I had to rent Madonna's video compilation from our local video store in 1985 because, due to cable redlining that was caused by local NYC political bullshit (and possibly the Mob working in tandem with a weak willed local Queens politician, trying to start their own cable company) we couldn't get MTV. We could get premium cable like HBO but basic cable didn't come to my street until 1988 so if I wanted to see music videos I had to either watch them at a friend's house (the line was literally Queens Boulevard, if you were north of it you got cable, south you were out of luck), hope they played something I wanted to see on Friday Night Videos or rent them. The prices for video cassettes were so outrageous back in the day. 16.95 is like fifty bucks now.
I grew up right across the river in NJ and had lots of family in NYC. I remember my cousins complaining about this very thing. They were very excited to come over and watch TV.
I worked in a video store and we had people buying videotapes from us that were over $100 at the time. It's hard to go back to recreate the feeling of entertainment scarcity, even in my imagination.
I like that Michael Nesmith is the second artist they mention after Duran Duran.
For whatever reason this post made me think of the video player that played from vinyl:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance_Electronic_Disc
Really interesting tech. I did a podcast on them a few years ago and really enjoyed putting it together and learning.
https://www.retroist.com/p/retroist-capacitance-electronic-disc-podcast
Another interesting piece of history to the music video is the Scopitone, a video jukebox from long before MTV. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopitone
I have heard of the Scopitone, but I am light on the details. Feels like it would be a fun topic to do a post about.
I had to rent Madonna's video compilation from our local video store in 1985 because, due to cable redlining that was caused by local NYC political bullshit (and possibly the Mob working in tandem with a weak willed local Queens politician, trying to start their own cable company) we couldn't get MTV. We could get premium cable like HBO but basic cable didn't come to my street until 1988 so if I wanted to see music videos I had to either watch them at a friend's house (the line was literally Queens Boulevard, if you were north of it you got cable, south you were out of luck), hope they played something I wanted to see on Friday Night Videos or rent them. The prices for video cassettes were so outrageous back in the day. 16.95 is like fifty bucks now.
I grew up right across the river in NJ and had lots of family in NYC. I remember my cousins complaining about this very thing. They were very excited to come over and watch TV.
I worked in a video store and we had people buying videotapes from us that were over $100 at the time. It's hard to go back to recreate the feeling of entertainment scarcity, even in my imagination.
Thanks for sharing this. I haven't seen it before, but found some videos on YouTube. Great time capsule. Bookmarked and will watch more.