did fans really lose interest in billy squier?
Or, to be more specific, the video for Rock Me Tonight was the torpedo that sank Squier’s career almost immediately. You can find it on YouTube, but you may remember that after a string of hits (including Everybody Wants You and the Stroke), in 1984 Rock Me Tonight was doing pretty well on radio when MTV released the Kenny Ortega-directed vid…which showed a solo Billy prancing around as what can best be described as an extra from Peter Pan or worse. Let’s be honest, Squier was never a great dancer – of course, that wasn’t what he was about. But MTV is a two-edged sword. While it arguably launched the careers of the likes of A-ha, Flock of Seagulls and other such savvy, video-ready performers, rockers who weren’t aware of the latent power of a great video (and weren’t very coordinated or studied dancers, like Squier) quickly figured out that a vid that protrayed you doing amateurish, very effeminate looking dance moves was a death blow. Squier himself admits this is the big flaming me
