REO Speedwagon — Time for Me to Fly

JUL 01 1981 · 12:00

REO Speedwagon — Time for Me to Fly (1981) Director: Jay Dubin Era: MTV Launch Era (1981) - One of the earliest American rock music videos produced for MTV rotation, filmed live at McNichols Arena, Denver, representing the transitional moment when U.S. arena rock bands scrambled to supply a video-starved new network. Exceptionally high. This video is a primary source document of the earliest days of MTV, representing the precise cultural moment when American arena rock collided with a new medium that neither the band nor the director had designed for. Its raw, slow-cut, warmly lit live aesthetic is unpolished by later standards but invaluable as an authentic time-capsule of 1981 arena rock culture, early multi-camera live video production, and the accidental birth of MTV's American rock programming canon. Context: This video occupies a pivotal position in MTV history: filmed April 25, 1981, months before the network launched, it was pressed into service as one of the earliest American rock clips in MTV rotation. The scarcity of U.S.-made music videos in 1981 — most content came from British and European acts — meant that REO Speedwagon's live arena footage filled a critical programming gap. The song, originally a 1978 single that peaked at #56, achieved its greatest cultural reach through repeated MTV airplay, demonstrating the transformative power of the new medium. The dark, warm, contemplative mood metrics (brightness 47.53, color temperature 2.24) reflect the amber-lit, low-tech production realities of early arena video capture, making the clip a direct document of pre-MTV-era American rock spectacle. Director notes: This video was filmed live at McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado on April 25, 1981 — before MTV even launched. When MTV debuted on August 1, 1981, it was desperate for American rock content, as most available videos were from European acts. This live performance clip was placed immediately into MTV rotation despite the song being three years old at the time (originally released 1978). It became one of the most-requested videos on early MTV and helped sustain REO Speedwagon's massive commercial momentum following Hi Infidelity (1980). Notably, Dubin's music video career itself began with filming a John Lennon Double Fantasy session in August 1980, just months before this REO shoot — placing this video among his earliest major music video commissions. The clip features band members Kevin Cronin (vocals), Neal Doughty (keyboards), Alan Gratzer (drums), and Bruce Hall (bass).