Of Ants and Turtles and Electric Video Dreams

Steve Barron: the Ninja Turtle years.

I was interested to read this interview with video and film director Steve Barron this morning. I didn't know very much about him although of course was well acquainted with his work on seminal pop promotional videos starting in 1979 with The Jam and Secret Affair, moving onto pop pioneers Adam & the Ants, The Human League, Tears for Fears, OMD, Simple Minds et al, and then winding up with the big boys like  Madonna, Bowie, Bryan Adams and Michael Jackson (Billie Jean), while still remaining faithful to A-ha throughout.
He also directed a couple of films including the 80's-pop fuelled comedy sci-fi Electric Dreams and some other things which were, and remain, off my radar.
The abovementioned article was there to plug his new autobiography "Egg n Chips & Billie Jean: A Trip Through the Eighties", which from the Kindle preview actually looks quite entertaining.

His videos seem to always have that grainy, slightly old-fashioned feel to them which I quite like. Here's one of those early, seminal videos from 1980 (featuring the legendary GIANT PLUG!).