TV Party was a public-access television cable TV show in New York City that ran from 1978 to 1982. Glenn O'Brien was the host. Chris Stein, the co-founder of the pop band Blondie, was the co-host and Walter "Doc" Steding was the leader of the TV Party orchestra. Amos Poe was the director. Guests included Mick Jones, David Byrne, Debbie Harry, James Chance and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Brink Films has re-released some of the best of the 80 plus episodes on DVD, as well as a documentary about the TV show.
TV Party is an EP recorded by the American band Black Flag in 1982. It was produced by Black Flag and Ed Barton and originally released by SST Records on the 7" vinyl format. The EP contains three songs written by guitarist Greg Ginn: "TV Party", "I've Got to Run" and "My Rules". The title track "TV Party" is a satire of boredom, drinking and America's obsession with television.
Reception to the EP focused heavily on the title song "TV Party", where it was praised as one of the group's funniest and best songs. The original version of the song was released on the band's 1981 album Damaged.
The song "TV Party" was recorded three times. To promote the Damaged album in the United States, Unicorn Records had Black Flag enter the studio and re-record the song for the EP in March 1982, with their then-new drummer Emil Johnson. The EP version features a slower tempo and hand claps. The band again recorded the song at the request of Alex Cox, for his 1984 cult classic film Repo Man and the accompanying soundtrack. Each version of the song lyrically references different TV shows from the era in which each recording was made.