The Mini Pops

This weekend, I picked up some old video tapes from the 1980s for ten cents each. Two of them were of particular interest to me. The first was Rubik: The Amazing Cube. It was an animated series that ran for about a year in the Saturday Morning Cartoon timeslot in the mid-80s.

The second video was The Mini Pops, volume one of two that K-Tel released. Most people who grew up in the 80s will remember the Mini Pops, and perhaps due to where you lived will depend on your memories of it. Here in Canada, it was all about the music, mainly Video Killed The Radio Star and the Abba Medley.

In Europe however, it was all about the music videos that were shown on television. Us here in Canada didn't get to see the videos unless we bought the video tapes, such as the one that I found. Because the videos were not as popular as the records in Canada probably contributed to the success of the Mini Pops as opposed to their demise and controversy.

So, I have put some of the videos on Youtube: The cheesy, the classic, and the controversial (all in that order.) I may post more when I get some time.


I Love Rock n' Roll

Spin the camera! Around and around she goes, where it stops..... a bad impression of guitar playing by a pre-teen girl decked out in leather.





Video Killed The Radio Star

The one that made the song popular. After the Mini Pops success with this one, it's really a shame that they didn't make a better video for it. The TV ad for the first Mini Pops album follows the video.




Morning Train (9 to 5)

I couldn't fully grasp why the Mini Pops were so controversial in Europe until I saw this video. Now I get it, and I probably would have been mortified (as an adult) to see this on TV as well.