MTV's Basement Tapes – 1985 – Spinning Guitars

Wow, what a blast from the past! I remember seeing the video back in high school on MTV’s Basement Tapes competition. I thought the guitars were super cool and liked the riff. Anyway, I’ve long since forgotten about it, but something reminded me of the spinning guitars the other day and it triggered a memory and thanks to Google and Youtube I found the video in about 5 minutes! Anyone else remember this?

Here’s a little blurb from a Chicago newspaper about the band from 1985:
It’s easy to see why 21 Summers’ video of a melodic pop song called “Little Girl” initially caught the fancy of MTV viewers, who voted it the winner by an overwhelming majority in a preliminary contest in June. For starters, the electric guitars Brody and Friend play are eye-catching enough to merit a second look, if not a third or fourth.

Designed and patented by Brody, the intriguing instruments have necks—one 6- string, the other 12- string—at either end of the guitar body; the guitarist spins the instrument around by means of a pivot on his belt. ZZ Top fans may recall that the Texas rock trio used the pivoting guitar bin in their “Legs” video, but Brody [who says that his guitars predate ZZ Top's and that at one point he considered suing the trio for "borrowing" his idea] has taken things a step further with highly entertaining results.

The video, shot on location and on sound stages in the Chicago are, was edited at Editel, a local film postproduction facility where Brody works. In addition to the unusual guitars, “Little Girl” is loaded with special effects, which should give the band an additional edge in the race for viewer votes.

As the name 21 Summers might indicate, band members are all in their early to mid-20′s, though there’s a bit more to it than that. “Kevin was in a motorcycle accident when he was 21,” Brody explains. “He ‘died’ technically, and then came back to life. It’s hard to explain, but the name 21 Summers has a kind of mystical meaning for us.”

Anyway, I love the spinning guitars and the corny racetrack set. The song isn’t a great as I remember, but the guitars are! Enjoy.