You're browsing the archives for the category 1988
Kevin Seal returns, and ponders the question of whether the Van Halen album title OU812 was a shot at David Lee Roth’s Eat ’Em and Smile. He says that this video (“Finish What Ya Started”–he makes sure to overenunciate the “Ya”) was directed by Andy Morahan, “who did George Michael’s videos, which is why it […]
posted 18 September 2008 in 1988. 6 comments
An animated MTV promo: this one’s got African-style masks in a color palette of black, white, orange, and yellow–and lots of drumming and hollering on the soundtrack. It’s just ten seconds long, but if you nodded off during the Icehouse video, it wakes you up. The “Bad to the Bone” riff announces another ad for […]
posted 11 September 2008 in 1988. 3 comments
Here’s what I remembered about “Electric Blue” twenty years later: 1. It was cowritten by John Oates of Hall and Oates, presumably in an effort to keep up with Daryl Hall’s songwriting credits; Hall had a solo hit with “Dreamtime” in 1986. (Actually, a fair number of Hall and Oates’ song catalog was written by […]
posted 9 September 2008 in 1988. 7 comments
For those of you just joining us: I recently unearthed videotapes of MTV’s top 100 countdown from 1988, and I’m working my way through the broadcast one video at a time. To see all previous entries in this series, click on the “1988” category in the right-hand margin of this website; I predict you will […]
posted 4 September 2008 in 1988. 13 comments
We return to a chortling Kevin Seal. Once again, he screams and jumps over the VJ desk to communicate his extreme state of overstimulation in regards to the top 100 of 1988. He points out that the “Circle in the Sand” video, being shot on the beach, marks a return to the setting of Belinda […]
The commercial break kicks off with another airing of the “Big Bang ’89” promo, hyping the big show live later on MTV that night. Sandra Bernhard looks skinny and sexy and mean (in marked contrast to her subdued, puffy appearance on Project Runway recently–is she on some variety of steroid medications, or was it a […]
posted 12 August 2008 in 1988. no comments yet
Kevin Seal explains that they’re shoehorning in another video that didn’t make the cutoff date, one that will in all likelihood appear in the 1989 countdown. (Basically, this means that MTV blocked out time based on ten videos an hour, but some hours (two out of the first two), they have time to play eleven.) […]
posted 7 August 2008 in 1988. 2 comments
Here’s a list of some of the albums that came out in 1988, hip-hop’s golden year: EPMD’s Strictly Business, Big Daddy Kane’s Long Live the Kane, Boogie Down Productions’ By All Means Necessary, Slick Rick’s The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton, the Jungle Brothers’ Straight Out the Jungle, Eric B. and […]
posted 31 July 2008 in 1988. 2 comments
More snark from Kevin Seal, who waves his hands insincerely to connote his great excitement with the countdown. Seal talks about Henry Lee Summer denying that he sounds like John Cougar Mellencamp: “He’s a very modest fellow, especially when it comes to the women who fall all over him in this video,” says Seal. Cut […]
posted 29 July 2008 in 1988. 6 comments
Once again, MTV visits the Duke. First up, a network spot for the show Now Hear This: MTV’s Guide to New Music. This program aired on Monday nights and was hosted by golden-maned Adam Curry. “World premiere videos,” voiceover guy says, and we see clips of Keith Richards, Huey Lewis, and the Fresh Prince (aka […]
posted 24 July 2008 in 1988. 4 comments
