Now in its third decade, venerable ABC clip show Rage is taking a wistful glance back at its salad days, a bygone era of big hair, big snares drums and Big Audio Dynamite (sadly not included here). From the counter-culture video collage of Sonic Youth's Teen Age Riot to hyper-coloured cartoon world of De La Soul's Eye Know, via the Mary Chain, Bowie, The Specials (Jerry Dammers' truly awkward skanking is a particular highlight), Neneh Cherry's immortal Buffalo Stance and, err, Yazz, there's hardly a dud within. However, considering Rage launched as hip-hop was entering its golden age and beginning to infiltrate the mainstream, the selection on offer is somewhat light on 'rap,' as it was called back then. I also take issue with the Fine Young Cannibals quotient - Johnny Come Home over She Drives Me Crazy? Really? - but that's an argument for another day. Retro Rage is somewhat of a wasted opportunity though, as the videos are presented cold, one after another, without any context or commentary. The main attraction of Rage is that it spares us the zany 'youth' presenters that usually helm these programs, gurning and leering at the camera with their mad hair, and goes straight to The Talent. The artists program the selection and interject at will with anecdotes and history lessons - amongst a good deal of indecipherable slurring and cackling - providing fans with crucial insight into their heroes' influences. An introduction before each song here certainly wouldn't have gone astray. But while one may question the validity of these kinds of DVDs - and indeed Rage itself - in the Youtube age, consider this: who, after stumbling home, wants to huddle over your mate Phil's 9" x 7" netbook screen at four in the morning and expend what precious few brain cells remain trying to remember who sang The Riverboat Song? That's right.
