Sigh. Lets reminisce about Late '80s "postmodern" indie, esp. "120 Minutes" with Dave Kendall

(I was browsing through one of the more esoteric Chicago video stores the other day and I came across a video compilation drawn from the first half of the two-volume Best of 120 Minutes deal: just videos, obviously, no Kendall, but I was nevertheless edge-of- seat all the way through. Especially for "Gone Daddy Gone," which was at the time a revelation. Now I'm hoping they did one for the second volume, as all of my old friend-swapped straight-off-the-TV tape-dubs have fallen to pieces, even the extra-special one with My Bloody Valentine and Trash Can Sinatras and Cocteau Twins and even Pastels videos on it plus 120 Minutes "flashbacks" of "Boys Don't Cry" and "Seven Seas.") (A notable pair not only because they're both ridiculously amazing but also because they share a stage- and-curtain composition and the latter has Ian Curtis in drag and I seem to remember Will Sergeant dressed as a penguin at some point.)

I saw an outake where Jonny Lydon tried to pull off his wig.

As far as watching 120 minutes I was into it back in the 80's then I started to get more into college/community radio and realized the were usually playing the crap that the majors/big indies wanted to sell to the general public. Hence Lolapalooza and the "Alternative Genre"-smells like horse shit.....

I very much remember Kennedy -- I mentioned her the other day on a thread and nobody said anything, so I conclude you hate me. *cries* A bit of a stretch, admittedly.

Anyone remember the Pogues retrospective where Christy Moore does a version of "Fairytale of New york"?

No, we just hate Kennedy.

Not even a nibble?

"Keeping it real is so boring." - Casey Spooner, Fischerspooner

Kevin Seal pretty much just read stuff off the teleprompter, but he was goofy and didn't take things seriously and was bearable.

Lewis Largent was atrocious and an utterly incompetent interviewer. I remember an uncomfortable interview he had with Cocteau Twins, and Robin Guthrie looked like he wanted to crawl away and die. If I remember correctly, Lewis said something like "That wasn't so bad, was it?" (Robin disagreed) and then Lewis offered to bake him a cake. Thanks Lewis.

Matt Pinfield is very knowledgeable about crappy bands.

I think _120 Minutes_ profoundly influenced my sleeping habits in junior high/high school. I would never set my VCR to time-record; I would stay up and only record the videos I wanted. Now, I kinda wish I had entire shows on tape, because I know there's a ton of good stuff that I missed (and seeing old commercials is always fun). Watching some of my old tapes, I'd often scream out "Noooo, why didn't I keep recording?" after seeing a video get cut off (Wire, Game Theory, Opal - they played this stuff on MTV!).

Remember the channel THE BOX? You'd call a 1-900 number, pay $2, and get to see ONE VIDEO. For pretty much half the time, "Put 'Em on the Glass" by Sir Mix-a-lot was on. In my small Tennessee hometown, they actually replaced MTV with THE BOX in the early 90s, and there were protests! John Cougar Mellencamp came to our town to give a free concert, the sole purpose of which was to get MTV back on (it worked). I am not making this up.

One of my favorite video/misc shows was Night Flight. The USA channel ran it from '83 to '88. They showed lots of leftfield videos, films, and cartoons -- all mixed up.

Yes, Johnson City (it's still my homebase). It was a little challenging to find out about non-Top 40/cock rock back then in the pre-WWW days (and then actually purchasing the stuff was another issue) - there was Night Flight, 120 Minutes, some magazines, and even the public library had some stuff (Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich!).

i must be the only one here who couldn't stand Kevin Seal. though i loved "120 minutes." and an undergrad classmate/acquaintance was Matt Pinfield (paging mr. appelstein to thread!)

i also remember the fateful time i first discovered a local (then) cable-access-type show called JBTV. was quite young at the time. don't remember how old exactly, but i do know Pee Wee's Playhouse was still on the air. and we had a black-and-white tiny TV that barely got anything in, with separate UHF and VHF dials to tune things in, aluminum foil---and i found it completely by accident.

it used to be a cool show, back then. playing stuff you wouldn't really see elsewhere (and i didn't have cable anyway). Jerry Bryant should've retired the first time he quit the show, though. it got really, really stupid and Just Like Everything Else after "alternative" broke. :P

i won my very first Discman from that show, too. 'twas nice. and random. have still got me on videotape somewhere. i look like a complete dork, but at least my hair was black and orange. XD

what i meant to say was, an undergrad classmate/acquaintance was Matt Pinfield's roommate. (mr. appelstein still welcome to tune in, of course!)

*takes a drink*

The couple of times I saw him do the bit, the few people that knew what he was talking about cracked up.