Before we dive into the top ten, I think this is a good time to peek behind the curtain, if you will. Let us examine this glorious cultural artifact that was presented to the world on December 31, 1985. Of course, we are talking about The MTV Top 100 Video Countdown of 1985. The greatest videos of 1985, ranked in order from 1 to 100. A brilliant and inspired idea.
I have somewhat of an affinity, or some might say an obsession, with this list. Just in case profiling 90+ videos didn't make that clear enough.
My main point of curiosity is the ranking itself. With 100 spots available, very often there will be an
awesome song that seems to be ranked much too low. It also works the other way, with an
unspectacular song attaining a high chart position.
But this ranking, this "countdown" if you will....how was the placement of each video determined? Oh, can't anyone explain how?
If there's anyone I would trust to provide the real story, it would be original MTV VJ Martha Quinn. Who is a better authority than someone who was actually there, one of the hosts of the countdown on that New Year's Eve day in 1985?
I have studied the original videotape from that day. (As you can see above, I purchased my prize from rockadelicdave). Martha contributes witty banter in between videos, relating all kinds of fun facts about the artists. But in the midst of the light-hearted anecdotes, we can discern a serious clue. After detailing all the awards won by Don Henley's "The Boys Of Summer" video (criminally low at #65, by the way), she faces the camera and states the following:
"The Top 100 Countdown of '85 was calibrated by how long the video stayed on our weekly countdown show and by the highest position it reached in its duration on the countdown."
Whoa!! Say what now?!?! Carve that into a stone tablet!!
There is method to the madness! "Calibration" is involved! And not only that, her revelation includes three very important components:
1) "our weekly countdown show". Each week, MTV aired the Top 20 Video Countdown, which broadcast the most popular videos of the week in descending order from 20 to 1. This was broadcast every Friday night, as I recall. Possibly, the weekly countdown rankings were also somehow calibrated.
2) "how long the video stayed". A video debuts on the countdown, and if it is popular, it returns the following week, possibly with a higher ranking. Over time, it declines in popularity, tumbling back down the countdown and exiting from whence it came.
3) "the highest position it reached". Pretty self-explanatory. Somewhere between 1 and 20.
So perhaps this "calibration" involves steps 2 and 3 above. Or the rankings are decided through a series of shady backroom deals. But I'm choosing not to believe that. Martha has spoken.
Then the implication is that a formula, an algorithm if you will, has been applied to each video's chart performance, factoring in peak ranking and duration. Whereas we have Song A, which appeared on the countdown for a short amount of time and peaked at a low position (say #14), and Song B, which appeared on the countdown for a long period of time and peaked at a higher position (#8, let's say). Maybe Song B achieved a higher ranking on the Top 100 countdown by virtue of its greater peak position and staying power. Right?
Fair enough, but then the question becomes how to differentiate those videos that have a similar peak and duration? How would that be calibrated?
It shouldn't be difficult to reconstruct this formula and find out how the top 100 countdown was built. All we need is the raw data, that is, each weekly top 20 countdown list from 1985. That would give us all kinds if valuable information.
Look, we know there were more than 100 videos made in 1985. I have already detailed two huge hits (link) which missed the countdown completely. Shouldn't we also know which videos ranked 101-120, for example? Don't those videos also deserve to be profiled in a blog that focuses exclusively on music videos from 1985? Of course they do.
Now, about that raw data. I have scoured the interwebs, and the greatest intelligence I’ve found on the subject was in a chat room thread on a music community website called UKMix. A few inspired folks have provided
several Top 20 weekly video countdown charts from 1985.
These honorable scholars had to derive the MTV charts from old Rolling Stone magazines, where the countdown results were published on a semi-weekly basis. But alas, the publications did not begin until sometime in mid-1985, so no countdowns exist prior to May 1985. Other than these postings, there is apparently not a shred of evidence regarding the weekly countdowns of 1985.
There's got to be some intern that worked at MTV in the mid-80's who can provide the missing documents, or even just bread crumbs that might lead to the missing documents. How else might we learn the secrets and mysteries of the MTV Top 100 Music Video Countdown of 1985?
Look, if Martha said there was calibration, I believe her. But I sure would like to do the math myself to verify.
The UKMix chat room posters have given me hope that the answers are out there.
One day, perhaps the secrets and mysteries of the MTV Top 100 Music Video Countdown of 1985 will be no more.
