A selection of innovative, landmark 1980s music videos from Devo, Tony Powers, Will Powers, Elvis Costello, Grace Jones, Chaka Khan, Peter Wolf & David Lee Roth.

Back in 1985, Night Flight produced a candid backstage interview with Tom Petty while he was on tour promoting Southern Accents. After hearing the sad news on Monday, we went to the archives to get the full segment for you.

A young girl develops telekinesis.

Like a Black Mirror episode from 1980, here’s Sing For Your Life the kind of Night Flight vault discovery we love the most. What kind is that you ask? The kind that has absolutely no internet trail whatsoever. This 18 minute short finds an out-of-town Rockabilly crooner hoping to hit it big on a talent show that gives the “Axe” to the bad act! We won't give any more away!

Night Flight brings an exclusive interview with ska punk band Fishbone and a special report on Jane's Addiction, featuring live footage and backstage interviews. Finally, a hand-drawn animated short called "Twist an' Shout!".

In this original episode from October 30th, 1987 Night Flight presents two independent shorts as a part of our "Short Film Showcase" segment. The first up is the criminal-comedy “The Lemon Man,” by Super 8 auteur Michael Legge, followed by the mysterious experimental animation called “Xidu,” by Australian filmmaker Michelle Mahrer.

Welcome to Night Flight. Tonight we Take Off to Rock and Roll Cowboys, original air date 1988. Sharpen your spurs and saddle up as Night Flight shows you how many of today’s rockers take their musical and visual style from the Wild Wild West. Kicking off with Martini Ranch’s “Reach,” The Damned’s Cinescope spaghetti-western themed cover “Alone Again Or,” and more from Robbie Robertson, Kool Moe Dee, and more!

Kicking off with a clip from the U.S. Senate's 1985 "Porn Rock" hearings, Night Flight Takes Off to Right-Wing Rock in this classic episode. "Parents hate it and politicians ban it, but ironically today's Rock is not the subversive cry of revolutionaries it once was..." Pat Prescott laments, while pointing to the right-wing co-option of rock in the '80s. The episode weaves a unique tongue and cheek video playlist featuring Van Halen/Blue Angels, the "Top Gun" Anthem, Christian Rockers Stryper and unabashed capitalist image makers Sigue Sigue Sputnik's homage to the Military Industrial Complex "Love Missile F1-11."

Welcome to Radio 1990! Today Lisa Robinson concludes her exclusive interview with Gene Simmons of Kiss, Kathryn Kinley brings news on the Pointer Sisters, the fashions of MarcBouwer, and music from Toni Basil, Ratt and more!

Welcome to tonight’s "special investigation" into Satanic Metal circa 1988 (peak Satanic Panic!). Ever since the days of Paradise Lost, Faust and Hot Stuff Comic Books, the devil has been folk antihero numero uno and when Rock & Roll finally came along, he had his soundtrack (according to outraged fundamentalists).  Kicking off with Ozzy's "Miracle Man," join us as we descend into a realm of dark hymns from Damien, Iron Maiden, and much more…

In a rare candid interview from the time, Janet Jackson discusses her famous family, especially her relationship to brother Michael.

Episode 286. An episode of Radio 1990 from 1984 featuring Wang Chung, The Alan Parsons Project, and a summer movie preview.

"Boy isn't heavy metal a lot of fun!" says Mr. Bill at the start of Night FLight's special "Take Off" to Heavy Metal Comedy, (before an untimely death by anvil.) And Mr. Bill is right: Heavy Metal is a reliably comedic genre, intentional or not. This episode kicks off with Alcatrazz's "God Blessed," a satire of MTV that doomed its chances of airplay on that channel, (but of course got play on Night Flight), Keel's "Right to Rock", Accept's kaleidoscopic video for "Midnight Mover," Japanese rockers Loudness and Ireland's Mama's Boys.

Sex in music video form featuring censored and uncensored videos from David Bowie, Mary Jane Girls, Miquel Brown, Duran Duran, and more...

"In the past 3 years, Night Flight has kept pace with Music Video revolution in its own unique style." - Pat Prescott. Night Flight's 1984 Anniversary Special is a fine collection of all that the original series had to offer. "Take Off" to Video Art? Check. Dog Police? Double Check. Epic episode-long Ghostbusters giveaway with the grand prize winner getting 1984 Isuzu P'up Truck? TRIPE CHECK!!

Take off with an hour long special episode of New Sounds from 1986, starting off with Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Big Audio Dynamite, BoDeans, Hüsker Dü, Jane SiBerry and provocative political rockers, Lords of The New Church.

Night Flight "Take's Off" to the once and future glory of Acid Rock. The original catalytic agent for Acid Rock faded away, but Night Flight tracked the visual cues and sonic elements of Acid Rock making a major flashback for the '80s through artists like S'Express, The Cult, The Psychedelic Furs, Nina Hagen and The Mission.

Return to March 1986 for a full 2-hour episode of As Aired Night Flight. This broadcast was brought to you by 501 Levi’s Blues, Sun Country Wine Cooler, Lee Press-On Nails, Hostess Pudding Pies and so much more. How do we know? The commercials are still in the master tape! Enjoy the full immersion.

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!

Night Flight takes off to Animation, Part 3! This segment features traditional Hollywood animation, stop motion, pixelation, and computer animation. Featuring videos from Cyndi Lauper, George Clinton, Jean Luc Ponty and more...

Welcome to Night Flight's new filmmaker series, featuring short films from America's most talented writers, directors and producers. Tonight, two films from the Glasshouse production team Tom Stern and Alex Winter, Squeal of Death and Aisles of Doom.

We get set for the New Year in 1984 as Lisa Robinson previews a video art star studded PBS broadcast, discusses the secrets behind a new The Go-Go's album, and music videos from Prince and John Cougar Mellancamp.

A man threatens to commit suicide off a tall building.

This quick batch of music videos focuses on food, from Weird Al's love of Rocky Road ice cream to the Fat Boys. Also featuring an exclusive interview with the Fat Boys by TV 20000 host Joie Gallo!

Follows a land surveyor on an assignment to measure an ancient forest for a developer but soon loses his reason in a supernatural environment that has its own plans.

Tonight’s Night Flight Original Episode is from our “Video Artist” series, focusing on the animation and film art of Herbert Wentscher. The German video artist sources a variety of media for his projects: Super 8 footage, painting, and ancient iconography. “Eventually, everything gets blended into the video medium” he says to Night Flight interviewer and writer, Stuart Samuels.The episode includes his piece “SuperFaust” which features the german cultural icon Ampelmann, the country's universal green walk symbol (above), interpreted through Goethe’s Faust. 

Oz Fox, born Richard Alfonso Martinez on June 18, 1961, is a founding member and lead guitarist of the Christian metal band Stryper. He was recruited by childhood pals, Robert and Michael Sweet, in 1983. He has recorded and toured with the band – through breakups and brain surgery – for forty years. Our friendship has grown since the pandemic when we began meeting monthly for brunch at his beloved Cracker Barrel. Oz is partial to pancakes with sliced apples. He brings his own special Canadian maple syrup.

"An experiment in the identity of creativity…" Tune in for an exclusive visit to Night Flight from Drab Majesty's Deb Demure: a unique delight and another timeless entry to Night Flight cultural canon.

Sic Alps was a San Francisco-based lofi garage rock band started by Matt Hartman and Mike Donnovan, who met on tour with their previous bands in the 90s. The group drew as equally from noise pop as they did from art rock luminaries the Velvet Underground.

Los Angeles’s Geneva Jacuzzi has been combining high art and avant-pop since her 2010 debut Lamaze. Her third album, Triple Fire, came out in August of 2024.

“Take Off” to Seattle-based independent label Sub Pop featuring music videos from Chai, Mudhoney, clipping., and Ya Tseen.

The Sub Pop music of Riot Grrrl veterans Sleater-Kinney. Featuring "Jumpers" and more.

SRSQ (pronounced seer-skew), is a synesthesia of sound and feeling taking cues from the delicate miasma of Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, and Dead Can Dance.

Folk artist signed to Sub Pop records. Featuring 2019's "Nowhere" and more.

A conversation with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge discussing he/r friendship with William S. Burroughs and the original creation of the album "Nothing Here Now but the Recordings." Dais Records reissues of William S. Burrough's experimental works are available now.

CMON, which stands for Confusing Mix of Nations, is a pop duo born out of the ashes of Brooklyn indie rock group Regal Degal. Shifting the focus towards more danceable tracks, the duo carried the atmospherics from their previous project into CMON, only now incorporating more elements of disco and pop into their recordings.

Japanese pop band CHAI have continually redefined what it means to be “cute” with their defiantly feminist sound.

Born to a family of fiddlers in Texas, film actor Caleb Landry Jones was instead drawn to the psychedelia of Syd Barrett’s solo work. Throughout his acting career he remained steadfast in his commitment to recording music, amassing hundreds of demos out of his family barn. Director, musician and Sacred Bones collaborator Jim Jarmusch heard these demos and suggested Jones approach the label, culminating in the release of his debut album The Mother Stone in 2020.

After a collection of demos and early studio recordings earned her a dedicated audience, songwriter Jessica Pratt moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles and recorded her first intentional album in her bedroom. That album, On Your Own Love Again (released by Night Flight indie label partner Drag City in 2015), would bring her around the world many times, leading many to fall under the spell of Jessica Pratt the performer, the songwriter, the singer with the heavy-lidded voice that feels alien and familiar at the same time. Quiet Signs, the artist’s debut record for Mexican Summer, finds Pratt's songwriting and accompanying guitar work refined -- more distinct and direct.

Danish rock band Marching Church began as a side project of solo musical experiments for Elias Bender Rønnenfelt of Iceage. After the success of the band’s debut album on Sacred Bones, This World is Not Enough Rønnenfelt brought in Iceage bandmate Johan Weith and trumpeter Jakob Emil Lamdahl.

Formed in 2003, Brooklyn based indie band Crystal Stilts has cultivated a myriad of influences over the last decade and half playing and recording together. In 2011 they made their Sacred Bones debut with the EP Radiant Door, following it up with the soul and folk influenced album Nature Noir in 2013.

Founded in 2010 by Robert Alfons and Maya Postepski, the group uses ethereal synth pop tones mixed over surging industrial beats. With the release of their first album TRST in 2012, the duo went their separate ways and Alfons continued to record and tour under the name. As a solo project Alfons began incorporating more elements of acid house and techno into his next release Joyland in 2014, which debuted to massive critical and commercial success.

Legendarily loud post-punks METZ take a more atmospheric approach on their new record Up On Gravity Hill, still bursting eardrums, but with a new emotional resonance and nuance.

Nuke Watch is an amorphous entity emanating out of Bog 65, Beat Detective’s former headquarters. Its 2020 album Countdown is a “rippling, multi-sensory experience that warms, beguiles, puzzles, tickles and eases the listener,” developed in the improvisational and exploratory aura of the studio.

Purple Mountains, the last project of late Silver Jews singer David Berman, released after a decade of absence from the music industry and a month prior to his tragic passing, was a clever, occasionally somber tribute to the country-rock traditions that had guided much of Berman’s career.

Brooding romanticism expressed through unforgettable hooks and expansive sounds from Dais Record's Death Bells.

Sunergy brings together synthesists Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Suzanne Ciani for the thirteenth installment of FRKWYS, RVNG Intl.’s intergenerational collaboration series. For this edition, a panorama of the Pacific Coast provides the place and head space for a musical appreciation and consideration of a life-giving form vast and volatile with change.

Blanck Mass uses fast paced beats, clipped vocal samples and mesmerising synths to create music that is emotionally and sonically intense. Dumb Flesh, his first album with Sacred Bones, saw Power’s incorporate more danceable beats around the chopped-up vocals and drones which were built upon in subsequent releases like 2017’s political World Eater and 2019’s melodic Animated Violence Mild.

Prolific artist Ty Segall rose to prominence with his own brand of psych-influenced garage rock in the late 2000s. His near nonstop output over the last decade spans multiple bands, collaborations and solo records, weaving a variety of sonic influences into each of his projects.

Queens-based experimental rock duo Blues Control, composed of Russ Waterhouse on guitars and electronics and keyboardist Lea Cho, established themselves in NY with exciting live shows and a series of self released cassettes and vinyl.

Cursive’s core trio of Tim Kasher, Matt Maginn, and Ted Stevens formed in 1995 and has since developed into one of the most consistent and ambitious bands in post-hardcore. Their latest album Devourer, the first for stalwart indie label Run for Cover, explores new territory within their iconic sound and features a suite of horror-themed music videos including the one for “Bloodbather” directed by Chelsea Stardust and starring Stranger Things’ Shannon Purser and Westworld’s Aurora Perrineau.

Australian indie rockers Girl and Girl make their Sub Pop debut with tuneful and grandiose songs about the struggles of mental health in the modern world.

Oz Fox, born Richard Alfonso Martinez on June 18, 1961, is a founding member and lead guitarist of the Christian metal band Stryper. He was recruited by childhood pals, Robert and Michael Sweet, in 1983. He has recorded and toured with the band – through breakups and brain surgery – for forty years. Our friendship has grown since the pandemic when we began meeting monthly for brunch at his beloved Cracker Barrel. Oz is partial to pancakes with sliced apples. He brings his own special Canadian maple syrup.