Ten Random Factoids From "I Want My MTV" (5 Today, 5 Tomorrow)
1. Bobby Brown Drops His Coke Vial - This one doesn't surprise me one bit. In 1990, Bobby Brown was at the very top of the R&B food chain, fresh off his massively successful solo album "Don't Be Cruel." When Ghostbusters II was released, Brown recorded "On Our Own" for the movie and later performed the hit single on the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards. While Brown was busy dancing up a storm, something unthinkable happened...his vial of coke fell from his pants during the live broadcast. In the book, Brown claims it was his gold bracelet. Several sources who were present including producers state otherwise. See for yourself: At 1:14 something clearly fell from his pocket. At 1:17, Brown goes in for the kill and grabs his "bracelet" or for those of us living in reality, his "coke vial"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0C3zckQ4Kk
2. Def Leppard Swing & Miss With "Pour Some Sugar on Me": Wait, you recall "Pour Some Sugar on Me" being a massive success? It didn't quite happen that way at first. When Def Leppard released the album "Hysteria" following their smash "Pyromania" album, the record was a major disappointment in the United States because it couldn't match the success of the previous album. Three singles had been released in the US, with none of them giving the record the boost it needed on the Billboard charts. Mercury Records, just about ready to give up promotions for the record, financed one last music video for the band which would promote their fourth US single "Pour Some Sugar on Me" in hopes that it would propel the "Hysteria" record to new heights. Now, I'm sure you remember the video for "Pour Some Sugar on Me" which topped the MTV charts for weeks, right? It look JUUUUUUUST like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCnoND2v5Ow
When Mercury Records saw the video they were devastated. It was a complete disaster. Mercury scrapped the video and wouldn't allow it to be seen on MTV in the US. It wasn't until they later released the more popular "live" video that the "Hysteria" album shot up the charts and ended up becoming Def Leppard's best selling record. Equally interesting, the song almost didn't make the final cut of the record during production.
3. Poison Play the Wrong Song at the Wrong Time: The 1991 MTV Video Music Awards would prove to be a major low point in the history of the glam metal band, Poison. Guitarist C.C. DeVille, along with pretty much everyone in the band, were going through a variety of substance abuse issues. However, C.C. DeVille's cocaine addiction would get the best of him on September 5th of 1991. Poison were scheduled to play their hit single "Unskinny Bop" after a commercial break during the live 1991 VMA airing. Unfortunately, DeVille didn't get the memo and began playing during the commercial break. To not leave DeVille out to dry, the rest of the band joined in and played "Unskinny Bop" during the break to the live audience. When the commercial break ended, cameras showed Poison halfway through their set, which host Arsenio Hall cut short when he realized the band had missed their spot. Because they were live, Poison needed to play something which prompted the band to start an improptu version of "Talk Dirty to Me" which looked and sounded disjointed. At one point C.C. Deville's guitar accidentally unplugged from its amp, which didn't stop the cocaine loaded DeVille from playing unplugged during a section of the performance. After Poison finished, singer Bret Michaels punched out DeVille offstage, leading to DeVille being fired and replaced by axeslinger Richie Kotzen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_CPu9nbMj0
4. Duran Duran Get Banned: This one, many of you might already know about, but it's heavily chronicled in the book along with many other Duran Duran exploits. When you see a music video get banned in 1981 for being too provocative, it usually looks tame by today's standards, especially when you consider how far we've come in this country when it comes to censorship. Well, here's a music video from 1981, the year MTV was born, that to this day still cannot be played on MTV, VH1 or any other cable format. Duran Duran had just released their self-titled debut and wanted to create a stir to boost record sales. Their third single off their debut album was the immortal new wave hit "Girls on Film" and the band decided that they needed something extremely risque for the accompanying music video. Knowing it would be banned immediately, they shot multiple versions of the video including a "clean" version that could be aired on cable. The other version, well, see for yourself. Ice cubes on nipples, anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DIOmSRivaL48
5. Billy Idol Draws Blood: In the 1980s, few artists were as shocking and as successful as former punk frontman Billy Idol. When he was ready to film the music video for "White Wedding" he asked his then-girlfriend, choreographer Perri Lister, to act as the bride-to-be in the video. When it came time for Idol to place a ring on Lister's finger in the video, they couldn't get fake blood to properly show up on her ring finger as Idol is slipping the ring onto her digit. So, they did what all great punk artists would do...draw real blood for the scene. Lister's actual finger was sliced for the sequence and the blood you see in the video was actually hers, which managed to slip past MTV's censorship board who assumed it must have been fake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgFh4RHgn0A
1. Bobby Brown Drops His Coke Vial - This one doesn't surprise me one bit. In 1990, Bobby Brown was at the very top of the R&B food chain, fresh off his massively successful solo album "Don't Be Cruel." When Ghostbusters II was released, Brown recorded "On Our Own" for the movie and later performed the hit single on the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards. While Brown was busy dancing up a storm, something unthinkable happened...his vial of coke fell from his pants during the live broadcast. In the book, Brown claims it was his gold bracelet. Several sources who were present including producers state otherwise. See for yourself: At 1:14 something clearly fell from his pocket. At 1:17, Brown goes in for the kill and grabs his "bracelet" or for those of us living in reality, his "coke vial"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0C3zckQ4Kk
2. Def Leppard Swing & Miss With "Pour Some Sugar on Me": Wait, you recall "Pour Some Sugar on Me" being a massive success? It didn't quite happen that way at first. When Def Leppard released the album "Hysteria" following their smash "Pyromania" album, the record was a major disappointment in the United States because it couldn't match the success of the previous album. Three singles had been released in the US, with none of them giving the record the boost it needed on the Billboard charts. Mercury Records, just about ready to give up promotions for the record, financed one last music video for the band which would promote their fourth US single "Pour Some Sugar on Me" in hopes that it would propel the "Hysteria" record to new heights. Now, I'm sure you remember the video for "Pour Some Sugar on Me" which topped the MTV charts for weeks, right? It look JUUUUUUUST like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCnoND2v5Ow
When Mercury Records saw the video they were devastated. It was a complete disaster. Mercury scrapped the video and wouldn't allow it to be seen on MTV in the US. It wasn't until they later released the more popular "live" video that the "Hysteria" album shot up the charts and ended up becoming Def Leppard's best selling record. Equally interesting, the song almost didn't make the final cut of the record during production.
3. Poison Play the Wrong Song at the Wrong Time: The 1991 MTV Video Music Awards would prove to be a major low point in the history of the glam metal band, Poison. Guitarist C.C. DeVille, along with pretty much everyone in the band, were going through a variety of substance abuse issues. However, C.C. DeVille's cocaine addiction would get the best of him on September 5th of 1991. Poison were scheduled to play their hit single "Unskinny Bop" after a commercial break during the live 1991 VMA airing. Unfortunately, DeVille didn't get the memo and began playing during the commercial break. To not leave DeVille out to dry, the rest of the band joined in and played "Unskinny Bop" during the break to the live audience. When the commercial break ended, cameras showed Poison halfway through their set, which host Arsenio Hall cut short when he realized the band had missed their spot. Because they were live, Poison needed to play something which prompted the band to start an improptu version of "Talk Dirty to Me" which looked and sounded disjointed. At one point C.C. Deville's guitar accidentally unplugged from its amp, which didn't stop the cocaine loaded DeVille from playing unplugged during a section of the performance. After Poison finished, singer Bret Michaels punched out DeVille offstage, leading to DeVille being fired and replaced by axeslinger Richie Kotzen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_CPu9nbMj0
4. Duran Duran Get Banned: This one, many of you might already know about, but it's heavily chronicled in the book along with many other Duran Duran exploits. When you see a music video get banned in 1981 for being too provocative, it usually looks tame by today's standards, especially when you consider how far we've come in this country when it comes to censorship. Well, here's a music video from 1981, the year MTV was born, that to this day still cannot be played on MTV, VH1 or any other cable format. Duran Duran had just released their self-titled debut and wanted to create a stir to boost record sales. Their third single off their debut album was the immortal new wave hit "Girls on Film" and the band decided that they needed something extremely risque for the accompanying music video. Knowing it would be banned immediately, they shot multiple versions of the video including a "clean" version that could be aired on cable. The other version, well, see for yourself. Ice cubes on nipples, anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DIOmSRivaL48
5. Billy Idol Draws Blood: In the 1980s, few artists were as shocking and as successful as former punk frontman Billy Idol. When he was ready to film the music video for "White Wedding" he asked his then-girlfriend, choreographer Perri Lister, to act as the bride-to-be in the video. When it came time for Idol to place a ring on Lister's finger in the video, they couldn't get fake blood to properly show up on her ring finger as Idol is slipping the ring onto her digit. So, they did what all great punk artists would do...draw real blood for the scene. Lister's actual finger was sliced for the sequence and the blood you see in the video was actually hers, which managed to slip past MTV's censorship board who assumed it must have been fake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgFh4RHgn0A
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