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You are here: Home / Music / Been There, Felt That

Been There, Felt That

by Michael D.|  November 22, 20076:58 pm| 44 Comments

This post is in: Music, Popular Culture

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Andrew Sullivan is doing a best/worst 80’s video thing. I’m voting for this one. Probably one of the best videos, for all the reasons he describes. But that’s likely because I come from a town of 2000 people.

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44Comments

  1. 1.

    JWW

    November 22, 2007 at 8:36 pm

    Well,

    Have never seen that before, don’t want too see it again. I thought that Broke Back Mountain was the start, oh no, not really. Your man love theory has been around for thousands of years. Accepted in certain societies and detested in others. Not to be joking about it, you are what you are, some say it’s okay others don’t.

    If you want too throw it in my face and that of my children, I will find another place too avoid it. I will not be terse, will not chide you, and have some understanding of who you are.

    Be what you are, I don’t agree with it, but I think no less of you a person. So as not be hypocrit, I don’t like communism, but the people of the country are what they are lead by(I never hated and specific Russian, Chinese or Cuban soldier or civilian), I don’t like whale hunters,(the man on the ship has a job sanctioned by the Gov’t), I don’t like a deer hunter who’s only skill is feeding his quarry to the window(Texas Hunters).

    If you want what you seek, I say don’t hide, but even worse is trying too force feed.

  2. 2.

    John Cole

    November 22, 2007 at 8:37 pm

    Quit throwing your heterosexuality in Michael’s face, you asshole.

  3. 3.

    T. Scheisskopf

    November 22, 2007 at 8:39 pm

    Alright. After seeing what he considers “The Best”, surely someone out there has pictures of Andrew in his New Romantic era foppery.

    Oh, to see a picture of him in a John Taylor/Nick Rhodes kind of hairdo…could that kind of fun ever end?

    Perhaps we need to do a whiparound to start a fund, to make it worth someone’s while to dig those pictures out and reveal them to a waiting world?

  4. 4.

    JWW

    November 22, 2007 at 8:44 pm

    John,

    Don’t be a fool or hypocrit, as with your response. You should as a minimum tell the truth from time to time. I was being honest, if you have a problem with that, don’t read or don’t allow the post. Ban him as you have me so many times in the past… I was not mocking, making jokes, bullshitting. Just responding to a post. Go fuck yourself.

  5. 5.

    T. Scheisskopf

    November 22, 2007 at 8:52 pm

    You know, JayDubDub, the way I see it, the problems of the last 7 years ain’t been how someone loves or who they love, it’s been that the show has been run by a lot of people who really don’t know how to love: themselves, someone else, the country, the citizens and people of other countries. Oh sure, they can lust for raw power and riches and to use the instrumentalities of death, but that ain’t love.

    The problem ain’t one guy loves another guy. That’s just…love. Happens every day.

    I trust people who are capable of love. They make me feel just that little bit safer, no matter who they love. They lift me when I am around them.

  6. 6.

    kb

    November 22, 2007 at 8:53 pm

    bronski beat.

    god theres a blast from the past.

    That was even before sullivan denounced anyone who criticised bush as being a ‘fifth columnist’.

    Actually when you watch the video, it’s like sullivan and his relationship with the republican party…….

  7. 7.

    JWW

    November 22, 2007 at 9:05 pm

    Also John,

    I have read every post Michael has put up on your site, I have respoded to some. You will find however I have never made any reference to his sexual preference. Though I do see many that comment do, and they are quite cruel. The strange part is, you have never defended before.

    Michael,

    I don’t really care, I do think of you as a person, with a soul, mind, and body. Your thought’s are what you print, my response is what I think. I am not offended, nor do I take offense in you lifestyle. Though I do not concur, your posts are as with any other and by me never be treated differently.

    John,

    Seems you choose your battles by sight, that’s okay, I would expect nothing less from you. Your tunnel vision, and minimal other senses leads me too have pity on you.

    Michael,

    If I said something that far out of line, let me know.

  8. 8.

    TrishB

    November 22, 2007 at 9:20 pm

    I can’t call that one the best video, but damn does that song have power. It still gives me chills whenever I hear it.

  9. 9.

    RSA

    November 22, 2007 at 9:58 pm

    Best ’80s videos? I’d probably have to go with something like Peter Gabriel, Sledgehammer; Talking Heads, Road to Nowhere; or something goofy like a song from one-hit wonders like Aha or Men Without Hats. (There are probably better videos out there, but my memory is weak.) Oh, and the REM take on Wings of Desire.

  10. 10.

    demimondian

    November 22, 2007 at 10:15 pm

    No video does the eighties better than “I want my MTV.”

  11. 11.

    Krista

    November 22, 2007 at 10:22 pm

    or something goofy like a song from one-hit wonders like Aha

    “Take On Me” was a rather nifty video, wasn’t it? Of course, for the advent of music-video-as-cinema, there was always “Thriller”. I remember it causing a huge controversy when it aired, because they felt that it was too frightening to be aired during family viewing hours.

  12. 12.

    RSA

    November 22, 2007 at 10:58 pm

    Right, I think “Take on Me” was one of the first videos that made me think that it could be a cool new form. I’d forgotten “Thriller”, which I really liked; it was a nice follow-up on “American Werewolf in London”.

    For what it’s worth, though I don’t often watch music videos these days, I have two recent favorites: My Generation and In This World.

  13. 13.

    Mike P.

    November 22, 2007 at 11:37 pm

    I think the video – and certainly the song – are terriffic. And I ain’t even “teh gay.” I liked the song enough (and even related to it) to buy the Bronski Beat album when it was new. Still have it, still throw it on once in a while, though I’ll admit it doesn’t get nearly as much play in my house as another of Sullivan’s choices for best, Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer.”

  14. 14.

    Keith

    November 22, 2007 at 11:48 pm

    “Take on Me” is The Music Video, IMO, but in terms of encompassing the 80s, I’d go with “Sledgehammer” (although if Genesis’ “Land of Illusion” had been on the list, I’d have to give that one some consideration).

  15. 15.

    Media Glutton

    November 23, 2007 at 1:53 am

    JWW,

    I think no less of you as a person, but quit throwing your use of “too” in a full infinitive in my face — for my sake, my family’s sake, and my eighth-grade English teacher’s sake.

  16. 16.

    Michael D.

    November 23, 2007 at 7:38 am

    Michael,

    If I said something that far out of line, let me know.

    JWW: Let’s see….

    You wantched a video of a song whose lyrics suggested nothing more than an outsider (who could have been any outsider, not just a ghey) who wanted to get away from a small town. The video contained no kissing, no hugging, no sex, no nudity (unless you have a serious issue with swimming, in which case I pity you if you enjoy watching the summer Olympics!), nothing.

    Now, your reaction to the post was to say you would never want to see the video again, and that I was throwing something in your face. So, do I think you were out of line? Hmmmm, I don’t know. I think you definitely have issues. I think you overreacted.

    Look at your second comment, last line.

    Take your own advice.

    And by the way: The video was about a gay kid whose parents, specifically his father, reject and disowns him because he is gay. If those are the “family values you represent and are teaching your kids, then I pity you.

  17. 17.

    Faux News

    November 23, 2007 at 9:57 am

    I had NO idea Larry Craig posted here on BJ as “JWW”.

    Or it could be Bob Allen for that matter.

    :-)

  18. 18.

    ChristieS

    November 23, 2007 at 10:35 am

    Michael said:

    You wantched a video of a song whose lyrics suggested nothing more than an outsider (who could have been any outsider, not just a ghey) who wanted to get away from a small town. The video contained no kissing, no hugging, no sex, no nudity (unless you have a serious issue with swimming, in which case I pity you if you enjoy watching the summer Olympics!), nothing.

    See, that’s always been my problem. I can’t ever tell someone’s gay just by looking at them. I have NO “gaydar” whatsoever. The woman who was my best friend all through high school told me it was because I just didn’t care about it as an issue.

    We were at our 20-year high school reunion and she had just finished telling me she was lesbian. Shoot, we’d basically lived in each other’s back pockets for four years, plus seen each other over the intervening years, you figure I might have had SOME clue. So, I asked her why I could never tell who was gay and who wasn’t.

    LOL, she used my slightly drunken “who gives a shit?” response to her “coming out” as an example of why I couldn’t see her lesbianism. I guess that sort of makes sense. Because I don’t care who you love or sleep with, I am not sensitive to the vibes.

    Mostly, I guess it’s because who a person loves or desires is really none of my business. I’ve always been a private person that way, myself.

  19. 19.

    capelza

    November 23, 2007 at 11:30 am

    bronski beat….wow, hadn’t thought of them in years. A good video, moving. Something very hard to come by these days.

    I liked and still own Erasure…and Peter Gabriel’s “So” album.

    “Solsbury Hill”…if I had an anthem, it would be that song.

  20. 20.

    capelza

    November 23, 2007 at 11:34 am

    Oh, can’t forget Kate Bush..‘Running Up That Hill” or Laurie Anderson, anything.

  21. 21.

    canuckistani

    November 23, 2007 at 11:45 am

    ChristieS-
    I lost a bet with my wife about whether a close friend of ours was gay or not. He was. I was fooled by his extensive collection of straight porn in university and never picked up on any of the other clues that were, in retrospect, so obvious. I’m guessing some people were just delivered without the gaydar option.

  22. 22.

    Michael D.

    November 23, 2007 at 12:25 pm

    canuckistani: to be fair, if you met me, you would never know I was gay. I don’t have a queenie voice. I have one Abercrombie & Fitch T-Shirt. I buy clothes, although nice clothes, at TJ Maxx. I don’t drink girlie drinks. In fact, it’s quite deep. I don’t have an immaculately decorated home, although I try.

    My favorite pasttimes are watching the History Channel, having a bew, and playing guitar. country & Western. Not “It’s Raining men” :-)

    I’ve been told my home looks like one decorate by a straight guy trying to be gay.

  23. 23.

    canuckistani

    November 23, 2007 at 1:53 pm

    I know a pretty wide spectrum of gay people. some of them are just nerds who like guys, some of them come right off the shelf at the stereotype shop, but what they all have in common is that I had to have teh gay pointed out to me. Well, ok, not always, but an old pal of mine is one of the fruitiest queens around, but he was an actor, so I just assumed that affectations were part of the job description. It never crossed my mind to wonder about his sexuality, any more than I ever wondered if he was left-handed.

  24. 24.

    Cuzco

    November 23, 2007 at 2:25 pm

    Ugh. That video always gave me the creeps. Still does.

    If I listen to it with my eyes closed, it’s not quite as odious. But even without the visuals, it’s still a profoundly depressing song that elevates powerlessness and victimhood to a virtue.

    To be fair, a lot of stuff in the 80’s had that “proud to be pathetic” thing going on. This song just kicked the pathetic up a notch.

  25. 25.

    BCT

    November 23, 2007 at 2:25 pm

    Nice video. But any 80’s video list that leaves off Papa Nez is incomplete. From Elephant parts, winner of first grammy for music video.

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=dRWTz3zY1WY

  26. 26.

    RSA

    November 23, 2007 at 2:47 pm

    I liked and still own Erasure…and Peter Gabriel’s “So” album.

    When his last album came out, I checked and found (IIRC) that I have all of his studio albums (post-Genesis), along with a couple of concert albums and the soundtrack to The Temptation of Christ. All good stuff.

    I also recently picked up a collection of New Wave Hits of the ’80s. It’s a hoot. Brings me back to my college days. Not that I could ever dance. Or was ever fashionable. But I think I still have a skinny leather tie in my closet.

  27. 27.

    r€nato

    November 23, 2007 at 3:10 pm

    the soundtrack to The Temptation of Christ.

    “Passion”. Awesome CD. Then again, I’m a bit of a movie score geek. Ever heard the score for, “The Fifth Element”? Even better than the film itself.

  28. 28.

    r€nato

    November 23, 2007 at 3:14 pm

    worst video of the 80s – and there’s lots to choose from, seeing as it was the beginning of the MTV era – absolutely has to be Billy Squier’s “Rock Me Tonight” video, which single-handedly destroyed his career.

    other worst things about the 80s, musically:

    big-hair hard rock bands
    way too much Billy Idol
    way too much Duran Duran
    way too much crappy Brit synth pop
    way too many skinny ties

    best things about the 80s, musically:
    The Smiths
    Talking Heads
    John Hughes movies and their soundtracks
    new wave
    Erasure

  29. 29.

    capelza

    November 23, 2007 at 3:35 pm

    RSA…somewhere along the way I lost a lot of my albums, including the early Genesis I had, the ones with Gabriel. I do like almost all of his work, solo and with others. But ‘So” is still my favourite.

    I went on a youtube tangent there finding those vids. Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush..and wound up with Cat Stevens/Yusef Islam. Yikes I am old…13/15 y/o loved the Cat..and I still do. Take that Islamophobes.

    In between I came across old Pink Floyd..David Gilmour in his very early 20s…now I really feel old..I’ll go put “Meddle” on and eat pumpkin pie.

    The 80’s were fun musically…with good music mixed into the silliness.

    The last time I really paid attention was the early 90’s…Alice In Chains and Soundgarden…and their various solo efforts continuing today. Don’t listen to radio at all, MTV is anything but music…

    Oh, I do like Placebo.

  30. 30.

    RSA

    November 23, 2007 at 3:53 pm

    But ‘So” is still my favourite.

    I think that “So” gets put into my CD player more often than any of his other albums, too. For lots of good reasons, but one was that I’d been unfamiliar with Laurie Anderson before hearing their version of “Excellent Birds”.

    Of Pink Floyd, I’ll listen to anything post-Syd Barrett. Love that stuff, though I was too young to listen to anything before “The Wall” as it came out.

  31. 31.

    canuckistani

    November 23, 2007 at 4:03 pm

    I think “Us” is probably my favourite Gabriel album, but it makes pretty miserable listening. And I’ll agree with capelza that Meddle is awesome. But the Talking Heads really sum up the best of the 80’s for me. I watch Stop Making Sense all the time, and really love the expanded funky band.

  32. 32.

    scarshapedstar

    November 23, 2007 at 4:05 pm

    My pick:

    Human League – Fascination.

    I can’t explain why the tranny singing “Hey, hey, hey, heyyyyyyy” makes me laugh so hard, but it does.

  33. 33.

    capelza

    November 23, 2007 at 4:19 pm

    RSA…yeah..”So’ is actually one of my top all time CDs. Laurie Anderson, a boyfirned in Seattle in the early 80’s turned me onto to her “Mr. Heartbreak”..the one with Gabriel singing…”Kokoku, just love that song..but the whole album is great..if you haven’t heard it. And any album that has William S. Burroughs doing a “song” is worth the bucks.

  34. 34.

    capelza

    November 23, 2007 at 4:23 pm

    canuckistani..’Us” is a good album, but it doesn’t speak to me like “So”.

    I wish I could say I liked the Talking Heads, a lot of people did, but I just couldn’t get into them. But I understand how they would sum up the 80’s for many.

    and that should read “boyfriend in Seattle”..I really do need to learn to type better.. :(

  35. 35.

    RSA

    November 23, 2007 at 4:28 pm

    Thanks for the Laurie Anderson recommendation, capelza. I’ll look around for it.

  36. 36.

    r€nato

    November 23, 2007 at 4:45 pm

    Love that stuff, though I was too young to listen to anything before “The Wall” as it came out.

    Check out “Meddle”, the album immediately previous to DSOTM. It’s really great and definitely under-rated.

    Also, “Wish You Were Here” (the whole album, not just “Have A Cigar”) doesn’t get the props it deserves. “Animals” is interesting but not that good IMHO. It does, however, indicate the direction Roger Waters was taking the band.

    I like “Ummagumma” quite a bit too but it ain’t gonna work for you if you’re allergic to hippie dippy psychedelic rock, which PF still was performing at the time they put this out.

  37. 37.

    Jon H

    November 23, 2007 at 5:24 pm

    scarshapedstar wrote: “I can’t explain why the tranny singing “Hey, hey, hey, heyyyyyyy” makes me laugh so hard, but it does.”

    There’s a John Wesley Harding song, recorded in a singer/songwriter radio show in the US, where some lines go:


    …
    So I became a dustbowl folkie.
    That’s Phil Ochs,
    Not Phil Oakey.”

    In response to the audience’s nonrecognition he adds
    “That’s the guy from the Human League with the bad haircut. Wrong audience! Wrong audience! It’s a good line, I swear.”

  38. 38.

    Jon H

    November 23, 2007 at 5:55 pm

    For worst video I was going to suggest Lene Lovich’s ‘Lucky Number’, but it turns out that’s from 1979.

  39. 39.

    D-Chance.

    November 23, 2007 at 6:01 pm

    r€nato Says:
    other worst things about the 80s, musically:

    big-hair hard rock bands
    way too much Billy Idol

    NOT an Idol fan; but as long as that young lass keeps kicking off the sheets and doing that split, his vid is OK by me. “Rock the Cradle of Love” was one of those videos that made an immediate, uhm, impression.

  40. 40.

    Krista

    November 23, 2007 at 7:55 pm

    Yikes I am old…13/15 y/o loved the Cat..and I still do. Take that Islamophobes.

    Indeed. Cat Stevens definitely reminds me of my childhood, as my sister, while taking guitar lessons, learned much of his repertoire.

    Another great 80’s song was “Hazy Shade of Winter” by the Bangles.

    And let’s not forget that Appetite for Destruction came out in ’87. That album is completely timeless.

  41. 41.

    demimondian

    November 23, 2007 at 8:57 pm

    My God, I am old — I was in my twenties when all that was going down. Kansas, ELP, Boston, Supertramp…they’re my era.

    Yes, I was a teenager in the Age of the Worst Rock Evah. Deal.

  42. 42.

    demimondian

    November 23, 2007 at 8:58 pm

    And if you really want “Hazy Shade of Winter”, the least you can do is listen to Simon and Garfunkel’s original recording, and not the second-rate cover by an eighties girl band.

  43. 43.

    Gus

    November 23, 2007 at 9:21 pm

    I appreciate that Sully included the ‘Mats “Bastards of Young” in the voting. Always loved that video. It’s a big fuck you to MTV and the music biz.

  44. 44.

    Redhand

    November 24, 2007 at 6:43 am

    “Solsbury Hill”…if I had an anthem, it would be that song.

    “Once in a Lifetime” . . . if I had an anthem [in the 80s], it would be that song.

    Being trapped in a hopeless marriage with small kids sealing the escape route, and in a meaningless job (corporate lawyer) will do that to ya.

    Can’t say Michael D.’s video choice does much for me; haven’t been there, done that, but the JWW fireworks were fun to read and MD’s post did give me some needed insights into who the newest poster (vs. commenter) here is.

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