The Motels - Total Control Reaction
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- In this video we're listening to The Motels. We know very little about this band besides an early 80's hit that was all over the radio when we were kids. We're interested to hear more. Enjoy!
cynthiamartin....
gofund.me/5fa9...
/ hanierfamily
Most of what I know about The Motels is that Scott Thurston was a member for a while. He was in The Stooges back in the day, and became a session guy.
And *I* remember reading an interview with The Motels in a music magazine when I was 13 (in '83) and before I heard any of their songs that was accompanied by some very flattering shots of Martha Davis 😊
Thank you very much for this. I first heard the band back around 1979/80 (it was this track) on a late night TV show called Radio With Pictures. I bought the album on the strength of this song.
Only those that lived under rocks weren't hearing this song in 1980's Sydney.. Still sounds as fresh today as it did back then. I got to see Martha Davis a few times in the 1990's and 2000's, and she was marvellous!
3:08 Hayley on far right turning her head to the left (with the TV1 logo just covering her face). We never fully understood why people said we were fidgety, but watching all these old Countdowns and spotting me and my sister, I can see that we had similar head and body movements - like we never fully relaxed nor stayed still.
This is one of my favourite reaction videos.
_The Tourists - Don't Say I Told You So (Countdown 1980) ClassicVideos80s_ is also a nice piece to watch. It's from the same episode where Motels did ''Total Control''. The short interview Molly does with Annie is also worth a view.
Hi ! will check that out later . have a good one ! thanks .
OMG guys, The looks Martha gives. She's the sexiest band leader of the 70's and that is the hottest saxaphone solo of all time. That was filmed on "Countdown" a music show we had in Australia in the early 70's. It was on Sunday night and always ALWAYS started conversation the next day.... OMG the conversation on Monday the day after Bohemian Rhapsody was introduced for the first time.
Now, something for you to have a look at. IMO the great modern song in Australia ever, in the early 80' there was a band called Stars. Their main song writer, guitarist was a guy called Andrew Durant. He died young and the top musicians from the industry in Australia put a live concert together in memorial. This was years and years before live aid and all that. You can get an album called "The Andrew Durant Memorial Concert." In the concert they played mainly Andy Durant songs and one of them is, in my opinion, the greatest Australian live performance ever ...... Even better than INXS New Sensation at Wembley. At the concert a guy called Broderick Smith sings a song called "Ocean Deep" which was an Andy Durant song. It still makes me cry....... Broderick was the lead singer of a band called The Dingoes, who had a hit called Way Out West...... check it out but you have to watch Broderick sing Ocean Deep at the Andrew Durant memorial Concert.
ua-cam.com/video/irehic8MKxQ/v-deo.htmlsi=_gQPtQfhwOPq1ILH
Yep ! Proper enjoyed that ! Had not seen or heard this version ! That I can Remember . Cheers !
I first heard this song on 3XY with the radio announcer saying ''with popular demand from the Countdown kids of (variable suburbs in Melbourne), here's a song called 'Total Control' by a band called The Hotels''. What followed was this haunting number.
After the song ended, a youngster called into the station and corrected the DJ by saying ''The band's not called The Hotels, they're called The Motels you idiot''. I had to laugh.
Divinyls is a fair comparison. I'm sure Martha and Chrissie (Amphlett) did shows together at some point. Tina Turner and Missy Higgins also do versions of this song.
Excellent choice. My favorite song from their superb debut lp. That sax solo makes the song.
I couldn't even count how many aussie and kiwi artists have covered this song.
This is a classic that I can only take in small doses.
@Hanier Family - Isn't it just wonderful how your comment section really comes to life whenever you put out some Australasian content? 😍👍
... even when the actual Australasian part is just the TV show an American band was performing on! 😄
2:29 The girl doing the pointing is Hayley. I think that might be me on her right looking like a lifeless cardboard cutout. We always wiggled our way to the front of the stage. It was hard to identify eachother because most of the kids had dark hair, and the camera often shot the back of our heads. A lot of us would bring teddy bears into the studio and wave them about when the camera was on us. It helped with identifying ourselves when we watched the show on TV on Sunday nights.
Now, the story behind the success of this sensuous advocacy of female domination began around 1979. I first heard this song on 3RRR, which is the premiere community radio station in Melbourne. The song was lurking as a radio staple for a while, and around about 1980 Countdown played a film-clip of the band performing the song at some club in LA. We all went mad for that film-clip, and began demanding that the song get more play on commercial radio. Eventually the song got to # 7 on the Australian charts. It also charted in France and New Zealand, so it wasn't all about Australia (just to be fair).
When The Motels finally came to Australia around November of 1980; they came on Countdown and performed their latest single ''Whose Problem''. We were pretty disappointed that they didn't do ''Total Control'', and we made our complaints pretty loud and clear. We phoned and wrote letters to Countdown, whinging and carrying on, asking ''why didn't they do Total Control, why?!''. The band came back to the studio the following week, and performed ''Total Control'' (as you can see in this clip). If we had lighters, we would have been waving them in the air... It was quite satisfying to get our American band back on the show to do what they were meant to do. I have to admit that when the group began having success in their home country it felt like betrayal.. We felt like we discovered them, so they should be completely loyal to us. The Tourists were also on that particular Countdown episode, and next to sexy maniac Martha Davis, Annie Lennox sort of reminded me of a cranky sustitute teacher.. Her band were falling apart and the Eurythmics were just a mere idea in the heads of Dave and Annie.
I got an autograph from both singers, and Martha Davis was so affable and American!!! Wowzers!!!
So, there you have it... Thank you for viewing it and getting a taste of what us Countdown kids went for...
You kids did a great job putting those interesting songs on to the charts. What went wrong with ''Whose Problem'' and ''Danger''? Why did they fail in Oz?
@@brettfrench6121 ''danger'' didn't strike me as being worth the effort, but ''whose problem'' didn't do too badly. we managed to get ''whose problem'' into the charts, and the song was included on the ''1980 The Summer'' EMI comp LP
So, we did a good enough job with that one.
Great recollection sweetheart. I do remember the fuss we made over the Motels doing ''Whose Problem'' instead of ''Total Control'', and how we got our way, and got them back on the show. Looking back, I'm amazed by how much they listened to us. A strange and fairly innocent time.
@@I_was_a_Countdown_Kid-75-83 Yeah, back then they listened to the kids and made it clear that it was our show! Then they told us to love it or lump it by 84. Three years later, no more Countdown.
It was like the wild west in those days, and I miss 'em!
@@brettfrench6121 It usually takes a whole country to get a song into the charts. So, if a song does well in Melbourne, it doesn't mean it'll do well in Sydney. We weren't always in agreement with CDK's in other states. I don't know if you ever watched Countdown, but the Chartbusters segment always explained how particular songs performed in other states and territories. If all six states agreed on a song, the song will become a national hit and either enter the Top 40 (depending on the number of copies sold). Countdown would often misinform viewers by announcing songs that reached # 2 as # 1 (Kate Bush ''Babooshka'' being one of those songs). ''Whose Problem'' didn't do too badly, but it just wasn't a horse that everybody wanted to back at the time. I thought ''Danger'' was boring and was only b-side worthy.
This peaked at #7 here in Australia
Their highest single.
They seemed to well here
And you have my compassion, Cynthia; I'm having a bad back day myself today.
Mine too! I only just noticed.
@@liveitup67 - I've sent healing energies to you both! Be open to receive them too, please! 😇👍
Forty years later and she's still amazing!! She did a great gig at the Basement in Sydney some years back. Interesting reaction!
I got to see them at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney around 1980, and everybody held up lighters as they did ''Total Control'' and it felt a bit creepy to me.
Everybody seemed to love the song over here in Australia, though I couldn't imagine why with all the suggestions of ''Fatal Attraction'' and possession.
The song also gave me the creeps at the time. But there was no getting away from it. lol
@@rhonda_hart4982 Sorry for delayed response. I only just noticed your reply. For years I thought the rest of the world was having to endure the song as much as we did. Nope.. Only in Australia could those little Countdown kids influence the local market at the time.
My friend's school band were forbidden to play this song at a school concert. She didn't understand why until I handed her a copy of the lyrics. Like most people, she assumed Martha Davis was singing ''stay in bed, stay in sheets'', when it was actually ''stained sheets''. Let's just say that after she yelled out 'GROSS'', she never spoke about the song again. lol
I liked this song but in the original film-clip Martha Davis smokes and goes down on the sax guy to hold the mic to his instrument. The whole suggestive thing kinda put me off at the time. Australian comedian Gina Riley sums it up best here: ua-cam.com/video/iyxvTm_ZAvQ/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ObviousParody
LOL
LOL indeed! 😂 Awesome story! 😄👍
Thank you for checking this out! It was fun to watch you guys' reactions! 😊 I hadn't seen this particular clip before either ☺
It was quite nice sitting there watching them do this song in a dim lit studio. She was also doing a live vocal, which you don't get to hear on this particular upload...I think Hayley was showing her friend the monitor.
@@Green_N_Blue_monster Hello Laura from Fitzroy. Yes, I remember Mighty V introducing you to me. I am fine. Yourself?
@@Green_N_Blue_monster Good! So what makes it so great for you?
@@Green_N_Blue_monster I'm glad that things are sorting themselves out for you. Very cool!
It's a hoot that we both had our own times in that studio. I'm sure Recovery was a lot of fun - I was just too old for that show. lol.
Yarp ! Twas V good ! Me to had not seen this version either ! Must have done some travelling ,or some thing ! Are you keeping well ?
I had many nice nights with this song.. in my bedroom in the dark competely alone.. I was good looking bloke, and had no problem with the ladies
but none of them had the Martha Davis voice.. it just got under my skin in a pure delight way
Anyway, I remember this on Countdown, and I remember Annie Lennox of The Tourists (later Eurythmics) looking embarrased and awkward as Martha Davis rested her leg on Molly Meldrum's lap. I was jealous to high heaven, and I imagined Molly and Martha were getting it on.. Hardly any point looking back now that it turns that ladies aren't Molly's thing. Great song!!! Try ''Whose Problem'' next... it's a bit of a run of the mill New Wave number, but worked in its time.
And the snake didn't get you in the eye? 👀 Ha ha
Annie was weirdly nervous and awkward. I felt she might have been a cool chick if she was in a better mood. I think I also wondered if Martha and Molly were seeing eachother back then. They seemed to really like eachother, and nobody knew of Molly's sexuality back then. Innocent times... lol
@@liveitup67 Nah!! The snake never got me.. I've always managed to duck..
Speaking of which, Annie did look a bit like a Duckling on those Tourists days. They were a good band, but they just looked like they had enough .. I got to see them live, and felt nothing after the show was finished. Anyway Gillybean, I'm off to the sack. Talk about snakes and toursts next time!
Always enjoyed The Motels. Mission Of Mercy is a bit more a rocker that was a favorite of mine. Celia is a rather dark one...
Going off Cynthia's comment about always liking sax solos and Chris' liking Prince, I'd suggest you give Undercover Kept by Romeo Void a listen... 🙂
Christ on a bike.. Who'd think so many Australians would be commenting on a Motels song! lol
No shit! lol I think we were the only people in the world buying this song.. It's like ''Everybreath You Take''.. people think it's romantic
@@leavemealone344 True lol
thought this band were australian. learn something new everyday
Martha Davis let me have one of her cigarettes.. wasn't hard.. just asked her and without hesitation, she just lit one up and handed it to me.. The first nice yank I ever met
Ooh my, The Motels also had Take The L and Suddenly Last Summer.. They were almost a Brunette version of Blondie Teehee
I liked this song upon release but because it was such a big hit I got a little sick of it by 82.. Thankfully they had more to offer 😗
lol, I also got a little sick of this song by '81
I was about to say! Surely they know Take The L and Suddenly Last Summer!
Australian Banana Pie? Cute name lol
@@AshleyBaker-ll2ug Thank you.
Sadly for Gillian, she is barely visible in this clip, but I can see myself pointing at the Ceiling Monitor. I think I would have been in my 5th year of doing Countdown, so the monitors weren't new to me. I'm talking to a friend about the monitors. Not the most polite thing to do during a band's performance, but we were kids..
You guys might like to try The Motels - Whose Problem - 1980 - Countdown Australia austech
Gillian and I are in the crowd, but as they say, everybody looks the same in the dark and I can't see either of us..
We are in The Sports - Who Listens To The Radio video (versions 2)
Cheers,
Hayley
@Hanier Fandamily - Yes! 'Who Listens To The Radio' by The Sports is a fun song, and the Sisters are clearly visible in the Version 2 video, too! 😀👍
And hello Hayley! 😀 How've you been? 😀
@@mightyV444 Hi Volker,
I've only just noticed your comment. We can be seen in the video, but only those that know us personally would be to identify us. The Haniers guessed (almost) correctly in the Motels clip. I'm pointing to the monitor, and Gillian isn't visible. I don't think that is her on my right.
Gillian and I are dancing in the second ''Who Listens To The Radio'' video back when I was a fun person with energy.
@@I_was_a_Countdown_Kid-75-83 - Yeah, age does that to you. I can relate! 😅 But at least you're still a fun person even *without* that energy! ☺😉 It always makes me smile to see you Sisters' child selves having fun in that video by The Sports 😊
@@mightyV444 My youth preserved in 'Lost Media' apparently! I spoke to one of the girls that was also in the video just recently, and asked if she remembered the day. She told me that we were in a group of 30 kids, and were a mix of friends from school and Countdown and that we didn't stop chatting from the time we entered the studio. Gillian and I call it the washing powder commercial.
@@I_was_a_Countdown_Kid-75-83 - Maybe it was the constant chatting / unability to be quiet when necessary during that shoot that the person with the Bowie username had perceived as "rude"?! Anyway, I also heard from a friend of Gillian's called Conservative Business Man a bit earlier that there's a still image from this shoot with you girls in it on the backcover of the 'Strangers On A Train' single! 😀 And yeah, that video totally does have the air of a washing powder ad! 😄
That's a cool song. 70s or 80s?
1979 🙂
@@mightyV444 Ta, it's got that late 70's, early 80s sound.
@@SPKdesign1 - No problem! 😊 I love Music from that era 🤩
I remember hearing the song on the radio in 1979, but it was in 1980 that commercial radio began to give it a whirl, and Countdown played a film-clip of The Motels playing ''Total Control'' at some club in LA. That's when the song began to catch fire in Aus. Most Aussies would say this is a 1980 song, but it was lurking in the ''underground'' the previous year.
@@mightyV444 It was stil aw analogue recording back then.
motels are fantastic this is not their best
I think of the Motels as being like the West coast Blondie. Debbie Harry makes interesting eye movements when she sings too. The Motels actually formed a year or two before Blondie did.