Andy's adventures in the 1980s

[imomus]

Dotted about this entry are three pop videos from the 1980s.

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The Cars: Hello Again (1984)

What do they have in common? Well, they were all produced by Andy Warhol's 1980s video production company and feature cameo appearances by Andy himself. Andy appears as a desultory barman in Hello Again, a desultory Bob Dylan impersonator in Misfit, and an enthusiastic Andy Warhol in I'm Not Perfect, which also features Keith Haring preparing a room-sized dress for Grace Jones.

To me, these videos have something other than Warhol in common. They all sound as if they come out of the same studio and have the same writer and producer. This is mainly down to the technology -- Fairlight and Synclavier beats and sounds, and the particular style of editing and recording these then-cutting-edge technologies imposed on their users.

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Curiosity Killed The Cat: Misfit (1986)

Rather than evoke the look of the work he'd been known for in previous decades, Andy opts to play with the video technology of the 1980s, staying "trendy" by placing The Cars on single-colour backdrops and adding text via simple computer editing techniques. You can see a similar willingness to embrace the new and the now in this video of Andy trying out the (to us, laughably primitive) features of the Amiga computer graphics system in 1985.

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Grace Jones: I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You) (1986)

The thing is, Andy's rather craven (and, I think, rather "scene gay") desire to "stay young" by adopting 80s tropes and technologies so readily, and his rather surprising lightness of touch in these pop videos (again, I'm inclined to think, a rather "gay" quality) actually gives them a historical weight and value for us. The 80s is now a rather intriguing foreign country for us, and Andy -- despite being, essentially, a part of 1960s history -- delivers them to us rather well. His lightness delivers surprising substance, and the transience and triviality of his 1980s intervention into pop video makes it, paradoxically, permanently interesting. Andy was too gay, thank Christ, to make the mistake of trying to be "timeless" or "authoritative".

Comments

[33mhz.livejournal.com]

The thing is, Andy's rather craven (and, I think, rather "scene gay") desire to "stay young" by adopting 80s tropes and technologies so readily,

Andy didn't adopt 80s tropes, the 80s adopted Andy's tropes. With his bright but restricted color palettes and interest in the mechanical reproduction of images, his interest in contemporary computer graphics systems seems only logical.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

I associate Andy more with the 80's: it was his ideal cultural habitat. The 60's were somewhat foreign to someone like Andy, but the 80's was a paradise to him, mainly because he helped invent it. After all, Andy was talking about business being an artform in the early 70's.

[(Anonymous)]

a few words from our chum robert hughes:

"Koons really does think he's Michelangelo and is not shy to say so. The significant thing is that there are collectors, especially in America, who believe it. He has the slimy assurance, the gross patter about transcendence through art, of a blow-dried Baptist selling swamp acres in Florida. And the result is that you can't imagine America's singularly depraved culture without him. He fits into Bush's America the way Warhol fitted into Reagan's."

when is momus going to do a piece on koons in the 00s?

are some people so ahead of their time they have to wait 20 years for the rest of us to catch up?

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Hughes, macho old fart that he is, has been going after Koons for decades. It's like the inverse of Hilton Kramer's inability to "get" Wyeth.

Fiirst impression (after the "Hello Again" video)

[aberrantangels]

(Please note: this was written before I had breakfast, which is why I'm not exactly at home to Mr Coherence. Also, I'm glad I didn't announce myself as making first post, and indeed that I usually don't.)

Wow, was that ever 80s. Also, boobs. I love boobs as much as the next alleged heterosexual, maybe even as much as John Barrowman does, but I can understand why MTV got all skittish about it.

The 80s is now a rather intriguing foreign country for us,

But one that still has some things to say about the present (as many people who've seen Zack Snyder's Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen will cheerfully testify).

and Andy -- despite being, essentially, a part of 1960s history -- delivers them to us rather well.

One more reason to watch the other two videos.

* * *

Well, now I've watched them, and that was so much concentrated 80s I'm amazed the lapels didn't spontaneously fall off all my jackets. Though after the second, I could already tell I wasn't going to agree with your sense that "[t]hey all sound as if they come out of the same studio and have the same writer and producer"; I'm not going to try to convince you I'm right, just that I don't see/hear it. (I feel like Henry Higgins being able to hear and pronounce more distinct vowel sounds than Colonel Pickering, which is a weird feeling to have when talking about things 80s.)

[(Anonymous)]

But really, it's all about you, isn't it?

Andy's Momus's rather craven desire to "stay young" by adopting 90s noughties tropes and technologies so readily, actually gives them a historical weight and value for us. Andy Momus was too gay, thank Christ, to make the mistake of trying to be "timeless" or "authoritative".

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha, well spotted, caller. It's always about me. Even the shunga.

[(Anonymous)]

You got there first, fellow Anon! I was going to say exactly the same thing. Really, Momus, darling, you were just begging for it...

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Andy was too gay, thank Christ, to make the mistake of trying to be "timeless" or "authoritative".

I'll add an "amen" to this.

Embrace your ffrreeque

[(Anonymous)]

"Andy was too gay"

I think it was well documented Andy wasn't "too gay", not in the out and proud variety that you could maybe call " too gay". Sadly he was mostly closeted coupled with Catholic guilt to ever be too anything. Too freaky sounds much better "than too gay" and probably more accurate.

Re: Embrace your ffrreeque

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Nick's using the term broadly. There's a lot of people, places and things in Western culture designated as "gay" which have little or nothing to do with literal definitions of homosexuality. It's shorthand for suspect frivolity, artifice, etc.

Re: Embrace your ffrreeque

[(Anonymous)]

"It's shorthand for suspect frivolity, artifice, etc."

Talk about veiled homophobia. Thats so "gay".

Re: Embrace your ffrreeque

[33mhz.livejournal.com]

No, learn 2 fag more noob.

Andy was both gay in the homosexual sense and gay in the camp sense; the appreciation of artifice commonly ascribed to gay men isn't just a product of the lingering memory of Oscar Wilde, but a byproduct of the closet, which Andy was well familiar with.

Re: Embrace your ffrreeque

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

You've misinterpreted what I wrote, Anon.

andy's influence in romania

[(Anonymous)]

Haha, I remember growing up on these in the 80s in Romania. My parents were kindof cool i guess; there were quite a few cool people in romania. What's interesting is that none of these were selling in romania, it was illegal to sell or commercialize foreign music, and yet everybody was trading/dubbing tapes/video tapes etc... 80s was too good not to share!!!!

[(Anonymous)]

When objectivity is out the window, how else can you give your work "value" but by commercial success or referencing successful trends?

"Business as art" might be a clever idea, but is that a world anybody really wants to live in?

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Ask Andy.