"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!!

How did I get here? Night Flight takes on Talking Heads in this brilliant profile, originally aired September 20th, 1986 and now streaming on Night Flight Plus. "In the 1970s, a group called Talking Heads became staples on the Bowery music scene..." explains Pat Prescott. The Heads’ fused artistic concepts with rock, relying on the tight structure and quirky lyrics which have become a heads trademark.

The segment is guided by a candid Radio 1990 interview with Robert Smith about the inspiration for the "Close To Me" video, fame and more. In true Night Flight fashion, the British band's "ever-evolving visual image" is explored through director Tim Pope's videos throughout the piece.

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. 

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...

“Their music was devil’s music: high decibel, tortured, frenzied songs about Death, Destruction and Black Magic.” Welcome to Night Flight’s 1984 Take Off to Heavy Metal History with a look at metal forgers Black Sabbath. We go back to the 1970s for classic Sabbath, trace the development of Ozzy Osbourne and Ronny James Dio from their days as Black Sabbath’s lead singers to their solo careers in the mid 80s as “Rock’s Top MadMen.” We’ve heard from many of you that your first exposure to BS was late at night on Night Flight, so consider this your return trip home to some 35 years ago. If you are a Black Sabbath original line-up purist and Dio isn't your thing, may we suggest the Black Sabbath Video Profile for another excellent episode?

Night Flight salutes the Women of Rock in this original episode from June, 1988. "Today," Pat Prescott tells us, "women's voices are more powerful than ever in new music, neo-folk and down & dirty Rock n Roll." Featuring Sinéad O'Connor with MC Lyte, Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and Annie Lennox.

Welcome back to Night Flight. Tonight we celebrate the incredible life and career of Aretha Franklin with our 1987 Video Profile of the legendary artist. "She was the daughter of a preacher and by the late 60's the undisputed Queen of Soul" - Pat Prescott. With over a dozen million-selling albums, Aretha forever fused the passion of Gospel, the sensuality of R&B, and the precision of Pop. Tonight's episode is an incredible survey of Aretha's 1980s output, in true Night Flight Style. Featuring all of Aretha's 1980s cuts including: Rock A Lot, Freeway Of Love, Another Night, and George Michael collaboration Knew You Were Waiting.

Night Flight looks at the roots of Irish rock 'n' roll tonight in this original “Take Off” special from the mid-1980s. With Bodhrán, Fiddles, Uilleann pipes and Irish Harps in hand, we kick off with the Chieftans' "Irish Anthem" before looking at the Ireland’s strong music tradition. Dating back to Celtic culture, when poets were elevated to the status of aristocrats, we take a closer look at the island that produced '80s era acts like the Pogues, Van Morrison, Cactus World News, Bob Geldof, Zerra 1 and more. Stick around afterwards for some very rare animated cartoons & short films, including Ellen Foley in "Headshot."

Tonight’s Video Profile looks at Minneapolis writers, performers, and legendary super producers: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Bassist Terry Lewis met Keyboard player Jimmy Harris when they were handpicked by Prince for one of Minneapolis's great spinoff bands: The Time. "C...O...O...L"! Night Flight takes us through a tour of classics the pair wrote and produced from Janet Jackson, Human League, Herb Albert, Force MD's "Tender Love," (Above) and Robert Palmer's cover of the duo's Cherrelle classic "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On."

"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).

"Stay tuned for the latest music... on Night Flight's New Sounds!" Tonight, we head back to June 1988, Floodland-era Sisters of Mercy, Kid n' Play premiere the "Kickstep" Do This My Way, Electronic Body Music from Boston's Manufacture, and quiet storm grooves from Soul artist Terence Trent D'arby's single "Sign Your Name."

This two-hour 1990 broadcast features Julee Cruise’s performance for David Lynch's “Industrial Symphony No. 1,” a Night Flight original Twin Peaks parody called "Twin Geeks" and an interview with music video director Tim Pope, whose work includes videos from Talk Talk, Siouxsie and the Banshees, David Bowie and much more.

The twin flames of '80s music video: Leather & Lace. “Leather suggests being wild, animalistic, masculine" Pat Prescott says, "while lace says soft, feminine, and sensual… and both conjure up sexual images.” Tonight, Night Flight looks to the 1983 and finds ample examples of both in videos from Billy Idol, The Romantics, Franky Goes to Hollywood, Roxy Music, Waysted and the Jersey Shore’s Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes.

“In 1985,” Visions host Al Bandiero says, “British rockers have held the #1 slot on the American charts for more than 8 months." With a mix of music videos, interview, and artist bios, this episode of Visions features 80s British musicians like Annie Lennox, Sade, New Order, and The Cure.

"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.

Ryuichi Sakamoto's passing in 2023 has left an enormous void in the world of music, film, and beyond. Here at NF HQ, we were comforted by bittersweet arrival of a tape from the archives that includes Sakamoto's Man Ray inspired video for “Risky,” which features the inimitable croon of Iggy Pop. This "New Sounds" episode also highlights songs from ex-Go-Go's band House of Schock, The Smithereens, Pop Will Eat Itself, and more. Stick around for a New Filmmakers Showcase featuring a musical saga about a small-time hustler called Honky Tonk Bud (Scott Laster, 1986) the urban folk legend.

"You can have my husband, but please don't mess with my man!" In tonight's Night Flight original episode from 1983, we treated to a vivid (and mostly unseen) performance from Chicago Blues legend Koko Taylor. Raucous and raw, the Memphis-born Taylor and her band take the audience through a medley of blue standards and hits, including the 1964 energizing anthem: "Wang Dang Doodle". Pure Night Flight! Stick around for the episode's B-Side, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard's version of Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty," where Townes himself makes an appearance in the music video.

This Night Flight original episode from our 1983 season is rife with deep cuts and nostalgic video gems from a lost era. The highlight is of course, Nameneko Punk Rock Kittens which features cats in punk outfits on cat-sized diorama sets (known as Perlorian cats in the US) created by photographer and artist Satoru Tsuda. These feline punkers join the ranks of other zoological video oddities like Dog Police and Fish Heads that were seared into the dazed minds of teenagers up way past their bedtime in the '80s.

"TV 2000's a different kind of video show: We've got everything!" The 1985 music series and Night Flight sister show hosted by John Kassir (voice of the Cryptkeeper) and Joe Gallo includes a top ten countdown, home movies, artist conversations with Night Flight & Radio 1990 resident interviewer Lisa Robinson, and some fantastic sweepstakes (sorry, entry is now closed!). Tonight's show, dubbed Episode 1 in the library, features videos from Duran Duran, Til Tuesday, Lisa Robinson on location with model Jerry Hall and a sizzling video Hot Pick of the Week. Commercials included!

TV 2000 is Night Flight's spin on the top ten countdown format from 1985, hosted by comedian John Kassir & Joie Gallo. In Episode 2 of TV 2000, Bryan Adams takes us to heaven, the Eurythmics ask: "Would I lie to you?" and Lisa Robinson goes on location with Boy George and Marilyn at the "hottest new club in New York," Palladium! Commercials are included.

This '90s syndication episode of Night Flight is dedicated exclusively to duets featuring a match made in art-pop heaven: Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, KLF and Tammy Wynette's idiosyncratic country/dance-pop hybrid of pedal steel guitar & drum machines "Justified & Ancient," UB40 & Chrissie Hynde, and finally, Cher hits on Butthead in "I Got You Babe," the mega-crossover event of music television history we all needed. It's a bonafide hit-parade and a perfect specimen of our unique "Take Off" format, indeed.

It’s an “International Bazaar” on Night Flight tonight! This new arrival from the archives, taken from our 1985 Anniversary Special, finds Cabaret Voltaire sharing the Peter Care-directed classic video “Sensoria,” (inspired by the film 1979 black-comedy Wise Blood), Scotland's loyal song Jesse Rae and German experimentalists Einstürzende Neubauten contrasting perfectly against the Italian pop of Righeria in “No Tengo Dinero.”

Experimental hip hop group Shabazz Palaces makes a foray into “final-days funk” on Exotic Birds of Prey, an unsettling exploration of the coldest and darkest edges of their sound.

Emmy-winning director Stephen Hopkins navigates this harrowing journey of four suburban men into the nightmarish neighborhood of Chicago's crime-infested underworld. When four young men take a wrong turn, they witness a murder. Now, the killers cannot let them live... With a powerhouse cast including Young Guns' Emilio Estevez, Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr., a maniacal Denis Leary, and Blade's Stephen Dorff, this edge-of-your-seat thriller takes viewers on a life and death road-trip into terror.

LA psych scene veteran Michael Collins, formerly of Run DMT and Salvia Plath, surfaced as Drugdealer in 2016 with the warm and melodic The End of Comedy. Dialing back the psychedelia that had defined the first half of his career, Drugdealer reflected a shift towards 70s soft rock and Baroque pop influences that would continue to emerge on his next album, Raw Honey, released in 2019 on Mexican Summer.

Father John Misty, the alter ego of songwriter Josh Tillman, embarks on his sixth album with a more rock-influenced edge.

Born in 1954 in Versailles, France, Philippe Krootchey was a musician, DJ, radio and television host at the forefront of the gay liberation movement in France.

Natalie Mering's orchestral folk project, signed to Sub Pop records. Songs from 2019's Titanic Rising.

Soft-focus sounds from painter and an ambient composer Tor Lundvall on Dais Records.

Frank Dimino is best known for being the frontman of notoriously loud glam rock creation, Angel, who was discovered (similarly to Van Halen) by KISS bass player Gene Simmons. Angel released five studio and one live album in the second half of the 70’s. After the band’s demise, Frank went on to work with UFO’s Paul Raymond and other endeavors that showcased his sky cracking pipes. Like his close pal, Oz Fox, Frank relocated to Sin City almost 20 years ago. The 73-year-old Boston born singer released his debut solo LP, Old Habits Die Hard, in 2015 and is always welcome to resurrect Angel when fans and concert promoters come calling. We bonded years ago in the produce aisle of Trader Joe’s. “Hey Frank, I guess we’re neighbors.” I smiled. “I saw Angel open for Blue Oyster Cult and Be Bop Deluxe at the LA Forum in 1979. The lasers messed me up for days.”

“The best songs in the world come from a feeling” says the artist known as Ilian, whose life and career is documented in this short film created by Mexican Summer's Anthology records for the their reissue of artist's long lost 70’s album, Love Me Crazy.

Luca Yupanqui began recording music when she was literally in the womb. The child of musicians Elizabeth Hart and Iván Diaz Mathé, the pair began recording their unborn child with biosonic MIDI technology Diaz Mathé compared to a polygraph. After her parents spent 2020 mixing the album “respecting the sounds as they were produced”, Luca made her Sacred Bone’s debut in 2021 with Sounds of the Unborn, described as an “expression of life in its cosmic state.”

X RAY POP are the French synth-pop duo that began as part of the no wave art group Bocal 5 in 1981. Referring to their sound as “minimum naive new wave” their songs feature rich textures on concise but relentless arrangements with playful lyrics and a general tongue-in-cheek of humor that’s as catchy as it is eccentric.

Welcome to Night Flight’s DAIS Records Video Profile, highlighting the New York and Los Angeles based label featuring artists such as Cold Showers, Merzbow and Space Afrika.

Experimental psych rock band Psychic Ills, formed in 2003 by the late Tres Warren with guitarist Tom Gluibizzi and later bassist Elizabeth Hart and drummer Brian Tamborello, evolved over their 15 plus year career from creating trance-like noise rock to their more recent, subtle releases that rely on more traditional psychedelic songwriting. Highly respected by their peers, the group is known for their work on indie labels Social Registry and Sacred Bones. In March of 2020 Tres Warren tragically passed away.

“Take Off” to Chicago-based independent label Drag City featuring music videos from Eiko Ishibashi, Rangda, Ty Segall and Bill MacKay.

In early 1980s Finland, Belaboris were in their own peculiar, undefinable no-woman’s-land between the Finnish Futu and Gothic scenes.

Legendary Japanese heavy rock group Boris “continue their musical creation and destruction” with 2022’s W, their first release with Sacred Bones.

Sixties psych, Shoegaze, and ’90s indie come together in the music of folk-pop artist Dylan Moon.

Don Giovanni is an independent record label from New Brunswick, New Jersey whose catalog includes Paisley Fields, Screaming Females, and Weakened Friends.

Philly post-punk outfit Death of Lovers on Dais Records.

Born on the island of Crete and raised in Athens, Platonos was one of the pioneers in the Greek electronic music scene of the 1980s, and remains active today.

One thousand years into the future, following the Great Neutron Wars, the world is divided into desert wastes and isolated city-states. Lord Zirpola captures the notorious "Desert Ranger" Kaz (David Carradine) to fight to the death in his game, Deathsport. Now Kaz must face his past and fight to save himself and his city from the war that Lord Zirpola is about to wage. Costarring with Carradine is beautiful B-movie starlet Claudia Jennings (Great Texas Dynamite Chase, Gator Bait), Jesse Vint (Forbidden World, Macon County Line) and Richard Lynch (The Sword And The Sorcerer, Bad Dreams).