Life Imitates MTV

This evening I climbed aboard my old Stairmaster for the evening workout. While I have a treadmill, I do the stairs about one out of every four or five times just to mix things up a bit.

Anyway, the Stairmaster is tucked away in my workshop in the basement. The only light in there at the moment is provided by a couple of elderly flourescent bulbs that no longer can reach full illumination, but instead produce a subdued glow punctuated by flickers of full light.

As is often my habit, I popped Duran Duran's Decade CD in as suitable workout music. The effect was rather interesting. Here you had this goofy, at times dreamy 80's music, coupled with light that bore a remarkable resemblance to lightning on a sultry summer's night. I figured there must be a video in there somewhere.

This got me thinking about the hey-day of MTV. (Full disclosure: I haven't watched the damn channel in over 15 years, so don't really know what I'm talking about.) I used to see it sometimes in college in its first, fresh, vibrant phase. Looking back, I can only remember a few videos that I liked. Here, to the best of my memory, is the list:

- The Police: Every Breath You Take. (Sting bashing rows of candles for no apparent reason.)

- The Police: Little Black Spot. (If memory serves, the black spot looked more like a distant pterodactyl than anything else.)

- Men At Work: It's A Mistake. I just remember that shot of the guys walking along a road in camo and thinking that I wish I had a bush hat like that.

- Falco: Rock Me, Amadeus. Don't even ask. It was a favorite among my crew buddies. Steve-O knows.

- Sam Kinneson covering Wild Thing. 'Nuff said.

- Thomas Dolby: Airhead. I was a Dolby geek up through Aliens Ate My Buick, then sort of lost interest.

Okay, you know what's coming. What were your favorites?