Inspired by the collapse of Soviet-style communism in the late 80s and the early 90s (in particular, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the overthrow of Nicolae Ceaușescu in Romania), Right Here, Right Now not only sold over 1 million copies but it was also the most played song on college radio in 1991.
The video, which mixes performance footage with news footage from Eastern Europe, was the first music video to be directed by Matthew Amos. Amos went on to direct videos for Stereo MCs, Manic Street Preachers, Slipknot, and the Charlatans.
Obsession was originally written and recorded as a duet by Michael Des Barres and Holly Knight. The original version was included in the soundtrack for a forgotten 80s film called A Night In Heaven, which featured Lesley Ann Warren as a professor who has an affair with one of her students, a male stripper played by Christopher Atkins. The film was a flop but the song caught the attention of the band, Animotion. Their cover version is not only the best-known version of the song but it was also Animotion’s biggest hit.
Directed by underground filmmaker Amos Poe, the video featured the band performing in front of a pool and in a luxury house while dressed up in different costumes. Why Mark Anthony and Cleopatra? Why Amelia Earhart and Rudolph Valentino? Why not? It was the 80s and cocaine was very popular. The important thing is that both the video and the song came to epitomize an era.
I know this is running the risk of becoming a cliché but this is another song that I originally came to appreciate while playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It was the perfect song for going for a midnight joyride in a stolen car. I crashed any number of vehicles into the ocean while listening to Animotion.
As the old saying goes, heavy is the head that wears the crown.
The video for Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence is simplicity in itself. Dave Gahan plays a king who searches the world, deck chair in hand, for a little silence. His quest takes him to the Scottish Highlands, the beaches of Portugal, and even the Swiss Alps.
This video was directed by Anton Corbijn, who has directed many videos for both Depeche Mode and U2 but who is probably destined to be forever remembered for directing the video for Nirvana’s Heart Shaped Box. Corbijn has also directed a handful of films, including the Ian Curtis biopic, Control, and Life, which was about the friendship between James Dean and Life photographer Dennis Stock.
As for Enjoy the Silence, it was Depeche Mode’s highest charting song in the U.S. It was also later covered by the former First Lady of France, Carla Bruni.
In 1986, David Byrne of Talking Heads directed his very first feature film. True Stories took place in the fictional town in Virgil, Texas and, as Byrne himself put it, it was “a project with songs based on true stories from tabloid newspapers. It’s like 60 Minutes on acid.”
Some people love True Stories. I am not one of them. However, not surprisingly, the film did have a killer soundtrack. The best known song to come off of the True Stories soundtrack was Wild Wild Life. The video for Wild WildLife takes place at what appears to be a karaoke bar, where different performers lip sync to the song while dressed up as their favorite performers. One person is dressed up like Billy Idol. Another does Madonna. Jerry Harrison imitates Prince. Be sure to keep an eye out for a young John Goodman, who co-starred in True Stories and who damn near steals this video with his energetic performance.
Wild Wild Life subsequently won the award for Best Group Video at the MTV Music Video Awards.
Since it was first released, In the Meantime is one of those song that has come to epitomize an era, in this case the mid-90s. (It’s no surprise that the song was prominently featured in both the premiere and the finale of Everything Sucks!, the Netflix dramedy about growing up in the 90s.) Even if you don’t know necessarily remember the title or the name of the band that performs the song, you’ll immediately recognize those opening notes.
I hate the term “one-hit wonder” because often it’s just a fancy way that some people have of saying that a band found greater success in Europe than in America. However, it is true that, as of this writing, In The Meantime remains Spacehog’s biggest mainstream hit. While the song peaked at number 29 on the UK charts, In the Meantime reached the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts.
Some of the song’s success was undoubtedly due to this video, which was directed by Jake Scott and, though it may be hard to believe now, seemed to be very edgy and futuristic in 1995. (Today, of course, nose piercings and androgyny are no longer considered to be as unconventional as they were back in the 90s.) For a while, it was impossible to turn on MTV without seeing this video. It’s open to interpretation as to what the song is actually about, though lead singer Royston Langdon explained it to Songfacts as follows: “It’s using some kind of metaphor of a worldly or inner-worldly search for the end of isolation, and the acceptance of one’s self is in there. At the end of the day it’s saying whatever you gotta do, it’s OK, it’s alright. And I think that’s also me talking to myself, getting through my wan anxieties and fear of death. That’s what it all comes down to.”
If not, don’t worry. This Los Angeles rap group was only active from 1997 to 1999. During that time, they released an album called Freelance Bubblehead, which featured their two best-known songs, Kitty Kat Max and (Not The) Greatest Rapper. As evidence by their name and the video above, 1000 Clowns took a light-hearted approach to their work. In a review for CMJ New Music Monthly, Neal Goldstone said that rapper MC Kevi’s style would be “darn endearing if he was your little brother’s best friend.” I think that best sums up both the appeal of this song and also why 1000 Clowns only released one album.
This video was directed by the very busy Mark Kohr, who started directing music videos in the early 1990s and who has since worked with several well-known artists, including Green Day, No Doubt, Alanis Morrisette, Everclear, and Cake.
Imagine Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart and his broken leg replaced by Mick Jagger and the other members of the Rolling Stones and you have the concept behind the video for today’s music video of the day.
Neighbours first appeared on Tattoo You and was inspired by Keith Richards’s problems with his own neighbours in New York City. According to Richards, his neighbours got him evicted from his New York apartment building because they felt that he played his music too loudly. The actual lyrics were written by Mick Jagger, who, again according to Richards, never had any trouble with his own neighbours.
The video was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who directed several videos for The Rolling Stones but who is perhaps best known for directing the documentary about the final days of the Beatles, Let It Be.
Yes, this video was directed by that David Fincher.
Taking place in a crowded bar and featuring patrons dancing while Steve Winwood and the band perform in the background, this video shows that, even before directing films like Se7en, Fight Club, and The Social Network, Fincher had a strong eye for detail. The video makes you feel the heat.
Because this video has a page at the imdb, we actually know the names of some of the people who collaborated with Winwood and Fincher. The choreography was provided by none other than Paula Abdul while the black-and-white cinematography is credited to Mark Plummer. (Plummer’s other credits include the films Two Moon Junction, After Dark My Sweet, The Waterdance, and Albino Alligator.) The video was edited by Scott Chestnut, who subsequently worked on several feature films directed by John Dahl, including Red Rock West, Unforgettable, and Rounders.
With the help of this video, Roll With It went on to spend four weeks at the top of Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
An instant hit when it was first released in 1976, More Than A Feeling was a song that spent several years in the making. The founder of Boston, MIT graduate Tom Scholz, spent five years working on the song, recording and re-recording it in his basement while working his day job at Polaroid.
When Boston finally signed with CBS Records, More Than A Feeling was the first single released off of their debut album and it has since remained a classic rock mainstay, with the chorus riff becoming one of the most familiar sounds in the history of rock. Scholz has said that he was inspired to write More Than A Feeling by the Left Bank’s song, Walk Away Renée. “I see my Marianne walk away” was a reference to an older cousin whom Tom Scholz had a crush on when he was nine years old.
For me, though, More Than A Feeling will always be the song that I used to listen to whenever I was driving a stolen car around San Andreas, looking for hot coffee and trying to avoid the police.
Through the Shattered Lens 