Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Video Killed the Radio Song

Did you ever see a music video that just "made" the song for you. That is, you may not have given it much thought or even disliked it when you first heard it on the radio, but once you saw the video it all came together and you wound up liking the song. I have many times.

Well, I just had the reverse experience for the first time.

I first heard the Persuit of Happiness song I'm an Adult Now back in 1992. I was in Chicago driving up the Dan Ryan one night returning from a south suburban OTB shop where I'd had a few drinks and lost a few dollars. The song came on the radio and I thought it both hilarious and a good rocker. Perfect for flying down a nearly deserted expressway.

Anyway, I've always liked the song -until a few days ago. That's when I finally saw the video. (Ok, it took me a while, I'm an Adult Now was released in 1988.) What I saw made me feel silly for liking the song. I had always imagined the band to have been older, maybe in their early 30's (like I was in 1992). They probably had real jobs and maybe had kids and some divorces among them. They had to be ordinary guys who picked up guitars to lament their approaching-middle-age plight.

Well, no, these guys were pretty young. And they didn't look like they were having to deal with much of the adult situations they were singing about. They looked like a rock band. They had long hair! It just ruined it for me.

No comments: