TOTALLY ‘80s Sing-Along

It's June, 2013, and all month long the Alamo Drafthouse is celebrating the best movies from the Summer of '83 in their signature programming events. 1983 also just happens to be one of the greatest years in music video history as well, so we're celebrating with special editions of the Totally '80s Sing-Along all month long!

Because no matter what your opinion of the movies of 1983 may be, one thing is indisputable – 1983 was the single greatest year for music videos ever, and it always, always will be, forever and ever, amen.

Of course, music videos were still very new in ’83. While labels had been creating some promotional films for their acts since they were inspired by the Beatles in HARD DAYS NIGHT, music videos didn’t really start capturing the public’s imagination in a big way until MTV launched on cable airwaves in August of 1981 with their debut broadcast of The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.”

But that was 1981, and even with MTV on the scene, it’s not like the radio’s Powers That Be suddenly fell over and surrendered that very moment. Back in those days the network had to secure slots with cable providers by working city to city, and in cities where they were being piped into homes the screen could go black while VJs were switching out VHS tapes. So yeah, it really wasn’t an overnight conquest.

Over the next year and a half, however, MTV added more and more markets to their distribution, adding New York and Los Angeles in – you guessed it – 1983, and the labels started to take notice.

As Les Garland, the Vice President of Programming for MTV, said in 1982, “The record companies were in serious trouble in 1980 and 1981. But they’re just now starting to have visions of coming back.”

“Yeah, thanks MTV!” all the record companies said back to him.

And as they noticed that suddenly the acts getting airtime on cable television but ignored by terrestrial radio began to rack up sales, all of the record company executives began developing artists specifically for this new medium, which meant no more uglies like Bob Dylan and Carly Simon.

No, those guys were radio stars, and the video stars were here to kill them. And so 1983 was the year that really gave birth to pop stars, and to dance music as a separate genre from the disco that had come before.

And yeah, that means that the music videos of 1983 are pretty much to blame for Skrillex, and I know everyone likes to hate on Skrillex and DJ culture these days, but I don’t care, because dancing is fun. But you're here looking at the show page for an '80s Sing-Along party, so hopefully you know that already!

(Henri Mazza)