Pure ’80s: The Ultimate DVD Box

Pure ’80s: The Ultimate DVD Box
Studio: Hip-o
Rated: NONE
WorkNameSort: Pure ’80s: The Ultimate DVD Box
Even taking into account trendy revisionism and ignoring the fact that the decade was less day-glo plastic pants and more ill-fitting brown sweaters, this three-DVD collection is miles away (a million miles away, perhaps) from living up to its liner-notes hype of being ‘the most exciting collection of ’80s music videos ever assembled.â?� Forty-five videos seems like a lot, and the inclusion of a wide range of clips, from ‘Rock You Like a Hurricaneâ?� and ‘She Works Hard for the Moneyâ?� to ‘The Safety Danceâ?� and, gulp, ‘Physical,â?� makes it appear that this collection does indeed present a full picture of the ’80s. But the limitations of licensing costs mean that most of the videos here had to be culled from the archives of labels under the Universal umbrella (Hip-O is the conglomerate’s ‘catalogâ?� arm). Question: If you had to pick 45 videos that best represented the ’80s, would you pick Tora Tora’s ‘Walkin’ Shoes?â?� How about Asia’s ‘Heat of the Moment?â?� Probably not. This set is most successful in its first volume, ‘Totally New Wave,â?� which, even with the questionable inclusion of Bananarama, is right on from beginning to end: Devo, Duran Duran, Madness, the dirty version of ‘Relax.â?� The confused vibe of ‘Video Idolsâ?� ‘ with everything from Pat Benatar and Lionel Richie to Styx and Tiffany ‘ is where the set stumbles; although this sort of material is actually what was most people’s reality during the video ’80s, leaving out obvious MTV dominators like ‘Money for Nothing,â?� the Eurythmics or any of the Police’s videos seems egregious â?¦ and cheap. Likewise, the ‘Headbangers Rule!â?� disc is positively sad: no Def Leppard, no Ratt, no Motley Crue â?¦ but you do get Kingdom Come, Extreme and Rainbow fleshing out highlights like ‘Holy Diverâ?� and ‘Shake Me.â?� This is not the ’80s I remember â?¦ worse still, it’s not even the ’80s I’d like to pretend to remember.

This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2006.