Jeff Weston, VP/creative director for Area 23, has unveiled a music video created during coronavirus that is equal parts ‘80s homage and tribute to the MTV generation. Weston co-wrote the song, “Big in the Eighties,” after reuniting with his childhood neighbor Mike Moore, today a professor of physics.
The two had started a rock band together back in high school that, in Weston’s words, “went nowhere,” then lost touch for about three decades. But their childhood dream of becoming the next Mick and Keith, fueled by watching videos on MTV, forged a strong bond that was rekindled when the two reconnected shortly before the pandemic. In September Moore sent him some piano riffs he had been working on, and Weston turned them into a full song and added lyrics.
“Since we were raised on MTV, we couldn’t release a song without an accompanying video,” Weston quips. He recorded the guitar tracks in his home studio in Brooklyn, while Moore taped the keyboard parts at his home in Lansing, Michigan. Weston edited the video.
The pair didn’t have a lot of footage of their own band, so Weston scoured YouTube for amateur reels. The resulting five-and-and-half-minute video strings together everything from home movies of friends’ bands to (mostly) found clips. It’s like watching an ‘80s time capsule, chock full of teens with puffed hair, fish-tailing Trans Ams and enough Battle of the Bands scenes to fill a yearbook.
“Big in the Eighties” is sure to strike a nostalgic chord in anyone who’s ever dreamed of being a rock star, or who went through adolescence during that decade.
