Richard Marx - Satisfied (1989)

*1/2 (of four)



Watch enough VH1 Classic late at night, and you'll be able to chart the Flood Stages Of The Richard Marx Mullet. Catch the early videos, like "Should've Known Better" and "Hold Onto the Nights," and you'll see the low-tide Marx Mullet, which stopped just above his shoulders. Check out "Right Here Waiting" or "Satisfied," and you're smack in the middle of high water. This Marx Mullet calls for a full evacuation and rescue effort. It's some Category Five shit.

But the "Satisfied" video is funny to watch for more reasons than just the Marx Mullet. You see, while Marx only charted #1 when he was singing tender ballads, it's rock songs like this that contain his unbridled adult-contemporary energy. "Satisfied" is all about determination - so, while we watch Marx make love to the camera from the empty factory set, we get to watch people from all walks of life say Fuck the status quo and reach for their dreams.

The dishwasher hurls a dinner plate like a Frisbee and jettisons the apron that's been holding him back. The temp secretary removes her glasses, opens the window and watches all the Important Papers fly away, while cracking a smile.* The underdog kid challenges the local pool shark to a match and actually beats him! The amateur boxer is so fired up his trainer has to pull him back from the punching bag, lest it explode from the force of his furious fists. Powerful stuff, you understand.


* = Then she goes up to the roof and frees all the pigeons, which I think is a little over the top even for this fucking video.