The first time I saw MTV, it was in black-and-white. My dad had gotten a new job in Tallahassee and had rented a small one-bedroom apartment there to live in until the rest of the family could move up. I went to visit him one weekend and slept on the couch in the tiny living room. Staying up late one night, I turned on the little black-and-white TV that he had taken with him and was amazed to see this new channel, not available back in Gainesville yet, called MTV. Even in black-and-white, with the music playing through those tinny little speakers, the experience blew my mind.
I probably stayed up three hours that night just watching it. I quickly learned that every song MTV played had a synthesizer or three prominently featured. One of the best songs I heard that night was no exception—“Always Something There to Remind Me,” by the Naked Eyes. What a great song! It’s got one of the best synthesizer hooks of any new wave single. I still love it.
(Fun fact: Most people don’t know that the song is actually a cover of a Burt Bacharach number. Burt Bacharach! Most people today only know Bacharach from his cameo in Austin Powers, but oh well. It’s still pretty amazing.)
Sadly, the singer for the Naked Eyes, Pete Byrne, passed away last month. I thought I would feature his greatest hit as a meager kind of tribute.
Rock on…
