For some eagle-eyed viewers, some of the imagery in the music video for Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake” might seem a little familiar. While some have noted its debt to Lewis Carroll (a fair observation), it seems as though there’s at least one other source of inspiration: 1987’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors,” as the video not only contains visual echoes of that film, but also a paparazzi figure that resembles Freddy Krueger himself.
As such, the video returns the Springwood Slasher (or at least something resembling him) to a familiar place: MTV and music videos. While Freddy might have been a little rough and burnt around the edges, it didn’t take long for him to become an indomitable pop culture icon that began to invade the station’s airwaves on a regular basis.
Freddy first started popping up in videos in 1987 when he featured in one for “Dream Warriors,” the title song performed by Dokken. In the video, Freddy finally met a formidable foe in the form of screeching hair metal. Around this time, Freddy also appeared in a few bumpers on MTV in anticipation of the new film’s release, which was just a prelude of things to come.
From there, he went on to collaborate with the likes of The Fat Boys (where Freddy himself rapped in “Are you Ready for Freddy?”), D.J. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (sadly, the fabled music video for “Nightmare on My Street” has never surfaced), and The Goo-Goo Dolls.
As if that weren’t enough, Freddy, at the height of his pop culture fame, hosted an entire block of MTV programming. In the weeks leading up to the release of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4,” MTV aired “The Freddy Krueger Hour,” which featured Freddy popping up between videos to torment VJs and do a little self-promotion for his new film.
That’s right–not only was there a time when MTV showed a full hour of music videos, but it was also hosted by Freddy Krueger. Is it too late to revive this idea? It couldn’t be any worse than the ill-conceived “Nightmare on Elm Street” remake, right?
