“'Cause I survived the 80s one time already…and I don't recall it all that fondly”
The Hold Steady/The Swish
Do you remember the first music video you ever saw? If you're a music geek, maybe you do. If you're not, chances are you don't.
I remember mine like a first kiss. In was 1980. It was my last year in the Marine Corps. I'd been in Japan the previous year and now I was in a paradise known as Barstow, CA. It's in the desert halfway between LA and Vegas. Not much there but gas stations, snakes and jackrabbits.
I resided in a shabby apartment out in town in a complex optimistically named Casa Del Sol. One of my few possessions was a little 12' black and white TV (Singer model, like the sewing machine) that I got for Christmas in 1971. On it I could pick up three channels, all of which were out of Los Angeles.
One day, out of the blue, one of the stations broadcast a “music video.” I don't remember why or the format or anything, but there it was. I watched it like I was receiving a message on the screen from outer space. What was this?
I'd never heard of the song or the band, but there it was, this wonderfully catchy tune with a video that was so campy it was beautiful. This was a year before MTV would debut with its first video on August 1, 1981 (Nerds, you know what that video was), so the whole concept was foreign to me. Whatever was going on, it was COOL! The station would periodically run that video along with a few others (Blondie's Dreamin' is not to be missed) at no particular time so it was just luck if I caught one. I kept a keen eye. When I asked friends if they'd seen any of these music video things, none had.
As we all know, a short time later it was a decade of nothing but music videos, but for a brief period I felt like I was in possession of a kind of exclusive knowledge.
So, who was this band and what was the song? It was a group out of New Zealand called Split Enz. The song was I Got You. It will always hold a special place in my heart. I never fail to smile when I hear it. When I'm 100 years old, can't remember my name, am in a home playing with a four-piece puzzle, I will light up if you play it for me.
Split Enz was made up of two brothers, Neil and Tim Finn, along with other band members. In 1985 Neil Finn formed a group you might be aware of, Crowded House (Don't Dream It's Over, Something So Strong).
I've heard it said that the perfect length for a pop song is 3:30. Bingo, I Got You, 3:30 on the money.
RP