VHS Archives #100: The Final Episode of the Pepsi Power Hour

The final episode of the Pepsi Power Hour aired at the end of the summer of 1991.  The man with the sad honour of signing off was veteran Michael Williams.  Off and on, Williams hosted the Power Hour since 1986 if not earlier.  It was filmed at a welding shop in Calgary, Alberta.  Because metal?  (Bad, bad idea!  Audio engineers, your thoughts on this setting?)

Williams played Metallica’s “One”, and “Hunger Strike” by Temple of the Dog.  The shape of things to come.

The episode also features an interview with a new band called The Scream, featuring an up-and-comer named John Corabi.  A couple years later, and Corabi would be the new singer in Motley Crue.

The very last band ever played on the Pepsi Power Hour was Van Halen.  It was a big interview by Kim Clarke Champniss regarding the new album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.  The very last song ever played was “Runaround”.

The Power Hour was supplanted by the inferior Power 30.  It was a significant change.  I rarely missed a Power Hour.  The Power 30 was rarely worth catching.  However, look for the ad for a promising new Saturday show called Start Me Up – three hours of rock!

YouTube has forced me to butcher this video to get it up, so there are no music videos.  The Van Halen interview is mutilated. There are some ads and all the talking.  It’s history!

 

Speaking of history:  100 VHS Archives!  And counting!  I started posting these in 2019 and I still have plenty of files left to upload, and a few more tapes to play.  I’ve been taking it easy lately because the software is user-unfriendly and my VCR is making odd noises.  But we’re not done.  Not by a long shot.

Click here to check out all the VHS Archives!

 

34 comments

  1. This is cool stuff. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge was the last album to be featured on the program? Fuck!

    “It was filmed at a welding shop in Calgary, Alberta. Because metal? (Bad, bad idea! Audio engineers, your thoughts on this setting?)”

    My thoughts? I didn’t even finish the sentence before I thought that was a dumbass idea. Those guys needed Red Foreman in the office to call out whoever thought of that on their dumbassery. To quote him, they hung vacancy signs on their asses and his foot is looking for a room.

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  2. End of an era for sure. That was a cool interview with VH. Micheal Williams was another good interviewer as the one he did with Roth in early 91 was one of the better Dave one’s as well.
    Neat to see The Scream here as well. No worries about the editing dude as u have zip control over Facecrack and YouBoob!

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    1. I was happy that it was Van Halen. Heck I was happy that they played Metallica and Temple of the Dog, because that WAS the way of the future. This episode shows that. A slice of the past and a glance at the future. And it was all over.

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        1. No I really don’t. Metal was still big. They made it sound like Power 30 was better (5 shows X 30 minutes vs 2 shows x 60 minutes) but the shorter show was so limited.

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  6. LOL, good ol’ Chum. The setting would have been fine if they would have moved MW’s mic onto his other jacket lapel. Those mics are extremely directional and it is pointed away from his mouth. So all it is picking up the background noise over his voice.

    Yep, I just got access to Much Music in ’91 and only saw a few episodes of The Power Hour before it switched to Power 30. I forgot all about Start Me Up! I would watch that too.

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  7. Would you be shocked if I told you I had you in mind when I included that question for audio engineers? Thanks for answering the call.

    Who you gonna call? KEVIN.

    Start Me Up was great. I have a few tapes, but I didn’t spend 3 hours glued to the TV on a Saturday very often. The Power Hour was easy – 1 hour, twice a week. Same time every time. They used to spin the Power 30 as a positive change (more hours per week). But it was not, it was watered down and too much crap.

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