![]() Several of their later videos also earned airplay on MTV, and their successor band Crowded House built on this to achieve some major US chart success in 86-87. They wouldn't have been there if they didn't have good videos already made. They were the 10th act ever played on MTV. In the case of Split Enz, they are in the very video we're talking about – twice. What I'm really pointing out is that these emerging Australian/NZ acts only got any MTV airplay at all because they were already quite adept in the art of music video, and were well positioned to take advantage of this new platform, which is surprising for a region so small, remote, and not normally known for cultural innovation. ![]() But I'm not making value judgements about any of it, I'm just commenting on an interesting thing that was going on in Australia in the years before MTV started. I'm doing neither, and I'm certainly not dissing Van Halen, or performance videos! I'd only point out that Van Halen's videos in 1981 for So This Is Love and Unchained were very basic compared to the ones they started making from 1982 and particularly from 1984, after MTV got up and running. OK, you're trying to refute my assertions by interpreting my comments as (a) portraying these acts as having been dominant on MTV from the start, and (b) dismissing US acts like Van Halen as being behind and bad at video, and suggesting that there were zero US acts making concept videos then. Impossible to watch without wanting to go see them live. insanely great from DLR's first leap to the massive wall of speakers, to the fans enthusiasm, to lighting Alex's gong on fire at the end. Van Halen's greatest strength as a band was their performances. You also seem to think performance videos are inferior to concept videos. Given that MTV launched in 1981, INXS does not bolster your initial statement that "Australian artists were uniquely well-prepared for the emergence of MTV." To suggest that Van Halen needed to "catch up" is absurd, given that 1984 was released in, you guessed it, 1984. INXS is a fine band, but hardly pioneers of music videos, and despite what you wrote, were virtually invisible on MTV until 1985 and really didn't hit their stride until the Kick album in 1987. Men At Work made a terrific song in Down Under, and an excellent video. ![]() Split Enz? I mean, ok, but I'll take Talking Heads if we're comparing bands "well-prepared for the emergence of MTV." Once In a Lifetime was released in 1980. They originated from New Zealand but were active in Australia and appeared on Countdown a lot, and thus had cool videos ready to go.Īs for Dire Straits, the whole reason I mentioned the pre-MTV track Sultans of Swing was for its contrast with their work after MTV was established. Split Enz was one of the very first bands shown on MTV, with History Never Repeats. The albums The Swing (1984) and Listen Like Thieves (1985) all charged well in the US, thanks in big part to cool videos and MTV airplay. Then in 1983 they released Original Sin, which was produced by Nile Rodgers and had Daryl Hall singing backing vocals, so they were already in the big league by then. The video for The One Thing, though low-budget, was very much not a filmed performance of the song, whereas the Van Halen videos I can find from that era were (though of course Van Halen would have been fast to catch up, innovators that there were). INXS’s first US chart success came in 1983 with Shabooh Shoobah, that was recorded in 1982. And yep, ONJ already had US success - but she was able to hit the ground running with cool videos when MTV started, and she’d been big on Countdown for a few years before Grease happened.īut the point holds up well for Men at Work, INXS and also Split Enz. Sure, AC/DC wasn’t such a great example I added that as an afterthought.
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