30 Years of The Best MTV Videos

Posted on August 16, 2011 at 3:55 pm

Time Magazine has a great list of the best music videos in the first three decades of MTV. It’s hard to believe now that MTV’s arrival was controversial because some people thought it would take away from the purity of audio-only enjoyment of music. It was more appropriately controversial because, incredibly, MTV overlooked black performers in its early days. But videos from the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, became among the most popular ever and its “Yo! MTV Raps” program was influential in the genre’s early days.

I’ve been watching MTV long enough to remember when their “we’ll try anything” attitude had them playing Madonna’s “True Blue” for 24 hours straight (as the VJ noted, it could have been worse — it could have been “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida“). That means I remember the days when it really was “music television” with music videos back-to-back.

Music videos have turned out to be as creative and boundary-shattering as the music that inspires them. Time has some of my favorites, including “A-Ha’s” great “Take On Me,” Peter Gabriel’s amazing “Sledgehammer,” Jamiroquai’s mind-bending “Virtual Insanity,” Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” featuring a sensational dance performance from Christopher Walken, OK Go’s treadmill dance number in “Here It Goes Again,” and, of course, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” probably the two most famous videos of all time.

Here are a few of my favorites they missed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i9Mba9keHA&feature=related

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Music Television

Smile of the Week: Michael Jackson Tribute from 14-Year Old Trevor Jackson

Posted on June 26, 2011 at 6:33 pm

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10,000 Historic Recordings — Free Online

Posted on May 12, 2011 at 3:12 pm

The Library of Congress has a new online “jukebox” with more than 10,000 historic recordings made before 1925. “Much of it hasn’t been widely available since World War I,” notes the Washington Post. “Call it America’s iTunes.” The Library hopes to keep adding more recordings that are in the public domain. Harry Connick, Jr. was there to celebrate the opening of the online archive by playing “I’m Just Wild About Harry” on the piano. The Paul Whiteman version of the song is in the jukebox, and so is one from the song’s composer, Eubie Blake. According to Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post:

The collection, which is drawn from Sony’s back catalog, is a bewildering assortment of stuff. Listeners can hear the first ever jazz release — “Livery Stable Blues” by the Original Dixieland Jass Band — to 32 recordings of yodeling. There is a reading of the classic “Casey at Bat” and a forgotten speech by President William Howard Taft on U.S. policy toward Puerto Rico. Most of all, there is loads and loads of music: famed opera singer Enrico Caruso and composers Irving Berlin and George Gershwin are all represented.

“The absence of these recordings have created a sort of cultural amnesia. I think the jukebox will lead to a rediscovery of these artists,” said Patrick Loughney, who oversees the Library’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center campus in Culpeper.

The jukebox allows listeners to create playlists of their favorite tracks and share them via Facebook or other sites. The Library is creating a series of playlists curated by historians and well-known artists.

You can browse or search by type (vocal, spoken, instrumental), performer, composer, lyricist, date, or title. There is something there for everyone — be sure to check it out.

Glee 3D Concert Film Coming This Summer!

Posted on May 6, 2011 at 10:31 am

The cast of “Glee” is going on the road with a concert tour, and Fox has announced that a 3D film of the tour will be in movie theaters late this summer. Cast members Lea Michele (Rachel), Cory Monteith (Finn), Amber Riley (Mercedes), Chris Colfer (Kurt), Kevin McHale (Artie), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina), Mark Salling (Puck), Dianna Agron (Quinn), Naya Rivera (Santana), Heather Morris (Brittany), Harry Shum Jr. (Mike), Chord Overstreet (Sam), Darren Criss (Blaine), and Ashley Fink (Lauren) will perform, and cameras will record on- and off-stage moments for the theatrical release. Stay tuned for further details!

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3D Music Trailers, Previews, and Clips

What Can We Learn from #1 Songs?

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 8:00 am

Jessie Rifkin listened to every number one song in the history of the pop charts, from Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool” up through this week’s “ET” by Katy Perry and wrote about it for the Washington Post. He notes that “The first 100 non-instrumental No. 1’s were performed by 38 solo acts and 62 groups, but the most recent 100 were performed by 91 solo acts and nine groups” and that George Harrison and Elvis Presley had number one hits after they were not at the top of their careers. “And only 19 instrumentals have reached the top spot, none after 1985’s synth-percussion-fest “Miami Vice Theme” by Jan Hammer.” Perhaps most significantly,

What is remembered as the defining music of an era and what actually sold the most at the time are very different. Imagine the 1960s without Bob Dylan, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix; the 1970s without KISS, the Who and Led Zeppelin; the 1980s without Bruce Springsteen, Journey and Run-DMC; the 1990s without Nirvana, Green Day and Public Enemy; the aughts without John Mayer, Linkin Park and Taylor Swift. None of these giants have had a No. 1 song — at least not yet.

Get your own sense of what Jessie Rifkin listened to with these wonderful compilations of five seconds from every number one song on the top 40. If you are as old as I am, it is the aural equivalent of seeing your life pass before your eyes. What is the first pop song you remember? What is the first one you ever bought? What’s your favorite one-hit wonder?