808 State and MTV

[David]

Seems ludicrous now but I must say I have to Thank MTV Europe for helping me get into 808 State so much.

MTV Europe now seems to be hijacked by MTV USA and as a result it has been turned into something similar to E4- dominated by ads and teenage docu progs.
I can't remember the last time they actually played a music video!

Anything they play now seems to be just hip hop or the most basic mainstream rubbish.

Yet this was not always the case with MTV Europe.
When I lived in Dublin-we all got it free in our homes and around 1990 'Madchester' dominated MTV. 'Pacific' was everywhere accompanied by Primal Scream, Stone Roses, K-Klass, N-Joi, Charlatans, Beloved ,House of Love and of course the Happy Mondays.
These could be seen at any time even at the most mainstream times.
Great to chill out to after a hard day at school.!!

I also remember an excellent indie program called '120 Minutes' hosted by Paul King who did a factory Special once. I would love to see that again.

Then when Ex:el came 'Cubik' was everywhere too. Seems increadible now just how good a mainstream music station was or how er...alternative it could be.

Another program called 'MTV's Greatest Hits' against hosted by Paul King use to feature greatest hits by the year.
1977 always saw Kraftwerk's 'Trans Europe Express' (the best video ever made !)-which was funny as TEE did not do that well commercially at all in 1977.Obviously MTV imagined what was big in that year.1978 saw The Model and 1989 saw of course Pacific.

1993 saw 'Plan 9' always after a certain hour and then '10X10' and MTV's Party Zone really kicked off too and was the only source on tv for anything dance wise.

1994 was the year that MTV firmly jumped on to the dance music bandwagon-which was great.
Every night we got lessons in the different genres-the a-z of ambient etc.
All the old classic were out.Of course 808 and Kraftwerk always featured as the pioneers.FSOL featured a lot too and they had an Orbital set live.

808 State of course were the first co-hosts of the Party Zone in August 1994 with Simone. I still watch that now and again.

This was all before I had a pc of course so 808 seemed to disappear for two years then!

Then one night in August 1996 I came across a spellblinding track and video on MTV -it was 'Bond' of course. Any late night would also see 'Azura' being played as the first tune on the Chill Out zone. Video was duely set.
Then 'Lopez' was everywhere and MTV news even featured a 3-minute interview with 808 in Feb 1997 where Darren bemoans the lack of respect they are given followed by stunning snippets of well known 808 tunes.

In the summer of 1997 MTV even featured bits of Kraftwerk's gig at Tribal.
Could you imagine that now ?
They seemed to have some finger partially on a pulse. Now its all gone commercial and sexy rubbish.

I always thought though that someone in MTV loved 808.
Pacific 1998 remix was everywhere again and around that time you could always find an 808 7 videos in a row slot late at night-usually the original 'Pacific',
'Cubik' and 'Olympic' with a very young Andy in a chunky sweater dancing or should I say buzzing, Plan 9, 10x10;Bond and Azura.

They also had brief shots of 808 live in Vigo,Spain and an interview with Andy clutching his newborn.
And later Darren hosted the Party Zone with two others and they had to give verdicts on new tunes. Darren gave the thumbs up to Busta Rhymes Knight Rider sample.

Round that time again Simone and The Party Zone did 2x 2 hour Detroit Specials which were the best music progs I have ever seen and if anyone has a copy of these- please ????

It's only when you see the shit on MTV today-even late night they ignore dance music or play the same 5 videos (one Aphex Twin always!)-that you forget how useful it once was.

[st8te08]

I have to admit, David that you put a finger on the wound here!!

Orbitals live set was one I liked most about getting home late on a Saturday night and flick the telly on!!

I can't help on the video you seek, but thanks for bringing back some long forgotten memories !

[j the teacher]

I could not have said it better myself. I dont know what crawled up MTV's behind, but it is sure messing things up. You should think about posting your thoughts and feelings on the MTV message boards.....and maybe if you dont, I will, because I feel the more people realize that MTV should NOT be the way it is, the better.

[markus]

Spot on David. You have obviously done your 808 homework over the years. Your posting brought back a few memories, and I bet it did to many readers too, like Soren and Pete. Surprised Graham hasn't made a statement, maybe because this was in off-topic? I've moved it to full-on topic
I remember discovering FSOLs Papua New Guinea on MTV. Rushing out to the record shop and only then discovering that there was a Massey remix on the release to boot!

Me thinks the '808-lover' at MTV was James Hyman. He was in charge for dance music at MTV for 13 years. Found out that piece of info from the XFM website. He's interviewing 808 in January - see news section. Should be good then!

[solarex]

I never watch MTV anymore. I tried Partyzone a year ago or so and found a rotation of mainstream dance.

I remember the Detroit special with Simone walking around the city with Carl Craig. I definetly had it on tape, but I most definitly do not have it anymore. But it was great.

I did not get MTV till 96' so imagine how lucky I've been. Besides we now get a Nordic version here, which, supposly, is even less intersting.

[Senor Quack]

Wow, I feel so out of the loop. I'm 23, from the US, and use to spend half my time watching MTV, even late at night in the summers of 1989-94. Never, ever once recall having seen an 808 State video, much less any of the other bands mentioned in the first post (that I now know and love).

It wasn't until I was 17 or so that my enormous appetite for various CD's eventually led me to focus on electronic music. I'd always been pretty ambivalent towards electronic music to that point. But when I bought 808:88:98 and discovered Cobra Bora, the bar was raised entirely. I find most other music incomparable.

Feel lucky! The only videos from 808 State I've ever seen are in the form of 1.5" quicktime windows that are choppy as hell and mostly a blur. I'd desperately like to see them, as I'm a fan of compuer graphics and the whole "demoscene" asthetic that seems to be their essence.

[David]

I love 808 videos.

I still copy Andy's turn of the head in Plan 9,everytime I run down a stairs in me samba I think of Azura.
Love to stand posing beside the pool like in Lopez.

And I copy Graham's gently head banging from One in Ten.

Maybe one day all their videos will be released or are they all on Optibuk ?

[markus]

All major 808 video clips are on optibuk.

[Senor Quack]

It's a shame Optibuk's only available in PAL.

It's also not a shame that I'm not scared to jam a soldering iron into my DVD player! mwuahahaha

If it was, perhaps, New Order videos, I *might* debate doing this for, at the most, 10 seconds, but, it being 808, I've got my iron warmed up 24/7, ready for war, no questions asked..

PS: if any 808 members are listening: I love your new album