Child safety gone horribly wrong…
You probably checked into The Nest this morning and figured that your calendar must be wrong. It can’t be Monday since there’s no music post! Well, better late than never… it’s time for us to come up with another pathetic excuse to open up that vault full of forgotten goodness we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! Yes, DJ Scratchy is helping me host this tardy party, while the Sponkies kill time reading some classic Goofus and Gallant. Time to own up for my slacking…
Today’s DVA is the first of a three part look at a trio of late lesser known 80’s songs that all had very similar music videos done in the same bizarre style. Our first look into this phenomenon of the late days of MTV’s golden era concerns a musician who himself was in the end stage of his hitmaking career. That would be the useful half of the 60’s most famous duo, Mr. Paul Simon.
Wait…. not this guy!
No, the singing Paul Simon! Rhymin’ Simon made an even bigger name for himself as a solo artist in the 70’s after breaking up with that blonde dude… but he managed one huge album in the 80’s that was more than just a last hurrah for the popular singer/songwriter. That was Graceland in 1986, which won a Grammy for Album of the Year, and spawned Simon’s most recognizable 80’s hit “You Can Call Me Al.” It also gave us this enjoyable little ditty about….. well, rather than listening to the lyrics, just enjoy the weird video for “The Boy in the Bubble”…
On the heels of Peter Gabriel’s landmark music video for “Sledgehammer,” video producers were looking for all kinds of artsy, weird and just extremely random gimmicks to insert into music videos. What’s with all those rotating items, scrapbook like layout and the electrified cat? Well… this video must have made an impact, and I don’t know if there’s an actual relationship in their creation… but two more videos that would come in 1989 look an awful lot like “The Boy in the Bubble” does. We’ll see those two the next couple Mondays…
Electric Kitty can’t wait…
And hopefully I’ll be more timely for those…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
I can not remember this song but it is the bridge over troubled water guy right? I confused him for a moment with Paul Young LOL
That’s great!!! I like Paul Young… at least “Why Don’t You Come Back.” Paul Simon’s a bit more famous… and yes, he did that song although it was his partner Art Garfunkel who sang on that one.
ody N biskit…..we will hafta give thiz a listen two when de food gurl getz home;
we canna rememburr thiz toon ~~~~ 🙂 ♥♥♥
I like the electric cat. That is exceptionally cool. I’ll take him home and name him Sparky.
Wow, I’d forgotten about that song (along with everybody else.)
This past Halloween I was invited to a party with a music theme. My husband and I went as Simon and Garfunkel. I was Simon, being the shorter of the two of us. I’ll send you a photo.
Now I’m hoping to see Art Garfunkel wigs come in this Halloween at Mecca (Not quite yet…. it’s only Easter time)
I posted the Halloween photo here. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.
https://vampiremaman.com/roll-call-meet-the-vampires-and-everyone-else/
I love it!!! Add a pair of glasses, and that Art Garfunkel wig could double as Phil Spector’s infamous Wall of Hair…
I have to admit that I have never really understood most music videos. There are some good ones, but most of them seem kind of … random. Stuff just happens. No reason. Electrified cats.
The really old videos from early MTV were great because the randomness really was random. Nobody had any idea what they were doing, but it worked. Then people tried to intentionally be random and artsy and it was just a mess. Kind of like Super Bowl commercials this century… they don’t have the charm the early ones did before the ad companies tried too hard to make something BIG.
I love the electric cat. If he was my kitty I’d have to call him Sparky.
My husband and I dressed like Simon and Garfunkel for Halloween. We had a music themed party to go to. We went as Simon and Garfunkel. I’ll send you a photo. It was really funny.
I don’t believe I ever heard this one………..I was never a big Simon and Garfunkel fan although my older sister was and went to concerts here in the DC area of theirs. Interesting electric cat effect among other things and the video had that “jerky” visuals style that was popular at the time.
Pam
I don’t think this was a big radio hit, but it got its share of airtime on MTV. You’ll see that exact same style again tomorrow with another song you’ve probably never heard of, but an artist everyone knows…
I saw Paul Simon on his Rhythm of the Saints tour in Germany back in 90/91. It was incredible, he had about 20 musicians on stage.
With 20 musicians around me, I think even I could sound pretty good…
Breaking up the beloved duo was the second best move Simon made after marrying Edie Brickell.
Why just meet your childhood idol when you can marry him instead. That was an even stranger pairing than Simon’s first partnership…
Talk about a weird ‘collaboration.’