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.

A young girl develops telekinesis.

What begins as backstage banter and a photoshoot turns into a fun interview packed with Scorpions lore in this new Night Flight Short Cut. The band goes celebrating Rudolph's birthday to a candid recollection of playing Roger Waters’ The Wall concert in a newly unified Berlin, originally shot for Stuart S. Shapiro’s MetalHead Magazine.

Night Flight covers the origins and politics of reggae music, featuring interviews and performances from artists such as Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley. English musicians influenced by reggae such as UB40 and The Police are also featured.

An abstract alien abduction.

This Night Flight episode focuses on religion in music, from the satanic accusations against Ozzy Osbourne to the Christian rock band Stryper. Also featuring videos from The Saints and XTC.

Fernando Perdomo born Fernando Jose Perdomo on August 17, 1980, is an American musician and producer. He is best known as one of the guitarists in the acclaimed music documentary, Echo in the Canyon, where he backed up Jakob Dylan, Fiona Apple, Beck. Nora Jones, Regina Spektor, Brian Wilson and Cat Power. He is currently a member of The Dave Kerzner Band, the highly regarded progressive rock ensemble that performs annually on the sold-out Cruise to the Edge. It was aboard a floating city in the middle of the Caribbean where I first encountered Fernando. He was laying down some mind-blowing riffs on the windy outdoor pool stage. I approached him after the set wearing a rare Kate Bush “Cloudbusting” shirt. “That’s the best Kate tee I’ve ever seen!” he shouted. “You and I are gonna be friends.” The session here was conducted in his cabin on the 2025 CTTE where he lent his formidable chops to three different groups.

In 1979, Sara Dallin and Siobhan Fahey were students at the London College of Fashion and Keren Woodward worked at the BBC. The flatmates decided to get together and with the help of their downstairs neighbors former Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones and their friends Fun Boy Three, they formed a band and called it Banarama. "Banarama’s trademark is a happy go lucky lite approach," Pat Prescott calls it. Dive into a selection of the band's classic cuts and state of the art (for the time) videos.

One of the more popular animated short films that aired during Night Flight’s '80s heyday was Wes Archer’s cult fave Jac Mac & Rad Boy, Go!, a wonderfully frenetic cartoon about two party-bound teens who inadvertently destroy a city on their way to hell, which Archer admits he may have also been inspired by his own wayward youth in Houston, Texas. Note: Wes went on to have an amazing career in animation and is currently the supervising director on Rick and Morty.

Ann Magnuson's performance art video piece in character as "Fallopia," the latest in a line of sexy Prince protégés — which she describes as "a classroom lesson in "How to Become a New Wave Video Slut"-- was produced exclusively for Night Flight in the 1980s, and you can now watch it in its entirety in this episode from 1986. "My rise to the top was pretty much standard stuff, same as everyone else's. First there was the live sex acts, then the stag parties, then the sleazy piano bars and conventions, then "Star Search." And then after, gosh, I don't know how many 'dates' with record company executives, I was signed to a major label, and my own rock video, and today I'm one of the BIGGEST New Wave Sluts in the industry!!"

“If we combine the modern new wave elements with the old, beautiful melodies, that might be an intriguing mixture,” says Taco discussing his hit cover of “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in this exclusive Night Flight interview. Later on in this brand new Night Flight Short Cut, Falco talks about translating rap music influences into his German-language hits.

Pat Prescott let's us know its "party time in the sun, with food, sand, women and water." Night Flight Take's off to Summer Fun is an eclectic mix of classic Night Flight Zannies, summer-centric music videos and a Mr. Bill segment tucked inside. Dive in!

This 1987 relic of pride and passion for America features videos from Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Brown, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band and more.

Night Flight highlights the funniest women in showbiz in this special on female comedians, featuring material and interview clips from Tracy Ullman and Sandra Bernhardt.

Welcome back to Night Flight! Tonight’ we give you over 3 hours of original “As Aired” programming. That’s right, our "As Aired" selections from 1983-4 return with all of the classic Night Flight segments including Video Profiles, Interviews, Film Galleries, Cartoon Classics, and more. This episode features profiles on Rolling Stones, The Psychedelic Furs, surreal 80s video art and a strange New Wave love story called White Lies from director Marion Cajori starring a young Willem Dafoe with stellar music by Peter Gordon. We’re all but certain this doesn’t exist anywhere else, so dig in and enjoy!

Tonight Night Flight profiles one of Rock’s great renegades: Neil Young. The essential episode features a candid NF studio interview with Young discussing his origins and inspirations and features some of Young’s more esoteric deep cuts on Geffen Records in the '80s including 1982’s techno track “Sample and Hold” and his Rockabilly ballad “Wonderin'.” Night Flight creator Stuart S. Shapiro's independent film distribution company International Harmony distributed Young's film "Rust Never Sleeps," a regular title in our early days on the air. It’s great to have the icon back on Night Flight.

The "TITANIC of homemade zombie films" (Fangoria). In 1997, 17-year-old suburban Buenos Aires filmmakers Pablo Parés and Hernan Sáez pooled $450 to co-write/produce/direct and star in a shot-on-VHS zombie epic of such flesh-ripping, gore-spewing greatness that it instantly drew global cult acclaim and redefined the possibilities of extreme DIY horror.

Night Flight’s 1985 “Take Off” to Animation Vol. 4 is a perfect mid-decade snapshot of the remarkable evolution of technology and creativity in animation happening in the 1980s. Featuring super-group The Power Station's composited cutout acid trip for their T-Rex cover, Machinations rotoscoped “Pressure Sway” (above), Steve Miller’s early 3D animation effort “Bongo Bongo," and even some interview segments with animators working on Disney's The Black Cauldron.

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

Welcome back to Night Flight, in 1977 four London based musicians scraped together $180 to make a demo tape of their songs which prompted a friend to call their band "Dire Straits." Ten years later, with more than ten million albums sold Dire Straits stood at the forefront of the mid-80s music scene. Here's Night Flight's Video Profile.

Afro Beat: A look at Africa's music and politics. It's no secret that Rock and Roll is based on African Rythyms. Africa created tempo and 4/4 time, the basis for all our generation's popular dance music. Today, another sound is coming from Africa as the world turns to the political abuses on the continent. African-born musicians are crying out for their civil rights. Featuring preeminent pan-africanist Fela, Senegalese brothers Toure Kunda, Nigerian Juju music leader King Sunny Ade, South African Apartheid activists Juluka (with Johnny Clegg) and much more. This is Night Flight at it’s absolute finest: musical, cultural and historical.

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...

A rhythmic collection of sounds, textures and images.

This first part of this classic Night Flight broadcast from 5/6/88 features music videos from legendary British goth rockers Bauhaus and their spin-off group Love and Rockets along with dark entries from singer-gone-solo Peter Murphy. Videos from the Attic revives several classics from Blancmange, Eurythmics, Billy Idol, Fine Young Cannibals, Peter Gabriel, and More.

Night Flight's celebrating Independence Day (in 1988 and today!) with a Red, White and Blue Take Off Special to Freedom. We'll take a musical look at the many faces of Freedom, at home and abroad with Billy Bragg, Robbie Robertson, Hulk Hogan, and Aztec Two Step.

A man lives in a computer program.

Night Flight's take off to Rock and Cult films. This is A special preview of some of the films Night Flight showed in 1985 including Rude Boy (starring the Clash), Breaking Glass, Smithereens, Debbie Harry in Union City, Warhol's Frankenstein and more...

Ever since “Rock Around The Clock” was heard on the soundtrack of the film Blackboard Jungle, rock music has targeted the classroom as a constant enemy of all that is fun and good in music. Tonight we look at the bands revolting against school authority and classroom discipline with tunes from The Stray Cats, Ramones, Twisted Sister and more. The 1980s had no shortage of music videos set in High School classrooms, so believe us, this episode DELIVERS. Who was your homeroom angel?

“In 1977, the Sex Pistol’s Johnny Rotten was the most famous man in Rock 'n' Roll…” Pat Prescott tells us, “then he went to work on Public Image Ltd… a group that called everything to question.” A cadre of PiL’s music videos and candid interview segments with Lydon are the backbone of this epic episode. Let John's disdain for music industry and all it’s hypocrisy, bureaucracy and bullshit be your guide to this episode of CLASSIC NIGHT FLIGHT. “You feel pressured into being outrageous… and that’s not good at all is it? It’s unhealthy.”

Night Flight Goes to the Movies for John Waters' classic "Hairspray" and a couple of less fondly remembered also-rans released in March '88. Next is a high-octane look at The Cars legacy in music video with interviews between songs.

Tonight, we’re opening Night Flight’s closely guarded vaults and dedicating a full hour to Video Classics. “The diamonds, emeralds, pearls, gold, frankincense and myrrh of video history” host Tom Juarez explains in one of his interstitial antics. Catch the episode in our 1990’s Syndication Episodes row!

Well folks, the Night Flight library never ceases to amaze us. It is literally a treasure chest of nostalgic gold. This week we’re incredibly excited to share a full, uncut interview with Mark Hammil conducted by Lisa Robinson in 1986. He dons a rare mustache for his theatre production role in Room Service. In the interview, Hamill talks candidly about knowing from his first reading of the Star Wars script it would be a success (“at least as popular as James Bond”), how not being allowed to read Comics as a kid lead him to obsessively collect them as an adult, the 33 1/3 birthday party he celebrated and much, much more. Watch this tonight! It’s an absolute joy.

Night Flight’s full episode from June 30th, 1984 kicks off hot and heavy with a bold “Take Off” to Sex. “Music videos use phallic and vaginal symbols,” Pat Prescott tells us as she introduces videos from INXS, Berlin, Mary Jane Girls and of course, Prince. Then we get into a Heavy Metal Half Hour with Ratt, Divinyls and Def Leppard. Dig into more music videos from Rush, The Go Go’s, Nick Lowe, and a strange short film called The Speed of Light, starring Sally Norvell (later cast by Wim Wenders as “Nurse Bibs” in Paris, Texas).

In this essential Night Flight interview, John Waters reflects on the transgressive ethos that defines his filmmaking. He recounts his humble beginnings touring prints from the trunk of his car, the neighborhood Baltimore crew of collaborators including Divine (“I don't trust anybody that hasn't been arrested at least once”), and a career built on offending multiple generations. A timeless snapshot of a Night Flight icon, and the perfect way to celebrate ten years of the streaming channel!

Yothu Yindi combine rock music with traditional Aboriginal instrumentation to create a distinct sound all their own. This 1992 60 Minutes story covers their history, influences and politics.

Today Night Flight focuses on New York's downtown and the music that it spawned, including videos from Blondie and Sonic Youth, as well as a special on the downtown Club Kids.

Phil Soussan, proper birthname Philip Raphael Soussan was born June 23. 1961 in London, England. A successful veteran bass guitarist, songwriter and producer, his resume boasts tours and tracks with Last in Line, the Vince Neil Band, Big Noize and most famously for slapping the fat stings during Ozzy Osbourne’s historic 1986 Ultimate Sin campaign. He co-authored the hit single, “Shot in the Dark.” I’ve always found him to be immensely intelligent and well-spoken, like a couple other not so mad Englishmen whose company I long enjoyed, Bruce Dickinson and Lemmy Kilmister.