Was (Not Was) - Knocked Down, Made Small (Treated Like A Rubber Ball)

What this video is

This video was produced in 1983, the same year as Michael Jackson's Thriller and Prince's 1999 — a moment when mainstream pop dominated MTV's rotation. Was (Not Was), a Detroit-rooted art-funk duo (Don Was and David Was), operated on the commercial margins despite critical acclaim: Rolling Stone called Born to Laugh at Tornadoes 'conceptually, the best album of the year,' yet the album peaked at only #134 on the…

Why it matters

Represents a key artifact of the early-1980s art-funk/new wave R&B hybrid: a Detroit soul vocal tradition grafted onto post-punk production aesthetics and ZE Records' eclectic label philosophy. The track and its video predate Was (Not Was)'s later commercial breakthrough (Walk the Dinosaur, 1987)…

The director

Dominic Orlando, born in Balestrate, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, is a film and music video director with over 47 directorial credits on IMDb. His feature film work includes Knights of the City (1986) and he directed an episode of the TV series The Insiders…