I was on the site U-Tube, which in my opinion should have a logo shaped like a U-shaped PVC tube such as is seen in plumbing applications. This site has gained notoriety recently, not for its logo, but for hosting a number of great videos [Ed. correction: "a great number of videos"] which people are able to search through until they find something they like and then play it almost continuously on their computers. This has become known within the industry as "U-Tubin' It."
I treated myself to a viewing of the video for Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me." It was this video that, all throughout that entire hot summer of '88, kept those poor New Kids On The Block perched staunchly ("Hangin' Tough" in fact) at #2 on MTV's daily most-requested video countdown. This went on for something like 12 straight weeks - like I said, the entire summer. New Kids just couldn't break through. Def Lep with a throat-lock on the top spot!
This was, in my young eyes, a crucial victory for rock and roll.
I have such a vivid memory of how hot I thought that one girl in the concert audience was. You know the one! The one who runs her tongue across the top row of her teeth in slow motion? Man, when I was that age, that was what I was into. Well, perhaps that wasn't "what I was into" generally - the girls I was dating at the time seem more demure to me now, in my mind's eye - but I was nevertheless definitely into THAT!
I bet she's still hot. Maybe hotter, since she surely no longer wears her hair like that!
Anyway, wow: what a video! Anyone who knows me well will tell you that "Pour Some Sugar On Me" is the greatest song ever written in English. They will tell you this because I have convinced them, with my well-rounded and subtle arguments on the topic. So for a song like that, a video of only the highest quality will do. This clip delivers in spades. You remember it! It's not a "live" clip per se, since the audio is clearly a studio remix of the album version. But the overall effect is like a distillation of live. The video features performance footage (in color) intercut with various little black-and-white scenes and micro-vignettes from before the show and backstage, in such a way as to seem almost documentary-like while still preserving the excitement/impact of the live act intact.
You could tell it was footage from several different shows, because the singer's outfit keeps switching around.
You know what, though? I think I'm getting this video mixed up with Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive." I think maybe that was the one with the little b&w bits interspersed. Ah, who knows. Probably they both did it. It's a pretty sweet move either way! The chief point I'm trying to make here is: in your face, NKOTB!!
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