Kihnplete: Our Interview With Greg Kihn

CREDIT: Felipe Buitrago

I've long maintained that Greg Kihn Band's "Jeopardy" is one of the greatest videos of the '80s. So when I was presented an opportunity to talk with Greg about his new compilation, Kihnplete, I jumped at the chance. We talked about the compilation, his involvement with the San Jose Sharks, Joe Satriani, Green Day, and how he picked the songs for Kihnplete. And he was nice enough to answer my questions about "Jeopardy," too.

How are you doing this afternoon?
I'm having a great day. I do a lot of creative thinking, so every day I've got some goofy ass idea I'm working on. For instance, since the Sharks have advanced in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and since KFOX is the official station of the San Jose Sharks, and since I have a special relationship with the Sharks and I sing the National Anthem a couple times a year there, I wrote a special goofy song for the Sharks.

Cool.
It's a parody of "Mack The Knife" by Bobby Darin, you know with the big band arrangement? Except that I changed the lyrics for the Sharks and the Stanley Cup. I just recorded it today at the studio and it sounds really good. Everybody at KFOX has heard the song and everybody's really liking it so they're saying, "Let's do a video." So now what started as a silly, stupid idea a few days ago has mushroomed into this big thing because now the Sharks begin Round Two of the playoffs at the HP Pavilion on either Friday or Saturday night. So now we're bringing our film crew--which I just found out ten minutes ago--down to the Shark Tank and we're going to be shooting the video with a lot of people as they come in with their faces painted and all their teal. I'll be performing the song at a Sharks rally outside the HP Pavilion. We'll shoot the bulk of the video right there at the rally because we'll have the whole gang up there. We'll just point the camera at these crazy people and let them go nuts. There's your video.

Once these teams get one of the these "Go Go Go Team!" videos, they end up winning it all, so they'll owe you something after this is over.
I really hope so. I hope it's good luck for them.

The Greatest Videos Of The '80s, Day One

When compiling a list of the greatest videos from the '80s, it's easy to list the Thrillers, Sledgehammers, and Take On Mes of the world. This week, I thought it would be cool to bring you some cool videos of the '80s that wouldn't make the typical top 10 list (even though they probably should).

One of these videos is Greg Kihn Band's "Jeopardy." The video opens with Kihn getting married in a small church. He's a little gun shy and on edge at first: he sees an older couple fighting, another couple handcuffed together, another couple whose hands have morphed into one, and a fourth couple joined at the hip (which, admitedly, while some of the worst makeup/FX you'll ever see, still grossed me the hell out as a kid).

And then he puts the ring on the bride's finger and all hell breaks loose.

The bride turns into a rotting corpse! Lightning! The people at the wedding turn into zombies! More lightning!

And then the pièce de résistance: a giant papier-mâché sharklike beast erupts from the floor of the church and wraps its forty-foot tentacle around Kihn! Will he survive? Kihn manages to tear a piece of wood veneer off a pew and stabs the sharklike beast until it releases him.

Kihn then plays air guitar on the wood veneer papier-mâché sharklike beast killer. It is this expert air guitaring that keeps the zombies at bay until Kihn is able to break down the doors of the church. The video then shows an aged film of people throwing rice on Kihn and his wife, and the camera pans back to show two male and female skeletons watching the video. Deep!

The video then switches back to Kihn getting ready for his wedding. Was it a dream? A premonition? Kihn sees the same couple fighting as before, so he runs out of the church and into his convertible. His wife, a Pat Benatar wannabe, storms out of the church. She sees Kihn and... smiles? Totally logical. He pulls up, she hops in, and they drive off.

But don't let the crappy ending keep you from an otherwise brilliant video. From 1983, here's Greg Kihn Band with "Jeopardy."

Enjoy!