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March 1st, 2005
02:00 am - THE CAT TOWN VIDEO CHALLENGE CONTEST RESULTS
After four days and 15 video stills and over 20 entries, the Cat Town Video Guessing Whatever I Called It Contest is over, and the winner by a new-wave hairdo is
 quodlibetic
with a final score of 11.5!
Once I saw she'd entered I knew she'd place high, what with her being a library chick who has at least one legwarmer firmly back in the 80s and all. So congratulations, you! Now just contact me with your current address and I'll wing the 2 CDs to you in a week or so. Also, let me know whether you or your lovely cat Oscar will be appearing in our glorious Cat Town Retro 80s Flashback Reunion Weekend episode.
There was a three-way tie for second place with 10 points each -- Keith, Keef (heliophage) and Neither-Keith-Nor-Keef (hemlock_martini.) As this is quite impressive and since I'm so glad I didn't have to come up with a tiebreaker for y'all, your runners-up prize is that your parts in the episode of CAT TOWN will be played by the Animal Hat Gang. You may now fight amongst yourselves over which of you gets to be Duckie.
For the sake of convenience (and to spare those who know they didn't do so hot) I'll let the rest of you figure out your own scores if you'd like; remember I scored one full point for getting both artist and song and a half point for getting either the artist or the song. For the statistics geek in all of us, I did calculate how many people got each screencap right and half-right (non-guesses didn't figure into these stats); the percentages have been slightly rounded so that they look nice, of course. See how well you did below!
THE RESULTS
 1. CUM ON FEEL THE NOIZE
QUIET RIOT
60% got this right!
30% got it half-right!
This video continues Quiet Riot's saga of The Boy With A Scary Metal Mask In His Room (or, as alphacygni put it, "OMG WTF IS THAT.")
The saga starts in the first video, Metal Health, which is the answer that everybody who got this half-right used. If that makes any sense. Anyway, the video pretty much shows the acoustic damage that can occur to one's bedroom when one hangs a scary metal mask above one's bed. Your stereo grows super-sized and then the walls fly away and Quiet Riot shows up and there's a loud song and you're invited to cum on feel the noize, the end. I'm not sure if the saga continued in another video, because as far as I know, they didn't have any other major hits.
Of the incorrect guesses (some of which we shall list for the amusement of all) one person guessed Styx' Mr Roboto which I can understand, being all metal and stuff, and another guessed Men At Work's Who Can It Be Now? which also makes sense, given that the boy definitely has that "OMG WTF IS THAT." look on his face.
Please note we also accepted, as correct, "Come On Feel The Noise."
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 2. ELECTRIC AVENUE
EDDY GRANT
75% got this right!
5% got it half-right!
OH NO.
OH NO.
OH NO.
GOOD GOD.
Most everybody who guessed this got it right, with some exceptions -- one person guessed Peter Tosh's Legalize It (again, not a very bad guess, all thing considered) and one person who shall go nameless got the song right, but guessed Eddie Rabbit.
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 3. SYNCHRONICITY II
THE POLICE
50% got this right!
20% got it half-right!
And don't you just love that post-apocalyptic junkyard set? Sting starts the video hanging on the wire between the two towers o' trash. It's kickin rad.
Half the people who guessed got it right, and I did accept just "Synchronicity" as a correct answer. Most of the incorrect answers involved Billy Idol (and yeah, Sting's kinda got the sneer and hair for it, doesn't he?)
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 4. BAD TO THE BONE
GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS
STUMPER!! Nobody got this right or even half-right!
Ah, our first stumper. Let me know when you're done groaning, and then we'll move on. All right.
The shot here is from the inside of Georgie's guitar case (in which he keeps his pool cue.) We see it as he prepares to play pool against the dude in the picture. I can't remember which bluesman it is, but he's in the video, too. I was kinda hoping that someone would recognize the shot, since it does look rather iconic and all. The guesses, though, were rather diverse -- Psychedelic Furs' Pretty in Pink, Tina Turner's Private Dancer (both later than 1983, though) and even Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.
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 5. HEART AND SOUL
HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS
15% got this right!
75% got it half-right!
While almost everybody knew this was good ol' Huey (someone did guess Hall & Oates) the most popular song guess was I Want A New Drug. Same album, yes, but not the correct song. I think Heart And Soul was the first single from Sports, a most excellent album in its own right. Just ask Patrick Bateman!
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 6. OUR HOUSE
MADNESS
95% got this right!
Only one incorrect answer here (one person guessed "Come on Eileen" which was nearly right but nooooot quite!) and no halfsies. If I'd had the screencap for Madness' other hit, House of Fun, you all would've been hitting me at this point. This is such an adorably upbeat video, with the lads all going crazy with their instruments and whatnot. And the eternally-modulating chorus sticks in your head for days on end.
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 7. DO YOU WANNA HOLD ME?
BOW WOW WOW
STUMPER! Nobody got this right!
18% got it half-right!
This was probably the most misleading screencap of 'em all and maybe the most obscure song -- most people will probably only remember Bow Wow Wow's big hit, I Want Candy (as the 3 people who got it half-right did) and the lovely Annabelle Lwan does bear quite the resemblance to Toni Basil in her Mickey video, especially the facial expression right here. The Mickey Mouse ears probably don't help, either (the line Annabelle is singing in the song right here is "And Mickey Mouse is as big as a house!!") However, Toni Basil's video featured cheerleader outfits against a stark white background, and, uh, I can't hardly fault you for guessing, though.
Shannon P, however guessed neither Bow Wow Wow or Toni Basil, instead opting for the time-honored "your mom." Too bad I didn't award bonus points for sarcasm. Or take 'em away.
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 8. I'M STILL STANDING
ELTON JOHN
STUMPER!! Nobody got this right or half-right!
Let the howling commence, especially those who now recognize it from Pop-Up Video a few years back. Yeah, this is an Elton John video, the one on the French Riviera with the crazy mimes and the dude in spandex with a crazy package and stuff. The two models here put their hands up as Elton sings the line "you'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use." See, mask, faces, hiding, blah blah blah Bernie Taupincakes.
Before my update, most of the guesses were for girl groups -- Heart figured in prominently, as well as the Bangles and the Go-Gos. In a bizarre synchronicistic turn, both Keith and Keef answered Human League for this one. You guys had almost the same sets of incorrect answers, it's very weird. hemlock_martini, on the other hand, wisely went for AAARGH SCARY HAND PEOPLE. And two people guessed Taco's Puttin On The Ritz, which makes sense, because Taco's own video was just as freaky-deaky.
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 9. BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE
TALKING HEADS
90% got this right!
Yeah, most everybody got this one right off the bat as well, and this was guessed correctly by more people than any other screencap. Only a handful of incorrect answers, though -- Pink Houses displays a keen grasp of the picture composition, and I think someone else guessed Hall & Oates again. I think it's safe to say that whenever you guess Hall & Oates, you're GUESSING WITH HITLER! WRONG!
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 10. LIES
THOMPSON TWINS
55% got this right!
10% got it half-right!
Ah, yes, the 2001-inspired foot-bopping disembodied hand-clapping groovefest that some folks thought was Human League. And yes, we did accept "Lies Lies Lies" as a correct answer as well.
And hey, speaking of lies, the Thompson Twins were neither Thompsons nor Twins. Discuss.
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 11. SHARP DRESSED MAN
ZZ TOP
55% got this right!
45% got it half-right!
Yes, everybody guessed ZZ Top, everybody pat yourselves on the back. Now all those who guessed Sharp Dressed Man, keep on patting.
This one was a toss-up, though, and perhaps just a bit too vague. But did the ZZ Top dudes flash the Eliminator's keys in the Legs video? They probably did. Hell, both videos are nearly interchangable -- instead of a sharp-dressed man gettin the ZZ Top makeover, Legs features a woman doing the same. Anyway. You all got at least half a point on this one, so be happy fercryinoutloud.
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 12. SAY SAY SAY
PAUL McCARTNEY & MICHAEL JACKSON
96% got this right!
4% got it half-right!
Again, everybody got at least the artist right (or one-half of the artist right, but I wasn't giving quarter-points, thank you very much.) This is the famous video featuring Paul and Michael as snake-oil peddlers and vaudeville performers, and it's a hoot and whatnot. I hadn't seen the video in years and I was shocked, nay, COMPLETELY UNSURPRISED to see how much goddamn screen time Linda McCartney gets in this one. Oh, she doesn't sing, thankfully, but she rides with the boys in the truck and plays the piano for them and is generally REALLY FREAKIN ANNOYING EVERY TIME SHE'S ON THE SCREEN OH I WISH YOU WEREN'T DEAD SO I COULD SAY SOME TRULY BAD THINGS ABOUT YOU.
Anyway, I had to accept some variants on the answer as correct -- elkabong must have had an import copy as a youth, for he guessed "Say Say Say SHUT UP SHUT UP - Paul and Freako" while jadasc made sure to point out that this featured Michael and Paul "before the molestation charges and transformation into Angela Lansbury, respectively" and I have to admit the latter point makes more hilarious sense the more I think about it.
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 13. BACK ON THE CHAIN GANG
THE PRETENDERS
60% got this right!
15% got it half-right!
This is one of my all-time favorite songs, honestly. Bittersweet but not whiny, some beautiful guitar work and an excellent minor key bridge that leads to a wonderful bit o' modulation for the last verse. Plus a stand-out line, full of beautiful angst and which, had the song been released today, would be featured endlessly on LJ ("Like a break in the battle was your part / In the wretched life of a lonely heart.")
It's odd that this was shown in mid-to-late 1983, cause I could've sworn the album it's on ("Learning to Crawl") came out in 1984. Anyway. Most common mis-guesses included Joan Jett and another Pretenders hit, Don't Get Me Wrong.
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 14. IT'S A MISTAKE
MEN AT WORK
14% got this right!
5% got it half-right!
Quite a common theme in the Cold War era was the cautionary "hey let's not have a nuclear war" music video. Genesis had Land of Confusion (aka "the one with the freak-ass puppets") and Frankie Goes to Hollywood had Two Tribes (which most people guessed here.) But no, Men At Work had one as well, and this is it. There's also a lot of scenes of men marching and some kickass stop-motion G.I. Joe animation in this video.
I rather liked Men At Work in their heyday. Eschewing the usual Land Down Under quotefest, my favorite single of theirs was Overkill.
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 15. DANCING WITH MYSELF
BILLY IDOL
55% got this right!
15% got it half-right!
Who knew this establishing shot (first thing you see in the video) would be so recognizable as a Billy Idol song? Not me, and I honestly wouldn't have been able to guess this one if I hadn't been behind the game. So those of you who got it right, congratulations, you beat me. Okay.
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And that's the game! Thanks for playing, everybody! Feel free to clutter up my comments with well-deserved bragging, comiserating over the lack of your pop culture-fu, or cursing Sir Elton John's name up one wall or down the other.
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![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/71696365/2251477) | | From: | grumqa |
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| Date: | March 1st, 2005 07:14 am (UTC) |
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Wait, Billy Idol and Sting are different?
frist post | From: | (Anonymous) |
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| Date: | March 1st, 2005 05:05 pm (UTC) |
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| | Keith | (Link) |
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Sting played Billy Idol on Saturday Night Live once, and did a great job. Nailed the sneer. It was a McLaughlin Group skit, hosted by Frank Sinatra. (Phil Hartman as Sinatra.) Sinead O'Connor, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme were the other panelists.
Sinatra referred to Sinead as Sinbad, Sine-Aid and Cueball throughout the skit. I knew and know nothing. I would have gotten fuck-all. BUT I do feel pretty fuckin' spiffy because I got my wife to change her guess on song #11 from "Legs" to "Sharp Dressed Man."
YEEEHAW! I get .045 of a point! I rule. It is Bo Diddley in the George Thorogood video. Damn, gotta love that dropping-the-cigar-ash-and-the-winning-ball-falls-in moment. Dammit all, I should'a used my entry to answer instead of to bitch about the non-availability of MTV in 1980s Britain. th*only* one I knew was #8 STUPID ELTON JOHN! *wails*
I knew I knew the mystery Elton John video! I swore at that screencap for a good 5 minutes. ARGH!
I shall email you. :) | From: | zhym |
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| Date: | March 1st, 2005 01:50 pm (UTC) |
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#5 looked like Huey -- but way too young. Even in 1983, he still looked old.
I still say the real answer for #11 is "any given ZZ Top song." They flash the keys in pretty much every video, I think. In "Legs", they flash it when they hand the Cool Car over to the Lanky Dorkboy so he can drive off into the sunset with his beloved shoe saleswoman after her makeover.
For the record, I am ashamed at how many I missed. Ashamed! Dammit. I was pretty sure the picture was of Bo Diddley (and it is) but I didn't make the Thorogood connection. Bah. ![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/32759731/184313) | | From: | slit |
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| Date: | March 1st, 2005 04:11 pm (UTC) |
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I'm so depressed. I didn't do anything in the '80s but watch videos and I didn't know any of these. My whole life's been wasted. | From: | (Anonymous) |
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| Date: | March 1st, 2005 05:14 pm (UTC) |
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| | Keith | (Link) |
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The kid in the Quiet Riot video is Meeno Peluce, preteen semi-idol. His most famous part was as one of the kids in Amityville Horror. | From: | zhym |
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| Date: | March 1st, 2005 11:55 pm (UTC) |
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Again! Again!
That was fun. You should do another one -- maybe with screen captures of the commercials. :) The Thompson Twins took their name from the characters in Hergé's Tintin books.
Why do I know that? |
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