Episode 3: Bill & Ted's Excellent Soundtracks

In 1989, a movie came along the celebrated everything we loved about 80’s music and typecast Keanu Reeves as a dudebro forever. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its 1991 sequel Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey were decent comedies that featured some fantastic music. In particular, the soundtrack to Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey is one of the best ever in terms of rock and metal, featuring everyone from KISS to Steve Vai to Megadeth.

So, tonight’s episode of Sunday Night Videos features five songs that came from the Bill & Ted soundtracks. Enjoy, and be excellent to each other!

Vital Signs--The Boys and the Girls Are Doing It


Big Pig--Breakaway



Extreme--Play With Me



KISS--God Gave Rock 'n' Roll To You II


Slaughter--Shout it Out



Megadeth--Go to Hell


And just so we never forget Bill & Ted, here's the trailers for both movies.

Episode 2: Twisted Sister

There were some bands during the MTV era that really understood what videos could do for their careers. Twisted Sister was one of them, although the huge success they had with “I Wanna Rock” and We’re Not Gonna Take It” resulted in them becoming a bit typecast as a more cartoonish version of who they originally were. Stay Hungry was one of those few albums that everyone you knew at the time had a copy of.

Anyone who dug a little deeper than just the MTV vids found a band that had a catalog full of great rock songs. Frontman Dee Snider actually made the band sound heavier than they were with the explosive energy he brought to every song. In the first two videos below you’ll see the fire he brought to every live performance.

If you’ve only listened to Stay Hungry, do yourself a favor and pick up Big Hits and Nasty cuts, a great best of collection that will give you a great idea of just how good Twister Sister was.

Under the Blade


I Am I’m Me


You Can’t Stop Rock n Roll


We’re Not Gonna Take It


Be Chrool to Your Scuel


Hot Love


Tune in next Sunday night at 8PM EST on Twitter (twitter.com/seebrianwrite) for another episode of Sunday Night Videos, and right here on the blog for the episode notes, which will go up shortly after 9PM EST. You can tweet me recommendations or get in on the discussion every Sunday night by using the hashtag #SundayNightVideos.

BONUS: For those that remember the anti-rock and metal movement of the mid-1980s and the Parents music Resource Center (PMRC), you may also remember that Dee Snider testified at a Senate hearing in 1985, and he was pretty amazing. You can watch his testimony in the video below. See you next week!

Episode 1: AC/DC

Tonight’s episode of Sunday Night Videos featured on of my all-time favorite bands--AC/DC. In fact, an argument could be made that they are the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the history of music. Yeah, I said it.

Outside of the big huts that were on the radio during the 1970s and early ‘80s, most of my initial exposure to AC/DC was with Brian Johnson as the lead singer. As AC/DC started to become one of my favorite bands, I dug into the back catalog and really began to understand why AC/DC was one of the greats.

Bon Scott is my favorite lead singer of any band, ever. Not only was his voice unique, but the energy and charisma he brought to every single song was the perfect compliment to the stripped-down, straight ahead sound that has always been the signature of AC/DC.

Of course, I’d be lying if I said that the theatrics of Angus Young and his schoolboy outfit wasn’t a big draw for me as well.

AC/DC will always hold a special place in my heart, as they headlined the very first concert I ever went to. On September 2, 1988, I saw White Lion open up for AC/DC on their Blow Up Your Video tour in Springfield, Massachusetts and it changed my life forever. That concert cemented my love of music and of seeing it live.

Tonight’s videos span a good chunk of AC/DC’s career through 1990 and feature some of my favorites, but for a band that’s never released a bad one, you could just close your eyes and pick any five. I stayed away from Your Shook Me All Night Long, Back in Black, and Dirty Deeds, as I feel like those are the ones people hear all the time. Here are my picks:

Jailbreak


It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)

Sin City


Heatseeker


Big Gun


Tune in next Sunday night at 8PM EST on Twitter (twitter.com/seebrianwrite) for another episode of Sunday Night Videos, and right here on the blog for the episode notes, which will go up shortly after 9PM EST. You can tweet me recommendations or get in on the discussion every Sunday night by using the hashtag #SundayNightVideos.

Rock on!

Episode 0: Kool & The Gang

The unintentional first episode of Sunday Night Videos happened this past Super Bowl Sunday, and it featured one of the greatest groups of all-time. Here are four of my favorite Kool & The Gang videos that I tweeted out for folks to enjoy:









Tune in next Sunday night at twitter.com/seebrianwrite for the first official episode of Sunday Night Videos. And don't forget the hashtag #SundayNightVideos!

Welcome to Sunday Night Videos!

This blog is the home of a project that was started on Super Bowl Sunday 2014. You can read all about how I got here over on my blog See Brian Write, but the short version is this--I grew up in the era of Friday Night Videos and the early days of MTV. I love music videos, and while they still exist today, they are not the cultural staple they were in the '80s and early '90s. So I'm doing my part to bring back the spirit of those days.

Every Sunday Night from 8PM to 9PM EST, I will be tweeting out links to a handful of '80s and '90s videos from one of the artists I grew up listening to, using the hashtag #SundayNightVideos. I'll also be tweeting out facts about the artist and, memories associated with them, my own experiences with seeing them in concert, or even meeting them in person.

I'll also be doing a grab bag episode once a month, where the hour will be filled with a variety of different artists instead of focusing on one.

It's going to be a blast revisiting some of the best videos from my youth, and I want you to participate. Jump into the discussion each Sunday night, and use the hashtag #SundayNightVideos to send me requests for future episodes. You can also message me on Twitter (twitter.com/seebrianwrite) or email me at brian@seebrianwrite.com.

See you Sunday night!