My job is quite messy, it involves lots of chemicals and solvents so for that reason I don’t keep cards or any other props in my overall pockets.
Even mobile phones are only permitted in designated areas.
So it’s not very often I’m presented with an opportunity to perform.
Brew time has turned into a bit of a ritual now, a few of us sit in the canteen and play songs on our phones, mostly from the 80’s and occasionally we’ll quiz each other on the year it was released or any other interesting facts.
The other night was no different to any other, I had an 80’s playlist on Spotify and a few of us sat chatting over a brew.
Money for nothing by Dire Straits was playing on my Spotify and a conversation about music trivia ensued. Somebody said that money for nothing was the first video ever to be played on MTV in 1981.
One of the group didn’t believe him so he googled it.
This guy’s a bit of a know it all when it comes to music trivia so he took great pleasure in saying that he was wrong about the first video on MTV.
He told us the first video to be played on MTV was ‘video killed the radio star’ by The Buggles.
Not wanting the other guy to feel embarrassed, I said “But it was 1981 wasn’t it?”
This guy was sure it was money for nothing and described his memory of knowing that Money for nothing was the very first video played on MTV.
I explained to him that he’d just experienced the Mandela effect.
For those who don’t know; The Mandela effect is a phenomenon in which a large amount of the population misremembers a significant event or shares a memory of an event that did not actually occur.
The Mandela effect got its name when a paranormal consultant named Fiona Broome, described how she remembered the South African President Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s.
Even though he didn’t actually die until 2013.
There are thousands of examples of the Mandela effect across entertainment, logos, and even geography. Reading through examples of the Mandela effect can make you question your own memories.
Shortly after this, the know it all said:
“Ok Ryan you think you’re such a smart @r$e what was the 2nd video to be played on MTV?”
I quickly turned this into a demonstration of mindreading.
“I’ll tell you what, you’re always asking me about mindreading so I’ll give you a little example.”
“Think of the name of this song for me.”
“I’m picking up on two different songs here. Can you just try to focus on the one that was the second video to be played on MTV.”
“Now think of the artist, can you spell this out in your head and I’ll try to pick up on what you’re thinking.”
I quickly grabbed a piece of paper and a pen then wrote down “Dance with me – Rod Stewart” I crossed this out and underneath it I wrote “You better run – Pat Benatar” I then placed the paper face down on the table, I gave a quick recap of what had just happened, making sure I pointed out that whilst he was googling I sat at the opposite side of the room and had no way of seeing his phone screen and that I didn’t ask either of them to write anything down.
They both agreed. I then asked the know it all what the song and artist was.
He said You better run by Pat Benatar.
Then he turned over the piece of paper I had put on the table in front of him.
At first he looked miserable as sin but then a smile appeared as he asked:
“How the f@%# did you get that?”
He did make a remark about the Rod Stewart song that I’d crossed out, I told him I was picking up on two songs and it was hard to distinguish between the two.
He was absolutely gobsmacked as he told me that the third video ever to be played on MTV was ‘she won’t dance with me’ by Rod Stewart.
The other guy was equally surprised as both he and the know it all had no idea how I’d just apparently read a mind.
The conversation quickly turned to mindreading and Mentalism along with requests to teach them how to do it.
At this point I used a line that Pete Turner once used at a similar request when I was with him at a club in Bradford.
“It takes years to learn!”
That was enough to put them both off and shortly after this we all went back to work.
This seemed like a real feat of mindreading but the reality is that neither of them had noticed me googling the first song on MTV as my phone was already in my hand whilst we were talking. The other two guys were looking at the know it all’s phone as he was googling.
The first thing I found on google was a list of the first ten songs played on MTV, after seeing the first song wasn’t Money for nothing by Dire Straits I had a quick glance through the list to see if Dire Straits was on there.
I had no idea I was about to get challenged so when the know it all challenged me, I was trying to remember which was the second song to be played on MTV.
I was torn between Rod Stewart and Pat Benatar.
I couldn’t quite remember the name of the song by Rod Stewart but I did remember the name of the song by Pat Benatar. Because I wasn’t sure which was second or third, I just wrote them both down and scribbled out the one that I wasn’t sure of.
When I said I was picking up on two songs, what I was actually doing was pre-empting two things:
1: I wasn’t sure which song was second or third so by saying I was picking up on two different songs, meant I could write them both down and still get a hit regardless of which was correct.
2: I wasn’t sure of the name of the song by Rod Stewart so by crossing it out meant if it was incorrect then it wouldn’t really matter.
Writing them both down and crossing one out was better than writing down the wrong one. At least this way if the one I had crossed out was the correct song, I could just claim that I was confused because he was thinking of two different songs. As it happens, the know it all said he had to check again on his phone, as he wasn’t sure if it was Rod Stewart or Pat Benatar who was the second. By his own admission that must have been why I was picking up on the Rod Stewart song.
I had no idea I’d be performing anything that night but as soon as the opportunity presented itself to me I immediately embraced it!
The moral of this little story is;
When opportunity knocks, answer the door!
Carpe Diem
Ryan