Hey, Man...

So I changed the batteries in the teevee remote today, which means I had to turn it on. I had to. I had to see whether the clicker still worked, which it did. In my channel flipping, I came across MTV and was shocked at the sight of an actual music video. Quelle surprise! It was a little chunk of "Shout." Remember Tears for Fears?

Right then. I had stumbled into a sort of retrospective that they called Buggles to Bizkit. I found myself remembering the thrill of watching MTV in the first place. It wasn't about having cable, it was about "having MTV." They came to a ha's "Take On Me." Surely you can't have forgotten that one. They were from... Norway? Denmark? Some really obscure Scandinavian country. I wonder whatever happened to those boys?

Anyway, I couldn't help remembering being young and not appreciating what that meant. Those silly keyboards and animated pencil drawings mixed with film, it was like being 19 again for a few minutes. I wanted to cry, I tell you. Not from the song, but from a time when I never thought I'd ever get to be so old.

Who was ever going to see 30? So old. Imagine being so old!

The songs kept coming. Relax. Sledgehammer. I Want Your Sex. They showed a network promo in which people talked about how MTV played too much heavy metal. Remember when MTV had cool promo spots?

I think what I'll do is find an 80s collection or two, take the portable CD player out to the car and drive for a while. One of the things that hasn't changed is that I've always loved to drive. I especially like to go long distances by myself; it's mostly about being able to sing in the car without anybody else around.

It never occurred to me during the 80s that I was growing up during what would eventually be a cool time to grow up. Maybe any time to grow up turns out to be cool... I don't know. I just know that it didn't seem cool at the time.

That a ha video seemed cool, though. It still seems cool for a little song with keyboards and a video with drawings of dudes in helmets running around with wrenches menacing the band.

So, I think I know what song I'll look for when I Remember the Eighties.

before - after