Showing posts with label VH-1 Classic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VH-1 Classic. Show all posts

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Rod Stewart Pop-Up Video Fun - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy

So, this evening I was poking around on the VH-1 Classic site and found some interesting clips. For instance, I had no idea that there was a VH-1 Divas show filmed in 2011. They had some really terrific artists performing, but unfortunately, I am a bit picky and couldn't find any songs that I wanted to write about. Since the show highlighted soul music, and they had Chaka Khan as one of the artists, I had hoped they would perform "Tell Me Something Good." But, alas, no such luck.

I figured I'd look around the site some more, and I found a listing of the first 30 videos played on VH-1. Low and behold, Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" was number 26. It was written in 1978, but since it was one of the first videos on MTV, that would mean it aired in 1981, so it's kind of a decade crossover. I found the "Pop-Up Video" version of the original video and thought it was hysterical, so I just had to add it here. The pop-up captions are really funny -- especially the one about him turning his head away from the camera when he forgot the words. Kind of reminds me of my post about him performing with Stevie Nicks: Stevie and Rod on Tour.  As I watched the video, I realized that Carmine Appice was the drummer. I probably should have know that, because I used to work with artists at the company that owns Ludwig drums, and he was a Ludwig artist. So, it was pretty cool to see a quick shot of him in the video with his Ludwig set. Come to find out, he wrote most of the music for this tune. Pretty cool. The lyrics are sort of comical today, although I guess they were realistic in the day. I love when he sings, "Now hold on a minute, before we go much further, give me a dime, so I can call my mother." Hmm...alright. I wonder if someone would actually say that back then. I can just imagine Rod Stewart running to the pay phone at the disco..."Hello, mom, uh...I won't be home tonight." I also noticed in the captions that he was married to Rachel Hunter at the time this video came out. I think he's had a couple of wives since then and a bunch of kids. That's alright. He's Rod Stewart. Although he did not say this song was about him, I think it probably worked to his advantage over the years...

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Maria, Blondie, and Pat Benatar

Okay--so I admit that the title of this post is a bit odd.  Let me explain.  I was watching "Behind the Music: Remastered" on VH-1 Classic.com.  It was the episode about Pat Benatar, who is probably my absolute favorite female singer from the '80s (and my idol!).  Toward the end of the episode, they showed a clip of Debbie Harry from Blondie because she and Pat had recently toured together. This reminded me of how much I enjoyed the song "Maria" by Blondie, which was released in 1998.  So, technically, that is not an '80s song, but it was the first hit for the group since they broke up in 1982.

Anyway, Pat and Debbie are both amazing singers, and I wanted to share a light song this evening, so I thought "Maria" was perfect.  Looking at the lyrics and reading a bit about the song, I found out that it is about a boy's love/infatuation for a girl from because the boy was shy and "awkward."   The whole "Maria" and "Ave Maria" related to the idolization concept and the idea of the girl being sort of "untouchable" to this extremely insecure boy.  Pretty neat.  I hadn't thought much about it before since I just loved the vocal quality in the song and the very awesome chime sounds.  I do hope you will enjoy this tune.  There are so many Blondie and Pat Benatar songs that are amazing, so perhaps this will be sort of an interlude to more posts with their music!