Blotto - I Wanna Be A Lifeguard

What this video is

Blotto's 'I Wanna Be A Lifeguard' occupies a singular position in American pop-culture history: it was the 36th video broadcast on MTV on August 1, 1981 — the network's inaugural day — airing between Iron Maiden and Rod Stewart. Produced entirely outside the music-industry infrastructure by SUNY Albany video students as a class project, it became one of early MTV's most-rotated clips and a proof-of-concept that…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of American comedy-rock and new wave, and one of the first music videos to demonstrate that low-budget, student-produced content could survive and thrive in heavy MTV rotation. The video predates the polished, high-budget director-driven clip era and represents the raw, DIY…

The director

Tom Gliserman and Dave Lefebvre were video production students at the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY Albany) circa 1980–1981. No subsequent professional directing credits have been independently verified for either individual in major industry…