shot of his scary, creepy eyes. And
that's what sticks with you as the video ends.
I love it. Somebody had to pick it. I'm so glad
you did. Well, there you have it, folks, our
one hour block of 1980s MTV music videos, which
consists of Robert Palmer's Simply Irresistible,
Men Without Hats, The Safety Dance, Aha's Take
on Me, Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have
Fun, Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer, Paul Simon's
You Can Call Me Al, Billy Joel's We Didn't Start
the Fire, Huey Lewis and the News, Doing It All
for My Baby, Aerosmith and Run DMC's Walk This
Way, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's Parents
Just Don't Understand, Genesis' Land of Confusion,
and Michael Jackson's Thriller. Head over to
myweeklymixtape .com to see all the videos we've
discussed through the video playlist embedded
on the episode page. Jim and Lindsey, why don't
you tell listeners a little bit about Children
of the 80s and where they can connect with you
both? Yeah, we're a podcast that we talk about
everything that was important to us. when we
were kids growing up and things that we look
back on now with fond memories, even if it wasn't
important to us, even if we didn't like it, then
we now look back on it with fond memories because
the further you get away from childhood, it seems
like the more you want to go back there. So you
can find us anywhere. We're on all the major
platforms, Spotify, Apple podcasts, where children
of the eighties, you can find us on Twitter,
X, Facebook threads. at children of underscore
80s. Well, Jim and Lindsay, this has been an
absolute pleasure. Thank you both for joining
me tonight on my weekly mixtape. And I look forward
to doing a volume two on this because there are
way too many songs that we have not talked about
yet. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having
us. It's been a real honor. Thank you. Yeah,
you could definitely get a couple more episodes
together of the good 80s videos. Well, remember,
you can find My Weekly Mixtape on almost all
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You can also head to MyWeeklyMixtape .com to
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again, that's patreon .com forward slash My Weekly
Mixtape. That's all for this week. Thanks again
for listening. And until next time, enjoy the
tunes as well as the music videos that go along
with them. See you next time.