I love writing for this feature because most of my evenings end with my roommates and I sitting around at our computers trying to find the best worst videos we can. Between the three of us (and help from another one of our friends) we have a treasure trove of god awful things that make the internet amazing.
Case in point: the video for Glenn Frey’s mega-party-hit “Party Town”. Let me explain how we found it. My roommate and I were sitting around talking about The Eagles. Not sure why, but we were. No, I remember. We were discussing the Coen brothers’ films, then The Big Lebowski, then the scene in the cab where the Dude says how he hates the fucking Eagles. I then foolishly said something about Glenn Frey writing the theme to Top Gun. I was wrong. That was Kenny Loggins (whom, we found out through the internet, was quite the movie soundtrack writing machine). Glenn Frey wrote “The Heat is On” from Beverly Hills Cop, which inspired the amazing SNL skit with Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell as Glenn Frey.
All of this led me to Glenn Frey’s Wikipedia page. I was looking through his singles released after he left The Eagles—one of which was “Party Town”. My roommate and I both agreed that it sounded like quite the gem. He then looked on YouTube and found the accompanying video and hot damn is it a scorcher.
My roommate’s first comment about it was, “God…this video makes it seem like every concert in the 80s was the worst thing ever.” I think you’ll agree. It has all the fixin’s for ’80s delight: bad hair, bad outfits, Ray-Bans, quick swooping zooms on instruments, and an unnecessary amount of saxophones. The song doesn’t help the video, either, with such lyrical gems as “I’m goin’ to Partytown/ I’m gonna party down” and “I packed up my car and I got some gas/I told everybody they can kiss my ass.” GOLD!
The song also includes a super cool breakdown (after a key change, of course) where Frey has some playful banter with the crowd about “how cool” he is, and what I assume is a response to someone saying something about drugs to which Frey responds “You got any? I wish.” Then everyone makes way for a killer sax solo! BOOM! Take that, audience! You just had your face melted by Glenn Frey and all the travelers to Partytown, USA. Mayor Glenn Frey presiding. Damn!
So amazing. I need to find a real hobby…or just go to party town! Who’s with me?!?
