The Brief, Wondrous Life of the Cable Music Channel

MTV quickly became a cultural juggernaut in the 1980s after its 1981 launch, bringing new music to millions of households whose access to music videos had been previously limited to late-night programs.  It's not surprising that others attempted to cash in on their success, and in the fall of 1984, enterprising media mogul Ted Turner made his attempt to do so with the blandly-named "Cable Music Channel." 

The network launched at midnight EST on October 26, 1984, with a very awkward press conference featuring Network President Robert Wussler, Los Angeles Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson (who declared the day "Cable Music Channel Day"), General Manager Scott Sassa (who now works for Robert Rodriguez's El Rey Network) and Turner himself, promising that the network will "stay away from excessively violent or degrading clips toward women that MTV is so fond of running."  Heck, don't just read my description - watch the awkwardness unfold.




CMC tweaked the MTV format slightly, doing live VJ segments with unseen VJs rather than the bigger network's pre-recorded video segments.  This gambit, along with the veering away from "controversial" music videos, failed to pay off, and the network didn't find an audience, even with commercials like the one below, featuring Randy Newman, Steve Miller, Corey Hart, Little Richard and Sparks (!).



It's not that the network was really even given a chance to succeed.  On November 29, only 34 days after the network's launch, it was sold to MTV Networks for a rather pathetic sum of a million dollars, signing off the very next evening with the same video that launched the channel - Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." - interspersed with goodbyes from the folks who worked at one of the shortest-lived cable channels in history.

A brief guide to the music videos of FLETCH

I know, I've been gone for a while.  My apologies to the two or three people that actually noticed -- I hope you've been watching something good! 

You probably have.  There's a lot of neat stuff out there.

Anyway, when I started this vanity blog, my plan was to keep it updated constantly, several times a day, like a real-life website that multiple people were in charge of.  That worked for a while, thanks to the ability to plan things on the weekends and have them slowly leak out during the week.  Soon, however, it became more of a burden than something fun -- which was the whole point of starting this in the first place.

After a few false re-starts, I think I'm ready to commit again, though this time, I'll just be posting sporadically -- whenever I find something notable enough to write about.

Without further ado...

I miss the time when a movie's soundtrack provided a music video for just about every dang song on it.  I have no idea if this tactic worked as a merchandising device, though evidence suggests it didn't, as with few exceptions, most music from '80s movies is remembered only in the context of the movie itself. 

FLETCH, the 1985 cinematic adaptation of Gregory McDonald's series of detective novels starring Chevy Chase as the titular character, had not one, not two, but three music videos devoted to the songs on the soundtrack.  I hadn't realized this until recently, having only been aware of the video for Harold Faltermeyer's Art of Noise-y instrumental theme music, which features Faltermeyer wandering around a beach and occasionally playing synthesizer.  It's "integrated" into the movie in that, er, it's set on the beach, where part of the film is, and one point, he seems to be calling Fletch.  Sort of.



The prolific Will Harris, he of the AV Club's excellent "Random Roles" feature, pointed out this second music video, which is significantly more nuts.  Stephanie Mills sings the "actual" theme from FLETCH in a bizarre performance art space that's probably best described as "'80s futurism."  Clips from the film show up via video screens and sound samples.



But look!  Defenseless babies!  No, I kid.  Things do, however, get even weirder with our final FLETCH video, that actually seems to feature new footage with Chase shot for the video itself.  At least, I don't remember a scene in FLETCH where the lead character ran into a tent and watched George Wendt appearing in a crystal ball operated by Dan Hartman.  There is leather.  And random glitter.  And it feels like it was meant for a DEATHSTALKER sequel.




I could be wrong, though. It's been a while since I've seen the film.

Halloween Dance Party! Landscape - My Name is Norman Bates

Good lord, did the PSYCHO franchise inspire a lot of music videos.  But that Norman Bates is such an average guy!

Halloween Dance Party! The Fat Boys - Are You Ready for Freddy

Easily the best of the Elm Street-related songs.  Plus, the video has Bert Remsen!

Halloween Dance Party! Kommunity FK - Something Inside Me

LA-based deathrock band Kommunity FK delivers some old school chills.

Halloween Dance Party! Goon Squad - Eight Arms to Hold You

Meant for the soundtrack to THE GOONIES, the scene in which the song appeared was excised from the film before the final cut. Even so, it was good enough for the Billboard charts.

Halloween Dance Party! The Heavy - "Can't Play Dead"

Directed by Jason Willis, whose short film we featured yesterday.

Halloween Dance Party! The Motels - Shock

From the New Wave Band's 1985 album of the same name.

Watch This Thing - Famous album covers come to life in this fantastic video for Roy Kafri's "Mayokero"

Kafri and artist Vania Heymann collaborated on this short, which not only cleverly animates famous album covers to reflect the music it features, but also tells a  compelling story of "outdated" technology. Keep your records, kids!