Starting off with Michael Jackson's iconic Pepsi commercial, this full 3 hour special of Night Flight from 1984 truly has it all with a top ten video pick featuring Dead or Alive, The Cars and George Kranz and an excellent Radio 1990 clip with a Van Halen profile and interview. We finish with a cult classics section of UBU, Space Cadet, Santana and Stephen Stills' Manassas

"New Age music is a global sound that reaches for the stars," says Pat Prescott in tonight's brand new Night Flight Short Cut. The best in New Age music is rounded up in this bite-sized Night Flight episode, featuring classics from Bowie collaborator Carlos Alomar as well as Yellow Jackets and Al Di Meola.

It's 1984. A Friday night. Maybe you're flipping through the channels thinking about how to crush it at the upcoming High School formal and BAM, you stumble upon Night Flight's special "Take Off to Dance," a special segment exploring dance in pop and rock through the ages. Featuring Electric Light Orchestra, Kool and the Gang and more, this episode is just what you needed. 

Episode #1 of Midnight Rider, a late-night DirecTV series that brought Night Flight creator Stuart S. Shapiro back to producing an irreverent mix of music, comedy, and cult programming.

Episode 285. An episode of Radio 1990 from 1984 featuring Kool & The Gang, The Cars, and more.

Join us as Night Flight "Takes Off" to the Sounds of South, from the Bayou and beyond. A mix of country music, blues and old time religion: the sounds that define the south are echoed in many of Rock’s key pioneers. Tonight, Night Flight takes this geographic prompt to explore a broad range of ‘80s acts that carried the torch and established a sound inspired by southern roots, including: Jason and the Scorchers, Blackfoot, Molly Hatchet, 38 Special and more. 

Keep those cards and letters coming in, because this is what you've been asking for. Featuring Nina Hagen's "New York New York," Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al," a full version of Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms," clips from Genesis and of course, Prince. You can't ask for a better snapshot of the musical times than this special edition of Night Flight viewers choice.

It's time for more video flash tracks. Presenting video portraits of The Style Council, Fields of The Nephilim and Aztec Camera. First, we point the viewfinder at Glasgow act Aztec Camera's folk fusion of jazz chords and bossanova rhythms. Then it's on to our next act: Rising like ghosts from a swamp, the London band Fields of the Nephilim combine the dusty, lawless legacy of the west with a lot of post apocalyptic dread. Councilman Paul Weller lead one of England’s original punk band’s: The Jam. By 1983, he needed a new direction so formed The Style Council, whose videos cap this excellent episode of Flash Tracks.

Tonight we Take Off to some of the "best bets of ’86!” That’s right, we’re talking about the mid-decade buzz bands (was that even a term in the '80s?) that landed on our radar. As you'll see, Night Flight was prescient in it's curation—many of these prospects went on to become massive acts. The episode includes The Hooters, Waterboys, Charlie Sexton, Tom Petty approved Del Fuegos and we think this episode is pretty special for its interview with Mr. Mister. Watch it tonight!

Welcome to Radio 1990, bringing you the latest news from the world of entertainment and today's best music videos. In this episode, Lisa Robinson shares sad news for any The Who fans out there, previews a new Mel Brooks episode and videos from Hall and Oates, Men at Work and 1983's #2 power cut from "The Album Network" countdown.

A series of gruesome and gory horror shorts, including Alex Winter and Tom Stern's wacky "Aisles of Doom," and the hilarious zombie parody "Dawn of the Night of the Dead: The Musical."

Tonight, fly around the globe with us while sampling the sounds of (nearly) every continent circa 1985 along the way. In this two hour block (featuring a treasure trove of original commercials) we ride the wave of cultural globalization as it arrives in Jamaica, Japan, Australia, and South Africa. Featuring global hits and b-sides from Nile Rodgers, Malcolm Mclaren, Juluka, Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse, and many many more.

A bar mitsvah band director searches for a new singer.

Tonight, we "Take Off" to the Motown Sound, the most successful independent record label in the world. Former boxer and auto mobile assembly line worker, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown in 1959 and created the sound of young America with Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Little Stevie Wonder (pictured above), and Diana Ross and the Supremes. Gordy ran Motown like an assembly plant, churning out hits all through the 1960s, eventually making Motown the largest black-owned corporation in America. Unlike most music television programming, Night Flight went beyond genre when curating and tonight’s episode is one of our crown jewels!

Hottt videos from heavy headliners Madonna, Rod Stewart, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Queen and Van Halen are highlights from this epic installment of Night Flight's "Take Off" from late 1984.

Night Flight profiles sonic wizard Thomas Dolby in this special episode of Video Flash Tracks. Cut with some of Dolby's best tracks, Pat Prescott brings us up to speed with Thomas Dolby's history in pop and status as one of its best collaborators with the inclusion of his 1988 George Clinton collaboration "Hot Sauce." This episode also features extra coverage on White Lion and Level 42. Night Flight gets some Metal In Your Face with clips and stories from Suicidal Tendencies, Britny Fox, Nuclear Assault, Overkill and more. Enjoy!

This time capsule compilation from Night Flight creator Stuart Shapiro and Laurie Dolphin celebrates the work of 40 innovative media artists using Flash in the early 2000s. At the time, Flash animation was the heartbeat of a new generation of pop culture enthusiasts at the beginning of the Internet. Whether creating their own independent animated clips or working with some of the biggest names in the music world, such as Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Todd Rundgren, Dr Dre and Phish, these Flash artists used the medium's unique quality to make art that defined a pivotal internet era.

"Take Off To Animation" takes a colorful look at the use of animation in music video over the previous few years in styles ranging from experimental camera technique to 'Saturday morning cartoon'. Many of the videos compiled for this episode first became well-known due to their repeat exposure on Night Flight. Bona fide Night Flight classics here include Tom Tom Club's "Pleasure of Love", Randy Andy's "The People (Livin' in the USA)", Machinations: "Pressure Sway" & Will Powers: "Adventures In Success". Night Flight's innovative "Take Off" series dispensed with playlists, bland VJ set-ups and the usual tired video countdown format and instead cleverly programmed music videos and performance clips by theme. The series regularly featured hits from Eighties pop icons juxtaposed against obscurities from not-ready-for-MTV cult favorites. Original Air Date: 2-17-84

“They’re the flashiest bands in Rock ’n’ Roll” Pat Prescott says at the start of tonight’s new ‘Take Off’ arrival from the archives, “Musicians who express themselves as much through packaging as playing.” What follows is a high chroma, technicolor video mix featuring Fishbone’s “Modern Industry,” We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It!, Kid Creole and The Coconuta, and more.

Tonight we’ve got a comprehensive survey of the music and visuals of Australian band INXS. (“The band from down under who've come out on top!” - Pat Prescott.) In 1983, Farriss brothers and co. came out of Sydney to become part of America’s “Aussie Invasion.” This episode tracks the band’s rise to the top with excellent visuals (like Director Richard Lowenstein's clip above), concert footage and a one-off interview with the the Farriss brothers brainstorming a future music video. Watch with us tonight.

August, 1983. The reassuring voice of Pat Prescott is summoning you through the TV into an alternative dimension of wonder that is... Night Flight. “Def Leppard is still out on tour supporting the Pyromania album, and Night Flight has ALL the latest information.” Tonight's episode contains a lost Alan Vega video for “Video Babe,” a new “Video Artist” segment with analog experimenter Steve Sattler, Space Patrol and more. P.S. Make sure to check out the interactive component of the episode, where viewers could call toll-free numbers to vote on their favorite segments!

Tonight's new Short Cut dives into the theme of money in music, showcasing cash-and-capitalism themed videos from Talking Heads, the pioneering 3D-animated classic "Adventures in Success" by Will Powers, playwright Sarah Tuft's commercial collage, and the Pheromones' send-up of the '80s yuppie class in "Yuppiedrone."

1985's "Take Off" to street music featuring Chaka Khan, Grand Master Flash, Run DMC and more...

"One of the sturdiest trends in rock videos," Pat Prescott says, "is the use of 'high art' to elevate down and dirty Rock 'n' Roll." Tonight's original episode of Night Flight from the archives is a "Take off" to Art in Music Videos! The episode highlights art and music collaborations like New Order and William Wegman (and the dog supermodel Fay Ray), Grace Jones's cadre of counter-culture luminaries in "I'm Not Perfect," Warhol's video for The Car's "Hello Again," and Roberto Longo's for The Golden Palominos (feat. Michael Stipe).

This Night Flight "Short Cut" features an exclusive interview with Miles Davis, who shares his unique musical outlook and more. “I go with my feelings… that’s in my system, my soul, in my body—my body’s full of rhythm.” Davis reflects on his affinity for the Yamaha DX7, the tactile experience of painting, the importance of his visual style, and the “street sound” of the era. The episode then features jazz pianist Chick Corea, who describes his creative philosophy in a short interview segment before Night Flight showcases his collaboration with vibraphonist Gary Burton in “Finale.”

Welcome to Night Flight’s tribute to the 1986 Oscars which explores nominees for Best Original Song. For that year, nominees included Quincy Jones for The Color Purple, "Surprise Surprise" by Greg Burg, Huey Lewis and The News #1 hit from Back To The Future “The Power of Love,” all of which are covered within. We go deeper with an interview with director Taylor Hackford about White Nights, which is one of the few films in Oscar history to receive two nominations for best song ("Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie was the eventual winner). Then Night Flight looks ahead to some of the upcoming films from 1986 in the genre that Pat Prescott lovingly refers to as The Sensitive Years. It’s a Who's Who of '80s child actors with looks at Crossroads, Pretty in Pink, Smooth Talk, and Lucas, which offers the bonus clip of an exclusive interview with none other than Corey Haim. This is pure ‘80s Hollywood, folks, Night Flight style.

This video profile on Simple Minds features backstory on the Scottish act and multiple videos throughout the bands career arc. Night Flight mines the video vault for select cuts from the Pretenders.

Episode 281. An episode of Radio 1990 from 1984 featuring Duran Duran, Nena, and a Billy Idol interview.

Night Flight profiles rock’s 'rude boy' Billy Idol in this classic segment from 1985. “I don’t want to see the no flabby, boring old Billy Idol trying to be what he was when he was 21… I’m young, I need to move about.” he tells Night Flight in an excellent, candid interview, in which he talks about the role of New York City on his art, how he views his critics, and what inspired his name change. Classic and essential Night Flight right here folks.

In 1965, as leader of the NY Band: The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed became Rock's first leather-clad social outcast. At the age of 20, Reed took violence, drugs, sadomasochism, and sang about them in a rock context creating music as painful as it was compelling. He set the stage for the punk revolution. Night Flight tells the story of Reed with music videos, live footage and amazingly candid interviews discussing his love for performance, writing and his unique approach to recording.

Night Flight finally makes it to Alt Rock this weekend in a new addition to our “Take Off” features. This 1994 showcase appeared in the twilight of Night Flight’s 90s syndication. The music videos and concert footage included (The Breeders, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Afghan Whigs, Rage Against the Machine, and more) is as accurate a snapshot of the era as one could ask for, but it’s still a bit uncanny to see the NF chyron next to quintessential 90s acts.

This Night Flight segment from one of our early seasons ('81-83 era) features a 1955 episode of "Showtime at the Apollo," featuring an ensemble of African American performers live from the the landmark Apollo Theater in Harlem. The show is hosted by "Mayor of Harlem" Willie Bryant and features incredible performances from Bill Bailey, Ruth Brown ("Have a Good Time"), Cab Calloway and his Orchestra ("Minnie the Moocher"), Lionel Hampton ("Cobb's Idea"), Leonard Reed, "Big" Joe Turner ("Oke-She-Moka-She-Pop") and Sarah Vaughan ("Perfidio").

Welcome to Night Flight's video profile of one of Rock's greatest vocalists and song stylists, Robert Plant and Night Flight goes to the movies with Arnie Action Thriller Red Heat, Bull Durham and more

Night Flight takes you to the dazzling animation of contemporary music videos, from Herbie Hancock's computer-assisted imagery to the kaleidoscopic videos of Adrian Belew and the Tom Tom Club.

Episode 266. An episode of Radio 1990 from 1984 featuring Billy Joel, the president of CBS Records and a Summer movie preview.