Video Hangover: "King Of Wishful Thinking"
Twice a week, we dig in the MTV/VH1 archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. Is it crap, or is it the greatest video ever made? You decide.
"King Of Wishful Thinking"
Go West, 1990
Some things to think about while you’re trying to figure out why there’s a mariachi band in this video:
The video shoot was also the best Bar Mitzvah ever
Apparently Go West didn’t have the same star-pulling power as Bobby Brown, so they went with the next best thing: celebrity impersonators. Celebrity impersonators are like tribute bands, but for people. So who wins the battle of the person-bands? The woman at the beginning does a passable Julia Roberts, and Roy Orbison is creepy enough to be the real guy. But we’re giving our award to the fake L.A. Kings, who don’t even need ice to pretend they suck at hockey.
Let’s play count the Kings
There’s Elvis. And King Kong. Also Neptune, the king of the sea. The L.A. Kings. There’s the King of spades. And an actual king, with a crown. The pope, he’s kind of a king. Sort of. And what else? A zebra? That’s like the king of the horses, right?
We knew John Oates, and you sir are no John Oates
It’s always fun to analyze the power dynamics of pop duos. Is it a Lennon-McCartney style partnership, or is it more of a Michael-Ridgeley ass-carrying? Who is the alpha-dog of Go West? In a video with this many questionable aesthetic decisions it can be hard to tell, but we’re pretty sure it’s not the guy with the bike shorts and the electric, stand-up bass. Richard Drummie (yes, that’s his real name) appears to be a talented musician, but he comes off looking like Vanilli to Peter Cox’s Milli.
Posted at 1:48 PM in Video, Video Hangover
say what you will about the video, this song is AWESOME, especially the counter melody at the end where he sings YOU MADE A HOLE IN MY HEART
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i seriously LOVED this song when i was 14...
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Thanks for reminding me why this is my #1 most hated song of all time. A close second? The Tubes "She's a Beauty" Kthxbye.
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I had no idea the guys that sang this song looked like middle aged soccer dads. It just makes the song that much better.
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Wasn't this song in a movie?
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Is the red-sweater wearing, folk-singer type supposed to be a member of the KINGston Trio? The Cowardly Lion tagged along as well.
I think the kitchen sinks falling from the sky at the end indicate the director acknowledging that this is indeed a ludicrous concept for a promo clip.
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I think it was in pretty woman. I had in school suspension for a week and the teacher in charge played the sdtrk over and over and over and over again. damnit
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Artmusiche is right, image aside, this is an incredible song. I often wonder whether the big pop songs of the 80's/early 90's would get the respect they deserve if they weren't associated with such cheesy imagery.
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Top 5 on my list of bands that should have never existed:
1.Go-West
2.Johnny Hates Jazz
3.The Outfield
4.Glass Tiger
5.Alias.
I'm sure we'll see these bands on the "Crap" section anytime soon.
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huey lewis was in go west?
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Awesome karaoke BTW.
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Stereogum is so clever and witty to point out dated music videos. You know what the real sad part is? The music videos of this decade. While there are some gold nuggets among the turds i'd rather watch shitty videos from the 80's then even listen to half of the piss poor excuses for music posted on this blog.
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I fucking loved Go West as a teen...it totally explains my light FM tendencies to this day. That and Level 42's Running in the Family Everything But The Girl Language of Life... Yes, as a matter of fact I am gay.
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Yikes! So much defense of quite a stupid song.
This is easily my favorite section of Stereogum. It is a real delight to see terrible music video that I used to think were so cool.
Cowardly lion, King of spades, guy with jackhammer..ha!
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I love these biweekly walks we take down memory lane but, geez, everytime I try to sneak a gem like this video in, my husband walks. I would almost rather be caught looking at internet porn.
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OMG! i know Go West from a couple good 80s songs, i never knew this was them!! this is seriously disappointing.
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Any guy born in '80 or '81 got his first woody courtesy of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. This song rules.
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I'm pretty sure that any guy that got his first woody courtesy of Julia Roberts at anytime, ever...is probably out of the closet and openly gay now...the 'Jar-Jar Binx' look-alike (I think he was taken from her caricature) and unbelieveably homely Julia Roberts is so overated an actress it degrades all truly 'Pretty Women' that she was even cast in that role. She also could never carry a movie by herself and make it work...which is indeed the true standard for greatness in the acting profession.
Back to the song, other that Richard Gere, it was probably the only decent highlight
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