Friday Video – The Kings, “This Beat Goes On / Switchin’ to Glide”

At last.

This is the video we’ve wanted to post since this column was formed. If you’re of a certain age, then you remember that there wasn’t a single rock station that let the 5:00 hour on a Friday go by without playing this song, all because of five simple words: “Nothing matters but the weekend.” Well, it wasn’t just those five words, of course. The song itself is one of the most cleverly constructed new wave songs of all time, stuffed with Farfisa organs, triple decker harmonies and a pogotastic back half (the ‘Switchin’ to Glide’ part). One interesting footnote is that the song was produced by Bob Ezrin, and was his first project after finishing The Wall with Pink Floyd. Hey, if we were Ezrin at the time, we’d want a follow-up project as far from Roger Waters’ psychosis as possible, too.

As for the video, it was assembled by Kings guitarist Mister Zero, editing decades of footage of the band playing the song (including their lone appearance on “American Bandstand”) into one big video megamix. It took him over three years to assemble, and truthfully, we’re surprised it’s here; Zero told us that they were still fighting with Warner Music for permission to post it. Looks like common sense finally won out.

  

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