REO Speedwagon - Take It On The Run

What this video is

Released in 1981 as the follow-up single to REO Speedwagon's chart-topping 'Keep On Loving You,' this video arrived at the precise moment of MTV's birth. Its inclusion in the network's inaugural nine-video rotation on August 1, 1981, places it at the absolute origin point of the music video era as a mass-media form. The song's themes of romantic suspicion and infidelity resonated with a broad AOR audience, helping…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of Arena Rock / AOR at its commercial apex. 'Take It on the Run' charted at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981 and represents REO Speedwagon's crossover from hard rock roots to polished, radio-ready soft rock. Its music video is among the earliest examples of the form used for…

The director

Jay Dubin is a Brooklyn-born director with a background in physics and engineering who transitioned into music video directing in the early 1980s. His career launched through a John Lennon connection documenting a Double Fantasy recording session in 1980. He…