The videos on MTV20: Pop (one of the four DVDs compiled by MTV to celebrate the channel’s 20th anniversary), at least the earlier ones, are technically primitive by today’s standards. The songs are mostly forgettable, and many of the artists are already forgotten. But still… go ahead and try to watch these 15 tracks without tapping your feet or singing along. That’s because as silly as some of this stuff is–and it doesn’t get much more hokey or dated than the mechanical synth pop of Gary Numan’s “Cars” (from 1980, predating the birth of MTV itself) or A Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran” (a hit for the big-hair New Wavers in 1982)–every song here has an irresistibly catchy chorus and, in many cases, a video that is at [Read More...]
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What a strange selection of videos! Most everything here is from the 80’s, and they are clips that I’m glad to finally have on DVD (there are TONS of notable things missing though- no Duran Duran, no Kajagoogoo, no Toni Basil, no ABC, no Bananarama, no Siouxsie And The Banshees, no Pet Shop Boys, I could just go on and on…). Lionel Richie’s putrid “All Night Long” video should have been left in the video attic… it seems extremely out of place on this collection. Two of the 90’s videos here, Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” and Smash Mouth’s “Walking On The Sun” could have easily been made in the 80’s; they are visually appealing and don’t seem to be too out of place. K-Ci and Jojo are also WAY out of place here. I’ve barely even heard of them!
There is a sticker on this DVD that says that old MTV promo bumpers are also included on this DVD, but I think I counted only 2 or 3 of them here, and they weren’t even particularly memorable ones. (Check out the videotape “I Want My MTV!” to see all of those- that’s a great collection that needs to come out on DVD.) Most of the 80’s videos on this DVD could have used a little cleaning up as well… the picture is not as clear on those than that of the later videos.
Regardless, I’m happy to have these videos on DVD. MTV should investigate doing some sort of an 80’s music video collection- I’m sure there are tons of people that would be into that sort of thing. This DVD sort of touches on that, but it would be nice to see a lot more!