Huey Lewis, “I Want a New Drug” (1983)

By Null and SoDak

Music videos are bewildering and often a clusterfuck. While they started out as low budget items, as the 1980s progressed, thousands of dollars were spent to produce videos. Many of these videos celebrated the callousness, disillusions, and gluttony that generally went along with the Reagan presidency. The first video to air on MTV was The Buggles’s “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Videos became a tool to generate hit songs. Countless hours were wasted by youth, hoping to catch a video by a favorite band. Instead, ballads by REO Speedwagon and Foreigner—just to name two—were forced down the publics’ gullet. For some, videos were thrilling, as it was exciting to see rock stars in a new medium. For others, seeing a video, especially if it was the first exposure to a song, created negative associations, given the stupidity on the screen, usually consisting of barely clad women, expensive cars, ridiculous fashion trends, and endless parties. From time to time, the folks at Tickle Your Taint will share reflections and what-the-fuck questions regarding specific videos.

SoDak: I first heard this song on the radio, and have always had a soft spot for this song. Fortunately, Huey is also soft as he gets out of the bed. Morning wood in those white boxers would be a terrible start to the video. Strangely, the first two guitar notes sound like someone springing a boner.

Null: You’re right; it is a very “springy” guitar into. Huey has a nice place. A modest apartment with a map of the world tacked to the wall, but, considering this was his mega-hit album, he still didn’t get a bed frame yet. It seems like a lot of work to fill the sink with water and ice cubes just to sing a few lines.

SoDak: Oh yes, he goes in for the rock star, polar bear plunge to wake up. The first one wakes him up, so he can sing during the second round.

Null: He didn’t seem that groggy when he got up. Was the polar dunk merited?

SoDak: The guitar and keyboard players look very bored to death. They are probably wondering how many times they will have to play this song in their lives.

Null: If only they would have known.

SoDak: Yikes, the red suit—I think he is auditioning for Miami Vice, oh wait, it’s 80s rock n’ roll. That explains just about everything.

Null: He stole it from Loverboy or Sammy Hagar. Every time I see him run out with the red suit on, I think of Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend” video. However, he is wearing black and red, the colors of International Socialism. I’m sure this is the message he was trying to send.

SoDak: I fuckin’ wish.

Null: Look, it’s her. A dream on a bike. My 7^th grade heart just skipped. Isn’t she the same woman that is in their “Heart and Soul” video? I loved her. He has a cool car; he is a San Francisco rocker, if I am correct in my skyline identification skills.

SoDak: It is hilarious that Huey is such a rebel, as the suits look so disgusted, as he jumps on the ferryboat. I suppose this serves as a foreshadow to “Hip to be Square.” Instead of Bob Dylan standing there, holding que cards with lyrics, the lyrics are headlines in the paper.

Null: Strangely, his bandmate is reading the paper and another bandmate gives him Alka-Seltzer. They pretend they don’t know him. Oddly enough, we don’t see them rushing to the gig. They are already on stage playing when he finally gets there.

SoDak: The woman is everywhere. Coincidence, I think not—bicycle, boat, audience. The problem is that Huey seems more like a stalker.

Null: The premise of this video is much more problematic than that, SoDak. The subtext of this video has something to do with quantum physics. Both Huey and the mystery woman are headed to the same destination—the gig. Yet, Huey is rushing to get there in time, while the mystery woman is leisurely traveling to the same destination—and yet, she arrives first, as she is at the front of the audience when Huey runs on stage. At the beginning of the video they start off at the same locale—he jumps in his yellow car, while she rides by on a ten-speed bike. How is this possible? I would expect some New Age Quantum Mechanic “types” to suggest that time is relative to how we perceive our journeys.

SoDak: I think they are stealing the entrance from the Blues Brothers, as he arrives late taking the stage, during a guitar solo.

Null: That moment when you realize your dad’s golf buddy is your drummer…and check out the kid next to the mystery women when Huey gets on his knees and sings to her. The young man wants some Huey.

SoDak: The creepy moment is when he dances and sings in front of her. I think his dick is noticeably flapping inside of his pants—slightly screen left. Oh yeah! He is hoping that she noticed it.

Null: It’s all quantum physics.