Though Accidents Will Happen has since come to be seen as one of Elvis Costello’s signature songs, it was only a moderate hit when it was initially released in the UK.  Maybe it would have been more popular if MTV had been around in 1979.  The music video was innovative at a time when most videos were just performance clips of the bands in concert.

The video for Accidents Will Happen is considered to be the first fully animated music video.  The video was directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, who also did videos for Rush and Cathy Denis.  Jankel and Morton would later go on to create Max Headroom and to direct the infamous first Super Mario Bros. film.

Enjoy!