Listening and watching a mere hour of Much More Music Retro (as part of MMM's programming schedule) made me glad that I don't receive that station, lest I turn into a couch potato doing nothing other than reliving the 80's through video. Somehow, I have yet to figure out whether the target audience for 80's revivalism are recovering leg warmer-wearers who want to relive their youth or a different (not necessarily younger) group who enjoy 80's music with ironic detachment. Consider Nik Kershaw's "Wouldn't It Be Good". A great song with an extremely dated video because of the special effects. Watching it in 2004, do I enjoy the video because, or in spite of the kitschy FX? And perhaps I'm not the best test subject here -- I remember this video very well when it first came out, and even though nobody was under any illusions that it was a technical marvel, the expectations were lower. It wasn't mandatory or expected that you had to drop six figures on your video, unlike now.

I know this -- "Wouldn't It Be Good" would be 1000X cooler if that exact video were redone today, using modern computer special effects. The creepy lighting, the alien abduction paranoia, what's not to like? Thomas Dolby's "Hyperactive" is another one that I'd like to see redone (even though the original was pretty out-there as it is, but the body-stretching is pedestrian compared to what could be done today). This certainly isn't true for all 80's videos. Duran Duran's videos never relied on such FX and still look fantastic today (for that reason among many).