[3] Directed by Kenny Ortega, it shows Squier dancing around a bed with pastel-colored satin sheets and wearing a pink tank top.

While Squier remains steadfast that the video was solely responsible for the initial decline in his popularity, other commentators are less certain.

[2] It begins with snapping fingers and footsteps, quickly joined by staccato chords from a synthesizer.

Squier sings with increasing intensity and volume into the chorus, announced by a drum roll.

As it ends, heavy guitar chords return in the background until a break where Squier sings "Take me in your arms ..." unaccompanied.

"'Rock Me Tonite' represents Squier's effort to become acquainted with the emerging techno-pop scene of the early and mid-'80s," says AllMusic.

"Within the song, Squier's old standards collide with his newfangled attempt at sounding hip, resulting in a catchy three-parts-pop, one-part-rock final product."

[4] Cash Box said that the song shows "musical growth displayed through a driving rhythm mixed with a shot of melodic metal.

At the conclusion he leaves the room with a pink guitar to join his band in performing the song.

For I Want My MTV, their 2011 oral history of the network's early years, authors Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks interviewed over 400 people, primarily artists, managers, filmmakers, record company executives and MTV employees.

"[7] Squier himself and other observers, believe its homoeroticism alienated a significant portion of his fan base (primarily teenage boys at the time) and ruined his career.

He took it to Bob Giraldi, a director at the time much sought after in the wake of his highly successful video for Michael Jackson's "Beat It".

Mick Kleber, an executive at Squier's label, Capitol Records, clarifies that Giraldi was interested but wanted a bigger budget to work with.

[2] Squier and his management team then approached David Mallet, another popular music-video director of the time, whose work included Billy Idol's "White Wedding".

Kleber thinks that Mallet may not have believed the song would be a hit, especially compared with some of the other videos he had done for Capitol at the time and was just being courteous.

Capitol was disturbed that Squier had talked directly with Ortega, in opposition to their preferred practice but deferred to him.

Squier's idea was that the resulting footage should be grainy and in darker, subdued colors, evoking the 1980 film American Gigolo.

He rejected a suggestion by Ortega that it look instead like Tom Cruise's air guitar scene near the beginning of the 1983 film Risky Business.

[2] The video shoot was held in Los Angeles within two weeks of the world premiere date.

[2] Mohler pleaded with Capitol president Jim Mazza to just cancel the video but the label stood firm.

He was touring at the time and recalls that as soon as the video came out, he stopped selling out shows, in some cases performing to half-empty arenas.

But like it or not, it was more of a sticky point then.While he remains angry at Ortega, who he believes purposely misled and exploited him, he is philosophical about the video.

"[8] In 2012, Tannenbaum said that while researching I Want My MTV, he attempted to contact Ortega to get his response to Squier's complaints.

[9] Writing for Ultimate Classic Rock, Jeff Giles disagrees with the assessment that the video ended Squier's career: "Just a quick scan through the top rock hits of 1983 and 1984 is all you need to find evidence that Squier was hardly alone in filming cheesy, low-budget or gender-bending videos.