Bryan Adams - This Time

JUL 01 1983 · 12:00

Bryan Adams - This Time (1983) Director: Steve Barron Era: MTV Golden Age (1983) - Peak of early MTV narrative video production; Canadian rock mainstream breakthrough moment coinciding with the network's explosive early growth High curatorial value as a confirmed early-MTV artifact directed by one of the format's defining auteurs at the peak of his influence. The Barron–Adams collaboration across five videos represents one of the most sustained director-artist partnerships of the era. The video's realist cinematography by László Kovács, its purpose-built MTV commission status, and its role in launching Adams to mainstream prominence make it a primary source document for multiple threads of 1980s music video history. Context: Released in April 1983, 'This Time' arrived as Bryan Adams was breaking into mainstream North American and eventually international consciousness via the Cuts Like a Knife album cycle. The video was purpose-built for MTV, then barely two years old and rapidly reshaping music promotion. Director Steve Barron was simultaneously the most in-demand music video director in the world, having just completed 'Billie Jean' for Michael Jackson. The video's Americana road-movie aesthetic, motels, motorcycles, desert highways, situated Adams within a blue-collar heartland rock tradition that would define his brand throughout the decade. The near-desaturated, warm-film look distinguished the video from the synth-pop neon palette dominating MTV at the time, grounding it in cinematic realism. Director notes: Confirmed directed by Steve Barron via IMDb (tt10989376), IMVDb, Wikipedia, and Bryan Adams Wiki. Produced by Simon Fields under Limelight International. Cinematography by László Kovács. Released April 1983. The video tells a linear narrative: Adams at a roadside motel lost in memories of a woman, recalling desert wanderings and motorcycle rides near railroad tracks, before attempting to leave, only for the woman to have secretly returned and hidden in his truck. Created specifically for MTV during the network's early explosive growth phase. Part of a sustained directorial collaboration between Barron and Adams covering five videos from 1983–1985.