# Video Killed the Radio Star. Any real life examples? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186 "2017-02-06T19:46:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/41 "2017-02-15T02:14:23Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > I have no idea what Squier thought he was projecting. “It’s the mid-80s, I’m extremely white, and I can’t tell that my agent and the director are imbeciles.” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/42 "2017-02-15T03:52:50Z")
> [@Egnu\_Cledge](#): > > I don’t know how much it hurt his career, but both of my parents recall seeing Roy Orbison on TV for the first time and being surprised by how homely he was. And that was with the ever-present black wig and sunglasses. I’ve heard that this is why ZZ Top have the heavy beards, too. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/43 "2017-02-15T05:18:13Z")
> [@Egnu\_Cledge](#): > > I don’t know how much it hurt his career, but both of my parents recall seeing Roy Orbison on TV for the first time and being surprised by how homely he was. Despite his non-matinee-idol looks, Orbison actually starred in a fairly strange Western musical in 1967, “[The Fastest Guitar Alive](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061652/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1),” in which he played a Confederate spy, who used a guitar with a gun hidden in it. He didn’t wear his trademark sunglasses in the film, either: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tOpyhiXxnUY/hqdefault.jpg) ](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tOpyhiXxnUY/hqdefault.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/44 "2017-02-15T19:46:00Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > actually there are reverse examples in the movies … clara bow for example was considered ne of the greatest and most beautiful actress of the tweens and 20s > > Then sound came to movies and they found out she had the voice and speech pattrens of a Brooklyn truck driver … but theres tons of others along the same pattern Her wiki article states the opposite, FYI. > [@](#): > > With “talkies” The Wild Party, Dangerous Curves, and The Saturday Night Kid, all released in 1929, Bow kept her position as the top box-office draw and queen of Hollywood.[105]Neither the quality of Bow’s voice nor her Brooklyn accent was an issue to Bow, her fans, or Paramount.[72] > [@](#): > > With Paramount on Parade, True to the Navy, Love Among the Millionaires, and Her Wedding Night, Bow was second at the box-office only to Joan Crawford in 1930.[5] With No Limit and Kick In, Bow held the position as fifth at box-office in 1931 > **[Clara Bow](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Bow)** > > Clara Gordon Bow (/boʊ/; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol. > Bow appeared in 46 silent films and 11 talkies, including hits such as Mantrap (1926), It (1927), a... ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/45 "2017-02-16T22:49:21Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > I suspect that his dying a year before ‘The Jazz Singer’ triggered the sound era was an even greater factor in keeping him from making the transition. Well color me embarrassed. I could have sworn that I read somewhere that he was one of the early silent film-era actors whose transition to talkies was derailed by his thick accent. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/46 "2017-02-16T23:00:19Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > It certainly couldn’t have helped that he dressed and danced like Richard Simmons. I was a teenage girl at the time and even I could see that he had zero sex appeal. At least David Bowie and Mick Jagger had possessed some theatricality in Dancin’ in the Street. I have no idea what Squier thought he was projecting. He went along with the ideas of the video’s director, **Kenny Ortega** , who went on to direct such hard rock fare as High School Musical. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/47 "2017-02-16T23:02:30Z")
lol that’s what I get for using one of those time life book sets for historical reference ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/48 "2017-02-19T01:52:51Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I know it was said that [Phoebe Snow](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pxkhYFpIHOM/hqdefault.jpg) was too ugly for videos. Of course, her musical style was also about as far away from MTV as you could get. Phoebe Snow dropped out of recording and touring to devote more time to raising her special needs child. ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/49 "2017-02-19T04:43:00Z")
An actual example of someone who was a rock star that lost out because of being seen, was Bill Haley of Bill Haley and the Comets. He was obviously an overweight mid-thirties guy, and not a Young Rock God. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/50 "2017-02-19T10:54:22Z")
A video game example and more of a technical thing, but so many video game creators and developers couldn’t handle the jump from traditional 2D games of the 16 bit era to the much more complex 3D games of the 32/64 bit era. It’s pretty common to see a game developer make so many brilliant SNES/Genesis games, only to make the leap to PSX/Saturn/N64, make one or two games then completely fold or get bought out by someone else. Similarly the jump from the PS2/Xbox/GameCube era to Xbox 360/PS3 era wound up killing off a lot of Japanese developers towards the latter half of those consoles lives when the cost of making video games far exceeded their more modest budgets compared to Western developers. ---
**Author:** ![OHS201](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6de8d8/32.png) [@OHS201](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OHS201)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/51 "2017-02-19T16:54:05Z")
Fibber McGee and Molly had a 20+ year radio run, and did a few films, but couldn’t make it to TV – probably because they were too old and ill. I think there was a TV series with a different cast that was a total flop. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/52 "2018-01-27T14:52:31Z")
Where I’m from there was a successful armless radio host named [Alvin Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Law). He reportedly wanted to get into television but network executives nixed the idea, claiming that viewers wouldn’t accept a presenter without upper limbs. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/53 "2018-01-27T16:39:08Z")
> [@igor\_frankensteen](#): > > An actual example of someone who was a rock star that lost out because of being seen, was Bill Haley of Bill Haley and the Comets. He was obviously an overweight mid-thirties guy, and not a Young Rock God. What helped kill off Haley and his band was the emergence of younger and much more exciting/sexier acts, Elvis being just one example. Nik Cohn’s “Rock From The Beginning” mentions Haley and the Comets touring England (their popularity was already starting to wane in the U.S.) and getting an uproarious reception, but even there they were quickly seen as more of a dated embarassment than as modern rockers. ---
**Author:** ![Club\_33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/54 "2018-01-27T17:24:00Z")
There are many examples of careers that didn’t survive the video age, but the real travesty is in all of the talented artists that maybe weren’t signed simply because they weren’t visually marketable in this new era. How many Dylans and Springsteens and Joplins were told “nope” while we enjoyed our flood of photogenic placekeepers who neither played, nor composed their own music. Flash forward 20 years, and we see label rosters filled with talent-less hacks that look stunning and need to have their pitch corrected by a computer to cover up for their lack of talent. I’m guessing Willie Nelson has never had his pitch corrected. I also suspect that he would have never been signed post MTV. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/55 "2018-01-27T18:12:35Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > [Karla DeVito](http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/37/bf/95/37bf957e1b58fe42440158a009943442.jpg) replacing [Ellen Foley](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/98/e4/be/98e4be346fb54238b8423c9e026597a9.jpg) comes to mind. Ellen Foley was not replaced for the video because of her looks. In my opinion she is more attractive than Karla DeVito. She was replaced because Meatloaf was a prima donna and she didn’t want to tour with him. Karla was hired to go on tour and so she was put on the video. Ellen was attractive enough to get a starring role on tv. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/56 "2018-01-28T16:48:34Z")
Not exactly the same thing, but I watched a documentary last night on Chicago, the band, and they mentioned that when the '80s came around and they had to make videos, the director asked, “Okay, who’s the lead singer here?” They looked around and said, “No one, it’s an even democracy”, and apparently the director said, “We can’t have that, there are too many of you. Who’s the lead singer?” It just happened to be Peter Cetera (I believe this was “Hard to Say I’m Sorry”), so the director focused mostly on him, and that was the beginning of the end. He became the unofficial “leader” of the band, much to the chagrin of the other members, and Cetera, one of the original founding members, left (or was forced out, depending on who you ask) the band. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/57 "2018-01-28T21:11:39Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I know it was said that [Phoebe Snow](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pxkhYFpIHOM/hqdefault.jpg) was too ugly for videos. Of course, her musical style was also about as far away from MTV as you could get. Phoebe Snow dropped out of show biz entirely during some of her prime years to take care of a special needs daughter. She might or might not have become a star, but she was a pretty wonderful lady. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/58 "2018-01-28T21:19:24Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Not exactly the same thing, but I watched a documentary last night on Chicago, the band, and they mentioned that when the '80s came around and they had to make videos, the director asked, “Okay, who’s the lead singer here?” They looked around and said, “No one, it’s an even democracy”, and apparently the director said, “We can’t have that, there are too many of you. Who’s the lead singer?” > > It just happened to be Peter Cetera (I believe this was “Hard to Say I’m Sorry”), so the director focused mostly on him, and that was the beginning of the end. He became the unofficial “leader” of the band, much to the chagrin of the other members, and Cetera, one of the original founding members, left (or was forced out, depending on who you ask) the band. Well, pianist Robert Lamm was always a little more equal than everyone else in Chicago. During their glory days of the Seventies, Lamm wrote about half their songs, while Terry Kath and Cetera wrote about 20%, and everybody else chipped in the other 10%. After Terry Kath killed himself, Cetera wrote more and more of the band’s songs, and was taking them in more of a pop direction, away from the soul/jazz sound they were known for. Cetera’s songs were MTV friendly, much more so than the band’s old songs. Depending who you ask, either: 1. Cetera got a big head and quit, thinking he didn’t need the band, or 2. Lamm insisted he was still alpha dog and pushed Cetera out. Which version is true? I have no idea. Regardless, Cetera and Lamm are still enemies,and Cetera skipped Chicago’s Hall of Fame induction. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/59 "2018-01-28T22:38:18Z")
Edgar Bergen and his dummies, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, didn’t survive the transition. The radio show was hugely popular, but Bergen never learned not to move his lips and people didn’t buy the act on TV. He tried to cover up his lack of expertise by moving his head constantly while voicing the dummies. His [first](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCZxeZMLty4) TV appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186/60 "2018-01-29T01:01:27Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Edgar Bergen and his dummies, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, didn’t survive the transition. The radio show was hugely popular, but Bergen never learned not to move his lips and people didn’t buy the act on TV. He tried to cover up his lack of expertise by moving his head constantly while voicing the dummies. His [first](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCZxeZMLty4) TV appearance. I have to say, “ventriloquist on the radio” sounds like an awfully sweet gig. I imagine that a lot of the old-time radio porn stars had a tough transition too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-any-real-life-examples/779186.md?page=4)