MTV in the 80s Song of the Day

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

BOBW is excellent.  This is coming form someone who's as big a fan of Sammy Hagar in general as I am of Van Halen pre-Hagar.  The studio version IS considerably more subdued sounding.  I'm going off the RHRN live version as well, which kicks major ass.

[KevShmev]

Metallica - One

I remember being shocked that MTV was playing something so heavy, fast and intense back in 1988.  Playing something like that on a regular basis was nearly unheard of at the time.  I didn't like the song much at all then, and while I did get into Metallica years later, One has never been a song I have embraced that much.  There are parts of it I like (the creepy verses), but I generally do not think it is that good of a metal song.  The video was definitely interesting, though, and in a good way.

[Jaq]

MTV playing this was shocking simply because, at the time, Metallica had been a band that had resolutely sworn to NEVER make a music video. I remember the night it debuted on Headbanger's Ball, and at the top of the hour they announced videos by assorted bands that were going to be played, and when the announcer said "Metallica" I turned to my best friend and asked "Did they say METALLICA?" To our shock, they HAD, and it was equally shocking that it was the full length version of the song. After it took off, there was a single version of One, which was still around five minutes long or so, but when it debuted it was the full song. The song itself is the standard Metallica thrashy ballad, and honestly, they never did that better than Fade To Black, but back then, seeing a seven minute plus Metallica video on MTV was like seeing the metal underground march out into the light.

[masterthes]

My favorite Metallica song. The Johnny Gets His Gun scenes depress me. Such a creepy premise

[Big Hath]

From my top 50 thread:

This was my entry into heavy metal and really anything that even remotely resembled "prog".  I had previously known of Metallica since Master of Puppets because my friend had the cassette, but I never really listened to them until "One" hit, and man did it hit me hard.  The video for "One" debuted in January of 1989, when I was 11 years old.  I remember staring at the TV wondering what it was I was watching - there was NOTHING else like this.  The stark black and white images of the band furiously playing interspersed with scenes from a movie I had never heard of plus the dark lyrical content really made an impression.  "One" quickly became a favorite song of mine and still is to this day.

[KevShmev]

I am shocked there wasn't more chatter about the only Metallica song that will be featured in this thread.

But anyway, moving on...

Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days

I've enjoyed this song a lot since the first time I heard it; it's just a fun and energetic rock song that has a wide appeal.  The video shows Bruce and his band have a good ole time performing the song, and I get an even bigger kick out of seeing it now, given how well I now know Steven Van Zandt.  Back then, he was one of the E Street guys trying to hog center stage with Bruce , but now it's like, "Hey, it's Sil from the Sopranos!"

[bout to crash]

Never really liked Springsteen (don't tell my family in Jersey).

"One" got me into Johnny Got His Gun, though, which is now one of my favorite movies (even though it makes me want to kill myself) 

[jingle.boy]

Didn't like the direction Springsteen took in the 80s, and the radio latched on to him like VD.  You couldn't go a single day without hearing one of those "hits" from Born in the USA... most of which I didn't like too much.

[Zydar]

Big Springsteen fan here, but I agree with Chad about his direction in the 80s. Born In The USA was a huge album but I strongly prefer his earlier stuff.

That said, Glory Days is an okay song and as catchy as herpes on a Saturday night

[masterthes]

My favorite song of his 80's days

[jingle.boy]

My favorite song of his 80's days

That's like being the tallest attendee at a midget convention.

[Orbert]

"Glory Days" was one of those 80's Springsteen tunes that I just can't understand.  The intro, verse, chorus, and bridge (if there is one) are all literally the same riff, over and over.  This one, the title track, I'm sure there were a few others, were all like that.  Yes, catchy as hell, the first time you hear it.  After that, there's nothing more to the song.

[Jaq]

That is something that I noticed about the Born in the USA album. Every song was a simple riff repeated endlessly to the point of monotony.

[KevShmev]

Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now

I never quite got the hype over this song or Tiffany herself.  Sure, she was kind of cute and had that attainable look, which appealed to a lot of males around my age, but none of her songs ever really made a dent with me.  And when she fell of the map, seemingly without a whimper, I didn't even notice.

[Orbert]

Exactly.  She was not unattractive, her songs weren't bad, there just wasn't much to distinguish her from the countless other girl singers.

[jingle.boy]

Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now

I never quite got the hype over this song or Tiffany herself.  Sure, she was kind of cute and had that attainable look, which appealed to a lot of males around my age, but none of her songs ever really made a dent with me.  And when she fell of the map, seemingly without a whimper, I didn't even notice.

The only good thing about this song beyond Tiffany's cute-ness and fapability factor was it being the inspiration for Wierd Al's I Think I'm a Clone Now.

[Jaq]

Wasn't she like sixteen when this song came out? 

[ZirconBlue]

Wasn't she like sixteen when this song came out? 

Yes, but, then so was much of her target demographic at the time.  I was born like 2 months after Tiffany, and a lot of people my age liked her and Debbie Gibson partly because they were the same age as us.

[Jaq]

It just becomes kind of retroactively funny for people to talk about Tiffany's fappability now. It may not help my memory of her that she bore a very strong resemblance to the then 14 year sister of the girl one of my friends married.  Though a couple of years later, that girl was the friend of the teenager whose relationship I ended with a Bon Jovi album, as I mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

[KevShmev]

The Romantics - Talking in Your Sleep

I loved this song when it was first out. I even had the 45 of it. But years later, it doesn't do much for me.  Sure, if I head it, I think, "Yeah, that is still catchy and kind of cool," but it never screams out for me to listen to it, making most listens of it to be accidental ones.

[DebraKadabra]

Metallica - One

Not one of the best of their thrashers IMO, but it's by far not the worst.

Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days

No.  Just... no.  Never been much of a Bruce fan, but the earlier the better.

Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now

You should hear Bill Hicks's rant about mall culture - which involves Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, and Jimi Hendrix.  Funny shit.

Anyhoo - another no.

The Romantics - Talking in Your Sleep

Never liked this one - the bass line is about the only redeemable quality in this one.

[KevShmev]

Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny

Despite being as catchy as a cold in the winter, I was never really a fan of this song.  It is kind of funny how many problems the song caused though, what with people all over the country prank calling the number in their area and asking for Jenny.  I suspect that, to this day, nobody wants that to be their telephone number.

[Big Hath]

Benjamin Franklin Plumbing used to have that number (1-866-867-5309).

On their commercials they used the tune of the song, but instead of "Jenny, don't change your number", the lyric was "Benny, the punctual plumber - 867-5309"


8675309 is also the fourth most common 7-digit password

[Cool Chris]

Terrible song. Funny facts about the plumber and password though.

[masterthes]

So overrated

[Orbert]

He has no one to turn to.  But he knows that there is Jenny, who he could call for a good time.  Just knowing that she's out there, and would show him a good time, gives him hope.  He's never actually called the number, she doesn't know him, but she makes him so happy.  It's poignant.  Movie of the Week material right there.

Also, the video is funny.

[DebraKadabra]

Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny

Never a fan of it - overrated and definitely overplayed.

[Jaq]

Every decade has one hit wonders, but there's always one that is the archetype of the one hit wonder. For the record, the greatest one hit wonder ever is Right Said Fred's I'm Too Sexy, because if you saw them making TV appearances during that time, you could tell they knew they were a one hit wonder, and they were milking it for all it was worth, while it lasted.

867-5309 was the archetype of the 1980s one hit wonder, IMO. I say this because MTV had a bit of a distorting effect on the one hit wonder phenomenon. MTV could extend the life of a one hit wonder by a few videos, maybe even get the band to the next album before the roof caved in. Tommy Twotone? They had THIS song. And nothing else. That was it for them. In the era of early MTV, that took a lot of work to make happen. The song itself? Awful. Never sure why it took off the way it did.

[Cedar redaC]

867-5309 is the phone number of a pawn shop in town.

[KevShmev]

Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls

Interestingly, I really got into a lot of this band's music about two years ago.  I already knew their big 80s songs/hits, and West End Girls, their biggest hit ever, was never much of a favorite.  It's a good song, but I just like a lot of their songs more.  The video is kind of odd to go back and watch now, and it really surprises me that this song was the hit that it was, even for that time period.

[Jaq]

I've never had much time for Pet Shop Boys, they're really not my thing. But I adore their version of Always On My Mind. Go figure. 

[jingle.boy]

Prolly one of a couple of songs by PSB that I can tolerate.  Again, this came out just towards the tail end of my poppy music days, as I was transitioning my tastes to real music.

[KevShmev]

Real music?

[jingle.boy]

Real music?

Yeah, I was transitioning out of pop, in to Rock.

[Jaq]

And pop, of course, isn't real.