(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Without any explanation, Kevin Seal returns, to explain that they have room to squeeze in another bonus video from late 1988. (We haven’t had one of these in four hours, but previously “Armageddon It” and “Angel of Harlem” were added to the mix.) As Seal puts it (in […]
posted 3 February 2011 in 1988. 6 comments
(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) The commercial break begins with the promo for “The Year in Rock 88.” The people deemed newsworthy enough to get a quick video clip of them flashed in this spot: Chuck D. (in a Pittsburgh Pirates cap), Tracy Chapman (looking dour), Keith Richards (with cigarette), Billy Joel (playing […]
posted 22 October 2010 in 1988. 5 comments
(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Rejoining our final Kevin Seal appearance, we find Seal promoting his hosting job on Big Bang ’89 later that night: “It’s time for me for me to go and start pushing my way through the huge crowds around Times Square. There’s only seven hours to go, you know–I […]
posted 11 August 2010 in 1988. 1 comment
MTV station ID: we see the MTV logo, barely visible in outline, while a geyser of water spouts from left to right. Then white steam condenses on black rocks, again with the invisible logo–the sections in the M, the TV, and outside the logo were filmed at the same spot, but at different times. Third […]
posted 21 July 2010 in 1988. 3 comments
(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Kevin Seal promotes the “Big Bang ’89” celebration with as little sincerity as he can muster: “Oooh, whee, let’s get some excitement.” He then continues with the countdown: “In at a pretty solid 54 is Whitesnake.” He notes that “Give Me All Your Love” was the fourth video […]
posted 17 June 2010 in 1988. 4 comments
(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Back from the commercial break, Kevin Seal reorients us: “Top one hundred of 1988, which is quite convenient, because it’s the year that we best remember.” He grins and flaps his hands around, and then starts talking loudly, denoting that this is the official part of his palaver: […]
posted 27 May 2010 in 1988. 8 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
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
Kevin Seal introduces Steve Winwood’s “Don’t You Know What the Night Can Do?”: the second single from the Roll With It album, or as Seal puts it, “the song that my downstairs neighbor plays continuously.” (I wonder what part of town Kevin Seal was able to afford the rent in. I suspect that the salary […]
posted 14 January 2009 in 1988. 1 comment
Onward through the 1988 MTV countdown! (If you’re just joining us and want to get up to speed, click here.) The commercial break, as usual, starts with a spot for an MTV program: in this case, “The Year in Rock 88.” “Sixty minutes that took twelve months to make,” says Voiceover Guy. We see Kurt […]
posted 7 January 2009 in 1988. 3 comments