Author Archives: Jedadiah Leland

Music Video of the Day: Money by The Backbeat Band (1994, directed by Nick Egan)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In 1994, a film about the early days of the Beatles in Hamburg was released.  The film was called Backbeat and it starred Ian Hart as John Lennon, Stephen Dorff as Stu Sutcliffe, and Sheryl Lee as Astrid Kirchherr.  In order to promote the film, a supergroup called The Backbeat Band recorded covers of several of the songs that the Beatles performed while in Germany.

The members of the Backbeat Band were:

Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum): vocals (Paul McCartney)
Greg Dulli (The Afghan Whigs): vocals (John Lennon)
Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth): guitar
Don Fleming (Gumball): guitar
Mike Mills (R.E.M.): bass guitar
Dave Grohl (Nirvana): drums
Henry Rollins (Black Flag): vocals (Stuart Sutcliffe)

The video for Money features clips from the film, along with Stephen Dorff, Ian Hart, and Scott Williams (as Pete Best) pretending to perform the song.  The video was directed by Nick Egan, who went on to do videos for Duran Duran, Oasis, and Alanis Morrissette.

Enjoy!

A Scene That I Love: Sgt. Hulka And Winger Have A Talk In Stripes

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today would have been Warren Oates’s 95th birthday.  When Oates died in 1982, he was only 53 years old but he left behind a rich and varied filmography and worked with everyone from Sam Peckinpah to Monte Hellman to Terrence Malick to Steven Spielberg.

One of Oates’s final and most popular performance was as Sgt. Hulka in Ivan Reitman’s Stripes.  Hulka was the ultimate drill sergeant, determined to get his men into shape and proving that he could even make soldiers out of Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and John Candy.  Originally, Sgt. Hulka was supposed to die halfway through the film was Reitman was so impressed with Oates’s performance that the script was changed to allow Hulka to make it all the way through.

In the scene below, Oates shows what a great dramatic actor he was, even when he was appearing in an otherwise light comedy.  He brings out the best not only in himself but also from his co-star, Bill Murray.

Don’t mess with Hulka!

And lighten up, Francis.

Music Video of the Day: Doubleback by ZZ Top (1990, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Doubleback was the lead single off of ZZ Top’s tenth studio album, Recycler.  It also appeared in the film Back To The Future Part III, where it was played over the end credits.  ZZ Top had a cameo in the film, performing a country music version of the song.

The music video features both Christopher Lloyd and scenes from Back to the Future Part III and was nominated for the Video Music Award for Best Video From A Film.  It lost to Billy Idol’s Cradle of Love, which was featured in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane.  The Adventures of Ford Fairlane also cleaned up at the Razzies that year.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Would? by Alice In Chains (1992, directed by Cameron Crowe and Josh Taft)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Would? was originally written in 1990 as a tribute to Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone, after Wood’s death from a heroin overdose.  The song first appeared on the soundtrack to 1992’s Singles and the subsequent music video was released to coincide with the release of the film.  Singles director Cameron Crowe co-directed this video but the only direct reference to Singles is a quick shot of the film’s poster.

Would? went on to win Best Video From A Film at the 1993 VMAs.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: We’re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister (1984, directed by Marty Callner)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

The anthem for dissatisfied 80s kids everywhere, We’re Not Gonna Take It has been co-opted by so many products and campaigns and political candidates that it might be easier to try to keep track of who hasn’t used it at some point.  Dee Snider has always come out against anyone trying to claim the song’s message as their own.

The kid in the video is played by Dax Callner, the son of the video’s director.  The kid’s father is played by Mark Metcalf, best-known for playing Douglas C. Neidermeyer in National Lampoon’s Animal House.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Circumstances by Rush (1978, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In honor of Canada Day, today’s music video of the day comes from Rush.

Circumstances was an autobiographical song, written by Neil Peart, about how he came to be disillusioned with pursuing a musical career in England.  (It was in England where Peart reportedly first came across the writings of Ayn Rand.)  Realizing that stardom waited for him not in London but instead back home, Peart returned to Canada, where he was eventually recruited to play drums in Rush.

Enjoy and Happy Canada Day!

Music Video of the Day: Twist and Shout by Rodney Dangerfield (1987, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Twist and Shout is a song that has been a hit for a lot of artists.  Rodney Dangerfield took a swing at it 1987, performing the song for the Back to School soundtrack.  The video is largely made up of scenes from Back to School and introduced a whole generation of MTV viewers to not only Rodney Dangerfield but also Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, and Ned Beatty.  They probably already knew Sam Kinison.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Kiss and Tell by Bryan Ferry (1988, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This is one of two videos for Kiss and Tell.  Both videos features Ferry performing the song while model Mandy Smith and Christine Keeler pose for the camera.  (Smith was the wife of Rolling Stone Bill Wyman while Christine Keeler was at the center of the Profumo Affair, which brought down Harold Macmillan’s government in 1963.)  However, the second version of the video also featured scenes from the film adaptation of Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City.

As can be seen in the video, Michael J. Fox played the cocaine-addled main character in the film.  It was a largely unsuccessful attempt to change Fox’s clean-cut image and the film struggled at the box office.  However, both the song and and the video proved to be very popular on MTV.  The video was nominated for Best Video From A Film at the MTV Video Music Awards, though it lost to Los Lobos’s video for La Bamba.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx (1989, directed by Jim Yukich)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Both this video and this post count as a rush job.  I’m writing this at the last second so I picked an easy video to write about.  Meanwhile, in 1989, Richard Marx was so busy touring that director Jim Yukich was forced to go with a simple approach to the video for Right Here Waiting.  The footage of Marx performing the song in an empty auditorium was filmed in Los Angeles during a soundcheck.  Black-and-white tour footage was then added to turn that soundcheck into a music video.  Though the video was simple by necessity, it also captured the loneliness of being on the road and separated from your significant other.

Right Here Waiting was the second single off of Marx’s second studio album, Repeat Offender.  He wrote the song for his then-wife Cynthia Rhodes, who was shooting a film in South Africa.  It went on to become one of Marx’s biggest hits and is still regularly covered by other artists.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Neutron Dance by The Pointer Sisters (1984, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today’s music video of the day is for Neutron Dance, a Pointer Sisters song that became a hit when it was featured in the film Beverly Hills Cop.  The song was not originally meant to be a part of the soundtrack but was instead just used a placeholder during a chase scene in the first cut of the film.  However, music producer Richard Perry convinced producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer that Neutron Dance was the perfect song for the scene.  Audiences agreed and Neutron Dance ended up a top ten hit.

The music video features not just scenes from Beverly Hills Cop but also Bronson Pinchot and Gary Burghoff as employees (along with the Pointer Sisters) of a theater showing the film.  Pinchot, of course, played Serge in Beverly Hills Cop while Burghoff was best known for playing Radar O’Reilly on M*A*S*H.

Enjoy!