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

In 1983, the rock act Yes had achieved peak commercial success with the comeback album, securing a number one it in the United States and selling millions of albums. A year later, however, they would take part in a series of music videos that would end up being some of the most bizarre production histories in early music videos. This video covers the history of Yes' "Leave It" and its music videos.
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[@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.

[@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)

[@thebeardedseeker5633]

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

[@cyborgmetropolis7652]

Even as a lifelong Yes fan, and someone who has seen them live many times, Drama is still my favorite of all their albums.

[@birdslivehere6402]

I can boldly say, Drama did NOT suck.

[@magicalmystery1964]

Drama is one of my favorite Yes albums. It follows Fragile and the Yes album for me. It was spectacular and the only reason Yes snobs don’t like it is because Jon isn’t on it. Too bad. He walked out. And I am glad he did. Drama would never have been made otherwise. Machine Messiah is One of my favorite songs of all time!

[@noneofyourbusiness4616]

One of the Drama songs was remade on the second Buggles album, if you haven't heard it.

[@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✌

[@DPerez3573]

Wow, this took me back. I actually saw the special when it came out and I also sat through the hour or so of all the videos back to back. I was 14 at the time and I saw the version of the making of that aired in my area at about 11pm. That meant that when I saw the entire hour or so of the various versions it was after one before I finally fell asleep. To be honest, from what little I can remember, you aren't really missing much. There were only small differences and the like between them. That being said, this isn't the only time a band has ever done the multiple video thing. U2 had 3 versions of One when it was released. And let's not forget Happy by Pharrell. That one took the cake for having not 10, not 20, not 30...but 24 hours of the same music video! The video you see now that cuts between everyone singing the song...each one of those people(plus many more) was followed for the entire duration of the song. They were on KZbin listed as Happy (hour 1) and so on!

[@cpuuk]

I think they were trying to say, ignore us, ignore the video, just listen.

[@nealabbott6520]

just because you don't get it doesn't mean there is nothing to get. and someone who bags on macarthur park shows great immaturity

[@melkior13]

It needs a 19th version with a 9x9 matrix of all,18 versions as one

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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...

[@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.

[@zorakj]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@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" ?

[@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. 😎

[@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.

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@snowdog9292]

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

[@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.

[@fooddood]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@AmonduulUS]

As far as how serious Godley and Creme are being, I find it very plausible that they're being goofy and overly-pretentious on purpose. Their music, both right 10CC and as a duo, has a lot of humor and sarcasm in and they're very much musical descendents of Frank Zappa. I totally buy that they used this video as both a vehicle for experimenting with the music video form and to just do a good because they thought it would be funny

[@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!

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@conrad4667]

Leave It? Love it. My favorite Yes song.

[@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.

[@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".

[@Mattomega]

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

[@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

[@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!

[@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.

[@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 😎

[@benjaminhawthorne1969]

Trevor's last name is pronounced "ray-bin." Fun fact: Actor Steven Segal is a hobbyist guitarist. Trevor gave him guitar lessons. Since they are both multimillionares, it would have been silly for Steven to pay Trev $20.00 or whatever. After his lesson, Steven said: "Thankyou. Is there anything I can do for you? Trevor replied, " Well, I've been considering getting into scoring films." Steven had just completed "The Glimmer Man, and offered the scoring responsibility to Trevor. Trevor hit it out of the park, and this started his decades long scoring career. He has done many blockbuster films including, " Armageddon. And he now has a successful film scoring career. 😁

[@windjamrr]

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

[@davidbryden7904]

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

[@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).

[@3lullabies]

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

[@pherja]

Being a teen when this came out, I have to say it was AWESOME. There was no Internet, remember? No on demand. There was just rumor and here-say that there were tons of versions of the video it it was like Pokémon being able to talk about a new one you saw on tv. From my perspective, including the people I knew, this video series was a complete success. My favorite was the one where it’s exactly like the original version except they just slowly fade out by the end of the song. Anyway, this WAS high tech at the time and comparing it to today’s ability to do it on a smartphone is completely pointless. It was exciting to see what’s they do with each new video. One small complaint about your video… why’d you display version one in 3:3 format instead of the correct 4:3? 😮

[@gojikranz]

Very interesting I am a big yes fan but confess I know some of the owner video weird facts (Eddie jobson secretly in the band then) but never knew this. Wish someone had a recording of when they all aired. Side note heavens gate is actually quite good if you give it a chance.

[@lizardlogic2564]

EJ in the band for two days is not really a secret anymore. He never played on the record or on stage. Tony Kaye couldn't make his mind up and left for a few days. Eddie was Yes' backup plan. He was originally in the Owner of a Lonely Heart video but the editor missed a 1 second shot of him.

[@ChromeDestiny]

@@lizardlogic2564 Tony Kaye came back to give Yes more legal strength as he was an original member. Eddie was offered the opportunity to be in Yes with Tony but declined. Too bad in a way, Yes could have fit in with many 80's acts that had two keyboard players.

[@michaellorg]

I definitely remember this as being an April Fool’s joke at the time. (It was also contemporary with Weird Al taking over MTV for “AL TV”. )

[@jabril4real637]

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

[@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.

[@Captain_Nightspore]

Can't say I care about the lackluster video. The song is the work of art, as it always is for musicians. And "Leave It" is a great song.

[@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.

[@pablocruise9514]

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

[@buddymack9606]

I remember MTV playing a whole mess of different versions of Leave It one after another waaay back in 1984

[@chuckhutton5087]

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

[@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!

[@jim8199]

If you like the beginning vocals of this song you may like the style of the 70s band Gentle Giant. Check out their song "On Reflection". Gentle Giant were accomplished musical geniuses. Even Frank Zappa complimented them... and thats quite a compliment.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@milesgemini4029]

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

[@stevem-h3562]

Once you know what the chorus of McArthur Park is about, the whole song makes sense. Read Jimmy Webb's The Cake & The Rain autobiography and it all makes sense. Worst chorus in history, indeed, LOLZ Also...Gary Langan tells the story of how the track was put together and how there was a contracted engineer in the studio at the time and given how intricate the samples were of the vocals, there was a misunderstanding from this particular engineer about the use of the timecode on the multitracks, which this fella seemed to think for some reason should have been modified or taken off. Langan when he found out about this nearly had kittens and the engineer was told of these misgivings and tried to be dismissive of it... to which Langans reply was "right... you and I are going to go and see Mr Horn and we'll see what he says about it" soon after..... exit stage right one contracted engineer who nearly inadvertently wrecked the whole track. As told to Jon Lemareux in the Hustle Podcast a few months ago.

[@pgbollwerk]

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

[@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.

[@tramlad2]

Brilliant band all superb musicians , people just are too dumb to understand prog, let them stick to 3 minute pop songs, some of us have a better level of concentration and appreciation

[@danielvandersall6756]

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

[@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.

[@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...

[@MichelleMills1972]

I remember watching this video. I thought it was a great video. Stood out from the rest. The song also was very different. Artistic.

[@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.

[@Froggievilleus]

I would be curious to see if someone watched this video, remembered that they won the tape, and then ripped and posted it. That would be amazing!

[@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.

[@redbeardsbirds3747]

My fist time hearing “leave it” was during an intermission of a minor league ice hockey game ( there was actual blood stains on the ice!) between the Birmingham Bulls and the Richmond Renegades in the mid 1990’s and I was intrigued and curious as to who the band was ….shorty after I bought the 90125 CD for “Owner of The Lonely Heart” and was so surprised when I heard this song come on later ..the same strange A cappella beginning and kickstart drums after…..I had goosebumps….it was YES ??! Every time I watch a hockey game I remember that song ! 🏒 🦷 😀👏🤘🏼

[@ronaldmccomb8301]

I love both the song and video.

[@hattree]

They ended up just playing the most interesting video after that. In fact, it's the only one I really remember. They one where they flatten them and move them all around. It was said that it was done digitally and that was super new then.

[@johnnyb357]

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

[@bertfromseasamestreet]

Banger channel :)

[@chriscorsello]

Now I know what I was doing on April 1st, 1984... as I definitely intently watched the marathon to spot the differences. I did not, however, enter the contest. I was just curious and spent a lot of time watching MTV at that age. I also recorded on VHS a lot of MTV. I don't think I taped it that night... but I will look through. (I converted all my tapes to DVD years later) and see if I a happened to have recorded it. I definitely thought it was a big deal a t the time so I just might have, but don't hold your breath. Also, not quite the same, but MTV had a contest to make the video for Madonna's song "True Blue." They ran that song for an entire weekend with a sampling of submissions from the contest. Stunts like this by MTV were not too uncommon. I watched your video because I always wondered about what the reasoning was behind the multiple versions. Thanks for taking me back in time for a moment.

[@fastcakes]

Zoom for Zoom's Sake is obviously a play on words from 10cc's lyric "Art for Art's Sake", but what it means in relation to the Yes video is unknown.

[@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.

[@FREISTUDIOS]

Interesting, thank you for this.

[@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.

[@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.👍

[@anadraham2995]

More more morE‼️‼️‼️* Absolutely fantastic channel giving us absolutely fantastic content‼️🖤🎃‼️*please and pretty please with the 🍒 on 🔝

[@snowdog03]

Do Subdivisions next.

[@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.

[@Daehawk]

I was 14 and in jr high. I can clearly remember Mtv and video tv playing 3 different videos. That was the first time Ive ever seen more than a single video for a song. I never knew why they did it but I thought it was cool. I also remember being confused at first thinking wait...thats not the video for this song...is it?

[@Turtle152]

Shout-out to the book you mentioned, "MTV Ruled the World." It's the definitive history of the channel.

[@rdwwdr3520]

You Brits are always trying to take credit for everything lol. Progressive rock invented in the UK? I would say (and most people would say) Freak Out by the Mothers of Invention in 1966 was both the first Prog Rock album and the first concept album. And by the time Hot Rats rolled around in 1969 he had invented Fusion (predating Mile's Bitch's Brew with Brit John McLaughlin by several months). That album still stands up today. Don't get me wrong, I like Yes but good lord you folks love to take credit for stuff. Btw I lived there for a couple of years so I can give many examples.

[@Randy.E.R]

I was so hostile toward 1980s Yes. While some were upset with Drama being recorded without Anderson on vocals, it was still one of the bands best albums. Perhaps their last great album to date with the exception of Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe in 1989. When I heard Yes was reforming in 1982, I was happy the band had put its differences aside but there would be no Steve Howe; some new guy named Trevor Rabin. After hearing the 90125 album, I was furious! That isn't Yes music, its nothing more than AOR, something Yes was not known for. They had sold out. With time gone by, I have listened to 90125 and Big Generator recently; its not bad, just different. Trevor Rabin is a hell of a guitar player, he is certainly not Steve Howe. Howe was busy with his new band Asia when 80s Yes was being recorded. I appreciate this video. I had no idea about the multitude of Leave it until now because I was pissed at Yes during that time. But I think its cool they did that.

[@ChromeDestiny]

I like version 11 which I already have on DVD best but I want to find the version with the upside down lyrics, that's a pretty funny idea.