Playlist Killed The Video Star
My Mixtape’s A Masterpiece is a weekly feature in which a guest compiles a playlist around some theme. This week, Stephanie Weber assembles 12 tracks that harken back to the nascent age of music videos, movies, and video stores. Read Stephanie’s thoughts on each song and listen along to the Spotify playlist on top and/or the YouTube playlist at the bottom of the post.
I like to say that I grew up in a video store. It’s not the literal truth, but video stores shaped my youth in such a way that their influence is undeniable on me. I fell in love with rows of movies, learning everything I could from the DVD and VHS box covers. I rented films every week with my family and by myself, devouring genres of film that I had never heard of and studying them as if I was in film school. But that film school was just my couch and my curiosity.
I love all things video, so I compiled this playlist that features songs that share that love as well. Films, videos, and video stores—these songs take us back to simpler times when movies couldn’t be streamed.
1. “Science Fiction/Double Feature” by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
The obvious choice was to start this playlist with a very famous Bugles song which comes in next, but I chose this Joan Jett cover of a show tune because it sets the tone that I am going for perfectly. Richard O’Brien wrote this song as the opening number for his musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show (ever heard of it?) and I love his version, but I also love Joan Jett putting her rock-n-roll spin on this ode to the B-movie.
2. “Video Killed The Radio Star” by The Buggles
Famously, “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the very first music video that MTV ever played. It was something of a rallying cry for the era of music videos—and for the ‘80s video era as a whole - that video was here and it was here to stay.
3. “Horror Movies” by Dickie Goodman
Forget the “Monster Mash”, this doo-wop style rock song lists all of our favorite monsters from horror movies of yore while lamenting the fact that the singer’s girlfriend is hopelessly in love with these monsters. Hey, you can’t blame the lady. These monsters were pretty ripped!
4. “(Ain’t It Like A) Hollywood Movie?” by Silver Convention
How about a little disco for the playlist? Dreamy disco is the perfect backdrop to this song that celebrates the way that good things in life - presumably love - can imitate a Hollywood movie rather than the other way around.
5. “Preston Sturges” by Frank Bango
If you have never seen a Preston Sturges film, then please remedy that immediately. Preston Sturges’ comedies from the ‘40s still hold up today as he is responsible for the insanely smart, silly, and fast-paced comedies like THE LADY EVE, PALM BEACH STORY, and SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (which is on the AFI Top 100 List). So, naturally, I had to include this song dedicated to the master himself.
6. “Films” by Gary Numan
Despite its title, this song is not actually about films. Not in a literal sense. Instead it is about the very idea of being perceived and the paranoia that that can bring. Gary sings that he doesn’t like the setting. He doesn’t like the film. But he likes the actors—the people in his life—and he would like to tear down the scenery while keeping the people. That’s a very modern idea where we are all constantly being perceived digitally.
7. “Girls On Film” by Duran Duran
Similar to Gary’s song, this ‘80s classic is not so much about the film but the actresses in the film. Whether Duran Duran was singing about models or pornstars is unclear, but they are clearly singing about the ways in which these women are exploited in front of a camera’s lens.
8. “Platinum Blonde” by Blondie
Blondie singing about blonde movie stars? Stranger things have happened! In this very early Blondie song, Debbie Harry pays tribute to Hollywood’s blonde bombshells like Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe, and Marlene Dietrich. It’s a simple rock-n-roll song that comes to us from Blondie’s album which was dedicated to old films.
9. “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” by Deep Blue Something
At the risk of aging myself, I was a child in the ‘90s so the sounds of alternative songs like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” dotted the formative years when my brain was a gooey sponge soaked with songs like this. Did I know that BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S was a film back then? No, of course not. Nor did I know that it was a Truman Capote novella. I later learned both of those things and I was later able to actually relate to the feeling that this song conveys when a connection fizzles out and you feel confused and desperate over it. We have nothing except that we both “kind of liked” BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S…so maybe we should stay together? That’s the beauty of cinema: it can create a false sense of commonality between us. How beautiful!
10. “Saturday Night At The Movies” by The Drifters
Is there anything nicer than spending your weekend night at the movies? I don’t think so! I love the simplicity in this old-school song that admires a night at the movies. It doesn’t matter what’s playing! We’re here to have fun, eat popcorn, ogle girls, and watch anything.
11. “Jerry’s Video Store” by The Grabs
This 5-minute low-fi song by The Grabs encapsulates the importance of video stores. Seriously, I could write a book about the devastating loss of video stores on film culture (but weirdly no one has asked me to???). One minute they were a staple and the next they were all gone and with them were the quirky employees, the discoveries made in the aisles, and the sticky carpeted floors in between. I love the lyric: “You like French movies? You like black-and-white movies with subtitles? I think I’m in love.” I am sad to report that I felt this lyric deeply as I, too, would and have fallen in love with film bros who yield their depth through French New Wave films. Hell, I think I’ve been that film bro.
12. “As You Turn To Go” by The 6ths
The 6ths, a ‘90s off-shoot from Stephen Merrit’s The Magnetic Fields, have a few songs that reference old movies and I considered adding all of them to the playlist. I decided upon this song that has less to do with film and more to do with the heartbreak one might feel over losing “the star” in your romantic adventure. The lyrics lovingly describe a starlet of sorts who always has the camera’s attention while the singer feels agony over the potential loss of this person in their life. The lyrics evoke an old Hollywood filled with soft-lit stars oozing temptation on the screen. I adore the line “but you know you’re the star of my life story” because that is exactly what being in a grand romance feels like. This other person feels as magnetic as the stars we saw on celluloid, making us feel as though we are truly living in a movie. Oh, the relatable heartbreak! How cinematic!
