Author Archives: Jedadiah Leland

Music Video of the Day: Can’t Get Enuff by Winger (1991, directed by Michael Bay)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Winger’s the worst but this video for Can’t Get Enuff is interesting just because it was directed by Michael Bay, before he started his feature film career.

Everything about this video identifies it as being a Michael Bay production.  It takes place on a hot day and it features a lot of sexy people finding ways to deal with the heat.  The camera lingers on the sun, the bodies, and the city.  It looks great even if it’s hard to imagine that any of the people in the video would actually be listening to Winger.  The video was so popular that, even though Winger’s style of music was being overshadowed by newcomers like Nirvana, Can’t Get Enuff was still a hit for the band.  Of course, just two years later, Beavis and Butthead premiered on MTV and viewers met Stewart, the loser wearing a Winger t-shirt.  Whatever chance Winger had ever being considered cool in even a retro fashion pretty much ended as soon as Stewart said, “Hey, guys.”

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Guilty of Love by Whitesnake (1983, directed by Lindsey Clennell)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

David Coverdale is guilty of love!  I’m not sure how you can be guilty of something that isn’t a crime or even a bad thing but I’m sure David Coverdale could find a way.

Sorry, Tawny Kitaen is not in this video.  Instead, it’s just clips taken from a series of different Whitesnake shows.  A good deal of this video was filmed during a Monsters of Rock show.

This song was the first single to be released off of their sixth studio album, Slide It In.  One thing that no one will ever accuse Whitesnake of being is subtle.

It’s rocking song, though.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of the Day: Gone Daddy Gone by Violent Femmes (1983, directed by Doug Martin and Steve Martin)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

I will be the first to admit that I was hoping that it would turn out that this video was directed by that Steve Martin.  But no, the directors of this video were twin brothers Douglas Brian Martin and Steven M. Martin.  Along with a few acting appearances (they played “angry twins” in Fast Times At Ridgemont High), Steve Martin is credited with directed the documentary Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey in 1993.

According to the imdb, Doug Martin ” (d)irected the following music videos: “Murder, Mystery & Mayhem (1981)” for Peter Ivers “No Smoking (1982)” for John Waters “Shock Value (1982)” for John Waters “I Predict (1982)” for Sparks “Get Up And Go (1982)” for The Go-Go’s “Gone Daddy Gone (1983)” for Violent Femmes “Barefoot Rock (1983)” for The Blasters “One Red Rose (1983)” for The Blasters “The Cutting Edge (1983)” for MTV “Christian Girls Problems (1983)” for The Gleaming Spires “Head Over Heels (1983)” for The Go-Go’s “Sound Of The Rain (1984)” for Rank & File “Livin’ A Little, Laughin’ A Little (1985)” for John Hiatt/Elvis Costello “When Angels Kiss (1985)” for Gary Myrick “Stick Around (1985)” for Julian Lennon “Lips To Find You (1986)” for Teena Marie “Situation #9 (1986)” for Club Nouveau.”

This song features not one but two xylophone solos.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Guns for Hire by AC/DC (1983, directed by Paul Becher)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

One thing that you could always count on with AC/DC is that their music videos would be direct and to the point.  While other bands tried to come up with elaborate storylines or gimmicks for their videos, AC/DC was content to just rock.

Guns For Hire was the first single and video to be released off of their 1983 album, Flick of the Switch.  While the band was touring to support the album, Guns for Hire was the song that they opened with.  It’s also a song that they apparently stopped playing after the tour ended.  Though Flick of the Switch has its fans (and has been the subject of much positive reappraisal in recent years), it was a commercial disappointment when it was first released.  It was also during the recording of Flick of the Switch that drummer Phil Rudd left the band for the first time.  Malcolm Young later described the album as being a disappointment, saying that it was “thrown together real quick.”  Personally, I think Guns for Hire is a perfectly good AC/DC song but it’s understandable why the band may not have wanted to revisited the turmoil that was going on when it was recorded.

Because Phil Rudd either left the band or was fired during the recording of Flick of the Switch (it depends on who you ask), Guns For Hire was the first AC/DC music video to feature Simon Wright on drums.  Wright stayed with the band until 1989, when he left to join Dio.  He was replaced by Chris Slade, who was subsequently replaced in 1993 by …. Phil Rudd.  Time is a flat circle.

This video was directed by Paul Becher, who directed two other videos for AC/DC and one for Prince.

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: Celebrate Youth by Rick Springfield (1985, directed by David Fincher)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

When I first read the blandly generic title and I saw that it was performed by Rick Springfield (who I don’t think has ever ben anyone’s idea of a cutting edge musical artist), I assumed that Celebrate Youth was going to be another cheesy, feel good anthem from the 80s.  Then I discovered that this song rocks!

As you could probably guess just by its visual style, this was one of the many music videos that David Fincher directed before moving onto feature films.  The black-and-white cinematography with the only splash of color coming from that red scarf clearly identifies this as one of Fincher’s videos.  The interesting thing about Fincher’s music videos is that they show that, even before he directed his first film, Fincher already had a clear and unique artistic vision.  Just as you would never mistake any of Fincher’s films for the work of another director, the same is true of his music videos.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Rock the Night by Europe (1987, directed by Nick Morris)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

If you were a member of the band Europe in 1987, you were all about rocking the night!

And what better way to rock the night than by going to the Hard Rock Cafe and watching one of your own music videos on television?

There were actually two videos filmed for this song.  The first one was a simple performance clip, featuring Europe rocking and the audience rolling.  The second and more popular video features Europe going to a Hard Rock Café and discovering that the first video is playing on TV!  This, of course, leads to the band rocking and rolling in the restaurant.  In the 80s, a hair band rocking a chain restaurant was as common a sight as a flapper doing the Lindy Hop in the 20s.

This video was filmed at an actual Hard Rock Café in Stockholm.  The first Hard Rock Café was opened in London in 1971 and the company really didn’t start to expand worldwide until 1982, five years before this video was filmed.  At the time of the video, the Hard Rock Cafe brand was still very cool and a pretty big deal.  (Yes, those shirts used to really stand for something.)  When the Stockholm Hard Rock Café first opened in 1985, it was only the chain’s seventh location.  (Today, by comparison, there are 180 operating Hard Rock Cafes.)  The Stockholm restaurant is currently still open but I don’t know if Europe still hangs out there.

This video was directed by Nick Morris, who also did the videos for both The Final Countdown and Carrie.

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: Come Sail Away by Styx (1977, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Leave it to Styx to take a seemingly straight-forward song about sailing away from life’s trouble and suddenly end it with an alien visitation.  Actually, I’ve read multiple interpretations of the film’s final verses.  Some see it as the subject of the song being abducted by aliens.  Others think that it means that he’s been taken into Heaven.  Because it’s a Styx song, the lyrics are open to many readings as long as you accept that it’s either angels or aliens.

Considering all of the debate that’s been inspired by this song, the music video is a pretty simple affair.  Like the majority of the videos that were released in the days before MTV, it’s a simple performance clip.  If you were hoping to see either aliens or angels in this video, you’ll be disappointed.  It’s good song, though.  It’s impossible not to get that chorus stuck in your head.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm by Crash Test Dummies (1994, directed by Dale Heslip)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

I don’t know if I can possibly express how inescapable this song was in 1994.  It was on the radio constantly and the video was just as prominent on MTV.  At first, people loved the song and the video was viewed as being profound.  There was a lot of speculation about why the lead singer of Crash Test Dummies had such a deep voice.  I won’t repeat any of it here but it got pretty out there.

Of course, whenever any song is overplayed, it doesn’t take long for people to go from loving it to hating it.  Though I can only offer up anecdotal evidence, the span from love to hate seemed to be especially quick for Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.  Before long, people grew sick of seeing the lead singer humming on MTV.  To me, this video proves that no one should be filmed while humming with their eyes closed.

The video takes place at a school play.  Each act features a different dramatization of what the the singer is humming about.  The adults in the audience start out as being amused but then become disturbed.  Are lessons learned?  I don’t know.

This song was nominated for a Grammy so make of that what you will.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Rappin’ Rodney by Rodney Dangerfield (1983, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Yes, this is a real thing that happened.

In 1983, Rodney Dangerfied released the Rappin’ Rodney album, which was basically Rodney doing his usual routine but this time, he was rapping about how he didn’t get no respect instead of just talking about it.  It’s always easy to make fun of these celebrity projects but this one gets a pass because it’s Rodney Dangerfield and he obviously wasn’t trying to start a new career as a rapper.  Dangerfield received a Grammy nomination for Rappin’ Rodney so there’s that.

This video was reportedly popular when it was released on MTV in 1983.  Since MTV didn’t play black artists during the first few years of its existence, you have to wonder how many many early MTV viewers were first exposed to rap as a result of Rodney Dangerfield.  Pat Benatar and Don Novello both make appearances in this video.  Novello appears as Father Guido Sarducci, his SNL character who was never really that funny but still showed up on a frequent basis.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Penthouse and Pavement by Heaven 17 (1981, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

I only recently discovered this band.  Heaven 17 is an English band, one that is still together.  The band was made up of two former members of The Human League, keyboardists Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, and singer Glenn Gregory.  Gregory had been Marsh and Ware’s original choice to serve as the lead singer of the Human League but, when he proved to be unavailable, they went with Philip Oakey instead.  Oakey had a different vision for the The Human League than Marsh and Ware so Marsh and Ware ended up leaving the band and forming Heaven 17.  This time, they were able to get Glenn Gregory as their singer.

Heaven 17’s first album was called Penthouse and Pavement and the album’s title track was both their first single and their first video.  The video features not only corporate espionage but also the three members of the band pretending to be corrupt businessmen.  That Heaven 17 was a much more overly political band than The Human League is obvious from listening to the song’s lyrics.

The band, incidentally, was named after one of Alex’s favorite bands in A Clockwork Orange.

Enjoy!