Ever since the dawn of MTV and Friday Night Videos, the music video has significantly impacted musical tastes and pop culture. It might not be as extreme as when the Buggles declared that "Video Killed the Radio Star", but there is no arguing that the music video certainly could make or break a song's popularity. So this regular Flashback Video feature will serve to remember some of the music videos from the great '80s decade that made an impact on me in one way or another.
This issue we will cover "You Got It All" by The Jets. It was released in 1986, the fourth single from their self-titled debut album. The song was actually written by Rupert Holmes who is best known for his hit single “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)”. In early 1987, "You Got It All" made it to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 while the ballad also reached #2 on the R&B chart and #1 on the Adult/Contemporary for two weeks in March of 1987. In addition to being featured in the film Jaws: The Revenge, the song was used in episodes of four different daytime soap operas (Another World, As the World Turns, Days of Our Lives, and General Hospital) in 1987.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Moana Wolfgramm who was the youngest member of the band. Her sister Elizabeth sang lead vocals on the song originally while they were only about 11 and 12 years old respectively. Moana described how the topic of romantic love was a little mature for them and what their manager suggested to help her sister connect:
During the recording, Liz was having a hard time connecting with it so Don [Powell (their manager)] had her imagine she had a puppy and how she would feel and that’s kind of how she was able to connect with the song emotionally.
The song was co-produced by David Z. who is best known for his work with Prince including working on Purple Rain. His youngest brother is Bobby Z. who was the original drummer in Prince's band The Revolution. His other brother is Stephen Rivkin who was actually hired to direct several of the music videos for The Jets including "You Got It All" as well as their previous hit "Crush On You". Rivkin went on to have a very successful career as a film editor including films like My Cousin Vinny, Outbreak, Swordfish, the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy and Avatar among many others.
In the music video for "You Got It All", the five male members of the band are customers at a diner in which the three female members are waitresses. It eventually switches over to the band performing on a stage before returning to the diner which is now completely empty except for Elizabeth holding a rose. Here is the music video for "You Got It All" by The Jets...
You can find out more about The Jets in our interview with Moana Wolfgramm, but here is what she had to say about the band's music videos and the impact of MTV:
I think the videos were key for this group. To be able to show them what we looked like and how we performed gave people a clear idea of what they’d be getting in our live shows. MTV helped so many groups and it did the same for The Jets. Doing the videos and seeing how things are produced was very educational. I realize that it takes an army of people to pull off a three minute video. So many things we don’t think about that seem so effortless but the details are so important. MTV was awesome in the '80s, it really was a channel dedicated to music of all genres.
Hope you enjoyed another trip back to the '80s thanks to Flashback Video!