On Dinosaurs and Robots, Mister Jalopy posts and comments on a whole bunch of his favorite videos from MTV’s video archive.
Here’s a small sample of Jalopy’s picks:
MTV was the internet of the 1980s. It was the connection from our mundane suburban lives to the urbane sophisticated world that we imagined joining. Now everybody knows everything and every trend is overexposed to the point of lifelessness, but MTV played an important role as it gave us a window into subcultures that meant the world to us.
True, D+R is about inspired objects, but we sometimes diverge to consider the exceptional whatever the form.
The MTV offering is not as broad as YouTube, but the quality, searching and metadata quality make it worthwhile. The MTV embedding function is a bit of a stinker. If you embed, strip off all html after the ending embed tag.
Bauhaus – Ziggy Stardust
At the time, Bauhaus was skewered by the British press for doing a light cover of a classic Bowie song to rocket up the charts. Indeed, it was, and remained, their greatest commercial success, but I loved it then and I love it now. Peter Murphy brings a growling, sleazy sneer that is completely successful.
Digital Underground – Humpty Dance
He likes his oatmeal lumpy.
Massive Attack – Teardrop
Amazing work by Gondry. Transcendent song.
Many more videos and commentary here:
Ladies and Gentleman, The MTV Music Video Archive