For more info see http://pacificstandardtime.org

And if you thought this was Ice Cube’s first attempt at depicting modern Los Angeles, you’d be wrong. Here’s his 1988 documentary about the south central Los Angeles suburb of Compton…

For your Christmas/New Year lull viewing pleasure, here’s one of those classic TV moments you never thought would happen (well not back in 1990 anyway).

In 1990 Oprah Winfrey hosted a discussion about the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Centre) and their “Parental Advisory” labelling of records.  Guests on the show were Jello Biafra, Tipper Gore, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Juan Williams, Ice-T and Nelson George.

I remember watching it, by pure chance, one lunchtime in the RDU offices (it was my first year there) and with the dozen of so people milling about it was a real “WTF?” moment before any of us had ever used the term “WTF?”. I think that’s the effect of Oprah Winfrey reciting Ice-T and Guns N’ Roses lyrics cold. Someone should give her a record deal.

Another week, another pile of digitally archived Memorex VHS cassettes.

This is the second episode of the second series of the Snub TV and aired in, ummmm, 1991?

Making their TV debut are a young, cheeky Manic Street Preachers full of piss and vinegar but avoiding eye contact in an endearing adolescent way – “I’d rather never have to do more than 50 (concerts) in my whole life”, “We’ll never write a love song (or ballad) ever”.

Their feature starts at the 11:20 mark. Although it’s available elsewhere on t’internet in isolation, I like the context that the whole show provides.

Their peers in the same programme? Dinosaur Jr, Spirea X, The Pixies, The Darkside, The Scientist and Front Line Assembly.

Continuing the exploration of the pile of VHS cassettes that litter the Joint Mansion during our own personal Earthquake Recovery Process.

I think this mini Housemartins documentary was originally broadcast as part of BBC 2′s “Rock Around The Clock” music marathon on Saturday September 20th 1986. It might be horrifically twee and horribly dated but it has one saving grace (well, two if you include the performance of “Think For A Minute”). At just over the 3 minute mark there is footage of an impossibly young Norman Cook trying to mash up The Clash and Run DMC on a primitive looking pair of turntables.

For want of a better headline, I’m calling it Fatboy Slim’s debut TV appearance – nearly 10 years before he was even a gleam in Norman’s own eye.

As I begin to sort through all the boxes on the floor that have acted as my storage system in post-earthquake Christchurch, it’s time to make some hard choices – should it stay or should it go?

In the case of VHS cassettes the answer seems to be – go, but not before I digitize some of the contents. And then upload them.

So here’s the first in an occasional series of videos that don’t seem to be available elsewhere on the web.

It’s an early 80’s UK Channel 4 programme hosted by Tony Wilson compiling dozens of live music performances and interviews, all culled from So It Goes and other Granada TV programmes that he had hosted a few years earlier.

The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks, Iggy Pop, The Fall, Elvis Costello, Blondie, Penetration, Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury, Tom Robinson, Magazine, John Cooper Clarke, XTC and Joy Division, amongst others, are featured. Some of them are making their TV debuts.

The quality can be quite ropey at times (for reasons outside of my control and explained on screen) but enjoy.

Special thanks to the crew at Dangerous Minds, who have already featured the video in one of their posts.

Further fuzzy treats in the coming weeks – the first TV appearance of the Manic Street Preachers and Norman Cook as Fatboy Slim in 1984…

So, in case I forget to play it on the show next week, here’s TISM and their 1998 single “Whatareya?“. Any band who wears masks, was rumoured to be The Wiggles in disguise (!!!), is friends with John Safran, and can write catchy pop songs is all right with me…

And as an added bonus, here’s another TISM classic video from 1998 “Thunderbirds Are Coming Out”…

Bergensbanen is the historic railway line in Norway that links Bergen to Oslo. It’s a very scenic ride that takes you past fjords and over mountains.

In October 2009 the Norwegian TV channel NRK2 filmed the 371km / 7.5 hour journey and screened parts of it on TV in November 2009. In December 2009 NRK made the footage available as an HD download.

A group of DJs at the DI.fm forums put together a soundtrack for this footage. There are 13 segments in total with 13 different ideas of a perfect soundtrack. It looks fantastic when you go full screen and it is quite hypnotic. A very enjoyable way to learn about the geography of Norway and listen to some techno / trance mixes you may never have heard otherwise.

View all 13 mixes here »

Tip of the hat to Nick of Ocean of Sound.

By the way, not sure why I’ve always been a sucker for music videos involving trains but here are some of my favourites…

KLF – Last Train to Trancentral (1991)

The Chemical Brothers “Star Guitar” (2002)

Robert Miles “Children” (1994)

So, in the week that Jarvis re-appeared on the cover of NME, we came across a series of YouTube videos from 2008 that form a one hour BBC 3 documentary entirely devoted to the song “Common People”.

The first of the six clips is posted below and you can find the rest of them here.

Personally, I find myself torn between between empathy for the rant and an affinity with the impatience with technology. So does that make me some kind of unholy cross between Generation X and Generation Y and Generation Z? We could call it Generation XOYO.

The show is produced by three New Zealand Broadcasting students (Libby Dallison, Karl Stanley, and Phillip Gow) for their major project. Because it’s a project the show consists of only has four episodes but it’s quite impressive. Let’s hope they can find the time and energy to make more.

Bands and events featured include: Flip Grater, The Datsuns, the CHARTdisc 4 release party, Cairo Knife Fight, The Eastern, Kids of 88, Sleepy Age, The Unfaithful Ways, Rare Shot Blue, The Dukes, Green Like Go, and Skudderhill.

I guess what spins my wheels is that while I have seen some of these artists live, listened to them on the radio, and read about them in various music publications seeing moving pictures of the artists adds yet another dimension.

Here’s the four episodes…

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