I watched the video for “Vienna” by a semi-popular 80’s band called Ultravox today after walking around all day in said city. i couldn’t help but want to dig back into the treasure chest of memories that i had forgotten about this video when it would come on MTV when i would race home from school, drop the books, turn the slider to channel 46, and pop open a can of processed, fructose saturated Del Monte fruit cocktail and watch music come to life. I would see this video and remember liking the singer’s voice but too young to understand all the pre-war references and “old people in ballrooms” visuals. it’s so weird how all of that hits you later in life, but the song still always sounded the same. i think about how that has translated over time and you could name a million examples of that leading up to when the big budget, concept video was deemed extinct when MTV decided to take the M out it. was the demographic just more vast and diverse back then? was this something that actually guys already out of high school were watching, as well as children like me? 

the over usage of tarantulas and monocles, and obsession with Film Noir. putting the band in the conceptual video portion for no apparent reason. but they don’t look a bit out of place now, now do they? with their stylings and pencil thin mustaches, you could easily confuse them with Gossip, Interpol, or even this fucking jerk:

either way, this is all just ramblings and realizing that ….

I wish i knew what i know now… when i was younger.

either way, ignorance is/was probably bliss.

long live music. what a fun ride it is…

BW