Feature: Music Videos That... I Remember As a Kid

Welcome to our new Thursday afternoon feature! As we slowly creep towards the weekend, we’ll provide you with a short list of music videos on a topic of our choosing. Want us to delve into the depths of a certain subject that we’re not yet delving into? Tell us! We just want to make you happy.

And now, in no particular order are 5 videos that I distinctly remember as a kid. I tried to narrow it down by using a very general sounding “firsts” category, and kept it to videos I remember from ages of birth – middle school. I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane, aka some stories about me and my dad.

1) The first music video I ever remember seeing, ever:

Oh, Sherrie

Steve Perry

1984

When I was a wee thang, my dad was so excited about having a VCR that he used to videotape all kinds of random shit from TV.  Episodes of M*A*S*H. Cooking shows. Full coverage of the Olympics.  And yes, this video. Why this happened, I will never know, but I imagine him sitting in front of the TV, trying to construct the perfect video mixtape in the exact same way I used to make cassette mixtapes from the radio in middle school.

In any case, you could often find little Geanna in her living room, singing into a pretend microphone about some lady named Sherrie. We played this shit ALL THE TIME. This video is likely the root cause for the reason why I still kinda love Journey (it also doesn’t help that I’m from New Jersey). As Steve Perry’s biggest single from his first solo album, it’s also been referred to as an “honorary Journey song”, if that means anything to you. But seriously, it’s great. And now I will have it stuck in my head for the remainder of today.




2) The first  music video I was allowed to watch on MTV:

Take On Me

A-Ha

1985

Right. So I wasn’t “allowed” to watch MTV until I was probably 14. Because of this, I was totally out of the music video loop from the beginning, except when my dad would find certain ones that were deemed appropriate. I have this vivid memory of him calling me downstairs to watch this one in particular and thought it was the COOLEST THING EVER! Not only is this song catchy as hell, the video has all of the 80’s cheese and pop that any child could ever hope to find.

I mean it really has everything – comic books, motorcycles, coffee shops, TRUE LOVE?! How many times have you wished a cartoon hand would reach out of the page and whisk you away to some kind of weird drawn world where bad guys carry wrenches around as weapons? Don’t tell me that’s just me.




3) The first music video that I confused for an episode of Pee Wee’s Playhouse:

Love Shack

B-52’s

1989

On a family trip to Colorado, my dad’s best friend from college played us this song and showed us this video because he just loved it THAT MUCH (and yeah, it was probably on a video tape). Maybe it was the bright colors or the zany backdrops, but I swore that they were singing inside of Pee Wee’s playhouse. Kate Pierson even has a similar hairstyle as Miss Yvonne! And the flowers looked the same! And… just go with it.

My childhood confusion was probably for the best, since I also had no idea that they were singing about sex, or pregnancies, or whathaveyou. To me, the whole song was about a fun house where you could dance all night and everyone was friends! I mean, that was a place I wanted to be. And I still want to be there, though now for different reasons.


4) The first music video that scared the shit out of me:

Black Hole Sun

Soundgarden

1994

Jump ahead  a few years and here we are in the 90s. The angsty, uncomfortable 90s, which just so happened to coincide with my angsty, uncomfortable teenage years. Every morning before going to school, and every afternoon when I got home, I would secretly watch MTV while my parents were at work. The first time I saw this video, I wanted to vomit! A lovely Tim Burtonesque suburban neighborhood gets swallowed into a black hole, as an unaffected Soundgarden plays on a hill somewhere. Melty lipstick and crazy women in bathtubs with dogs haunted my dreams. And all those yucky bugs.

THIS IS WHY I’M NOT ALLOWED TO WATCH THIS CHANNEL, I thought to myself. THIS IS WHY MTV IS BAD! And yet, I couldn’t look away. There was (and still is) something so uncomfortably surreal and haunting about this video that even now, I am pained to watch it. Shiver.

5) The first music video that my dad literally told me to turn off right this second, young lady:

Whatta Man

Salt ‘n’ Pepa, featuring En Vogue

1994

Being unable to forget the horrible feelings brought on by 90s alternative music, I quickly turned my attentions to rap. And who was there to greet me, but Salt ‘n’ Pepa. To this day, this is one my all-time favorite videos. Everyone looks hot. The song is timeless and can be quoted in a variety of social situations. And I know all the words.

Yet, in the midst of all this secret video watching, it was inevitable that I was gonna get caught. And so one sunny afternoon, my dad came home and yelled at me for boppin’ to some S-and-the-P. A slew of things spouted from his lips, including the words, “garbage”, “crap”, and “no-talent”. But it didn’t matter, I couldn’t hear him. The video for “Gin and Juice” was just starting in the background.




And there you have it. What are the first videos you remember seeing as a kid? Share with the group in the comments below!