Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Top 30 Music Videos Of All Time - Number 15 - "Talking In Your Sleep" by The Romantics



Has it really been almost 6 months since I wrote anything on here?  Work and free time has gotten the best of me but there's not a day that goes by where I tell myself..."THIS IS IT.  This is the day I will update my website with something extremely profound about the 1980's."  Then I get tired and end up watching Access Hollywood and terrible T.V. the rest of the night.  Hitting your mid 30's saps your ability to turn your creative mental-side into something productive like a vanity blog.

But I digress.  I will eventually finish this countdown...and in fact today we cross the halfway point.  So without further ado, I give you the Top 15 Completely Unbiased Music Video Of All Time..."Talking In Your Sleep" by The Romantics.

This was one of those songs you'd hear in the 80's that has that beat that sort of leaps out of you.  Its really just four parts.  The kicking drums, the bass line and guitar part that are in synch with each other, and then the guitar riff that plays over everything else.  That's pretty much it.  There's not even a guitar solo.  Still, you can't help but not tap your foot to it when it comes on.  The song almost sounds fresh if it came out today.

The video, however, shows that this song was CLEARLY from the 1980's.  Let's take a look.



0:00 - 0:11.  There's that iconic beat, bass line, and chunky guitar riff.  But who's looking at that when you are looking at a woman slowly disrobing.  I mean "slowly" as in slow motion...remember, this was pretty high tech in the 1980's.

0:12 - If you freeze it right, you can catch a bit of side boob.  Side boob is pretty common now on TV but in 1986?  This blew my then 9 year old mine.  It completely exploded during Elizabeth Shue's side boob in "Cocktail"...but I digress again.

0:16 - Oh boy, the greatest introduction ever to a two hit wonder band (they also did the popular "this will get them dancing silly" wedding song dirge "What I Like About You").  First you get them appearing in slow motion, then you get them appearing from the ground up (also high tech back then), and then you get the slow look away.  This is awesome. And the hair!  Look at that hair!

0:31 - I just love the lyrics of this song.  The guy is basically telling his girlfriends that he listens to them talk while sleeping to steal their secrets.  It's brilliant.  I hope he isn't drugging them though.

0:33 - Nice little group strut there.

0:44 - More slow motion of girls dressed in 1980's "sexy" lingerie which today is considered granny panties.

0:56 - One of my favorite all time shots.  Love how the band appears here.  The guitar player on the left is really working that simple riff.

1:00 - Watch the drummer accentuate those double drum beats. You don't see "drummer face" too much any more but this is a perfect example of it.

1:10 - The bass player pretty much sums up how I play bass.  Just bob your head and wish you could play electric guitar, drums, or sing like the other guys in the band.

1:25 - The guitar player gets his close up.  Super close up.  God, he looks like he's enjoying life. I relish him.

1:38 - 1:42 - Love the look by the drummer here.

1:55 - I forget about this part of the video...I didn't know who Marilyn Monroe was when I was a kid.  Even Elton John's "Candle In The Wind" went over my head.  I was like "who is Norma Jean?  Wait, is she Marilyn Monroe's alter ego? Found in the nude?  Who remembers that they sat in 22nd row of a concert?".  Again, I digress...

2:08 - This is a great setup for the band.  Why bands don't do this live is beyond me.

2:13 - More drummer face.

2:15 - More bass player head bobbing.

2:38 - I never realized he singer has the Billy Joel hair from "The Nylon Curtain/An Innocent Man" time frame.    

3:03 - One last dose of drummer face and more band closeups.

3:36 - end:  The singer gets in the face of the one woman and hopefully brushed his teeth before the shot.  I mean, he gets really close.  The last shot is pretty much all of the extras finally able to stretch their arms.

So all in all, the video still sort of holds up.  At the very least, its a snapshot in time when wearing leather was trendy.

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