"Pop! Pop pop! Pop! Pop into Pop Up Video!"

January 19, 2025 11:25 AM

Between 1996 and 2002, VH1 had a show called Pop Up Video which paired music videos with trivia and jokes that "popped up" on screen, mostly without controversy. Most of it is unavailable today, but the Internet Archive has a number of episodes taped off televion. Here is a list:

Episodes 1, 2 & 3, featuring these videos: Tina Turner, “Missing You”; Sheryl Crow, “Leaving Las Vegas”; Los Del Rio, “Macarena”; George Michael, “Freedom”; Olivia Newton-John, “Physical”; Tom Petty, “Walls”; TLC, “Waterfalls”; Counting Crows, “Round Here”; John Mellencamp, “Pink Houses”; David Lee Roth, “California Girls”; Celine Dion, “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”; Alanis Morissette, “You Learn”; Rolling Stones, “Love is Strong”; R.E.M., “Losing My Religion”; Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon”.

Episode 4, featuring: Toni Braxton, “You’re Makin’ Me High”; Blues Traveler, “The Mountains Win Again”; Janet Jackson, “Runaway”; Pat Benatar - “Love is a Battlefield”; Madonna, “Express Yourself”.

Episode 5, featuring: Jewel, “Who Will Save Your Soul”; Mariah Carey, “Fantasy”; Meat Loaf, “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)”; Bruce Springsteen, “Glory Days”.

Episode 9, featuring: Sting, “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying”; Hootie and the Blowfish, “Let Her Cry”; Joan Osbourne, “One of Us”; The B-52’s, “Love Shack”; Lionel Ritchie, “Hello”.

Episode 10, featuring: Melissa Etheridge, “Nowhere To Go”; U2, “One”; Sting, “If I Ever Lose My Faith”; Blind Melon, “No Rain”; Cyndi Lauper, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”.

Episode 17, featuring: Babyface, “Everytime I Close My Eyes”; Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car”; INXS, “Never Tear Us Apart”; George Michael, “I Want Your Sex”; The Bangles, “Walk Like an Egyptian”.

Episode 37, featuring: Jamiroquai, “Virtual Insanity”; Hootie & The Blowfish, “Only Wanna Be with You”; Miami Sound Machine, “Bad Boy”; Van Halen, “Hot for Teacher”; Cyndi Lauper, “Time After Time”.

Episode 40, featuring: Bon Jovi, “Midnight in Chelsea”; Mariah Carey, “Always Be My Baby”; Aerosmith, “Cryin’”; Devo, “Whip It”; ZZ Top, “Gimme All Your Lovin’”.

Episode 42, featuring: Lisa Stansfield, "Never Never Gonna Give You Up"; The Proclaimers, "(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles"; Natalie Cole, "Unforgettable"; Dire Straits, “Money For Nothing"; Men at Work, "Down Under".

Episode 47, featuring: Meredith Brooks, "Bitch"; Gin Blossoms, "Allison Road"; Madonna, "Take A Bow"; Milli Vanilli, "Girl You Know It"s True"; Bobby McFerrin, "Don't Worry Be Happy".

Episode 48, featuring: Michael Jackson, "Stranger in Moscow; The Rembrandts, "I"ll Be There For You”; Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love”; The Clash, “Rock the Casbah"; Blondie, "Rapture".

Episode 55, featuring: Texas, "Say What You Want"; Spin Doctors, "Two Princes"; Michael Penn, "No Myth"; Phil Collins, "In the Air Tonight"; Billy Joel, "Uptown Girl".

Episode 63, featuring: Janet Jackson, "Together Again"; 10,000 Maniacs, "These Are the Days"; Tom Jones, "If I Only Knew"; John Fogerty, "The Old Man Down The Road"; Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come On Eileen".

Episode 97, featuring: Sugar Ray, "Fly"; 4 Non Blondes, "What's Up"; Elvis Costello, "Veronica"; AC/DC, "You Shook Me"; Pat Benatar, "Shadows of Night".

Episode 136, featuring: R.E.M., "Shiny Happy People"; Sheryl Crow, "A Change Would Do You Good"; Madonna, "Nothing Really Matters"; INXS, "I Need You Tonight"; Kylie Minogue, "The Loco-motion".

Elton John special episode, featuring the songs: “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting”, “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”, “Nikita”, “Candle in the Wind”, “I’m Still Standing”.

Songs from movie soundtrack, featuring: Whitney Houston, "I Will Always Love You"; Los Lobos, "La Bamba"; Bryan Adams, "(Everything I Do) I Do For You"; Tina Turner, "We Don't Need Another Hero"; John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John, "Grease Megamix".

Songs from 80s movie soundtracks, featuring: Ray Parker Jr., "Ghostbusters"; Kenny Loggins, "Danger Zone"; Madonna, “Into the Groove"; Psychedelic Furs, "Pretty in Pink"; Michael Sembello, "Maniac".

80s songs about dancing, featuring: Men Without Hats - "The Safety Dance"; The Hooters, "And We Danced"; Herbie Hancock, “Rockit"; Wang Chung, "Dance Hall Days"; David Bowie & Mick Jagger, "Dancin' in the Street".

80s songs about the Cold War, featuring: Frankie Goes To Hollywood, "Two Tribes"; Culture Club, "The War Song"; Sting, "Russians"; After The Fire, "Der Kommissar"; Genesis, "Land of Confusion".

One hit wonders, featuring: The Outfield, “Your Love”; Tom Cochrane, “Life is a Highway”; Martika, “Toy Soldiers”; EMF, “Unbelievable”; Neneh Cherry, “Buffalo Stance”.

Rock n' roll hall of fame part 2, featuring: Fleetwood Mac, “Hold Me”; Santana, “Black Magic Woman”; Eagles, “Hotel California”; David Bowie, “China Girl”; John Lennon, “Nobody Told Me”.

Metal Mania part 3, featuring: Judas Priest, “Breaking The Law”; Metallica, “The Memory Remains”; Ratt, “Round and Round”; Whitesnake, “Here I Go Again”.

Rock n' Roll Heaven, featuring: The Doors, “Break on Through”; Bob Marley, “Could You Be Loved”; Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Crossfire”; Roy Orbison, “You Got It”.

Rolling Stone special episode, featuring the songs: “Start Me Up”, “Going to a Go-Go”, “Undercover of the Night”, “Has Anybody Seen My Baby?”

Songs about social issues, featuring: Ben Folds Five, “Brick”; Stevie Wonder & Babyface, “How Come, How Long?”; Aerosmith, “Janie's Got a Gun”; Rod Stewart, “Young Turks”.

Greatest Artists of Rock n' Roll, featuring: Rolling Stones - “Start Me Up”; Tina Turner, “What's Love Got To Do With It”; U2, “One”; Prince and the New Power Generation - “7”; Paul Simon, “You Can Call Me Al”.

Greatest Dance Songs, featuring: Cher, “Believe”; Dead or Alive, “You Spin Me Round”; Gloria Gaynor, “I Will Survive”; Paula Abdul, “Straight Up”; Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean”.

Big 80s part 1, featuring: Duran Duran, “Rio”; Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon”; Billy Idol, “White Wedding”; Cyndi Lauper, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”; Olivia Newton-John, “Physical”.

Big 80s part 2, featuring: A-ha, “Take on Me”; Pat Benatar, “Love is a Battlefield”; John Cougar, “Jack & Diane”; Lionel Richie, “Hello”; Van Halen, “Hot For Teacher”.

Big 80s part 4, featuring: Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car”; Thomas Dolby, “She Blinded Me with Science”; Billy Joel, “Keeping the Faith”; The Jacksons, “Torture”; J. Geils Band, “Centerfold”.

There are no more whole episodes on the Internet Archive, but here are 332 individual songs in a big Pop Up Video playlist.

Finally, here's an interview with show creators Tad Low and Woody Thompson.

posted by Kattullus (44 comments total)

They were like Doritos: palpably un-nourishing, but addictive.
posted by Lemkin at 11:33 AM on January 19 [13 favorites]

HFS, what a great post: I loved this show!!

We never had cable and this was a rare treat.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:37 AM on January 19 [8 favorites]

I loved this show so much. (Has it really been over 22 years since it ended?)
posted by SisterHavana at 11:41 AM on January 19 [7 favorites]

Also a pretty decent trivia game.
posted by box at 11:52 AM on January 19 [1 favorite]

In the mid '00s, I worked as a researcher for Eyeboogie, the Pop-Up Video producers. But I wasn't working on music videos — I was working on a "popped" version of Forensic Files. There was a huge demand for more Forensic Files episodes, but as a producer said, the only way they could increase production was if they started murdering people themselves. The production company and network decided to extend the brand by adding "pop-up" additional facts to each episode. But instead of getting the writers to provide facts that didn't make it into the episode they farmed it out to Pop-Up Video, which in turn hired me to do the research.

The episode I most remember doing is the "Bio-Attack" episode about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's compound in Oregon, and his group's attempt to take over the town government by poisoning people. It was BANANAS.

But what was also weird was going into the Eyeboogie offices for meetings. They were big and they were empty. There was one producer in there. I think that they were trying to find other shows to give the Pop-Up Video treatment to as well. I can see on their site there was apparently a "popped" version of House Hunters. It was very clear they were on the downward slide of the concept, and they didn't have a solid way to branch out, since many production companies were "popping" their own shows and movies.

I know they aired the two episodes I worked on, but I don't know if they did any more.
posted by rednikki at 12:02 PM on January 19 [66 favorites]

I appreciate a post of this magnitude. Many thanks!
posted by nightcoast at 12:11 PM on January 19 [4 favorites]

Kattullus you beautiful madman.
posted by cortex at 12:12 PM on January 19 [11 favorites]

I liked this show. Totally forgot about it.

I just read the text of the "One Headlight" one, that Jakob Dylan objected to, apparently saying it was too mean, and it did get pulled.

I have to agree with him. It seems like harmless facts. Except one of the first items is how much Jakob hates to be compared to his dad, and then almost the whole rest of the thing is comparing Jakob to his dad.

Not nice.
posted by Glinn at 12:26 PM on January 19 [4 favorites]

My friend has the trivia game and it's fun if you are a certain age. One of the categories requires you to sing two lines from the song that are not the chorus. It turns out that I do not know any real words; all songs are in Simlish to me.
posted by tofu_crouton at 12:29 PM on January 19 [4 favorites]

I loved Pop Up Videos, it was such fun.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 12:29 PM on January 19 [2 favorites]

Martika was not a one-hit wonder
posted by el_presidente at 12:32 PM on January 19 [2 favorites]

This was the best show for an autistic, trivia-obsessed teenager with an interest in music videos. I wanted to be Pop Up Video when I grew up. Still do, actually.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:33 PM on January 19 [14 favorites]

This was an awesome show! Thank you!
posted by Spike Glee at 12:55 PM on January 19 [1 favorite]

Martika was not a one-hit wonder

I will be the first to admit my immense ignorance of 80s pop music, but...to me that sounds like a barely disguised version of Janet Jackson's 'Nasty' combined with Paula Abdul's choreography.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:05 PM on January 19

Thank you for posting this. I need to find the time to watch them all. I loved Pop Up Video and happily watched it on reruns well into the 2000s.
posted by chavenet at 1:09 PM on January 19 [2 favorites]

immense ignorance of 80s pop music .... a barely disguised version of Janet Jackson's 'Nasty'

Written by Prince and released in 1991
posted by el_presidente at 1:26 PM on January 19 [2 favorites]

Martika's Toy Soldiers was just featured on my drive home from the grocer. Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K
posted by djseafood at 1:38 PM on January 19 [3 favorites]

Written by Prince and released in 1991

they can't all be winners, I suppose
ok I'll stop the snark now
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:46 PM on January 19

I have always been a huge trivia fiend and this show was so satisfying to watch.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:11 PM on January 19 [1 favorite]

I can say without hyperbole that Pop Up Videos is the greatest television show in the history of civilization.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:13 PM on January 19 [11 favorites]

My favorite memory of this show was when the definition for “nocturnal emission” (I think) popped up during the chorus of “in the air tonight.” I hadn’t know vh1 could be so sassy!
posted by obfuscation at 2:18 PM on January 19 [1 favorite]

…bloop bloop!
posted by obfuscation at 2:28 PM on January 19 [1 favorite]

I think "Toy Soldiers" is a great pop song.

I worked in TV production at the time of Pop-Up's greatest popularity, and it was the number-one touchstone for the producers I worked with. They tried to make everything they did resemble Pop-Up Video.
posted by Dr. Wu at 2:35 PM on January 19 [3 favorites]

Reprinting the comment I made in a post in 2023 about a certain song by the Indigo Girls (which is not in this collection, unfortunately): I will always remember the "Pop-Up Video" of this song, for this one comment. "Moe Howard found that he was better able to relate to Larry than to his own brother, Curly Howard. He was Closer to Fine."
posted by dannyboybell at 2:59 PM on January 19 [11 favorites]

I worked in TV production at the time of Pop-Up's greatest popularity, and it was the number-one touchstone for the producers I worked with. They tried to make everything they did resemble Pop-Up Video.

I remember even "American Greed" had a "pop-up" version of some episodes for a time, though I don't know how long they did it for.
posted by gtrwolf at 3:07 PM on January 19

Man, I hated that show. I'm getting angry just thinking about it.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 3:32 PM on January 19

It inspired the subtitles of an anime series
for US release.

In the early years of this century, the late lamented ADVision got the rights to the surrealist series Excel Saga. There is so much weirdness that regular subtitles would not work. So they took inspiration from Pop Up Video, and there was a subtitle track that would pop up bubbles pointing things out and explaining them as best as possible.

An associate of mine ended up watching every episode of the series 5 or 6 times to do it. He remains unsure if it was worth what he got paid.
posted by mephron at 3:48 PM on January 19 [3 favorites]

Every time I'm watching some big political event (and we know there's one coming up this week), I keep thinking that we need some kind of live, pop-up video captioning to label attendees. I don't need "fun facts" but just names--especially of people who have been out of office for a while. I get so tired of playing the "who is that person and why do they look familiar game?" and that's especially true these days, when I find I have so little time to actually watch TV news and political programming that my "putting a face to a name skill" has taken a deep nosedive.
posted by sardonyx at 3:58 PM on January 19 [3 favorites]

Man, I hated that show. I'm getting angry just thinking about it.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:32 AM on January 20 [+] [⚑]

Oh honey. That's not very zen of you.
posted by Jilder at 5:08 PM on January 19 [10 favorites]

Pop-Up Video marathons got me through many a sick day in high school. I have such distinct memories of having the flu and lounging on our living room couch and just letting this go straight into my brain.
posted by edencosmic at 5:40 PM on January 19 [1 favorite]

Every time I'm watching some big political event (and we know there's one coming up this week), I keep thinking that we need some kind of live, pop-up video captioning to label attendees. I don't need "fun facts" but just names

This should be the kind of thing augmented reality and AI should be doing.
posted by Mitheral at 6:13 PM on January 19 [3 favorites]

This should be the kind of thing augmented reality and AI should be doing.

Can't do it in real-time because the LLMs hallucinate too much, and you'd need a writing team anyway to audit the jokes. So let's put it on a ten-minute tape delay, overlay Mike and the robots, and have their bon mots pop up in little cartoon speech bubbles.

There it is, Hollywood. The billion dollar VR-AI synergy you've been waiting for. I know you're worried about some of the logistics, but just repeat to yourself: It's just a show, I should really just relax.
posted by Mayor West at 6:24 PM on January 19 [6 favorites]

Faint of Butt, your moment may yet come.
posted by Jilder at 6:28 PM on January 19 [2 favorites]

I loved this show and I still think about it. It was the perfect combination of music videos, which i was interested in, and then information about them! If AI can be persuaded to do this to real life I would take back at least half of the terrible things I've said about AI. Thank you for finding these shows, I assumed they were lost forever.
posted by Vatnesine at 8:17 PM on January 19 [2 favorites]

Wow. Wow wow wow. I feel like I must have watched every episode of Pop-Up Video sitting on the living room floor after school circa 1999. I saw some episodes so many times I knew exactly which fun fact was coming up at each point in the songs. Thanks for this nostalgia blast!
posted by rachaelfaith at 9:34 PM on January 19 [1 favorite]

Pop-up Videos lives in the same perfect universe as Cash Cab.
posted by alikins at 10:02 PM on January 19 [1 favorite]

I think about that fact about how the first stall in public restrooms is the least-used one (which I learned when episode 5 aired) every. Single. Time. I use a public restroom.
posted by sugarbomb at 10:10 PM on January 19 [6 favorites]

So watching the first segment of Episode 5 is a fucking wormhole back to the late 90s and my massive (and cable-free) fixation on Jewel's first album as a budding singer-songwriter, and to getting to college in 1997 when several dozen cable channels were now gratis on campus and so experiencing a whole other visual dimension of my otherwise extant top 40 pop music milieu.

This should be the kind of thing augmented reality and AI should be doing.

That's the weird thing, because in a the far narrower entertainment channels of the end of the 20th century (shriveling down to bones as I say this) this really was a tremendous notion, and these days it all falls to "oh I'll just google that later" instead of something you need to be fed in real time. Streaming video services (Amazon in particular) can do this as a matter of course with timestamped metadata, which honestly is great and something I'd love to see find its way more into being Just What's Done in the long run rather than a specialty feature.

There is a kind of multidimensional trivia-as-service aspect to entertainment metadata/context that could absolutely be normalized at this point without too much effort for mainstream / high-profile entertainment that was absolutely novel and unserved in the late 90s, and Pop-Up Video deserves huge culture credit for just jumping on that shit.
posted by cortex at 10:11 PM on January 19 [2 favorites]

Oh man, I loved this show when I was a kid. Now I know what I'm going to do with the rest of this freezing cold holiday Monday!
posted by merriment at 7:38 AM on January 20 [1 favorite]

!!!!!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 9:57 AM on January 20 [1 favorite]

I liked this show ok, but it was obvious it was a foray into showing something other than just music videos, taking the power back from the artists, and in that aspect it was sad to watch. It was obvious it was a temporary bridge between cutting the videos out entirely and copying the output of USA network I guess...is that what VH1 is now?
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:05 AM on January 21

Sadly, Pop Up Video failed to present any factoids on Belgian techno anthem, Pump up the Jam
posted by knoxg at 12:12 AM on January 22 [2 favorites]

Thank you so much for this post. It's inspired a new personal music video renaissance and really Kylie Minogue did that song and wow I didn't know that about Devo! Pop Up Video was a favourite of mine back in the day when it aired, and why and how is this not still a show?
posted by neon909 at 11:28 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]

Mod note: [Love this so much much much! We've pop pop popped it into the sidebar and Best Of blog!]
posted by taz (staff) at 4:05 AM on January 26 [2 favorites]