MTV in the 80s Song of the Day

[KevShmev]

Aerosmith - Love in an Elevator

A fun, rocking song, and an entertainingly funny video, too.  Say what you want about Aerosmith's comeback in the later 80s, but they did a great job of embracing the video format by making some memorable videos, an area where many other 70s rock bands either failed or didn't really try.

[dbrooks22]

My favorite song in 6th grade. 

[jingle.boy]

Decent song; Awesome album.

Oh! Good morning Mr. Tyler.  Going .... down?
hehehehe...oooh!

[DebraKadabra]

Not the best Aerosmith song ever, but not the worst either.  It's a rocking tune, I'll give it that.

[Orbert]

I love the guitar break.  My local radio station at the time was one of those that not only played the same songs all the time, but also basically at the same time each day, so I always heard "Love in an Elevator" on the way to work.  One time out of boredom, I timed the guitar break, and it was a minute and a half, which is insanely long for a regular pop song.  The break actually has three movements to it.  Joe Perry is awesome.

[bosk1]

This song is a prime example of why I despise all things Aerosmith.

[Orbert]

Can you be more specific?  It's definitely a stereotypical Aerosmith song, but what don't you like about it?

[KevShmev]

I love the guitar break.  My local radio station at the time was one of those that not only played the same songs all the time, but also basically at the same time each day, so I always heard "Love in an Elevator" on the way to work.  One time out of boredom, I timed the guitar break, and it was a minute and a half, which is insanely long for a regular pop song.  The break actually has three movements to it.  Joe Perry is awesome.

Ya know, even when I was 16, I remember being in awe that a song with such a long instrumental section in the middle was getting played so much on MTV.

[bosk1]

Can you be more specific?  It's definitely a stereotypical Aerosmith song, but what don't you like about it?

I just don't like their sound at all.  It's hard to quantify exactly what it is, but I've just never liked Aerosmith. 

[KevShmev]

I like Aerosmith, but there was a stretch in the 90s where they were so huge, it seemed like everyone thought they were the best rock band ever, and being the prog snob I was at the time , that turned me off of them for quite a while, but I eventually came back around to enjoying a fair amount of their music.  I'd never call them a favorite, though. 

[Orbert]

Can you be more specific?  It's definitely a stereotypical Aerosmith song, but what don't you like about it?

I just don't like their sound at all.  It's hard to quantify exactly what it is, but I've just never liked Aerosmith. 

Fair enough.  Did you like their earlier stuff any better, when they were a lot closer to their R&B roots?

[bosk1]

Can you be more specific?  It's definitely a stereotypical Aerosmith song, but what don't you like about it?

I just don't like their sound at all.  It's hard to quantify exactly what it is, but I've just never liked Aerosmith. 

Fair enough.  Did you like their earlier stuff any better, when they were a lot closer to their R&B roots?

Nah.  But in addition to just my general dislike of them, I just have a built-in prejudice against a lot of late '60s/early '70s rock.  There's just something about the sound from that period that I don't like in general.  In the past 5 years or so, I've gradually started to sort of "discover" a lot of bands from that era that I didn't like before, and learn to appreciate their music.  But it's a hurdle I can't get over with a lot of bands. 

[Cool Chris]

I just don't like their sound at all.  It's hard to quantify exactly what it is, but I've just never liked Aerosmith. 

I have always had the same problem. I thought they had cool videos from this period, but I was probably more watching the video than actually listening to the music. I liked the music, but never enough to purchase any or listen to it on the radio.

Regarding their earlier period, it seems like I would like that more based on my enjoyment of rock from that period, but I don’t. Shrug.

[Jaq]

The length of the instrumental break of that song always did impress me, given that it was a hit single getting a lot of MTV airplay. You'd figure someone would cut at least half of it out on general principle, but I guess when you're Aerosmith, people don't fuck with you with single edits 

[KevShmev]

Bon Jovi - Lay Your Hands On Me

I wasn't wild about some of the singles from the New Jersey album, but I like this one a lot.  It was similar to Let It Rock from Slippery When Wet in that it had an extended, almost prog rocky, instrumental section to begin the song before bursting into the meat of the song.  And the intro was quite great, too!  And I always loved this second part of the first verse:

What you get ain't always what you see
But satisfaction's guaranteed
They say what you give is always what you need
So if you want me to lay my hands on you

The way that builds up into the chorus was pretty great.  This is a really good anthemic hard rock tune.

[BlobVanDam]

I first heard this song on the radio a few years ago (lolradio), and really liked it, so I grabbed the album.
Very simple but catchy chorus, and it's got a cool riff, which for Bon Jovi was kinda heavy. One of my favourite Bon Jovi songs.

[Kwyjibo]

Love in an elevator is a great tune although the gang vocals in the verses (oh yeah) get on my nerves sometime. The instrumental break is great and, as mentioned, unusually structured and unusually long for a hit single. Also the a capella ending is really great. They really made the best of the video format with Pump and even more so with Get a Grip.

Lay your hands on me is a decent enough song for me from a time when Bon Jovi was still rocking.

[jjrock88]

Early Bon Jovi is pretty good.

[wolfking]

I seriously can't stand either Bon Jovi or Aerosmith.  Bon Jovi's first album was okay, but that's about it for me.

[jingle.boy]

Slippery When Wet was top shelf material from start to finish.  Great track... though I don't remember the video at all.

[DebraKadabra]

No.  New Jersey did NOT age well for me.

[BlobVanDam]

Slippery When Wet was top shelf material from start to finish.  Great track... though I don't remember the video at all.

Lay Your hands On Me wasn't on Slippery When Wet.

[jingle.boy]

Slippery When Wet was top shelf material from start to finish.  Great track... though I don't remember the video at all.

Lay Your hands On Me wasn't on Slippery When Wet.

Oh yeah, right. I totally forgot about New Jersey. I'm with Deb ... That was an immense let down after SWW. Total brain fart (hadn't had my first cup yet). I was hearing 'Let it Rock' in my head. No idea why ... Only similarity is the both start with the letter L. 

[dbrooks22]

SWW was a solid album.  Lots of good tracks on it, and i remember really liking Lay Your Hands on Me at the time.  Now, listening to it brings back some emotional baggage of the time period, so I'd rather not.  But it's a good song.

[KevShmev]

I still can't believe Bad Medicine went to number 1; that songs sucks something awful. 

[TAC]

I actually love New Jersey. That's still a great album..Stick To Your Guns, Wild Is The Wind, and the great Blood On Blood! Wicked Thin Lizzy influences on that album!

[Jaq]

Lay Your Hands On Me comes with, YOU GUESSED IT, a story.

I wound up with a copy of New Jersey for god only knows what reason; I think a friend gave it to me because he didn't really like it, and, hey, remember, in the 80s, Bon Jovi was a fucking chick magnet. One Friday night, I was hanging out with a friend of mine, who had married pretty young, his wife, and her sister, and her sister wanted us to take her to pick up her best friend so they could hang out. We said sure, and me and my friend took her to meet her friend. I had with me a couple of cassettes, and I had New Jersey with me because my friend's sister in law knew I had it and wanted to hear it. (I told you, chick magnet. But she was 16 and I was way too old for that sort of trouble.) We wound up at her friend's, and she was there with her boyfriend and a couple of other guys. Naturally, they saw me and my friend and realized we were legal and wanted us to buy beer. That sort of trouble, yes, I did find myself in all too frequently.

Anyway, the sister in law announces to her friend "Oh, Jill, Jack here has the new Bon Jovi album out in the car." Jill is, of course, excited, and her boyfriend chimes in with "AWWW YEAH BON JOVI!" I say, fine, I'll go get it, and waited until whatever rap album was playing at Jill's house to stop playing, and I pop in New Jersey and Lay Your Hands On Me starts BLASTING. Now, this is about a month after New Jersey dropped, and, let's face it, Jon Bon Jovi has a fairly distinctive voice. But that didn't stop the boyfriend, who had just said "AWW YEAH BON JOVI" from asking, about halfway through the song, "I thought you were going to play the new Bon Jovi."

"He IS." Jill says, eyes askance at her man. In the course of the evening, I found out later that they'd been dating for about a week. They disappeared for a little bit-I figured they were going to do what most hormonal teenagers do when they're alone-but about half an hour later, the guy storms out of where he had been, grabs his friend, and they split. Jill comes out, looks at me, and said "Thanks. I just dumped him."

"Excuse me?" I asked, wondering in horror if this teen had decided that I should be her man since I came armed with Budweiser and Bon Jovi.

"Yeah. He was lying about liking Bon Jovi to impress me, what the fuck else was he lying about?"

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you New Jersey. The album that broke up a couple in less than five minutes. 

[TAC]

Good stuff, Jaq!

[Orbert]

[Jaq]

 

[Orbert]

Any story involving Jack and Jill is a... well, you understand.

[eric42434224]

My god...wasnt Holy Diver an absolute BEAST when it came out in the 80's?
I think there was a point where Sreaming for Vengeance, Number of the Beast, and Holy Diver were playing in my boom box non-stop.

[DebraKadabra]

I still can't believe Bad Medicine went to number 1; that songs sucks something awful.

Yeah, no shit.

[BlobVanDam]

I still can't believe Bad Medicine went to number 1; that songs sucks something awful. 

I love Bad Medicine. It's cheesy as hell, and has dated much worse than their earlier hits, but it's still a good bit of fun.

[dbrooks22]

I still can't believe Bad Medicine went to number 1; that songs sucks something awful. 

I love Bad Medicine. It's cheesy as hell, and has dated much worse than their earlier hits, but it's still a good bit of fun.

+1