Today is LL Cool J’s birthday and our music video of the day comes from his fourth studio album, Mama Said Knock You Out.
This video was directed by Marcus Nispel, who would later go on to redirect reboots of several classic films, including Friday the 13th and Conan The Barbarian.
Enjoy!
After 60 years, The Rolling Stones are still at it, making music and filming music videos.
Their latest music video stars Nicholas Hoult and was directed by Calmatic, who has also done videos for Lil Nas X, Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell Williams, and Zayn Malik.
Enjoy!
In today’s music video of the day, Billy Joel lives the dream of every 1980s auto mechanic and works on Christie Brinkley’s car. Just as in real life, this video ends with Joel and Brinkley together. While it is often speculated that the song was written about Brinkley, Joel has said that it was actually inspired more by his earlier relationship with Elle Macpherson.
Billy Joel has also said that he didn’t enjoy making this video because a large group of bystanders kept yelling “Hey, Christie!” during shooting.
Director Jay Dubin also did music videos for John Mellencamp and REO Speedwagon.
Enjoy!
Today is Rod Stewart’s 79th birthday and today’s music video of the day is One More Time, taken from his 32nd studio album, The Tears of Hercules. Appearing with Stewart in this video are his actual backup singers, Amanda Miller, Holly Brewer, and Becca Kotte.
Rod Stewart, incidentally, holds the record for being the artist featured most frequently during MTV’s first day of broadcast. On August 1st, 1981, MTV featured eleven of his videos.
Enjoy!
Today is David Johansen’s birthday and our music video of the day features Johansen in the role of his alter ego, Buster Poindexter.
Johansen/Poindexter did this cover of Ray Charles’s classic song for a film called The Dream Team. The Dream Team may not be remembered for much today but it did feature an impressive cast — Peter Boyle, Stephen Furst, Christopher Lloyd, and Michael Keaton, all of whom are featured in this video.
Enjoy!
Elvis Presley would have been 89 years old today.
Elvis always said that one of his biggest regrets was that he never had full control over his film career. While he had dreams of being taken seriously as an actor and admired James Dean and Marlon Brando, his management continually forced him into silly movies that only required him to sing a few songs.
Elvis’s early films, which were made before his military service and which allowed him to act as well as sing, were his best. Today’s scene comes from one of those films, 1957’s Jailhouse Rock.
Today is John McTiernan’s birthday! Obviously, McTiernan’s career has had its ups and downs but he’s still responsible for directing some of the best action films ever made.
4 Shots From 4 John McTiernan Films
Predator (1987, directed by John McTiernan, DP: Donald McAlpine)
Die Hard (1988, directed by John McTiernan, DP: Jan de Bont)
The Hunt for Red October (1990, directed by John McTiernan, DP: Jan de Bont)
The Last Action Hero (1993, directed by John McTiernan, DP: Dean Semler)
Hey, loyal readers, here are today’s live tweets or watch parties or whatever we’re calling them now in the X-era.
First off, #MondyActionMovie has got A.P.E.X., which is a movie about killer robots and time travel. I’ve never seen it but it’s on YouTube and, if you want to watch it with us, you can find the movie on YouTube and join the watch party on Mastodon at 8:oo et.
Then, after that, #MondayMuggers is doing Payback, starring Mel Gibson as a thief seeking his money. I’ve seen Payback a few times. It’s intense. The movie is on Prime and the watch party starts on X/Twitter at 10 pm et.
Today’s music video of the day is early one from Madness.
The song was inspired by Madness’s manager, Jon Hasler, who would reportedly show up at the residences of the band’s members and eat whatever leftovers they had for breakfast. The video was directed by Dave Robinson, who was responsible for many of Madness’s videos.
Enjoy!
In this video for Freak, Silverchair performs in an oven so that their sweat can be used as some sort of youth tonic. Don’t worry, the band was not actually in an oven. Instead, they were just surrounded by orange lights and they were regularly doused with water to create the impression that they were sweating while performing.
The video was directed by Gerald Casale, a former member of Devo, a far more interesting band than Silverchair. The video won the International Viewer’s Choice Award at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens