DATE: Monday, October 13, 1997              TAG: 9710120005

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: LARRY BONKO

                                            LENGTH:   73 lines

BEHIND-THE-SCENES FACTOIDS MAKE ``POP UP VIDEO'' BEST THING ON VH-1

IF ``POP UP VIDEO'' hadn't come along, I might never have known that Paula Abdul likes to belch just before hitting a high note. Or that Toni Braxton warms up for her music videos by doing 200 sit-ups a day.

``One, two . . . one, two . . . one, two.''

I might have gone to my grave ignorant of the fact that David Bowie was born David Jones, that Bruce Springsteen's father drove a cab and that it took Antonio Romero of Los Del Rio just 30 minutes to write ``The Macarena.''

``Pop Up Video'' informed me that the average American has eight friends and that 18 percent of American women are fake blondes. ``Pop Up Video'' is the perfect show for the restless channel surfers of the late 20th century.

There are sexy videos to get your attention, seductive music to keep you interested and little balloons and arrows (``fake tattoo'') on the screen to make you feel like you're being educated with no strain or pain.

If it were not for ``Pop Up Video,'' I would have missed the news that Phil Collins designed the wardrobe he wears in his videos. And that Jewel lived in her car for two years.

``Pop Up Video'' popped for the 5,000th time a few days ago since premiering on VH-1 in October 1996 as the cable network was re-inventing itself. It hopes to evolve from stale to stylish, from hopeless to hip.

``Pop Up Video'' is the most watched show on VH-1, and I mean watched and watched and watched.

VH-1 has been playing the same 30 episodes of ``Pop Up Video'' for a year. So it should bring joy to Poppers to learn that VH-1 this week has brought on six new shows featuring the videos of 30 artists, including the Spice Girls, Alanis Morrissette, Dire Straits and the Gin Blossoms.

If anybody deserves credit for helping save VH-1 from extinction besides RuPaul and ``Best of American Bandstand'' - VH-1 signed on as MTV's stuffy grown-up cousin in 1985 - it's Tad Low and Woody Thompson, who created ``Pop Up Video.''

Their 30-minute show is as the name suggests.

Every few seconds, as music videos are playing on VH-1, balloons with words in them pop up on the screen. They are factoids and commentaries on music, celebrities, politics, sports and anything else Low and Thompson can think of.

What's the best way to get Austrian bikers to be in your video? Offer free beer. What did Abdul spend on herself in the ``Rush Rush'' video? It was $30,000 on wardrobe, $5,000 on hair and makeup.

``This is real behind-the-scenes stuff,'' said Low and Thompson, both 30. The men say they created ``Pop Up Video'' out of boredom.

``Music videos have no plot. How can you stay interested?'' asked Low.

The answer is to add trivia (Springsteen drove across the country in 1983 for inspiration to write music) and comedy that often comes out of nowhere. If somebody sings about a guy named Charlie, Low and Thompson pop in a balloon about ``Charlie's Angels,'' saying they are remembered only for their blonde-ness and brunette-ness.

Low and Thompson delight in what they call ``popping the pretentious people.''

``Think of `Pop Up Video' as an irreverent time capsule,'' said the producers. If the pop-ups were buried for 100 years and then dug up in 2097, the people in the next century would have a picture of a society obsessed with youth, fame, drugs and speed.

``One that doesn't read much,'' said the producers.

Low and Thompson say they'll extend the pop-up format to documentaries, such as a fashion show on VH-1 on Oct. 24. Also in the works is a pop-up version of ``Grease.''

One of the new episodes of ``Pop Up Video'' features the Rembrandts singing that snarky theme from ``Friends.'' The cast of the NBC sitcom appears in the video.

Pop-up factoid: Matthew Perry of ``Friends'' recently lost 80 pounds before signing into a substance-abuse clinic. These guys do their research.

If they didn't, how could they know that doing the lambada burns more calories than dancing the macarena? Pop. Pop. Pop. ILLUSTRATION: FILE COLOR PHOTO

Did you know that David Bowie was born David Jones?

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