Music Video of the Day: Your Love by The Outfield (1986, directed by John Jopson)


This is a song that I will always associate with Grand Theft Auto: Vice CityYour Love is on the Flash FM playlist.  It’s not a great song to listen to when you’re in the middle of a police chase but it is nice when you’re just stealing cars on a rainy night.

The video was shot, over the course of a day, on a soundstage in Astoria.  While the band is playing, an artist played by JoAnne Willette finger paints the cover of The Outfield’s first album, Play Deep.  Willette would later co-star on the Growing Pains spin-off, Just The Ten Of Us.  She also appeared in episodes of The Facts of Life, T. J. Hooker, Santa Barbara, Growing Pains, Melrose Place, Chicago Hope, Becker, ER, The Young and the Restless, My Sister Sam, Private Practice, and The New Adventures of Old Christine.  Among her film credits are small roles in both Welcome to 18 and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.

Even though The Outfield was a British band, they never found much success in the UK.  Their popularity was almost solely centered in the U.S., where Your Love reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 on the Mainstream Rock chart in 1986.

Music Video Of The Day: Shout By Tears For Fears (1984, directed by Nigel Dick)


Tears For Fears frontman Roland Orzabal and keyboardist Ian Stanley were both practitioners of primal scream therapy, in which people confronted their fears and insecurities by shouting.  This song was inspired by both the treatment and political protest.

The video, which was put in heavy rotation on MTV and become one of the defining videos and songs of the 1980s, features Orazbal and Curt Smith letting it all out on the cliffside at Durdle Door in Dorset.  The video was one of the 300-something videos to have been directed by Nigel Dick, who has done videos for almost everyone.

Shout spend three weeks as the number one single in the US and has since become Tears for Fears signature song, along with Everybody Wants To Rule The World.

Music Video of the Day: Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House (1986, directed by Alex Proyas)


This video was directed by a familiar name.  Alex Proyas got his start directing music videos for groups like INXS and this one but he is today better-remembered for directing such influential films as The Crow and Dark City.

The music video was a hit, picking up the award for Best New Artist at the MTV Music Video awards.  Don’t Dream It’s Over has gone on to become one of those songs that epitomizes an era.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: I Hate Kissing You Goodbye by Tuff (1991, directed by ????)


You have to feel bad for Tuff, an American glam metal band that was formed in 1985, featured in the seminal documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II, and who were signed by Atlantic Records in 1990.  They released their first studio album, What Comes Around Go Around, in 1991.  The video for I Hate Kissing You Goodbye received heavy rotation on MTV.  And then, just a few months later, a band named Nirvana came along and changed the entire musical landscape.

Despite the Grunge Revolution, Tuff is still together.  Lead singer Steve Rachelle has also had a solo career and has fronted a few other bands as well.  Tuff survived.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: I Won’t Forget You by Poison (1987, directed by John Jopson)


It’s the sensitive side of Poison.

I’ve been reading Nothin’ But A Good Time, an oral history of the 80s “hair metal” scene.  Poison emerges as unlikely heroes in the narrative, a band that worked hard to put on a good show and managed to avoid a lot of the excesses that plagued other bands of the era.  Before he landed his spot with Guns ‘N’ RosesSlash reluctantly auditioned out for Poison.  Bret Michaels wanted to hire him but the rest of the band preferred CC Deville.  It turned out to be the right choice for both the band and Slash.

This video was directed by John Jopson, who also directed videos for The Hooters, Icehouse, and everyone’s favorite, Air Supply.

Music Video of the Day: Bang (Starting Over) by Corey Hart (1990, directed by Meiert Avis)


Corey Hart is best known for defining the 80s with Sunglasses At Night but, as the saying goes, he did have other songs.

Bang (Starting Over) is the title track from Hart’s fifth album, Bang.  Unfortunately, Bang only produced one moderate hit and it wasn’t this song.  I say unfortunately because Bang (Starting Over) is actually a pretty good song and it just had the misfortune to be released at a time when musical tastes were changing.  Both the song and Hart are better appreciated now than they were in 1990.

This video was directed by Meier Avis, who has directed videos for just about everyone.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: Cover You In Oil by AC/DC (1995, directed by David Mallet)


This video is for the third single from AC/DC’s 13th studio album, Ballbreaker.  This video features AC/DC rocking out on stage while oil-covered women keep the fans running backstage and end up getting covered in oil.  Back in 1995, this is how we all assumed AC/DC made sure sure the show never ended.

This video was directed by the band’s usual director, David Mallet.

Enjoy!