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Betcha Didn't Know...


Carl

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  • 3 weeks later...

The lead singer of REO Speedwagon was asked to be an original MTV VJ. His role went to Mark Goodman.

At the time REO was one of the hottest bands in the land, thanks to their Hi Fidelity album. MTV didn't get that this meant he would be touring, recording and doing other rock star stuff that would preclude anything resembling a job, so he turned it down.

One of the great ironies is that MTV squashed REO, who made very lame videos and didn't have the looks to carry them.

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They also made very lame songs, for the most part.

I can't argue with that. What's really weird is that Hi Fidelity was a #1 album for 6 weeks, but I never knew a single person who wore one of their concert T-shirts or claimed them as a favorite band. Even Billy Squier had some diehards.

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I loved Hi (in)Fidelity! It was part of my senior year and post-high school graduating life soundtrack. My BH likes them, too. In fact, he dragged me to one of their casino-circuit shows a couple of years ago and it was a really good show, actually. But MTV was right, Kevin Cronin does not have the lead-singer type looks of most of the bands of that era, coming off the long-hair '70s into the Big Hair '80s, he didn't really fit in.

I also liked some of their older tunes, but I didn't know about those until after Hi (in)Fidelity came out.

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In Back to the Future, Marty McFly goes futuristic on his dad by waking him up to a tape that's labeled "Edward Van Halen":

What plays isn't a song, but some random guitar parts that Eddie recorded specifically for the film.

Later, when Marty is on stage at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, he plays some Eddie-inspired licks that freak out the crowd.

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Before the famous animated, comic book video for a-ha's "Take On Me," they made a much more nondescript version that helped the song go nowhere. The new video made the song a hit.

Original version:

Fascinating! Didn't even know this existed! :sing1:

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