A woman has been kidnapped and it’s up to Van Halen to save her!  Eddie’s a cowboy.  Alex is Tarzan.  Michael Anthony is a samurai.  David Lee Roth, not surprisingly, is Napoleon.  This video says a lot of about the appeal of early Van Halen, which really was a mix of Eddie’s technical virtuosity and Roth’s showmanship.  Van Halen was a band that knew how to make amazing music but, at first at least, they were also a band who knew how to have a good time.

Playing the damsel in distress was International Chrysis, a transgender performer who worked in a number of revues and off-Broadway productions in the 80s, along with appearing in Sidney Lumet’s Q&A.  International Chrysis died of cancer in 1990.

This video was shot at Indian Dunes, near Valencia, California.  Director Roberto Lombardi was a musician who also acted and worked behind the scenes in a number of productions.  He appears to have been one of those people who dabbled in a bit of everything as far as his creative outlets were concerned.

In 1982, this video was considered to be so controversial that MTV banned it from the airwaves.  Of course, as Tipper Gore later learned, trying to censor something only made more people want to watch it.  The video has since been unbanned but MTV gave up playing music videos a long time ago.  I don’t know what the M stands for now but it’s definitely not music.

Perhaps due to the controversy, Van Halen’s cover of Roy Orbison’s signature tune because one of their biggest hits.

Enjoy!