Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" Video Gives '80s Co-Stars Much-Needed Search Spikes

A job and search spikes? Not bad for the co-stars in Katy Perry's latest John Hughes-inspired music video "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)," some whom have faded away more than others. Since the video debuted on Sunday, her credited cast members--including '80s teen icon Debbie Gibson, sax man Kenny G, boy band Hanson, and "Glee" actors Darren Criss and Kevin McHale--have experienced huge Internet search spikes as a result.

Set in the 1980s (Wii and laptop aside), Katy Perry's brace-faced, terminally geeky 13-year-old alter-ego Kathy Beth Terry undergoes a classic teen-movie makeover for the party of the year in "Last Friday Night." With the help of her BFF, the appropriately cast "Friday" singer Rebecca Black, Kathy Beth loses her headgear, mustache, and denim jumpsuit for skintight neons and teased-to-the-heavens big hair. Like something out of a teen version of The Hangover (and pretty inappropriate for a teen!), the next morning finds Kathy Beth waking up to a trashed house, a football player in her bed, and a struggle to piece together the details of her epic Friday night.

Since the video debuted, Yahoo! searches for Perry's co-stars have skyrocketed: Debbie Gibson, who plays Kathy Beth's mom, went up 111 percent; her crowdsurfing "Uncle Kenny," Kenny G, was up 76 percent; Rebecca Black went up 66 percent, and house party band Hanson was up 56 percent. 

A large portion of Katy Perry's fans likely weren't even alive in the '80s or are old enough to remember the era of Hanson, which could be the reason fueling some of the spikes. Nonetheless, the guest stars who haven't been in the public eye as much lately are benefitting from the garnered interest.

While the biggest search spike award goes to Darren Criss (up a whopping 3,371 percent), that's likely due to his current hotness factor as a "Glee" character and his guest judge appearance on "The Glee Project" TV show, which also debuted Sunday night. And knowing Internet curiosity, the spike was probably pushed even further from searches for viral video footage of the actor gettingpulled offstage by a fan last Sunday at a "Glee! Live!" concert in D.C.

Sadly, Corey Feldman, who plays Kathy Beth's father in the "Last Friday" video and probably is the biggest of all the '80s cameos, experienced no spikes in search. Also, in true high school form, Kevin McHale, who plays the nerdy, Medieval-daydreaming romantic counterpart to Kathy, didn't have much of a change in search popularity either. But in the video, he does beat the jock and get his girl.

Hopefully this won't be the last we see of Kathy Beth Terry. While Katy could've easily made a typical racy party video in this case, or gone with the omnipresent popstar-in-space theme of her "E.T." clip with Kanye West, "Last Friday Night" is a welcome change, showcasing the singer's comedic side and tapping into '80s nostalgia.

However, because the 26-year-old was only 5 years old in 1989, most of her actual nostalgia comes from the 1990s, when she was a teen. "T.G.I.F." was a popular block of family TV comedies in the '90s, Hanson broke out in 1997, and Kathy Beth's Twitter accountgushes about '90s crushes JTT ("Home Improvement's" Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and Devon Sawa. But being of the same generation as Perry, I can say she definitely touched upon her peers' tween tastes very accurately.

Source: Yahoo Music