• twitter
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • pinterest
  • youtube
DailyBoom Your Old School Music Authority

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: Billy Squier 'Rock Me Tonite'


(You want it all right)...We're goin' in style
Say you walk right--you talk right--and your hair's so wild
(Snow-white)--Hey that's not what I mean
We go down in the shadows and crawl between

Moonlight in the city brings the magic to your eyes
Freezin' a moment--leave me paralyzed
Breathe an emotion--set it dancin' in my ear
Bring on the rhythm when I hold you near

Take me in your arms--roll me through the night
Take me to your heart--rock me tonite

Back in the early summer of 1984, Billy Squier had an instant hit with "Rock Me Tonite".  It was the lead single off of his Signs of Life album and it came on the heels of two super-successful other albums. The fact that the song was a hit surprised no one, but his video for the track sure did. Supposedly, Squier had decided against working with two other directors before hiring Kenny Ortega to work some magic on "Rock Me Tonite".

Apparently, MTV was waiting for a video to world premiere and in spite of Squier's label not exactly liking the concept, they went ahead and made this thing. While Squier has blamed Ortega for the fallout, I have to wonder how on earth he could have watched this thing back and thought it was good. Squier, an already established rocker with serious credibility danced, pranced and romped his way right out of a career. It's amazing what 4 bad minutes on film did to this guy. Almost immediately his ticket sales dropped like a brick. While Squier is still around making music, it is widely believed that the "Rock Me Tonite" video was the equivalent of career suicide for him.

This video is also thought to be the absolute worst video in the history of MTV, so enjoy how awesomely bad it is. Can you think of any other video that is worse?