This video is terrible. But it’s terrible so good. But it’s like really bad. Especially considering that this song and video came out in 1984. A year earlier—1983 for those less mathematically inclined individuals—saw the release of possibly the most iconic music video ever in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Think about that: a year prior, a music video that was a movie came out and changed everything. In 1984, Dennis Edwards—formerly of The Temptations Dennis Edwards—drops a video dressed in a tuxedo with a random background whose most significant technological advancement was the panning out of the random city view and fade into the ONE camera shot scene that lasts for the remainder of the video. And not only that, he brought Siedah Garrett along for the ride who had to pretend like she was thrilled to be there. I love this video.
Dennis Edwards featuring Siedah Garrett “Don’t Look Any Further” (1984)
When I was in high school, which was in the mid-90s mind you, one of my projects in 11th grade was to write and film a video based on a scene from whatever book we were reading. My group came up with the most epic bootleg video of all time. It was absolutely terrible but when I tell you it was entertaining as fuck. The whole class, including the teacher, was in tears laughing at this video. Even those of us who put this thing together, literally in a matter of 15 minutes the day before it was due, was in tears. That video looked a lot like this video from 1984.
Our budget was probably somewhere between $1 to $7. The budget for “Don’t Look Any Further” was absolutely higher than ours. You might be asking yourself why, then, would I include this video on the list of iconic black music videos. Well, for one, they really look like they’re having a blast. Dennis Edwards had Bobby Brown jaw before that was a thing. And mostly because despite the entirely low budget nature of this video, especially considering that by this point in the
’80s, videos and technology were obviously better than this video implies, this video is somehow awesome. In 2020, I know definitively nothing else is going to happen in this video, and yet I keep watching, waiting, for something else to happen. But nope, Dennis and Siedah just chill against this green screen that looks like a really bad Zoom call. There was clearly no choreography for this joint. Seriously, I love it.
I love it. I want more. I want one in 2020. Plus Dennis Edwards danced like he did drugs that aren’t good drugs. I don’t know which ones are the good drugs but that is not what he took before filming this video. Iconic, yo.