URGH! ALERT

URGH! A MUSIC WAR is on VH1 Classic tonight, Jan 30, (or tomorrow morning I guess) at 1 a.m. Central, so that would be 2 a.m. Eastern etc. Hopefully it'll be one several times in the upcoming days. This is the first time I've noticed it being on, but it may have been on other times recently.

Go Lux, go!

this is something that needs to come out on DVD but I'm not holiding my breath. I'm just grateful I have a booted copy.

I'll bet VH1 chops out at least a fourth of the movie to make room for commercials and fit it into a two-hour time slot in their programming. I can just see them saying, "Hey, what's the big deal, it's not as if we'll lose any narrative."

[www.urgh-dvd.com]

BTW they have a link that goes directly to the TP board!!!!!!!!!!!!



Post Edited (01-31-08 12:30)

That's hilarious - it links to my post from 2005 saying that I bought it from some dude (the same one running that site?) for $10 postpaid. Now they're selling it for 30 bucks, so I guess I got a deal. Maybe the one they're selling there now is a better copy than the one I got, which is clearly a dub of an old VHS, complete with periodic wavy lines from the TV about to lose its vertical hold....

Lux did indeed go! Delvin was correct in his prediction about severe editing - the casualties, near as I can tell, were the Cramps, the Surf Punks, Skafish, Splodgenessabounds, Invisible Sex and, surprisingly to me, given that he was one of the bigger and more commercially successful people involved, Gary Numan. Seems weird that VH1 would keep Athletico Spizz 80 but chop one of the folks that will always be mentioned in bouts of 80s nostalgia.

Maybe there were some rights issues, I dunno. Don't know how broadcast rights & royalties work concerning such things. But if it were VH1's choice, I'd imagine there were about 12 acts they would excise before Numan. Hell, I could picture them cutting everyone EXCEPT Numan, the Police, Go-Gos & Joan Jett. And maybe OMD, although I would expect they'd be surprised to discover they'd ever recorded anything besides "If You Leave."

Ah, that was harsh. Gotta be grateful they broadcast it at all. But damn, I was kind of looking forward to seeing Skafish in all his hideous glory.

Actually both Gary Numan and Splodenessabounds were edited out of the version taped off Showtime(?) ages ago (this was when there would always be 1 or 2 songs not included when they showed concerts, etc. so you'd have to buy the tape for the "full show") so it's probably not that big a a surprise that they were axed this time around as well.

And I can just imagine the VH1 folks wringing their hands imaging hordes of offended viewers calling in over Lux's bit with the mike in his mouth (yeah there's far worse they can/have shown, but I can imagine the editors going "WTF!" over Lux's bit).

And don't forget those awful "pants" Lux was wearing. Maybe THAT's why he got edited out.

I think the version I taped off of Sundance years ago had Mr. Skafish and The Cramps, but I haven't watched the whole thing in quite a while. Vh1 Classic has long since jumped the shark, what with their "news bulletins" that are actually just paid pitches to buy some new classic rocker's album (David Gilmour, CSNY), the airing of The Wedding Singer as a rock and roll movie, and various marathons of the same s##t over and over. When they first started, they'd play every video imaginable -- it was like the early days of MTV, where they'd play any sort of video to fill time. Then they added a "structure" and ruined it by turning it into the Classic Days of Vh1. Note to them; there wern't any.

No Cramps? No Numan? No Skafish?

Man, I'm glad I didn't waste time tunin' in. I would've been all kindsa pissed off.

It's my understanding that Numan has long fought his inclusion in rebroadcasts and any potential video releases of URGH! I don't know if it's a money/rights issue or if he just can't stand to see himself manipulating that stick shift between his legs while pouting like a goth kid on crack. (Which isn't to say that it's not a brilliant version of "Down in the Park," mind you.)