Top of the hour: MTV does a 30-second station ID. The network had retired the classic astronaut footage by 1988, but kept the theme song. This spot is a nifty piece of animation featuring the MTV logo in a gyroscope, with close-ups on doors and windows opening up all over the logo, revealing naked bicycle […]
posted 8 July 2008 in 1988. 4 comments
I’ve been listening to U2’s “I Will Follow” for over 25 years (not continuously). But only recently did I pay attention to this lyric: Your eyes make a circle Two eyes, of course, make a line. So I am forced to conclude that the person whom Bono is addressing has more than two eyes. Actually, […]
posted 7 July 2008 in Tasty Bits. 1 comment
The entire staff of Rule Forty-Two HQ wishes you a happy Fourth of July. From those benches, you can see the Statue of Liberty.
posted 4 July 2008 in Photos. no comments yet
If you’re just joining us, here’s the deal: I unearthed some old videotapes that contain the entirety of MTV’s year-end countdown from 1988. I haven’t watched them since 12/31/88, but I’m slowly rolling through them now, writing about the videos (yes, MTV used to play videos) and the ads and VJ segments. Since we’ve made […]
posted 3 July 2008 in 1988, Self-reflexive. no comments yet
As you may have heard, Beck’s new album, Modern Guilt, comes out next week. (A couple of months ago, I interviewed Beck and wrote a short preview of the album. Beck’s changed some of the song titles since then; after some back and forth, “Beggar’s Shoes” became “Gamma Ray.”) I thought this would be a […]
posted 2 July 2008 in Archives, Articles. no comments yet
As previously noted, deciphering the plot of a movie from an associated music video is a subtle art. My best guess on It Couldn’t Happen Here: the Pet Shop Boys drive around England, picking up hitchhikers and ultimately becoming professional tour guides, leading paying customers around the United Kingdom by train and by plane. I’ve […]
posted 1 July 2008 in 1988. 6 comments
The second season of everybody’s favorite new TV show, Mad Men, starts July 27 on AMC. I recently visited the show and saw the capacious set of the Sterling Cooper advertising agency: the desks had IBM Selectric typewriters, the ashtrays were filled with lipstick-stained cigarette butts, and the secretaries were wearing tight dresses and foundation […]
posted 30 June 2008 in Outside. 2 comments
This is a little embarrassing. When I moved across the country last year, I misplaced some of the notes and supporting materials relating to my flipwalks. Specifically, I don’t seem to have any information on flipwalks #28, 29, and 30. (I do have a notebook that seems to have all my notes on flipwalks 31 […]
posted 27 June 2008 in Photos. no comments yet
I’m on the road today, so you’ll have to wait until next Tuesday to find out what the #91 video is. But I’ll take the opportunity to tell you about one song that isn’t on this countdown at all: Debbie Gibson’s “Foolish Beat.” The ballad hit #1 on the Billboard singles chart in June 1988, […]
posted 26 June 2008 in 1988. 4 comments
It’s a law of rock that a supergroup will split up superacrimoniously, and you’ve probably heard that’s what happened this year with Velvet Revolver: Scott Weiland ditched the band to return to Stone Temple Pilots, leaving the rest of the group to look for a lead singer again (and bat away rumors that they’d reunite […]
posted 25 June 2008 in Archives, Articles. no comments yet
