Friday Night Videos

“I’m old, I’m tired, and I want my MTV!”

Gone are the days of glossy, artistically smutty, airbrushed and often incomprehensible music videos. Ter and I used to stay up on Fridays, watching the limited rotation of mostly British bands on late night TV. MTV can claim responsibility for the success of those artists, only a few of which remain relevant in the twenty-first century. The rest have either faded into obscurity or are on never-ending greatest hits tours. The soundtrack of our youth, unlike those of the generations before us, came with moving pictures. Usually pretty ones.

Then things got darker. Music got angrier, the product of broken children raging in a disconnected world. The lip gloss came off, Ter and I grew up, and the video channels gave up playing music videos. Much More became Much Less, and its slot on the cable guide eventually gave over to yet another cooking/lifestyle channel. I can never give up my video cassette player; without it, my collection of rock vids taped directly from Much in the 80s and 90s is just another collection of outdated relics from a happier time. Not that they get any air play these days—the box they’re stashed in sits high on a closet shelf, last touched in 2012, when we moved into our current residence.

I admit, when my priorities changed, I stopped listening to new music except for what plays on top 40 radio, then, unimpressed, I stopped listening to top 40 radio. I have bought less than a dozen new albums in the past year, and none of them are by anyone born in this century. Ter and I began reminiscing fondly about the good old days of Much Music and MTV—then lo and behold, she stumbled onto a TV channel aptly titled “Please Rewind”. All they play are music videos—hats and horns!—but, alas, sometimes they don’t rewind far enough. Mixed heavily among the rainbow-sprinkled clips from my heyday are grungier, hip-hoppier, gloomier and grimmer samples from more recent bands. Honestly, I get a cheerier perspective from the evening news. And Ter, gods bless her, lost it after enduring a set of angst-ridden wailing on the heels of a workday from hell:

“I’m old, I’m tired, and I want my MTV!”

After my laughter subsided, I wholly agreed. A channel limited to the 80s and 90s would certainly have an audience, and even clips from the 70s would be welcome.

Enter “Vintage TV”, discovered a few weeks ago and a definite answer to her lament. It’s probably the last stop before PBS for the bands we knew and still love, and it’s not commercial-free, but it’s as close to Friday Night Videos as we’ve seen in decades.

Rock on!