Since I discovered that there are videos for all the underground songs of my youth now on YouTube, I’ve been staying up late watching them. I couldn’t believe you could find actual footage of the Human League performing “Being Boiled,” a song first recorded on a Sony two-track tape for a cost of two pounds fifty.

But I am not the only fan of John Foxx and Co. to have been disappointed with these old videos. And this is the great marvel and joy of YouTube -- that disappointment can be answered: John Foxx fans have posted their own remixes of his 1980 hit (And of course you can also see John Foxx performing the song live in a variety of venues.) My favourite of the modern videos is one entirely in black and white: It nails the Kratfwerkian nostalgic element of early synthpop, situating the whole thing in a time of post-war optimism (and minus the little girls). This video is better than the original.

The dance remix is also a lot of fun: it updates the song with an electro bassline and a sample from Liberace. There it is: irony. An injection of just a little of it makes it so much more contemporary. (Click on the picture to watch it).

Trust YouTube to provide visual commentary on exactly this question. Here are Miss Kittin and the Hacker, who in 2001 released a song called “1982.”

- Russell Smith

And by the way, techno is still obsessed with “Stalker.” Watch these two:

Part 1 of Russell’s On Nostalgia.