On this day 26 years ago (June 3, 1983)...
Andy P. Jung
unFunny http://www.tbs.com/ ).
Happy (would have been) 26th Birthday Night Tracks! It seemed like yesterday
when I watched your debut show!
Here's the TV Guide scan from June 3, 1983.
http://www.jungworld.com/night-tracks/jpg/TV_Guide_scans/
I just wish that MTV and its related networks didn't have such a monopoly on
music videos and ruined today's mainstream music. I have to admit that I
don't even know half of today music on American Top 40 charts because I am
so stuck in the 1980s.
Hey TBS, please consider bringing back (at least) the classic Night Tracks
shows since there are no basic cable channels airing '80s music videos?
It'll be a virtual guarantee to become a ratings hit since TBS is in many
more households than VH1 Classic. What does Time Warner have to lose
("loose" for all you misspellers out there)?
Check out my Night Tracks fan tribute web site!
Listen to The Bangles and Dino give Birthday wishes to Night Tracks.
http://www.jungworld.com/night-tracks/
I'm also reminiscing the technological marvels in the past 26 years. Here's
just a brief history. Shortly after Night Tracks' premiere the home video
game industry would soon crash. We purchased our first VCR in May 1985 just
in time for Night Tracks' second birthday. Shortly after that, the debut of
the original 8 bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) revived the home
video game industry and Night Tracks even had a NES contest giveaway in
February 1989. Night Tracks had reached its peak and continued through the
end of the 1980s.
http://www.jungworld.com/night-tracks/ntrdd.htm
Unfortunately, Night Tracks "jumped the shark" in August of 1989 when they
started airing movies under the Night Flicks banner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvWeBY90dZk
In the Spring of 1991 about 1/3 of the show became Alternative. This was
also when we bought our first IBM compatible PC (Intel 80386sx-16Mhz) in
March 1991 and first signed on to Prodigy Classic and CompuServe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodigy_%28ISP%29
Night Tracks was cancelled after its last episode aired on Saturday, May 30,
1992 (I stopped watching Night Tracks on a weekly basis after it became all
Alternative in August 1991).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Tracks
Now I can only relive what I have saved in my Night Tracks video collection.
Analog videotapes will not last forever so I'm in the process of
transferring them to DVD so I can continue reliving Night Tracks for the
next half dozen or so (give or take a few) decades.
http://www.jungworld.com/night-tracks/ntvideo.htm
Nobody else (let alone TBS) seem to want to revive the show even if only
rerunning the classic shows. I seem to have to do all the work and sometimes
the record companies (who've once supported Night Tracks during its nine
year run) don't seem to remember and/or understand my endeavor (to remind
people that Night Tracks did exist) by pulling a DMCA notice on my YouTube
accounts even though NONE of the videos are post 1992 because Night Tracks
was cancelled in 1992. The big 4 record companies should really just
concentrate on enforcing the DMCA on today's crappy music instead of the old
classics from the 1980s to the early 1990s that today's eMpTV and VH1 refuse
to air. Another reason for the lack of music videos on TV as compared to the
1980s is that the big 4 record companies aren't letting TV stations air
their music videos for free anymore. They are basically just trying to
squeeze blood out of a turnip.
For now, you can view many of the videos that originally aired on Night
Tracks including all the different Chyron fonts used in its nine year run.
If you were born before 1978 and your parents would let you stay up late at
night, you may even remember the original Night Tracks theme music from 1983
to 1985. Click on the "Videos" tab for all the Night Tracks music videos
uploaded to this point (with more to come) so you can relive that wonderful
'80s era.
http://www.youtube.com/NightTracksClassic
http://www.youtube.com/NightTracksX (Hard Rock/ Power Ballad videos)
http://www.youtube.com/RareNightTracks (rare and obscure videos)
http://www.youtube.com/NightTracksChristmas
http://www.youtube.com/NightTracksTheme (Night Tracks theme music)
http://www.youtube.com/NightTracksWMG (in the works)
http://www.dailymotion.com/NightTracks
Links to Night Tracks videos posted by others:
http://www.youtube.com/group/NightTracksWTBSGroup
http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/xfj9v_SuperStationWTBS_night-tracks-wtbstbs-198392/1
Please fasten your seat belts and enjoy your trip down memory lane!
--
Andy P. Jung
Metairie, Louisiana U.S.A.
(on the Western side of the now infamous 17th Street Canal)
http://www.JungWorld.com/
To reply via e-mail, please visit my web site.