Rule Of Sevens: Seven Videos That Got Away From Me During Blogging Hours

rule of sevens

Seven Videos That Got Away From Me During Blogging Hours

It's the last day of the month, a time for desk-clearing and "to do" list-finalizing and, in the case of April 2008, celebrating that a pretty horrible 30-day stretch is near its end. With that in mind, I'm going to use the last posting day of each month for "Rule Of Sevens," in which I put together a couple of seven-item, mostly-commentary-free lists—from aborted post topics to my current best-of-the-year rundowns—for your reading pleasure. In the first installment, please enjoy these seven videos that I really wanted to post on various days during April, but didn't, for reasons ranging from "I got distracted and watched it five times in a row instead" to "All I can really say about this song is 'it's awesome and you should listen to it now.'"

1. Unrest, "Make Out Club"

(It's not just a pop gem, it's also the inspiration for the name of one of the first indie-rock social networks.)

2. Paula Abdul, "Straight Up"

(This was on VH1 Classic during my red-eye back from California Monday night. Idol looniness aside, this song is still terrific.)

3. Motley Crue - Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)

(I always felt like this song never got its due, in part because it was always overshadowed by the way inferior "Sam Ol' Situation." Pro: the rolling bass line in its intro. Con: The dumb "Too Young To Fall In Love" reference. Actually most of the lyrics are not that great.)

4. Expose - Let Me Be The One

(This may be one of my all-time summer jams. I always take it out of storage when the temperature creeps over 65.)

5. Ida Maria, "Oh My God"

(Right, I know, I'm cheating because I posted this already. But this song is worth checking out if you missed it the first time. And for those of you who want to hear a different version of it, here's the band on Later With Jools Holland.)

6. Toto, "Hold The Line"

(Blame the ad buyer at the Mets' TV network who sold a package that included lots of Mohegan Sun ads soundtracked to this song.)

7. Cyndi Lauper, "She Bop"

(This video's coyness makes me lament the days before MTV's standards and practices department allowed overly blatant masturbation references to sluice through every programming hour.)

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12:00 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Maura Johnston
615 views
11 comments

Comments

by Ned Raggett at 12:15 PM on 04/30/08
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That Cyndi set. The flashbacks.

Expose really IS great spring music. I almost want to say that was the season I first heard them but it's way too long ago now to say.
by NeverEnough at 12:41 PM on 04/30/08
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LOVE Ida Maria.
by GhostOfDuane at 12:45 PM on 04/30/08
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You have a desk?
by Halfwit at 12:48 PM on 04/30/08
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@GhostOfDuane: That line was simple, yet efficient, like the body itself.
by Chris Molanphy at 12:50 PM on 04/30/08
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Notwithstanding my love of Pet Shop Boys' "Domino Dancing," I continue to believe "Let Me Be the One" was Lewis Martinée's true tour de force. That entire production (starting with the almost Cure-like opening, and OMG, the minor-key build to the chorus) is positively spine-tingling. This song still gets a workout on my iPod regularly.

"Don't Go Away Mad" did way, way better on the charts than "S.O.S." If it got overshadowed by anything on Dr. Feelgood it was the boring ballad, "Without You," which came just before "DGAM (JGA)" and was the Crüe's only Top 10 hit besides "Dr. Feelgood," the song. But "DGAM (JGA)" was one of their five highest-charting Hot 100 hits (the list: "Dr. F," "Without You," "Girls^3" "Smokin' in the Boys' Room", "DGAM (JGA)") and got shitloads of MTV play, as I recall.

(Before anyone asks: "Home Sweet Home" wasn't promoted to Top 40 radio in 1985, and so back in the days when the Hot 100 wasn't all-genre, it charted poorly despite its months of Dial MTV dominance. A live remake charted, also not too brilliantly, in 1991-92.)
by Maura Johnston at 12:50 PM on 04/30/08
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@GhostOfDuane: i do. (it's just an ikea thing.) i only blog from my couch when i am sleepy or when the mets are playing.
by brasstax at 01:09 PM on 04/30/08
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@Maura Johnston: Oh no, they got you too! You're using blog as a verb.
by GhostOfDuane at 02:07 PM on 04/30/08
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@Maura Johnston: I always picture you blogging from some secret back room with plasmas mounted everywhere and a hydraulic custom body-molded leather chair, kind of like the robot guy from Grandma's Boy... "you'd love Abba too, if you had robot ears."

now, with my illusions shattered, i head back to Metsblog with my tail between my legs.
by Jack Fear at 02:26 PM on 04/30/08
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HOLY SHIT THAT TOTO VIDEO. OMG Lukather's Mork suspenders. And was this from the brief time when Burton Cummings was fronting Toto?

Also: poor Jeff Porcaro. They buried him with his sticks, you know. True story.
by Jack Fear at 02:28 PM on 04/30/08
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@Chris Molanphy: The abbreviation "DGAM (JGA)" reads like the catchphrase of a dyslexic hypeman on a Jay-Z track: "Dog gam, Jigga!"
by StuntKockSteeev at 05:07 PM on 04/30/08
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"Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" was always one of my favorite Crue songs. While I agree with Molanphy that it got unfairly overshadowed by "Without You", that song has it's moments as well. I remember buying the Motley Crue double live album in high school, and being outraged when the version of "Without You" was missing the bridge.