The video for The Who’s You Better You Bet was filmed at Shepperton Studios in March of 1981 and it provided a look at the new Who as this was the first video to feature Kenney Jones on drums. Jones, of course, replaced Keith Moon after the latter’s tragic death.
The video for Pat Benatar’s YouBetterRun was the second. As opposed to the video for VideoKilledTheRadioStar, YouBetterRun is a performance clip. There’s no special effects but there’s a lot of Pat Benatar, which is just as good.
Back then, MTV was short for “Music Television” and it actually played music videos, something that you don’t see much of on the channel anymore. Today, MTV is best known for cheap reality programming and countless shows in which D-List celebs watch YouTube videos. But before MTV became the Rob Dyrdek network, it actually used to play music.
In fact, MTV revolutionized music and, along the way, it also provided a chance for several talented filmmakers to show off what they could do with just a few minutes of screen time. David Fincher started out directing music videos. So did Spike Jonze. But before Fincher and Jonze, there was Russell Mulcahy, who went from directing trippy music videos to directing Highlander.
Appropriately enough, the very first video to air on MTV was directed by Mulcahy and it was for a song that predicted what MTV would eventually do to the music industry. Video Killed The Radio Star was the perfect debut video for MTV. Produced on a budget of $50,000 and filmed over the course of just one day in South London, Video Killed the Radio Star featured actress Virginia Hey in a test tube and Hans Zimmer playing keyboards. Hey later went on to appear in several Australian films, including Mad Max 2 where she played the warrior woman. Hans Zimmer, of course, went on to find fame on his own as one of the busiest film composers around.
Even before it was featured on MTV, Video Killed The Radio Star was aired on British television and was considered to be controversial because of the exploding television, which was seen as encouraging violence. It was a much more innocent time.
Best known as one of the Danzig songs that is not a remake of Mother, DirtyBlackSummer appeared on Danzig’s third album, HowTheGodsKill. It was one of the more popular songs to appear on that album (which, overall, is considered to be one of Danzig’s best) and the band continues to regularly perform it to this day.
The video is unique because it was directed by Anton Corbijn, the Dutch photographer who directed videos from Depeche Mode, U2, and Nirvana. (He was the director behind the video for Heart–ShapedBox). Corbijn has since gone on to direct feature films as well, Control, The American, and Most Wanted Man.
Long before Hugh Jackman got the role, Glenn Danzig was considered for the role of Wolverine in a potential X-Men feature film. I think he would have rocked that roll.
Depending on the source, the “paper in fire” that John Mellencamp sings about in this song either refers to the dreams of those looking to get out of living below the poverty line or a verse in the Bible in which Hell is called “paper in fire.” One thing that everyone agrees on is that the line “we keep no check on our appetites” is a reference to Hud, which is one of Mellencamp’s favorite movies.
The video was shot outside of a house on a dirt road near Savannah, Georgia. Mellencamp wanted to highlight the poverty that many Americans were living under. This video was also shot at a time when Mellencamp was still trying to escape from the “Johnny Cougar” persona that was forced on him early on in his career. (In fact, at the time this song was recorded, he was still officially known as John Cougar Mellencamp.)
The Page 3 Girls were a long-stranding tradition in the UK. In the often cut-throat world of British journalism, certain publishers realized that the best way to beat the competition was to not only offer important news, brilliant editorials, and attention-grabbing headlines but also to offer up naked models. Starting with the Sun in 1970, most British tabloids would include a topless centerfold on the third page of their newspaper. That way, men could discreetly buy the Sun at the newsstand (and perhaps chuckle at headlines like, “”If Neil Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights,”) and then turn to page 3 as soon as they were in the back of a taxi. As a teenager visiting family the UK in the 90s, I always made sure to pick up the new edition of the Sun, The Mirror, and News of the World. Today, of course, the Page 3 Girls are largely a thing of the past and it’s acknowledged that it was all a bit misogynistic. But, back in the day, it was just a part of daily life in the UK.
In the early and mid-80s, Samantha Fox was one of the top Page 3 Girls. She went from modeling to acting and singing. Love House was a single off of her third album. Today, it’s usually listed as being one of the first acid house single to appear on mainstream charts. As with many of Fox’s hits, the songs popularity was aided by a music video that made good use of Fox’s assets. The video for Love House contrasts Fox’s sex appeal with several images that appear to have been lifted from popular horror films.
The song is pretty good too. Because of her background, Samantha Fox was underrated as a singer and she’s never quite gotten the credit that she deserves. However, she is still a cultural icon in the UK, where she’s appeared on editions of Celebrity Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, along with remaining an activist for LGBT rights.
Yesterday, many of us woke up to this sad message from Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard of ZZ Top:
“We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX. We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the ‘Top’. We will forever be connected to that “Blues Shuffle in C.”
You will be missed greatly, amigo.
Frank & Billy
Dusty Hill was 72 years old and died in his sleep in Houston, Texas. Though it’s already been announced that ZZ Top will continue with longtime band associate Elwood Francis replacing Hill, it’s still hard not to feel that an era has come to a close.
Today’s music video of the day is ZZ Top’s cover of Viva Las Vegas. Rest in Peace, Dusty Hill.
The lyrics to this Thomas Dolby song seem to be self-explanatory. When they were teenagers, the narrator met a girl named Europa, they fell in love while spending their days walking along the beach, and then Europa moved away. (Dolby sings that “the war” took her away, which sounds ominous but which makes sense when you consider that Dolby’s 1982 album, TheGoldenAgeofWireless, was based on the idea of him being a part of the first generation since World War II. “The war took her away” is probably meant to be a comment on how relationships that were once ended by a world war were now just being ended by a parent getting a new job in a new country or town.) Years later, Europa’s a star and Dolby tries to see her, just to be ushered away by one of her bodyguards. But, in Dolby’s heart, they’ll always be pirate twins on the beach.
The video has come to be considered a classic example of early 80s music videos, mixing the future and the past and allowing Dolby to capitalize on his nerdy but cool persona. (I’ve always felt that if Peter Parker became a musician instead of a Spider-Man, his music would have sounded much like Thomas Dolby’s.) The machines link the song to the future but the black-and-white images bring us to the past, capturing the feel of Dolby’s song.
Here are the last of the major trailers from this year’s E3!
21. Salt and Sacrifice
One of the best games of 2016, SaltandSanctuary, is getting a sequel! SaltandSacrifice will be released in 2022.
22. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl
12 years after it was first announced and 5 years after development officially began, we have a gameplay trailer and a tentative released date for STALKER2: HeartofChernobyl! That date is April 28th, 2022. It’s pretty much standard operating procedure to complain about how long it can take to develop a good game but, after what happened with Cyberpunk2077, I’m all for developers taking their time.
23. Starfield
Right now, Starfield has a release date of November 11th, 2022. I hope they make it!
24. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
I am not totally sure that I’m interpreting the trailer correctly but I think Jack wants to destroy Chaos.. This is set to be released some time in 2022.
25. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
The latest game to come out of the Borderlands franchise, TinyTina’sWonderlands’s trailer features dragons, stallions, and, of course, Tiny Tina. This game is due to be released in “early 2022.”
26. WarioWare Get It Together
Finally, we have the trailer for the new Wario game. You can’t have Mario without Wario!
I know that, even though I shared 26 trailers from this year’s E3, there’s still a few that I missed or that I chose not to include that maybe others would have. All four days of this year’s E3, with all of the presentations and trailers, can be found on E3’s YouTube channel.
Through the Shattered Lens 