For those of you that still think Nirvana was the original voice of the 90’s, I give you the Pixies. Curt Cobain once admitted that he was trying to copy the Pixies with Smells Like Teen Spirit.  You can judge for yourself, but I would argue much of the “Seattle Grunge” sound was aped from the Minneapolis scene bands like Pixies and Soul Asylum.  At any rate, this video isn’t much to look at and the lyrics sound like a bad acid trip, but this band influenced a lot of the punk and alternative music recorded in the last 20 years.

WATN? They did a reunion tour recently that sounded awful.

Trivia? Their lead singer changed his name to Black Francis. I guess you kind of have to go into rock music with a name like that.

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This is what happens when special needs kids are given a mic and a dream. On October 10, 1989, Biz Markie released what would be inspiration for William Hung about 15 years later. The video got significant airplay on MTV. I’m not sure if it was schadenfreude for how bad he was or sympathy because they thought this might be the rap version of the Special Olympics. At any rate, the video probably single handedly caused the explosion of Gangsta Rap as a generation of rappers struggled to overcome the ridiculous image this song brought to the genre.

WATN? Opening for Chris Rock on the No Apologies tour. Riding in the Short Tour Bus.

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It was the first, but it certainly wasn’t the best. Midnight, August 1st 1981, MTV launched and this was the first video they aired.  Ironically, video didn’t kill the radio star, rather turning the artists who grasped the power of MTV into mega radio stars.  This one gets in on a technicality, though. It was originally recorded and released in 1979. It hit #1 in the U.K., but the band didn’t have enough material for a full album. It was included in the 1980 release, The Age of Plastic.

As for the video, it’s the classic low budget fair that dominated the early videos. I have to say the back up singers creeped me out. They look like the kids from Village of the Damned.

WATN? Who cares. People were asking that about 6 months after MTV launched.

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