Please help me identify this song/video from the mid-80s!

March 8, 2008 10:27 PM

Please help me identify this song/video from the mid-80s!

The song itself was semi-popular, synthy, catchy, but not as mainstream as something like Madonna. More like A-Ha?

Mainly what I remember is the video, which aired for awhile on MTV in 1984 or 1985. The lead singer was male, new-wavey, looked a little like Rick Springfield. He was dressed in some kind of rags and was being led around this strange fantasy world by a girl who also wore rags. The feel of the video was almost like something out of Time Bandits...ring any bells?

posted by deern the headlice to media & arts (10 comments total)

Men Without Hats: The Safety Dance? (Sorry, no link...on my Blackberry. Undoubtedly YouTube has it.)
posted by Ian A.T. at 10:30 PM on March 8

'Safety Dance' by Men Without Hats?
posted by yellowcandy at 10:31 PM on March 8

Yep, totally Safety Dance.

Francaise!!!!!
posted by miss lynnster at 10:37 PM on March 8

Man, now that I see the video, Safety Dance seems like it must be right. Yet I was remembering footage that was shot at night, and a slightly less uptempo song. Now I'm not sure if my memory is for shit, or whether there could have been two songs with similar videos?
posted by deern the headlice at 10:51 PM on March 8

This is a stab in the dark, obviously, but could your memory be combining The Safety Dance video with the Rock Me Amadeus video? They're similar in the sense that they both seem to take place in the past but could very well be, Riddley Walker-style, in a dim and distant future.

Of course, it could be any one of ten thousand videos..."a man dressed in some kind of rags and being led around this strange fantasy world by a girl who also wore rags" was a pretty common theme in videos of the era.)

(Not to mention a common theme in my life at various points during the 80s...)
posted by Ian A.T. at 12:52 AM on March 9

I wonder what happened to these guys and their controll of the rights to Safety Dance. Just yesterday I was trying to buy this song, which I've always loved, on line. Amazon didn't carry it at all and iTunes only features it as part of an 80s compilation disk. Hmmmm
posted by carmicha at 5:57 AM on March 9

Could it be Gowan's "Strange Animal"?
posted by davebush at 9:36 AM on March 9

Or Gowan's "Criminal Mind"?
posted by sueinnyc at 2:27 PM on March 9

I wonder what happened to these guys

Whatever Happened To... Men Without Hats?
posted by Rash at 3:24 PM on March 9

It's Gowan if and only if you grew up in Canada.
posted by yellowcandy at 1:41 AM on March 10