2008-02-19

The V!

OH GOD THIS MAKES ME SO DAMN HAPPY I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU.

This will mean very little to those of you who weren't living in the Greater Boston area in 1985, but trust me on this: it's awesome news.

For years, V66 was something you brought up at a party at like 2 in the morning. "Do you remember that station? Holy shit it was the best thing ever..." If you didn't have cable, you could still keep up with the kids who did. Matter of fact, you'd be better for it, because V66 not only played the popular videos, it made a point to showcase local music. The Stompers. Face to Face. Human Sexual Response. And, of course, Ball and Pivot and their filthy, filthy, FILTHY video for "Down," quite possibly the greatest song ever written. Oh, yes. Greatest. Song. EVER written. "I always get up when I'm goin' DOOOOOWWWWWWNNNN." GENIUS.

(My God, if someone could just PLEASE find that video and throw it up on YouTube I would be the happiest kid in the sandbox. I have not set eyes upon it in over 20 years and I suspect that seeing it again would be rather like locating a long-lost relative. I would WEEP, I would.)

V66 lasted maybe just about a year before the station got sold and turned into a home shopping channel. I am surely not the only one who lamented its passing. By then, I think we even HAD MTV but preferred the V because you could catch vastly cooler stuff. Kate Bush. The Smiths. Ball and Pivot. Ball and Pivot.

Years after its untimely demise, you could still see V66 stickers plastered on tollbooths throughout the state.

I'm terribly excited about this documentary and I believe the gentlemen behind it should be CANONIZED. I am so not kidding.

Rockin' in Boston! Electric in Everett!

lisamcc at 9:12 p.m.

3 comments so far
Spooney
2008-02-20 14:20:27
Yeah, I remember.
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Spooney
2008-02-21 17:00:06
Actually I've got a V66 stickah on my pedalboard case, which I got from A-Tap. Maybe he's got a whole stash of them?
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Lynette
2008-03-24 23:29:03
Alas, in 1985 I was up on the Noth Shaw in college. We didn't get V66 up there. Or if we did, I was so retarded as to not know.
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