vituperation

People suck.

Saturday, I came across my third timber rattler, on the McKay Hollow trail on Monte Sano. Someone had smashed its head with a rock, cut its rattles off, and left its remains posed on a rock so everyone walking by would see it.

Assholes.

I moved it away from the trail.

And now, happier things.

In 1981 I was fourteen years old, a gawky dork halfway between boyhood and manhood. I’d just moved from Decatur and living with my mom to Huntsville and living with my dad. A new school year was beginning, and with it, a whole new school for me. I had no friends yet, and only two things to keep me company during the long hours after school and on the weekends: my music and my television.

August of that year brought something magical for both — a new television station. The station originally came on the air showing an astronaut standing on the moon next to a flag with three letters, and a really catchy guitar riff playing in the background. The screen went black for a second, and then history was made:

The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star

I spent the next several years glued to MTV during my free time. I had a little crush on Martha Quinn. I was proud that Alan Hunter was from Alabama. And yeah, I can still name the other three VJs who complete the original five. In addition to Martha and Alan, there were Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, and J. J. Jackson. I loved that channel, and I loved my music.

Sadly, these days I can only tell the spud, “I remember when MTV used to play music videos.”

Yesterday, I discovered something I have to share. YouTube has almost every single 80’s music video I can remember. You can search on a band, and find anything. I realize this probably doesn’t mean much to those of you under 30 or much over 40, but to those of us who are children of the 80’s, it’s a wonderful find.

Think about it: almost any video from any song you remember and love from MTV’s heyday.

Including my absolute number one favorite song of the entire decade. A song I thought was lost forever, because it’s not out on any CD I can find. And believe me, I’ve searched.

There was a group, popular in England but not so popular here in the US, named “Doctor and the Medics”. Big hair, goth-like makeup, and a really nice sound. Their first hit, a remake of Norm Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky did pretty well, but it was their followup song that I loved more than any other.

I thought it was lost, but now, thanks to YouTube and the internet, I have it again:

Doctor and the Medics - Burn
My God, I love this song, though the video embarrasses me now.

Here’s a sampling of the music that made me happy in my formative years, and brings a new smile to my face today:

Adam and the Ants - Stand and Deliver

Soft Cell - Tainted Love

R.E.M - Stand

EBN-OZN - A E I O U sometimes Y (these guys were lawyers (Lieben and Rosen) before their one semi-hit)

General Public - Tenderness

A Flock of Seagulls - Wishing

El Debarge - Who’s Johnny?

Taco - Puttin’ on the Ritz (I loved Broadway before I knew I loved Broadway, apparently)

The Communards - Don’t Leave Me This Way
Another absolute favorite of mine. Jimmy Somerville has a hell of a falsetto.

Let me just interject here and say that, after watching the videos above, I completely understand why my parents thought I was gay.

A-ha - Take On Me

Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl

Camper Van Beethoven - Pictures of Matchstick Men (thank you YouTube — I’d only seen this video one time ever, and it was enough to get me to buy the album. It’s good to see it again)

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart

LL Cool J - Bad

Run DMC & Aerosmith - Walk This Way

Fat Boys - Stick ‘em (this song is responsible for all the noises I still make around the house)

The Go-go’s - Our Lips Are Sealed

M - Pop Musik

The Housemartins - Happy Hour
The first guy in the video is Norman Cook in his pre-Fat Boy Slim days.
Another band I’d have never heard of but for MTV, and one of my all-time favorites.

Devo - That’s Good

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - The Waiting

Tracey Ullman - They Don’t Know

Billy Joel - We Didn’t Start the Fire

Living Colour - Cult of Personality

Guns ‘n Roses - Sweet Child o’ Mine

Human League - Fascination

Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
My number two all-time favorite 80’s song.

It is with great reluctance that I stop here; I could link to videos all day long. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of them. If you love 80’s songs and videos like I do, you might be interested in this site, which gives you step-by-step instructions for ripping videos to MPEG files to store on your hard drive or burn to a DVD. See the “help” tab on that site for details.

So what’s your favorite 80’s song?