History and Mystery of Yes' "Leave It" - The Most (Lost) Music Videos to One Song | Music Video Time

[@ItsMusicVideoTime]

First off, thank you everyone who has and will watch this video. I never expected to get a lot of views to this. Let alone, as of right now, over 40,000 views. That being said, I have been told in the comments that I made a few of mistakes in the video that I want to correct. * Trevor Rabin's last name is mispronounced in the video. It's pronounced 'Reibin' and not 'Rabbin'. Never knew that and I apologize. * While I said Rick Wakeman was a member of Yes since the Fragile sessions, he actually quit the group in 1974 after the Tales From Topographic Oceans tour. But he did rejoin in 1977 for Going for the One. Anyways, I'll try to get a new video made as soon as possible. If you have music videos you want me to cover, please let me know and I'll definitely consider them. Thanks for your time.

[@AutisticPersona]

I got one, Fish Heads by Barnes And Barnes

[@TheMister123]

Re: pronunciation, Rabin's band before Yes, back in South Africa, was called "Rabbit". And now I'm wondering if it was supposed to be pronounced "Ray-bit" all along. 😂

[@lizardlogic2564]

Thank you for putting together this video. It's still a bit of a mystery as to what happened to the entire set of videos, folly or not. It's meant to be humorous. Knowing the legion of Yes fans and their great need for knowledge, someone must have the entire set of videos.

[@faustbos]

Really Enjoyed this vid. Probably saw parts of these vids back when they aired but totally forgot about them. Agreed, I want my binge watch vids!

[@rcschmidt668]

Thanks for sharing! The harmonics are enjoyable ear candy.

[@zorakj]

Clicked on this video by accident. Watched it all. No regrets!

[@tonynoon8693]

I am a video editor who started my career at the end of the tape era in the late 90's. The amount of work that had to have gone into version 11 of this video is incredible. This absolutely had to have been built using several versions of the video put together. In my opinion, based on what I have seen here and what is going on in the video, this has to be a mocumentary for April fools. The 18 takes most likely were used to film individual elements to version 11. The versions that were individual members of the band are there so they can manipulate the bodies separately while the group images were there so that things could be manipulated together. The backward versions were obviously for things like the folds. This wasn't 18 videos shot in a day, this was one video shot in 18 takes, due to the limitations of video effects at the time, motion was hard to deal with so they literally had to stand as still as possible. It also feels like this video was taking pot shots at some of the video producers at the time that were doing weird videos and taking them way too seriously (Think peter gabriel) as well as the art world with people like Andy Warhol. Just my opinion.

[@lz4005]

Absolutely right. The videos got increasingly complex as they progressed, with the boring ones being just one layer of what ended up composited into #11.

[@cadcncengineeringfabricati3497]

Thanks Tony! Explanation accepted and approved. What a garbage channel. This prick thinks box office and short dittys measures music quality. Such a pop fan. He has no right reviewing prog even if it is the second yes after the good yes was gone.

[@mvunit3]

Thank you for the very informative comment :).

[@mgabrysSF]

Quantel Paintboxes were weird like that. I watched them at work as well as early CGI on SGI workstations in the company - and got my hands on the first Avids when they came out (it was amusing watching commercials and detecting the slip from 30fps to 24 because that was often the most they could push at the time - even tho it was video, not film on the screen). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantel_Paintbox

[@pablozambrano16]

since the 10cc guys always had a very tongue in cheek humor, I agree on the april fools theory

[@blackbrookstudio1932]

Having seen the 'marathon' when it originally aired on MTV on 4/1/84 I can say that the 'point' was an epic practical joke. A music video version of the blank canvas hanging on a museum wall. My not-yet-wife and I had just walked into the apartment to make some dinner, turned MTV on for some background, when the first version was played. The VJ introduced it to the effect, "And now a world premiere video from Yes". Cool. I was a huge yes fan and the new album was pretty good (and Leave It was a better song than Owner of a Lonely Heart in my opinion). Okay. Huh. Weird. Not the video I was expecting. When the video ended the VJ announced, "And now a world premiere video from Yes" ... version 2 ... "Hey, hon ... MTV just had this weird glitch where they repeated exactly the same thing ..." Then, "And now a world premiere video from Yes" .... version 3 ... version 4 ... each announced as though no previous video had been seen ... you get the idea. We actually sat down at version 4, put dinner on hold, and then proceeded to watch all the versions for an hour. It turned into some sort of dada-esque participation art. One version had what appeared to be crew members instead of band members, all laughably scruffy, different heights, wild beards. It's important to remember. This was Godley and Creme. The same crew that wrote "Life is a minestrone" and lyrics like "Art for art's sake, money for God's sake". It was an epic troll. Shown once and then gone. My now-wife and I still reminisce about it from time to time. Boring perhaps .. and yet oddly memorable. I'm pretty sure that was the point. I loved it. p.s. I doubt they will ever release the other videos even if they cane found. It would ruin what I think was the point. In a world of repetitive videos on endless loop, this was a one off, see it or miss it, 'happening'.

[@sail2byzantium]

Great story--and the analysis too on intentions by G&C. (I only ever saw the 11th version). Thanks for posting.

[@KMAsKorner]

I too saw the marathon over my Aunt's house while my family was having a get together. I was 12 and don't remember much but I was mesmerized by the experience and often remember the day fondly. Yes was also my favorite band at the time because of Owner of a Lonely Heart and I was just beginning to learn about their older material.

[@lizardlogic2564]

Several alternative videos shows, Night flight (Canadian syndicated video feed) and a local (short lived 1983-84)San Francisco video show had played several of the alternative Leaves It videos. I didn't have access to MTV at the time. I remember seeing three variations, so someone had purchased the rights to show the video, or at least three versions. I've read that many videos (Documentaries, concerts, videos, and movies) and recording master tapes were discarded once the company changed owners or went out of business. Unfortunately, many precious records have been lost. I hope this wasn't the case for these videos. Even if the videos were done in a joking manner, it's part of the Yes history.

[@artisan002]

Ha! I'd missed out on some of it. My parents wanted to watch something else, and even Dad's love for that song couldn't sustain him through so many iterations. But, he did make it through at least 4 runs before he finally sided with Mom that it was getting annoying.

[@taokodr]

How awesome! I think that I managed to see 3(4?) versions of the video over time, and totally missed that marathon. (DRAT! :D)

[@digitalmojave]

Jon Anderson had a point. Most of the videos made in the 80s are long forgotten, but here we are talking about it.

[@teresaclarke9908]

Don't forget, everytime we listen to 80s music, we just go on to KZbin to remember what the video looked like (at least, I do).

[@muskokamike127]

and that's what makes it BRILLIANT. Now add to that "did you see the leave it video"? Yeah "wasn't it funny when they did _____"? wait, what? they didn't do that "yes they did" not on the 1 I saw haha

[@djplong]

Now you're making want to dig out my 36 year old tape that is somewhere in the basement of the MTV 'marathon'. I'd already been a huge Yes fan when these came out and when I heard about what was coming, I made sure to have a tape ready (and they were more expensive back then and my employment didn't pay nearly as well as I have it now).

[@ItsMusicVideoTime]

If you manage to find your tape of the marathon that would be amazing.

[@lizardlogic2564]

You might get a nice paycheck if that video is still working...

[@meowtherainbowx4163]

Update us if/when you find it!

[@glenesis]

Please post it if you find it 🙏

[@DJ-bv8xu]

would love to see the marathon. try and find them asap, please.

[@FTNomad]

I love how the narrator is completely baffled by this, and the GenX’ers who grew up with it are like ‘what? this is normal.’

[@suzandouglass5241]

The fact you're making this video means that whole experiment was a success.

[@joeymacification]

I have 90125 signed by everyone in the band from back in the day before the spectrum show. Ballpoint pen, never played, priceless! Amazing album, and time in music!

[@XHuntinatorX]

Sweet man! One of the best LP’s ever produced.

[@rockerfromhk]

OMG, lucky you.

[@gabriellozupone3440]

Totally jealous man awesome awesome artifact to have my favorite band and though it's a different incarnation of one of its many, definitely a fantastic album, start to finish! I think my first tour was the very next one "Big Generator" I'm one of the Die Hard YES fans, and that's lonely thing to be! LOL🤔 maybe that's what Owner of a Lonely Heart was about! 🤣😂😆

[@joemillo]

I listen to it a few times every week. Saw the tour in 1984 as well. A flawless album.

[@nickpalance3622]

Wondering what “the spectrum show” is. I may not be a big enough fan to know. I was in elementary school back then and 90125 was my first exposure (that I remember) to them. Didn’t know what their tour was called. Related to that? Anyway.. By high school my friends exposed me to Big Generator and Union came out as I went into college and new friends helped me fill in the blanks and I bought the Yes back catalog. Or … is “spectrum” referring to “The Spectrum” arena in Philly? (home to the 76ers [Dr.J!] and the Flyers) .. which was knocked down to make way for the CoreStates Bank Center (then renamed First Union Center but really F U Center is the appropriate Philly name people used) then some other banks … Wells Fargo? … I can’t keep track anymore

[@XHuntinatorX]

90125 is one of the most well produced and performed LP’s in music history. Every track is superb with an epic track “Hearts” to conclude it. Nothing today can hold a candle to it.

[@kladrupquib]

I remember the marathon as well. There was one version where they were all just upside down, not moving, except that one of the guys head spun the entire time. I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me.

[@PaulSmith-uq5jk]

I first saw the Leave It video when I was 15 in February 1984. I saw a version where they were oscillating like pistons in an engine, and I loved it. This video does not suck.

[@jabril4real637]

What do you mean by "oscillating like pistons" ?

[@ronskopitz2360]

As a 12 year old when this came out, I can say everyone I knew around my age were completely blown away by these videos. I didn’t think even the first video was boring - I thought it was brave and totally got that it was poking fun at the bad/extravagant stuff that was so prevalent. And as others have said, the song was so good that we watched just to hear it.

[@FaydOgolon]

One of the things not mentioned in this video is that when they aired all the versions on April 1st, the marathon was immediately followed by Weird Al Yankovic's "Al TV," four hours of him being a guest VJ and riffing on a number of videos. Version 11 ran during this and he made a comment about it being "another high-budget video from Yes." I don't think he was aware of which version was going to be showing during "Al TV" when he shot the segments.

[@johnwebb167]

“Our Song” is a song made for driving hard and fast. “Changes” is also a masterpiece. I remember the album coming out in Dec 83 what a Xmas present everything on it kicks A$$!!!

[@GlennTillema]

I became a big fan of yes when I got my first album player for Xmas ... probably 1980. I played yessongs over and over, then slowly collected the rest of the back catalog. Once I got Drama I came under the impression that the band was broken up - then Owner of a Lonely Heart hit MTV and felt like my personal wish had become real! I agree with you on Our Song and Changes, both brilliant. Hold On is quite a jam, too! In particular the "rap/chant" they do 2/3rds through the song ending with Jon screaming, "I believe in eternity!"

[@sski]

I got this the first day it came out and was blown away. I loved the slight direction / sound change. My favorite song on the album is 'City Of Love'. It's amazing. The guitar is huge, the harmony backup vocals are so solid and in your face. I've never heard better.

[@billbishopboyiscool]

Some people hate the album but Cinema/Leave It and Changes are so good!

[@michaelsaunders1400]

Whenever _I_ listen to 'Our Song', it's always a tearjerker for some reason.

[@thegreenbird795]

It Can Happen is also excellent...

[@SpotWorksLNC]

One thing is for sure, your video is one of the best KZbin videos I’ve seen in a long time. I was in college when this album came out and didn’t have a TV except in a communal student room so missed this Yes video entirely. I did have the album and every other Yes album from 1972 - 1980. Still a fan!

[@taokodr]

I am so glad you made this video! I remember hearing about the different videos, and being intrigued to see what they'd release. I think I ended up seeing 3 (and mayyyybe 4) of them before they settled on version 11. I missed the marathon, sadly. My old-man memory starts to break down here, because I thought I remembered hearing that the reason they didn't release the other videos was because they weren't all finished, and were experiencing production cost issues. But that may easily have been middle-school rumors running rampant. All that said, this was a fascinating dive into nostalgia. I loved the versions I was able to catch. Well done, and something tells me that we might luck out and have a sequel to this video if *SOMEBODY* out there happens to have one of those VHS tapes! *CROSSES FINGERS* Well done!

[@meowtherainbowx4163]

I just recently got into listening to their album 90125 and decided that “Leave It” was the best track. I’m excited for this one.

[@sail2byzantium]

RE: I . . . decided that “Leave It” was the best track. ABSOLUTELY! ABSOLUTELY! ABSOLUTELY! "Hearts" is my other favorite. Loved 'em both since the early 80s.

[@stephanechamberland8486]

It's "Changes" the best one !

[@joant1629]

the music with the biggest impact on my life . keep listening it's all good

[@joant1629]

the ultimate band

[@TDerth1]

My Aunt gave me the cassette for Christmas and I played it until wore out. Great album not a bad song on it IMO. Changes is my favorite but Leave it is so unique.

[@jackde1965]

Great video. I was never a Yes fan. I hated Owner Of A Lonely Heart. I was watching MTV when they played all of the versions of Leave It in a row. It was maybe my favorite hour of MTV ever. I never became a huge fan of YES, but I began to like a lot of their music including Owner. I have wonderful, funny memories of spotting the differences. I was laughing uncontrollably throughout. It was fantastic. Thanks for the video. I LOVED THE VIDEOS and never laughed so much. I wish I taped it. 😥 I cannot remember all of the differences I just remember them flipping around and floating all around the screen.

[@garydarnellwortham3307]

I love the fact that you became a yes fan due to Leave It! Though I’m a Yes fan of the more classic pre 90125 stuff I love 90125 and love Leave It. Fun fact: if they had done a more conventional video, you and I wouldn’t be talking about it in 2022. Mission accomplished! 😇

[@aliahyphus]

I became a Yes fan because of this song and video, too! It's the only time I'd ever heard of someone else getting into Yes through this video. I'd never heard of Yes before. I was in high school at the time, and MTV was on the TV in early evening one day. There wasn't much on MTV in 1983 which captured my attention, but I was absolutely riveted when the song started playing. It was so amazing to discover their back catalogue. It led me to become a musician myself, because it opened my eyes to what music *could* be. I was so blown away by the song that I didn't even think about what a joke the video was even for the time until much later.

[@glenesis]

This video was taught in several music history classes I've taken as a landmark in music video production.

[@ItsMusicVideoTime]

Really? What other videos were shown?

[@screenplayhouse4932]

I was in the 6th grade when our music teacher forced the school to purchase a Moog synthesizer. In music class he abandoned the curriculum and showed us how that instrument created Donna Summer's I FEEL LOVE -- track by track. That semester put most kids into a deep sleep. I was fascinated.

[@jeffschielka7845]

YES is the greatest band on this or any other planet. Thanks for the video. R.I.P. Chris and Alan. Miss you guys SO much. Keep the rhythm section going on The Ultimate Stage!😎

[@paultrouskie1825]

100% agree. Been my favorite band since 1974. I was all of 13 yrs. old. Never be another band like them.

[@jeffschielka7845]

@@paultrouskie1825 😎

[@kfleetwood]

They are indeed the greatest. I love all their albums, fan since 1976. I’m grateful I got to meet Chris once and chat while we drank wine. I met Alan twice, and he was always a gentleman. RIP.

[@jeffschielka7845]

@@kfleetwood 😎

[@SuperBigDog2U]

I could listen to this song on repeat for at least 2hrs, so why not have a series of videos doing just that, but with differences in each video. I'd buy a DVD if they sold one. 😎

[@dawson70]

Their music writing style and group harmonies are something I have always enjoyed. The guitar effect on Lonely Heart is so original that I don’t think anyone else has topped or replicated the “screech” that they managed to pull off. I remember an interview way back where the guitarist had some sort of equipment to pull it off, but it’s been a long time. Great band, and thank you for the video.👍

[@DrakusRecords]

1:23 "who had been a member since the Fragile sessions" - nope, Rick quit the band in 1974 after the Tales From Topographic Oceans tour but rejoined in 1977 for Going for the One. He wasn't on Relayer. Patrick Moraz played on that album and tour.

[@ItsMusicVideoTime]

Thank you for the correction.

[@DrakusRecords]

@@ItsMusicVideoTime NP, I've been a fan of Yes since I was a teenager so I know a lot about their history. But I was more into their 70s stuff than their 80s stuff. I didn't know they even made a music video for "Leave It" much less that they made 18 of them. Great video dude. I have to admit as a kid I thought this album was too far into the cheesy "corporate rock" genre for my tastes and didn't much like it as a kid but I've come to appreciate it more as I've gotten older, in particular this song.

[@BallparkHunter]

I remember watching the Yes special on their video. They have one version where they zero in on one of the member's shoes for the majority of the video. There was another one where the ban members were replaced with different people. I believe that video-making at the time was very experimental. This was after Michael Jackson's Thriller, so bands were looking for something to attract attention to their song. As a kid, I was interested in what these other videos looked like and watched as much as I could.

[@pgbollwerk]

Fascinating. Thanks for making this. One of my favorite Yes songs.

[@williamdrake6226]

Excellent documentary! I grew up watching this video on MTV and I loved it! It was my introduction to YES too. I agree with you. YES or somebody should release those videos on DVD. Actually they should do that and all the other YES videos like an updated Greatest Hits volume 2.

[@billstorie5161]

Many thanks for this in-depth video - good to see some appreciation !! You kind of hit the nail on the head when you wondered just how serious Kev and Lol (Godley and Creme) were - I've been a fan of theirs since the late 1960's and one of the core elements to their success has always been a very dry, tongue in cheek sense of humour. However they always presented themselves in that weird british way that we do where they are straight faced and serious whilst sometimes talking absolute nonsense - it's a Monty Python sort of thing that you really had to be there growing up in the UK at that time to fully appreciate. Kev was a master of it - you would almost never see him "break cover" from his "serious auteur" persona but Lol would now and again just break down in fits of giggles and that would set Kevin off because they were both basically taking the piss when it came to talking to the media about their work, even though they wer always serious about the work itself. Likewise it's telling that Jon Anderson liked the video whilst Rabin hated it - Anderson is very similar to Kev and Lol in that he loves to experiment, go off and try new stuff even if it doesn't succeed because he has the kind of inventive mind that's always thinking up new stuff whereas Rabin basically turned Yes into "The Blands" and they were much better off without him. Granted he gave then some of their most commercially and financially successful years but was it prog? Was it hell! Anderson, Godley and Creme were cut from the same cloth - G&C left 10cc because they felt the band's music was getting stale and bland and Anderson left Yes (again) because he wasn't a fan of Rabin's blandness. They would all would go out on a limb and try things even if they lost money, just to see if they could be done. Add to that the fact that the music video industry as we know it was in it's infancy here and one of the main reasons Kev and Lol were so successful in that area was that they were willing to try new things, create new video-based technology (as they had with the musical instrument the Gizmo when they were with 10CC) and just do things that no-one else had thought of - or was mad enough to try. By no means were they always successful but they were ALWAYS experimental - who dares wins I guess. Strangely enough, now in his 70's, Kevin has just released his first solo album and he's still pushing that envelope - look his new stuff up if you get bored of the AOR. As for this track - I think the upside down production board you see in the "making of" video tells it all: they hammed it up for the cameras and became jokers in from of the media but at the heart they were - still are - very seriously creative and talented guys. Wow - didn't realise I had ranted so much - here's the TLDR: Why do it? just because they could.

[@JakeCatlett857]

I definitely saw the marathon in 1984 (and certainly would have been watching on my birthday, March 28). I was obsessed with these as a kid, and I wanted to watch all of them. Thanks for making/posting this! I've wondered many times what happened to all the different versions of this video and why I could not find any of them.

[@SirHatchporch]

When MTV took off, a good deal of artists began showing concern that the music industry was now being dominated by image. As a result, you started to see a number of artists making sort of "anti-music videos." Yes were hardly the only band to do this. Elvis Costello did it with "I Wanna Be Loved" that year, which is basically just one long shot of Costello's face. Talk Talk made several anti-videos that year, starting with the singles from "It's My Life" onward. These artists were basically trolling. The fact that this was directed by Godley & Creme and the doco aired on April Fools Day confirms that this was meant to be tongue in cheek and even a bit of a middle finger to the industry. Kevin Godley's acerbic comments at the VMAs and Tony Dimitriades' comments only seem to underscore this. The sad part is it's a great song, so it almost seems like a case of self-sabotage in the end. I honestly have zero recollection of even seeing this video on MTV at that time, so it must have been put out of rotation pretty quickly. OTOH, I remember seeing "Owner of a Lonely Heart" A LOT, although I'm almost certain it was an edited version. Also, FYI MacArthur Park is a real place in Los Angeles, not just a song.

[@fooddood]

So many vocal and acapella groups sing this song because it's unique and has an agility that's very impressive

[@JDarkseid1]

Honestly like how simple these videos are. Maybe not the first one, too dull for that length, but 11 is kind of charming in how guff it is in its effects.

[@3lullabies]

Love it! Because music is to be heard, not seen. Watching someone else's imagery stiffles our own imaginations.

[@flyingsodwai1382]

When you're 13 and getting high in the morning waiting for school to start THAT was the video you wanted MTV to play. soooo trippy.

[@XHuntinatorX]

Lol... sounds like what we used to do down at the third hall entrance at Dalton junior high. Good weed and good times... that skunk was the KILL!

[@heidichristensen7919]

Heck when you were 21 and in college they were the videos you wanted MTV to played. I loved them.

[@paulhunt4690]

When I was 13…………. We didn’t have mtv. That would come along in another 10 years. But we did have YES!

[@MarianoPingitore]

I was never this sad for only being 32

[@a.barker7792]

MTV wasn't even invented when I heard the band. I think I've seen them 15 times. Never let me down.

[@garagegeek4863]

I remember this as a youngster and have always wondered about it. It was changed daily…each day another effect was added. Thank you so much for dredging up this history. It’s plagued me for years.

[@BrianFedirko]

I have loved Yes since I heard the opening to Roundabout. I owned all their albums and artwork when this album came out. My first love happened while it played the airwaves, and we followed this tour. I was oblivious to the videos, so thanks for this little historic jaunt. Magic happens in my heart even today as I hear any of the tracks. Yes has always been a pinnacle of musical talent and that epoch will never happen again.

[@jonathanross149]

Every time I see someone react to the final video, I mention how this was the last of a series of videos. I would come home from school and see 5 guys standing backward for a whole video, then it would change after a few week to them being forward but upside down, and it would keep changing. Pretty bizarre and amazing.

[@daftfish99]

Always loved 'Leave it' and the video number 11. I never knew this story and I've been listening to this band for 30+ years - so thank you.

[@Nickydo111]

Dude your Channel is awesome! I loved this video man. Keep going my friend.

[@chrismarcellus6933]

My favourite song from Yes! Thank you very much for pulling back the curtain on the history of the videos of Leave It!

[@ItsMusicVideoTime]

Thank you for watching. Really hoping this video spreads the word to get the other versions found.

[@Mattomega]

It was a known joke. This is an incredibly well-researched video!

[@crothcipt]

I remember when this song came on getting excited, hoping to see a version i had not seen b4. This song made watching mtv fun, vs lists to the radio. great video hope.to see part 2 soon.

[@mikereiss4216]

I can only imagine someone hearing Leave it (or even Owner) and thinking hey this is cool but not being aware of their earlier prog rock period. Then hearing that stuff and going "holy sh*t" what is this! A world of difference between the two eras. I like them both. No need to like the 70s stuff and not the later stuff and vice versa. You can listen to it all. This isn't politics. It's music so no need to take sides (some still do anyway and that's a shame).

[@jessalexander3243]

That was me. I was 13 when this came out (my introduction to Yes was Owner of a Lonely Heart) but within a couple years I found Fragile and Close to the Edge, which totally blew my mind, and which are still two of my all-time favorite albums, and i have almost every album they made

[@mikereiss4216]

@@jessalexander3243 Same here. I was also 13 when it came out and also heard almost every album (every studio album except heaven and earth). Did you by any chance go on to be a big prog head like I did as well? Besides Yes I also got into Genesis, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Rush, ELP, Gentle Giant, etc. Yes were sort of my gateway to that whole other universe that probably most people don't know about.

[@jessalexander3243]

@@mikereiss4216 oh yeah... They were definitely my gateway to Prog, which is generally some of the music i listen to most. I have the big bands like Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Jethro Tull, ELP, Pink Floyd, and also Renaissance, Camel, VDGG, Caravan, Family, Nektar... Etc etc etc... Lol

[@01Mattman69]

The first time I heard this song, I was 13 and had fallen asleep in front of the tv while listening to the radio with headphones on. The reason I remember it so clearly was because I had a really weird dream that went with the music. I don’t remember all of the dream, but part of it had me floating in space while in the Atari video game Asteroids was going on around me. This should really be listened to with headphones. Oh and as a bassist, Roundabout is another one of my favorite Yes songs. Thank for sharing.

[@alienteknology5390]

I love watching these videos about the 80's. There's so much to learn since I was so high at the time I don't remember a thing.

[@Sunfell]

Fascinating to watch this video again after so many years. It was on heavy rotation when I was in tech school.

[@windjamrr]

Longtime Yes fan here. That Krusty Camio was flipping hilarious !!

[@DebiG1057]

I am a lifelong musician and I think MacArthur Park is a masterpiece ✨️

[@markfaby3130]

As Dennis Miller said a few years back: 'Leaving the cake out in the rain is the least of it.'

[@Frankie5Angels150]

You might be the only one!

[@chrishayes4323]

We didn't have cable in the 80's, so no MTV and I never saw the Leave It video. The song has, however, been my favorite 80's Yes tune for almost 40 years now.

[@lizardlogic2564]

Friday Night Videos on network tv played Owner a LOT but Leave It maybe twice. My family didn't have cable at the time, too.

[@texastornado7725]

Yes is great!! Leave it in the a cappella version is great too. Chris Squire produced an album that has multiple versions of “Leave It” on it. I found mine at a high school book sale. I am a huge Yes fan and it was a nice addition to my collection of Yes stuff. You can now find that track on the remastered version of 90215 with extra songs. Just fantastic to see this I never knew about all the other videos.

[@jamesanderson9287]

A couple of versions there may have come from a commercially released 12" single, that had the original, a remix, a remix based on part of the song, and the acapella version. Was working a community radio station and I think we aired one of the versions off that 12".

[@bélalugrisi]

Thanks for this MVT! On the take where YES had their backs to the camera, Godley & Creme told the film crew to "Leave It" - they just left the cameras rolling and quietly everyone left. When the song stopped the YES members turned around to find they had been pranked! It was very funny video. Best to you!

[@conrad4667]

Leave It? Love it. My favorite Yes song.

[@davidbryden7904]

I got to see Yes perform "Tales..." in San Diego!! One of best concerts I've ever seen!! ❤️ 🍻✌️💚🌲

[@miguelbass]

Thanks for building a funny an interesting documentary, gathering the available footage!

[@TopoGraph8]

Great video about a video! I wasn't aware of the different versions of the vid on MTV or the 'marathon' as I didn't own a TV for much of the 80's. Thanks for unveiling the whole story. Long time Yes aficionado, I've seen them live in various incarnations 28 times, met most of them, and spoken with Alan White several times. Rick also re-joined Yes in the 90's for the Keys to Ascension album, a tour, and then again in the early 2000's for a huge tour seen on the Live at Tsongas DVD.

[@johnnyb357]

Love this song. On MTV there was like 20 versions of this and they played them all in row. Watched all of them.

[@EddieSheffield]

I remember watching at least part of that marathon at the time. I was 16 at the time. The ridiculousness of it just stuck in my head. Also being April Fools day I was probably tuning in hoping to catch Weird Al as he guest VJ'd a time or two for April Fools. A few other variations I remember... - they were just standing there but slowly faded out to white over the course of the video - John Anderson facing forward, everyone else backward - everyone except John facing forward Man, MTV used to be fun!

[@traceyrich]

I was a fan of Yes from the days of Your Move / I've Seen All Good People. I was a freshman in college when Leave It came out and loved the song from the radio. In those days, we didn't have MTV in the dorm rooms or in most places around the college so I didn't see the video initially. I think I saw "Version 11" for the first time when I came home for summer break, and I thought it was hilarious! These guys are just standing there motionless and singing that beautiful music... and then all of the sudden their heads start spinning around! An impressive effect at the time, but it wasn't so much the quality of the effects as the silliness of their heads spinning around that impressed me. Then all kinds of crazy things started happening. Loved that video! But back in the day, you couldn't exactly see it whenever you wanted. In modern times, I've found it on KZbin and I know the effects are very primitive by today's standards but I still think it's fun to watch, and I think fun was the point. Another "fun" video around that time was Steve Perry's Oh Sherrie, which makes fun of how over the top videos had gotten at the time: an elaborate medieval wedding setting and Steve Perry just can't do it and strips out of costume and all these people are arguing with him and he just walks away and sings the song in a fire escape to a pretty girl walking by while the business people argue and the extras twiddle their thumbs and the medieval band plays along with him. That's the world where the Leave It video series was created, and it fits in PERFECTLY. Any snobby critics who didn't like it don't know what they were talking about.

[@cbauch]

I actually turned my TV upside down to watch this video when it came out.

[@jabril4real637]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@thebeardedseeker5633]

"The anti Once in a Lifetime." That was perfect.

[@artisan002]

Honestly, for this era, I think Leave It was one of the strongest tracks on that album. Some props obviously go to Trevor Horn, as producer, for wrangling everyone to get the track done. But, I really like the mix of the vocals. And knowing Horn's support crew pretty well (technically the entirety of the Art Of Noise was on hand), I should probably put particular credit to Gary Langan for making the mix what it is. I wonder if Ian Peel could unearth all the versions for remaster, like he's been doing for Art Of Noise.

[@doublet630]

Great song. Was about 14 when it came out. Used to play it on CD back in the day on my friend's dad's higher end stereo. Quadraphonic sound.Jaws dropped down to the floor. Good memories.

[@sergep71]

I'd always fantasized that the drum beats from Leave It inspired AON and Beat Box. Probably not but who knows

[@artisan002]

@@sergep71 No, you're somewhat correct. If it hasn't been for JJ sampling the drums from a practice session (that Gary was overseeing), Beat Box wouldn't have the tonal bedrock as we know it.

[@danielvandersall6756]

Adore this song. Especially on good gear--being able to hear the effort, the breaths is just amazing.

[@lisakobar4153]

It's truly amazing how they pulled off the ability to transform in the 80s while maintaining their original sound. A lot of classic bands couldn't seem to accomplish this without sounding overproduced and watered down.

[@elleoat]

Leave it is probably my favorite Yes song, and 90125 is one of my top albums of all time. Very awesome to see this video appear in my KZbin feed.

[@meanbeats]

Trevor horn is an amazing producer and synth player...he basically did alll the music to Franky goes to Hollywood's first album which is why the band couldn't pull it together without him

[@pablocruise9514]

Love the song, that album and the videos. One of my favorite albums.

[@popnfresh2928]

Trevor Horn & his one time sideband called Art Of Noise, we’re all over the 90125 production & remixes, and Horn is very close to Godley & Creme aswell…so I always thought it was a Trevor Horn suggestion since he was extremely creative during the 80’s years….personally, I always thought Leave It was just dam near as good as Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody track, both have very intense vocals & musical arrangements that kinda mirror each other….Owner Of a Lonely Heart ❤️ will always be my favorite track, mainly because it’s production, drums & samples are pretty a first of its kind on a rock track & simply is a breathtaking fierce track. Leave It, video was very cool to me & at 15 yrs old, I would tell anyone who would listen to me how the that video is the future😅, along with Herbie Hancock’s Rockit video….anyway, nice job & thanks for enlightening us 80’s kids about all the behind the scenes of Leave It, very cool…btw, the 12inch Dub Mix of Leave It, is a 9min adventure in sound….that was remixed by Trevor Horn & his Art Of Noise production team….anyway you slice it, the 80’s were a the best time to be a music fan….thank you

[@MrMftech]

Leave it is almost a cover for Knots from Gentle Giant 🙂

[@popnfresh2928]

@@MrMftech omg🤟😲🤘….thanks for making me aware of Knots, I never heard this before….that is simply stunning piece of music…I’m gonna get this album right away…thank you a billion times over😲👍

[@MrMftech]

@@popnfresh2928 Glad you like it, if you get the appropriate sound system, try to listen to the 5.1 remix by Steve Wilson.

[@popnfresh2928]

@@MrMftech yes indeed….just amazing

[@noneofyourbusiness4616]

Creme later joined Art of Noise

[@gabriellozupone3440]

Love the video about the video I'm one of the weirdos out there that just finds this awesome! Thanks for keeping them alive and questions that nobody else will ask and or anybody else will wonder why you even ask, but it's okay we're out there asking with you! (Like really out there) LOL✌

[@edwardofgreene]

When it was released it was one of my favorite videos. It still is! I loved the simplicity of the concept, and how they did so much with it. Truly entertaining for me to watch. On top of that its my favorite Yes song from the 80's (though far from my favorite overall as I love so many from the 70's)

[@charlesnolan7602]

I have been a YES fan since 1971. When these videos appeared on MTV, for me it was really just showing who the band members are. I never bothered with any deep seeded meaning. One thing I love about the Owner vid was an appearance by Eddie Jobson, who was in the band for a week, then gone! I saw the 90125 tour 7 times in 1984. Great concert...

[@anabasis3144]

I was 14 in 1984 and had actually seen the Buggles premier on MTV purely by accident several years previously at the age of 10 - people today really cannot appreciate how revolutionary music videos were at their inception to both the recording industry and culture in general. What was even more revealing is how their importance diminished almost as quickly and completely as they once grew. They were an interesting phenomenon for their time.

[@electronicintruder9392]

Quite the in depth coverage here. Thanks. I had no idea about all the versions.

[@TheJacksonRoykirk]

Excellent video! Takes me back to that April. While I didn't see the marathon, nor all 11 videos, I did see several of them in the evenings when they first came out. #11 was the only one to really make an impact on me because of the variety throughout the video. That's also probably why MTV chose it as the only one they would continue to show. (I'm sure they were happy to finally be showing only one version -- listen to how J. J. Jackson delivers the introduction to version #7 at 23:52!)

[@jabril4real637]

"Owner of a Lonely Heart" is on the GTA Vice City Radio Station Soundtrack.

[@milesgemini4029]

The owner of a lonely heart video was better than most movies they make today

[@TheProgCorner]

What a great video. You are awesome!!!

[@lovedc4ever678]

One of my favorite albums of all time. Absolute perfection from beginning to end.

[@reneelyons6836]

GREAT Video!!!!!! I am a dedicated YES fan. Have been all my life. My Dad had ALL their albums. So i grew up with them. I saw them live in the 80's. There is like a joke video out about Owner of a Lonely Heart. I just laugh at it. Because YES is one of the greatest bands of all time.

[@ACBMemphis]

Great enlightening video! I distinctly remember a VJ back in the day telling us "Coming up next ... the RED version of Every Breath You Take" so I guess Godley and Creme had done this multi-version thing before. And I always heard it as "park the car" thinking he had to park due to a big snow storm, and then they were digging it out later and he needed to lay his claim at the impound lot or something...

[@tonydrake462]

so I was 18 in 1983/4 when this was released - You know, alive at the time, and really into Yes... like the computers in Bladerunner, David Bryne's you called out..etc computer graphics were hard... Godley and Cream who made it were cutting edge (I note you called out Cry from them)... I remember these videos - we loved them all... at the time it would have been at the top of twitter - Again - watching a 38 year old 'thing' in 2022 eyes is always hard .... these 18 videos would have taken weeks to produce (I started work as a software developer in 1984...) - in the end - the album is still my fav Yes album, I still love the music - but the videos don't age well, as almost anything from 1982-1986 (check out Total Recall!!).... until Peter Gabriel's So changed eveything... (and then you mention Heaven's Gate - glad you have, more people will waste 2 hours on it!!) - I actually used to tape videos - I think I have some other versions on my tape collection... who knows.. I have 1000s hours of MTV from the mid 1980s... (btw first of your vids I've watched - subscribed).

[@rb5stevenumber903]

For me the original yes in the early 70s was the best. Anderson, Burford, wakeman, Squire and Howe. Fragile and close to the edge the best albums.

[@edwardofgreene]

Rick Wakeman was not the original keyboardist. First played on Fragile. Steve Howe was not the first guitarist. I think he first played on The Yes Album (but I'm not certain.) So many great musicians in this band. I loved Tony Kaye on The Yes Album even if I like Wakeman even better. I will agree that the lineup you listed is the best!

[@magicalmystery1964]

@@edwardofgreene Wakeman came in on Fragile.

[@magicalmystery1964]

That is not the original lineup.

[@dragonfly1694]

You mean the classic line-up of 2 albums only 'Fragile' & 'Close To The Edge', undisputed best line-up & peak Yes for sure, though I think the Downes/Horne 'Drama', as well as the Patrick Moraz 'Relayer' era from '74 (during Wakeman's 1st departure, totally neglected here in this video) are definitely Yes' most underrated. Peter Banks was guitarist on first 2 Yes albums & Tony Kaye was keyboardist on 1st 3, they were part of the original line-up & were replaced by Howe & Wakeman

[@phranerphamily]

And don't forget about Alan White

[@FREISTUDIOS]

Interesting, thank you for this.

[@onlygonstreet]

great video, keep up the good work! if you’d like some ideas for videos, i’d suggest covering the early video for a-ha’s take on me/the story of how the take on me video came to be and perhaps queen’s these are the days of our lives which was freddie mercury’s last video (and the many versions which were made, one being by disney)

[@michaellalli7693]

I feel very fortunate to have been to Anderson Rabin and Wakeman two) concerts, they were sensational! It was like the Best of YES

[@jobstludwig6197]

❤ absolut deiner Meinung 😉

[@RedVynil]

Who's Wakefield?

[@dhalsim-1]

Wakefield?

[@michaellalli7693]

@@dhalsim-1 silly me, I meant Wakeman.

[@joecaner]

The Cinema instrumental into Leave It is one of my favorite passages of music.

[@matm4331]

Creative people can't be afraid to fail...thanks for posting.

[@martincaz7772]

Also one of my favorite YES songs, I had no idea about all the videos!

[@blocSonic]

Thanks to this, I now know how many videos they made for Leave It. I could not remember anything beyond the fact that it was a big event one day. I also would love to see all 18 versions. Oh… and I love this song, too. Always have.

[@Paula-dot-jpg]

YES!!!!!!!!! (pun intended) I was wondering when someone was going to make a video about this. I had gone down the information rabbit hole about the Leave It music videos around the beginning of 2022 but had to put going really deep into it like you did with this video on the back burner due to getting really busy with college/other life stuff. I had mainly just looked at what sources were available on Wikipedia and KZbin, including the MTV behind the making of. No matter what people may have thought about this series of videos I can't help but love them because of how much of an interesting time capsule and weird art/thought experiment this was. Also if anyone was wondering more about the Spleens Lore, in the MTV behind the making of, it was explained that Trevor Rabin had to get his spleen removed after being in a car accident. But as the surgeons opened him up, it turns out that he had FOUR spleens. I assume that since he only had 3 spleens left, the other 3 were perfectly fine. Thus, as shown in the MTV special, "This man only has 3 spleens left." (Side note I did a bit of searching on multiple spleens and found that it was most likely a condition called "polysplenia," which instead of a person having one spleen, they have multiple smaller spleens.) My personal theory that I was going to posit is that the version called "Surgeon's Dilemma" was referring to the Trevor Spleen Situation, but then the version 8 that was recovered back in October was of a different group of people than Yes upside down. (which I think were members of the crew making the music video) If that is the case, then it could be possible that after they made them they shuffled around all of the numbers or versions, or were basing them off of which ones were completed chronologically. Knowing how hazy the details of the production of the videos are, even if they did a special on them, or whether we even know if they were made as a kind of April Fool's joke or not, I could see either happening. Of course, that is if Surgeon's Dilemma was even what the board said, since it's super hard to decipher anything that was written. As of now, 6 of the 18 videos have been found and are linked on the Lost Media Wiki, most of them being on Internet Archives! I hope that someday all of them will be recovered.

[@ItsMusicVideoTime]

Thank you for everything you have said. Especially about the spleens. As long as the video gets shared around I hope more people are aware of this piece of music video history and more will be found.

[@pablosonic892]

You're absolutely spot on regarding the Heaven's Gate reference. Way off base. Good call. Because everyone that's anyone knows it's the Ishtar of music videos. Duh.

[@spuds6423]

I just saw Trevor Horn playing bass with Dire Strats:Legacy. He even came out and sang a song..."Owner of a Lonely Heart" .sounded pretty good for a guy over 70!!!

[@snowdog9292]

90% of all people have sang along to this song in their car. The other 10% are liars.

[@TheMadRocker]

Seen Yes in the round with every member on stage at once in Philly. Great show.

[@jasonlockhartsr4415]

I'm very happy to see that someone else besides me feels the same about the 18 different MTV versions of Leave It. With the advent of DVDs, you could easily sell them to interested parties in a format where you can choose which individual version you want to see from a menu without watching them in sequence all the way through...unless you wanna see them from #1 to #18 in order on purpose. 😉

[@SycamoreFarmMI]

Love the video and some of the helpful comments of contemporary memory of the video series. I once recorded myself singing the intro to the song. I learned a lot about vocal harmonies doing that.

[@RaspySquares]

It took me a while to warm up to the Rabin era albums. This was one of the tracks that turned me. This and Hearts are so groovy. Talk is also incredible.

[@bryede]

I love 90125, but I thought Big Generator took things too far and sounds too synthetic for a Yes album. Plus, the fact that 90125's lyrics were mostly complete before Jon rejoined made it a better album. I can only hear a sermon about Jon's cosmic worldview so many times.

[@brianfinlay5817]

I was 14 when these videos aired. MTV had advertised a contest with an announcement that they would air all in a marathon. The videos, in their various versions, played intermittently through the week. One day, I turned on MTV and "Leave It" was playing. The video ended and it went to commercial. I came back later and they were playing it again. I said, "Leave It, again?" and switched channels, came back in a few minutes and "Leave It" was still playing. I said, "This is a long video." Then it donned on me that this was the Leave It marathon they had been advertising. I watched a few of the videos and MTV kept announcing that lines were open to vote on your favorite version. I don't remember a phone number displayed but a few days later, MTV played the top five most voted on versions and said lines to call in what the best version was were open. MTV announced that the votes were in and one version trumped all others. I saw it played a few times as well as a couple of the runner ups. A few months later the video faded into obscurity and the song disappeared from the radio. I still remember parts of the song and flashes of the different videos to this day.

[@chuckhutton5087]

10CC were a criminally underrated band. Yes were perhaps the greatest prog rock band ever. Nice collaboration here.

[@ontheroadwithyode390]

I recall the different versions of the Leave It being aired on MTV. It coincided with spring break so there were lots of young people at hometown watch them and seem to remember the videos being g hailed as master pieces.