Pullin’ ‘Tubes: The Trial of Who’s Johnny?

Scotty and I are a little busy with our day jobs and pressing HT issues at the moment, so it’s time to turn to the greatest song and video from the 1980s…

Shortly after Short Circuit debuted in 1986, America instantly grew infatuated with Who’s Johnny, which ostensibly became the movie’s theme song. Who’s Johnny shot up the pop charts that year, topping out at #3 and catapulting singer El Debarge to solo success after breaking free from his famous Grand Rapids family, DeBarge, which hit it big with Rhythm of the Night the previous year.

The ridiculousness of the song’s popularity notwithstanding, I’ve always enjoyed the video for its surreality and its, well, quintessential 80s-ness. The action takes place in a typical courtroom, where presumably the falsetto singer is the key witness in the trial of Ally Sheedy and Steve Guttenburg’s cinematic characters (Sheedy stars in the video with El, while Guttenburg is represented by a cardboard cutout — not too far a stretch given his acting). It’s one part showcase for the movie via short entered-as-evidence clips, one part showcase for El’s rapidly shifting eyes and questionable haircut. Both parts, taken together, are simply delicious.

The last 40 seconds are simply brilliant, with the introduction of firefighters, the spontaneous combustion of the judge and the courtroom’s dancing madness. I guarantee you four awesome minutes if you take the Who’s Johnny plunge here.

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• How ’bout the rest of the family: Debarge’s Rhythm of the Night