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1988 Countdown #35: INXS, “Devil Inside”

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Adam Curry hypes the “Big Bang ’89” party coming up later that night on MTV: “This is the only place to be on New Year’s Eve,” he says. Which was empirically not true, but it is the place where I ended up on the last day of 1988, […]

posted 19 September 2019 in 1988. 2 comments

1988 Countdown: Commercial Break #27

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Time to visit the Duke. Let’s dispatch this commercial break quickly so we can get back to the videos sooner rather than later. We kick off with the eighth appearance of the frequently played promo for “Big Bang ’89”: live performances from Robert Plant, Poison, Winger, Cameo, Hall […]

posted 5 June 2018 in 1988. 2 comments

1988 Countdown #36: Michael Jackson, “The Way You Make Me Feel”

(And the beat goes on. New to the countdown? Catch up here.) A beautiful woman walks down a city street: tight black dress, bangles on her wrists, long kinky hair, flawless mocha skin, high heels. This is model Tatiana Thumbzen. A funky guitar riff plays in the background (the song “Hot” by Roy Ayers). The […]

posted 20 March 2017 in 1988. 6 comments

1988 Missing Persons File

When I’m writing posts about the videos of 1988, I do what I can to find out who directed the clip, or who did an interesting bit of background business, or where there’s a love interest (almost invariably played by a model), the name of the beauty. But Google has sometimes failed me, so I […]

posted 2 November 2015 in 1988. 1 comment

R42 Mailbag: Meiert Avis

Now and then, this website attracts correspondence or comments from the people that I write about: the cowriter of Bryan Adams’ “Summer of 69,” the bassist from Information Society, the actor who starred in Poison’s video for “Nothin’ But a Good Time.” I was delighted the other day to get email from Meiert Avis, who […]

posted 15 October 2014 in 1988. 1 comment

1988 Countdown #37: Richard Marx, “Hold on to the Nights”

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) We return from our commercial break to see Adam Curry, who is somehow keeping his balance despite the enormous top-heavy weight of his hair and the twenty-pound decoration dangling from his breast pocket. Adam reads the copy while placing his splayed fingertips together, as if he were a […]

posted 25 September 2014 in 1988. 8 comments

1988 Countdown: Commercial Break #26

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) MTV goes to commercials and plays a promo for Michael Jackson. “He’s been bad!” says MTV Voiceover Guy, as we watch Jackson dancing in black leather and buckles. “He’s been smooth!”–a quick cut of him from “Smooth Criminal,” white fedora rakishly tilted over one eye. “Now he takes […]

posted 4 March 2014 in 1988. 3 comments

1988 Countdown #38: Poison, “Nothin’ But a Good Time”

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) In a busy restaurant kitchen, a hulking blonde dude leans over a sink full of dirty dishes, listening to Poison’s cover of “Rock and Roll All Nite.” He has pulled his hair back in an unsuccessful attempt at a ponytail. A busboy with a neat dark ponytail–a fellow […]

posted 19 September 2013 in 1988. 16 comments

1988 Countdown #39: Rick Astley, “Never Gonna Give You Up”

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Rick Astley holds forth, in a thick northern English accent, in front of a glass window; behind him, we can see New York City in wintertime. “I don’t like being in front of cameras,” he says, looking straight into the camera, and laughs uncomfortably. “So I find that […]

posted 19 August 2013 in 1988. 9 comments

1988 Countdown: Commercial Break #25

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Time to visit the Duke. The ads kick off with the network’s frequently deployed spot (the seventh time on a once-per-hour schedule) for their “Big Bang ’89” program (the New Year’s Eve live program playing a few hours later). I’ve noted previously that Robert Plant had the best […]

posted 31 July 2013 in 1988. 2 comments