Corey Hart — Sunglasses At Night

JUL 01 1984 · 12:00

Corey Hart — Sunglasses At Night (1984) Director: Rob Quartly Era: Early MTV Era (1983–1984) - Peak of the first music video boom; Canadian synth-pop crossing over to US mainstream via heavy MTV rotation during the channel's formative cultural ascendancy. This video holds Tier 1 curatorial status as a confirmed inaugural Juno Award winner for Best Video (1984), a chart-defining MTV-era artifact, and a foundational text in Canadian music video history. Directed by Rob Quartly — the first inductee into the MuchMusic Hall of Fame — it represents the convergence of synth-pop aesthetics, dystopian New Wave narrative, and the early infrastructure of both MTV and MuchMusic. Its low-brightness, high-saturation, tungsten-warm visual fingerprint is a precisely dateable aesthetic signature of 1983–84 Canadian film-based video production. Context: Released as the lead single from Corey Hart's debut album 'First Offense' (EMI America Records), 'Sunglasses at Night' emerged at the precise moment MTV was establishing itself as the dominant force in popular music promotion. The video's dystopian 'fashion police state' concept — shot at Toronto's historic Don Jail — aligned perfectly with the New Wave visual language of alienation, authority, and cool detachment permeating early-80s pop culture. MTV's heavy rotation of the clip drove the song to #7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1984, transforming a Canadian artist into a transatlantic pop figure. The video also marked an early high point for Canadian music video production, winning the inaugural Juno Award for Best Video in 1984, the same year MuchMusic launched — a confluence that signaled the maturation of Canada's domestic video industry. Director notes: The video for 'Sunglasses at Night' was shot on location at the Don Jail in Toronto, Ontario, Canada — a historically resonant Victorian-era correctional facility that lent the production its authentic atmosphere of institutional menace. The concept envisions a dystopian 'fashion police state' in which wearing sunglasses is mandatory and enforced by law. Hart is depicted being arrested in his apartment, imprisoned, and ultimately released. The video uses the shorter single edit rather than the extended album version. It won the Juno Award for Best Video in 1984 — the first year that award was presented — and received heavy rotation on MTV, which Corey Hart has cited as pivotal to the song's US chart success. The video is listed on IMDb (tt7058744) and IMVDb with Rob Quartly confirmed as director across multiple independent sources.