Kenny Loggins - Footloose

What this video is

Released in January 1984 as the lead single from the Paramount Pictures film Footloose, the song and its video arrived at the precise moment MTV was reshaping American youth culture. The video exemplifies an early and influential model of cross-promotional synergy between the film industry and the nascent music video format — a strategy that would define the mid-80s entertainment landscape. The song spent three…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of the 1980s soundtrack-pop genre and the film-music promotional clip format. 'Footloose' represents the apex of Hollywood's investment in pop music as a cinematic marketing tool and MTV as a distribution pipeline. Its AFI '100 Years...100 Songs' placement at #96 confirms its…

The director

British music video and television director and producer. Co-founded MGMM Productions in 1982 with Scott Millaney, Russell Mulcahy, and David Mallet — the most successful UK music video production company of the 1980s. Won the Grammy Award for Video of the…