This old fella has been feeling very nostalgic lately, especially for the sweet, sweet mindless TV watching of my youth. In particular, I have been gathering a lovely batch of videos MTV played during its first few months of existence. Some fabulous, some scary bad; but oddly enough, I loved them all.

When ever you mention very early MTV in a group discussion, your loudest (and lamest) friend or coworker will no doubt jump in and ruin the conversation with, “Video Killed the Radio Start… Video Killed…!” No shit pal, that’s novice talk.

I’m not taking about the usual crap you hear hack comics discussing on VH1’s Best of The 80s (Michael Jackson, Pat Benatar, etc.). I’m talking to you — my friends and fellow Fourth-Level Dwarfs with hit points to spare — the basement-dwelling, video-obsessed music nerds who watched the once-great video channel from day one (August 1, 1981) and who thoroughly enjoyed seeing the eclectic mix of artists and songs like “No Time to Lose” by the Tarney-Spencer Band and “So Long” by Fischer Z played at least six times day, every day. MTV sure had a lot of time to fill, here are some standouts:

“We Can Get Together” by Icehouse

These guys had one of the first MTV “Triple Dips” with the song “Icehouse” on the album “Icehouse” by the band “Icehouse”. That is quite awesome.

“No Time to Lose” by the Tarney-Spencer Band

This made me want to get high and I didn’t even know what that was.

“I Got You” by Split Enz

New Zealand’s finest export put out a slew of stellar videos, this one still holds up nicely.

“Too Late” by The Shoes

Zero stage presence, but these mop tops produced some of the best melodic power pop ever. Also check out the equally brilliant “Tomorrow Night”.

“Swords of a 1000 Men” by Tenpole Tudor

So freaking bad-ass! Every Brit over the age of 30 worth his salt should know all the words to this classic drinking/sword-fight song. Also check out “Wunderbar”.

“So Long” by Fischer Z

Nothing was more fun then belting out the epic line “Why didn’t you tell me?” in that slightly affected howl. This song rules so much you might not be able to handle it. “Oooohh… you should’ve told me…”

“Guilty” by Classix Nouveaux

Here’s the most famous scary bald front man until that Midnight Oil guy dethroned him. This crazy-ass Goth extravaganza was played about twice an hour, every hour.

Donnie Iris – Ah! Leah!

While the 3 live concert videos really put him on the map, including the epic “Love is Like a Rock,” this loveable nerd enjoyed a minor hit with this ode to a lovely lass (who looks like a tranny).

“What’s He Got” by The Producers

Read review here.

“Edge of Sundown” by Danny Joe Brown and The Danny Joe Brown Band

Sit back and enjoy one of the longest guitar solos ever by multiple guitarists, also enjoy the sweet-ass ax slinging by the dude in the flowing blue tunic. No one took himself more serious than this Danny Joe Brown character.

“Sign of a Gypsy Queen” by April Wine

Three word review: “Triple Guitar Threat!”

“Calling All Girls!” by Hilly Michaels

I despise novelty songs, but this silly and saturated, rotoscoped gem has some serious charm.

“Two Triple Cheese” by Commander Cody

Ear-achingly bad, but visually interesting. Proof positive MTV had hours upon hours of time to fill.

“I Wanna Be A Lifeguard” by Blotto

Catchy. Funny. Weezer must have studied these guys.

“Pop Music” by M

You gotta love the drugged-out chick with the headphones and giant blue sweater singing back-up.

“Hold on Loosely” – 38 Special

I know, not as obscure as the others, but you can’t mention the early days of Music Television without these Wild-Eyed Southern Boys.

“So This is Love” – Van Halen

“I got myself a brand new Oakland scarf right here…” Back in 81, most bands only had live concert footage, which I preferred. Thankfully, Van Halen had a few classics ready for heavy rotation. Also see “Unchained”.

“Some of My Lies Are True” by Huey Lewis & The News

Not to be confused with their later masterpieces, J.J. Jackson and the other drug-addled Veejays played the shit out of this then little-known band, so you can blame them for their popularity. This study in early video choreography and budget effects is actually very fun to watch. Check out the running in place at the end, very athletic.

More Gems!

Unearthed Videos

In honor of St. Paddy’s Day, here are some of my favorite bands and artists from the Emerald Isle, both North and South, old and new. Pictured above: The lovely Gemma Hayes.

Originally posted 3/15/09, Updated 3/15/11

The Thrills - “Nothing Changes Around Here”

Therapy? – “Screamager”

The Frames – “Dream Awake”

Stiff Little Fingers – “Alternative Ulster”

Gemma Hayes – “Hanging Around”

Thin Lizzy – “Jailbreak”

Sinead O’Connor & the Chieftains – “The Foggy Dew”

The Undertones – “Teenage Kicks”

Luka Bloom – “Don`t Be So Hard On Yourself”

My Bloody Valentine – “Soon”

That Petrol Emotion – “Big Decision”

Damien Rice – “Rootless Tree”

The Pogues With The Dubliners – “The Irish Rover”

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova – “When Your Mind’s Made Up”

U2 – “Out Of Control”

Despite the incoherent video, poorly-written lyrics and the oddly oedipal subject matter, I really like this song. Three reasons why: the “mama mama please” chorus is painfully catchy, the pronunciation of “jaguars” is awesome and most importantly, the bass player is a dead ringer for Rupert Holmes. I fondly remember this video being a staple of early MTV when the fledgling station only had Split Enz, Donny Iris and Danny Joe Brown Band videos to fill up the air time. I know this because I watched the channel 24/7.

Scary part? I not-so-fondly remember being freaked out by the philandering, wigs-tossing mother and her unsavory make out scene with the mannequin. It confused young Jeffrey and made me hesitant about mall shopping with mother.

BTW, the Georgia Satellites totally ripped off the first few bars of this song for their rube anthem of yore.

More: Odd Mix of Very Early MTV Videos

Man, The Go-Betweens certainly were a fun and extremely talented bunch of Aussies, as you can see in this video for “Was There Anything I Could Do?” Their poppy but nowhere near cutesy sound and style bring to mind other 80s bands like Let’s Active, Prefab Sprout, The House of Love and The Mighty Lemon Drops, who were a much-needed contrast to the Descendents, Bad Brains and Naked Raygun that were blaring through my Walkman headphones at the time. Rest in peace, Grant McLennan.

“Streets Of Your Town” is timeless. A real beaut.

I’m not crazy, this song and video is great, right? Still holds up? And Graham Bonnet had some killer pipes? And the dancing queen was, shall we say, smoking hot and good at bouncing? The answer to all these questions is YES.

As a child this video brought me much happiness and made me want to do things all night long, like play Ladybug on ColecoVision and drink straight from the maple syrup bottle.

I like that the band refused to dress like some of their silly metal/hard rock contemporaries. Denim and leather be damned! Let’s breakdown the highly varied Rainbow look from best to worst:

• Drumming legend Cozy Powell looking sweet in the satin jacket and spiked wristbands. The epitome of cool. (RIP)
• Got to give it to Graham Bonnet for pulling off the most 180 look: The giant aviators, the sensible haircut, and white dinner jacket.
• Ritchie Blackmore all decked out in…we get it, “black”
• Roger Glover auditioning for the bassist slot in Toto?
• Hey keyboard guy, that pedestrian shirt is a disgrace and makes Rick Wakeman cry!

“Swords of a 1000 Men” by Tenpole Tudor

So freaking bad-ass! Every Brit over the age of 30 worth his salt should know all the words to this classic drinking/sword-fighting song. Also check out Wunderbar.

Download MP3: “Swords of a 1000 Men”

More: Old MTV Gems>

Rest in Peace, Michael Dahlquist.

Off the album “Firewater” (1996)

I love this song. You probably do too but just won’t admit it. C’mon, don’t be a tough guy, admit it.

And here’s a recent acoustic version, equally good. I think Bernard is wearing a trench coat to really sell the “I’ve been walking in the rain just to get wet on purpose” line. Nice touch.

One of my favorite records from the early 2000s, Get Saved. Still holds up nicely. Video is a hoot too, here are some more funny videos for killer songs.

More: Pilot To Gunner

The Posies – “Dream All Day” from Frosting on the Beater

Sugar - “Tilted” from Beaster

Why these two video relics from the 90s you may ask?  Because this lucky boy is going to see Mr. Mould & Jon Auer (The Posies, Big Star)  in NYC tomorrow night at some fancy place called The City Winery.  Sure I’d rather them play at The City Beerery but that’s just hard to say and probably doesn’t exist… yet!  I’ll make do,  I’m sure they won’t mind me sneaking in a sixer of my favorite canned beer.

More Jon Auer: @jonauer

More Bob Mould: bobmould.com