(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) It takes only three seconds to wave away the fetid smell of Paul Carrack: some squealing tires and a synthesized drum roll announce the arrival of Robert Barisford Brown. Immediately, “My Prerogative” whacks your eardrums with its greatness. New jack swing never got any better than this. Criminally, […]

posted 11 March 2010 in 1988. 4 comments

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Three ways to look at Paul Carrack’s career: (1) He’s a second-tier Brit singer for hire, working with middlebrow acts that ranged from the good (Squeeze) to the craptastic (Mike + the Mechanics). (2) All those painful collaborations with Roger Waters and Don Felder just subsidized Carrack’s secret […]

posted 25 February 2010 in 1988. 7 comments

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) A scrap of paper isolated on a black screen has the single typed word “sexy.” It’s followed by two quick flashes of dancing bodies–a little bit of skin, and a whole lot of fringe. Then we get a closeup on a light-skinned black woman, speaking with a British […]

posted 17 February 2010 in 1988. 5 comments

A jaunty beat, a bunch of white guys on a peach-colored rooftop, and a closeup on a pair of zebra-print shoes: why, it’s Huey Lewis and the News! Huey Lewis was still having hits in 1988? Apparently so–and this wasn’t even his last top-forty single. Unlike countdown last-gaspers Pat Benatar and Kenny Loggins, he had […]

posted 4 February 2010 in 1988. 4 comments

Michael Jackson released seven singles from Thriller, but he made videos for only three of them. (That wasn’t unusual in 1983–MTV’s proof of concept wasn’t yet firmly established.) How much would we treasure videos for the other singles today? A high-concept clip for “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”? A restrained but elegant video set on top […]

posted 21 January 2010 in 1988. 4 comments

In case you’re just joining us: I found some old videotapes of MTV’s year-end countdown of their top 100 videos. From 1988. Naturally, I’m working my way through the tapes, writing about each video (and commercial break). It’s taking longer than originally planned, but I march onward, fueled by the power of mullets and Kevin […]

posted 6 January 2010 in 1988. 4 comments

We come back from the commercial break to Kevin Seal, thrusting his pelvis to the rhythm of Aerosmith’s “Rag Doll.” “Oh, boy,” he says, “the top 100 videos of 1988. In case you’re just getting out of prison–1988.” Seal, apparently, is eager to be done with his work day. The camera’s somewhat closer on Seal […]

posted 17 December 2009 in 1988. 7 comments

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) We head to a commercial break with a fifteen-second MTV bumper: lots of revved-up stock footage from the early twentieth century, superimposed over what appears to be flickering pages from textbooks. There’s a director with a megaphone, an old gramophone, men in hats operating film cameras, an orchestra […]

posted 2 December 2009 in 1988. no comments yet

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Two concert videos in a row! This one begins with the sound of a cheering crowd, a lonely lighter being held up, and an onscreen graphic reading “MARKET SQUARE ARENA / INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA / DECEMBER 11, 1987.” This is unusual–concert videos usually opt for an everytown approach, giving […]

posted 19 November 2009 in 1988. 5 comments

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) In a crowded arena, a man stands on a stage, not moving. Fans frantically wave their hands, seeking his attention, or maybe trying to remind him to continue the show. The man is looking up, with his arms by his side. Lights flicker behind him and there’s a […]

posted 12 November 2009 in 1988. 5 comments