Synopsis

Todd Rundgren appears in a surreal, electronically constructed world where live-action performance merges with early computer-generated imagery. He dances and sings against shifting backgrounds filled with melting clocks, floating objects, distorted guitars, and figures reminiscent of Rene Magritte's paintings. Rather than following a conventional narrative, the video visualizes the song's ideas about recovery and the passage of time through playful transformations, layered images, and dreamlike transitions. Its handmade, experimental style makes the technology itself part of the spectacle.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Time Heals" was the eighth music video aired by MTV when the network launched on August 1, 1981.

• The song originally appeared as a bonus 7-inch single packed with early copies of Rundgren's 1981 album "Healing." The single paired it with "Tiny Demons."

• The production combined live action with computer-generated imagery, an unusually ambitious approach for a pop video in 1981.

• Rundgren's Bearsville-based Utopia Video Studios provided the production environment for his experiments with video synthesis, compositing, and electronic effects.

• The imagery draws on surrealist visual language, particularly the dreamlike clocks, bowler-hatted figures, and floating objects associated with Rene Magritte.

• Rundgren had invested heavily in video technology after the success of Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell," allowing him to develop music videos outside the usual label and television-studio system.

• The video became an early example of Rundgren's interest in treating music videos as a visual art and technology laboratory rather than simply as filmed performances.