Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#58: Public Image Ltd “Seattle”
Like last week’s subject the Ramones, John Lydon found 1987’s listening public a little less than awed at late-’70s punk conquests (in Lydon’s case, the Sex Pistols did all the conquesting). Unlike the Ramones, however, Lydon’s bid to stay relevant involved actual musical change and experimentation, and that transformation took the form of Public Image Ltd, as definitive and literal a post-punk group as there ever was. Most critics slobber over PiL’s second album (1979’s Metal Box), but 1987’s Happy? had some simpler pleasures, such as the bright and angry “Seattle.” Rumor has it that it’s a slam against the city where PiL got booed while playing with Mudhoney, but who knows what Lydon is thinking. If we ever did get inside Lydon’s head, we’d only want to ask why he employed David Byrne’s tailor circa Stop Making Sense for this video’s XXL blazer.
