The music video for 1-800 by Dog Police (1985) is a delightfully weird gem

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Originally published at: The music video for 1-800 by Dog Police (1985) is a delightfully weird gem | Boing Boing

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That a great image this is.

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Oh wow, these guys. I knew them from their titular tune which appeared on MTV’s Basement Tapes and also when Weird Al would host his ALTV show. Had no idea they had another video.

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That’s where I saw it! That was during 8th grade, for me. Was that the same episode(?) that had this?

A couple of years later, a lot of us tuned in to watch 4 Reasons Unknown from nearby Dallas. But the videos I liked were “Impressions of L.A.” by DJ PJ & the Terrorists, and “I Don’t Mind” by The Judys(?) - couldn’t find either one of these (just now) on YouTube

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So much weird, wonderful shit in the 80s…

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Agreed

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I was aware of Dog Police by Dog Police, but I didn’t know they had another video.

Here’s the first in all its… well, here it is.

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I seem to recall that was part of MTVs basement tapes series – amateur bands send in videos and the winner won $10K or something. Not sure anyone was a breakout success for that, but I remember being very invested in that show in my early/mid teens

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[quote=“Gyrofrog, post:4, topic:226954, full:true”]
That’s where I saw it! That was during 8th grade, for me. Was that the same episode(?) that had this?

A couple of years later, a lot of us tuned in to watch 4 Reasons Unknown from nearby Dallas. But the videos I liked were “Impressions of L.A.” by DJ PJ & the Terrorists, and “I Don’t Mind” by The Judys(?) - couldn’t find either one of these (just now) on YouTube[/quote]

You can find all these in my playlist for the show on YouTube, if you can’t find them through their crappy search engine.

On July 30, 2022 at least (numbers subject to change)…
The Nelsons - “I Don’t Mind” is at #45 and #46
The Cleaning Ladys - “She Won’t French Kiss” is at #164
4 Reasons Unknown - “Visual Signs” is at #165
PJ and the Terrorists - “Impressions of L.A.” – which even Joe Lynn Turner seemed to hate – is buried inside of a public access interview video at #166. The band had changed their name to PJ and the Magic Bus at that point due to booking issues. (They were going by PJ and the Zen Terrorists in between. Much more peaceful-sounding, right?)

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OK, I was thinking The Judys for some reason, and yet kept picturing Nelson (i.e. Rick Nelson’s sons) in my head – now I recall they had grouped as “The Nelsons” for a tribute performance for their dad, perhaps on the Grammy Awards, before continuing as “Nelson.”

Which of course precedes Nelson by several years…

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OK for posterity’s sake, here it is… Not as cool as I remembered from 36 or 37 years ago, but cool enough that I remembered.

Thanks for these!

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Sorry I screwed up all the hyperlinks. Here it is for convenience sake…

MTV Basement Tapes Playlist

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Sadly there’s no insane music video, but it reminded me of this song.

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The oddest I ever saw (obviously a novelty song) involved a middle-aged Southeast Asian man — ostensibly an actual immigrant with no acting or singing experience — newly arrived in the US and quite happy to be here. Cheesy but cheerful video effects had him flying joyously over cities and such, his arms outstretched while singing, " I so hapyyyy to beeeeee heeerrrrrrrrrre!" which happened to be the name of the song, per my recollection. I’ve been looking for that one for decades!

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