Music Video of the Day: Eyes Without A Face by Billy Idol (1984, dir. David Mallet)

Posted on June 11, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

But behind the scenes, it was more like Face Without Eyes. I’m not abridging this story. Thank you Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks for writing the book I Want My MTV. Also, thank you John Diaz and Billy Idol for sharing this story.

John Diaz: On “Eyes Without a Face,” I brought in Tony Mitchell as DP–that was one of the first videos he shot. David Mallet directed, and David always shot in 16mm. I said, “I don’t care what else you do, but we have to shoot this in 35mm and Billy has to look like a beauty queen.”

Billy Idol: The video was super-important because we had large hopes for “Eyes Without a Face.” We poured into it not only ideas, but also money and time. For three days, I didn’t see anything but dry ice, smoke, fire, and naked bodies. We hardly slept.

John Diaz: Bill Aucoin brought some new contact lenses for Billy. I said, “You can’t give them to Billy, they might redden his eyes during the shoot.” Well, he gave them to Billy. David Mallet liked to use lots of dry ice in videos. So Billy was laying in dry ice for quite some time, and he was really tired, and his eyes dried out. The contact lenses fused to his eyeballs.

Billy Idol: We’d been up all night finishing the video and got straight on a plane to do a gig in Arizona. It was boiling hot so I laid down on the grass outside the venue, and when I woke up, a sheriff was standing with his gun drawn. I’d never really had a gun barrel in my face.

I almost couldn’t think because of the pain in my eyes. I’d fallen asleep with my contact lenses in, and they were dried from being on set, then on an airplane. I said, “I’m with the band that’s sound-checking inside that building.” My eyes were tearing, pouring water. So we go inside and the sheriff made my road crew line up. He said, “Who is this?” And they said, in unison, “The boss.” So he left me alone. Then they had to take me the hospital because I’d scraped the cornea so badly. I had my eyes bandaged for three days, until the cornea grew back. It was stupid, really. But I wasn’t thinking too much, I was just trying to get the video done.

According to the authors of I Want My MTV, during this period, “the average budget had been $30,000 to $40,000, but videos now became more sleek and elaborate–and so grueling that three different people went temporarily blind.” This wasn’t even the only time somebody went temporarily blind on a Billy Idol video.

Stories like this are something to keep in mind the next time you see a music video you love that isn’t in IMDb. People temporarily lost the ability to see in order to get these made. So, submit.

Enjoy!

30 Days Of Surrealism:

Music Video of the Day: The Look Of Love by ABC (1982, dir. Brian Grant)

Posted on June 10, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

First things first, this is directed by Brian Grant, and not Julien Temple. The other version of this that is listed on mvdbase is from the ABC film Mantrap (1983).

Mantrap (1983, dir. Julien Temple)

If you enjoy ABC, then I recommend the film. It’s basically an extended music video for the album The Lexicon Of Love that comes complete with Martin Fry fighting his doppelgänger.

From the book I Want My MTV:

Martin Fry: The record companies weren’t pressuring anyone to look a certain way. That came later. For “The Look of Love” we wanted to cross the visual style of Benny Hill, a really crude slapstick comedian, with An American In Paris. I don’t think Kurt Cobain would have ever put on a striped blazer and sung to a wooden crocodile. There’s a parrot on my shoulder at one point. We were pushing it to the limit, seeing how embarrassed we could get. Art is what you get away with.

I wouldn’t have put it past him. Also, you weren’t so much singing to the crocodile as you were trying to beat it to death.

Brian Grant: Martin Fry and I both loved old Hollywood movies. There was no Look at us, we’re a serious rock band. They just wanted to have fun.

I picked up on that from the end of Mantrap.

Mantrap (1983, dir. Julien Temple)

There’s one more quote following the one from Grant, and then we get one from Sir Mix-A-Lot.

Sir Mix-A-Lot, artist: Devo, Gary Numan, the Fixx–I liked all the new wave bands. But I didn’t like any of ’em so much that I tried to style my hair like the guy from A Flock Of Seagulls. And I never tried to hold one key on a synthesizer for as long as he did in “I Ran.”

I’ll never look at Baby Got Back the same way again.

Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot (1992)

There are the obvious parts like what I assume is a reference to the beginning of 8½ (1963).

The flying nun.

The skater who falls off the bridge.

However, each time I watch this video, I seem to spot something else going on.

This guy looks like he should be in the background of a Jacques Tati film as he does his routine from A Day’s Pleasure (1919).

A Day’s Pleasure (1919, dir. Charlie Chaplin)

Is that his kid back there?

There’s a lower level on the set way back there. Why?

Why does this guy have a giant playing card in addition to everything else?

Who is this man in black that crosses the bridge behind Fry?

I guess we needed at least one eighties person in this video.

Tarzan Boy?

A fire-thrower wearing a leopard print skirt. Sure.

Charlie Chaplin dating a clown. Of course that’s in here.

I don’t know what this guy wearing Martin Fry’s costume from Poison Arrow is doing here or what exactly he’s even doing.

Director Brian Grant has done around 180 music videos.

I love this video. Enjoy! And remember to watch out for plugs in spaghetti.

30 Days Of Surrealism:

Music Video of the Day: Heaven by Bryan Adams (1985, dir. Steve Barron)

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

No, this is not the more well-known version that I think was made because someone thought the music video for Run To You needed a direct sequel. This is the one where Bryan Adams falls asleep in front of a television and dreams about playing with a band on televisions to an audience of people on televisions which was then put on television so that people could watch Bryan Adams performing to other people watching him through televisions. That’s weird.

It was shot in London. It was produced by Simon Fields. It was directed by Steve Barron, which I guess explains the meta-nature of the video since he also directed Money For Nothing by Dire Straits.

Enjoy!

30 Days Of Surrealism:

Music Video of the Day: Dim All The Lights by Laura Branigan (1995, dir. Lynn Spinnato)

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

I swear that thumbnail used to be Branigan sitting with the three drag queens. I would say that sex sells, but it’s Laura Branigan. For her, this doesn’t look out of place at all.

Watching this music video now is bittersweet because to the best of my knowledge, it was her last. After doing this video for her cover of Donna Summer’s Dim All The Lights, she retired to take care of her husband who had been diagnosed with cancer. He passed away in 1996.

The more and more I read from the book I Want My MTV, the more and more director Marty Callner seems to be quite the character. It makes me want to hear the story of how he ended up directing Branigan’s early videos. Was he cutting his teeth like David Fincher did with Rick Springfield and Loverboy? Were they friends? I can’t find any mention of it in the book. Callner comes up mainly in the discussion of hair metal bands since, if nothing else, he is credited, along with Tawny Kitaen, for really kicking off Whitesnake’s career.

This time Lynn Spinnato directed a video for Branigan. I can only find three music video credits. She does have a bio on her website that says she worked with numerous other artists than the three I can find documented.

The video contains at least three drag queens: Miss Understood, Hedda Lettuce, and Vivacious. You might have seen them at some point over the years since they have made appearances in both film and television. The oddest thing I came across is that if Wikipedia is to be believed, then Miss Understood performed at “Blaine Trump’s Valentine’s Day dinner.” Blaine used to be married to Donald’s brother Robert. There’s a connection I can’t say I expected to come across when I picked out this music video to spotlight.

There’s also a remix version of the video.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Some Like It Hot by The Power Station (1985, dir. Peter Heath)

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

I brought it up when I talked about Get It On (Bang A Gong). This is the actual video that features model Caroline Cossey. Cossey is both intersex and transgender. One doesn’t equate to the other–or lesbian, gay, or bisexual. She just happens to be both intersex and transgender. The intersex part is a bit complicated, but for that, I refer you to the Wikipedia article on her. She was in For Your Eyes Only (1981) as an extra. After For Your Eyes Only, the tabloid News Of The World published an article about her being transgender.

The video is probably more remembered for the song, animation, bright colors, and use in both National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985) and the Family Guy episode called It’s A Trap. However, once you know about Cossey, it does change the way you view this music video. In particular, the shaving cream on the face, which is followed by a reveal of Cossey’s breasts.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Real Men by Joe Jackson (1982, dir. Steve Barron)

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

Sometimes I remember a special day or month, and sometimes I forget. When I noticed it was Pride Month, I thought I should deliberately put in a couple in that area. I’m glad I remembered this one specifically because much like special times, I always forget that I have Joe Jackson music in my collection.

Technically, my first exposure to Jackson’s music was when I saw There’s Something About Mary (1998). It featured the song Is She Really Going Out With Him? I was really introduced to Jackson’s work by way of the album Strange Little Girls by Tori Amos. I liked the song, found out it was a cover, and sought it out. Cut to a few years later, and I got to see the video for the first time. In fact, I’m quite sure that the version I’ve embedded here is the exact airing of it that I saw.

Back in the early to mid-2000s, VH1 Classic used to do this thing where they would play two songs that would have some connection to each other. I’m pretty sure the pairs would have some connection to each other as well. I don’t remember them ever telling the audience that. I just recall noticing that they played this song along with I Don’t Like Mondays by Boomtown Rats. That song was covered by Amos on the same album. I picked up on a couple of other connections, and figured that’s what they were doing.

If you look around online, then you’ll find plenty of other people who have already written out their opinions on the song and video.

This is one of those that has some material from the book I Want My MTV:

Jeff Ayeroff [former creative director at Warner Bros. Records and the co-chairman of Virgin Records America]: Joe Jackson ended up selling many more records than Elvis Costello did, mainly because of his videos he did with Steve Barron.

Joe Jackson: Music videos weren’t even discussed when I made my first album in 1979. By 1982, there’d been a distinct shift. I made videos with Steve Barron for “Real Men” and “Steppin’ Out,” and by the time we got to “Breaking Us In Two,” I said to the label, “I don’t think this song should have a video.” I was told I had to made a video, whether I liked it or not. “Breaking Us In Two” was a crappy video. I was embarrassed. So I decided in my great wisdom that not only would I no longer make videos, but I would write an anti-video editorial for Billboard magazine. I mean, I’m not such a miserable bastard that I won’t admit that some videos are great fun. But I believed MTV was beginning to have a negative effect on music.

I’m well aware that refusing to make videos accomplished nothing whatsoever except–how should I put this?–to make my next record less successful. It damaged my career and it never fully recovered.

I like Breaking Us In Two. I see where he’s coming from on that one though. Out of the three Steve Barron videos, Steppin’ Out is the best. You can tell from all three of those videos that Barron was trying to craft a reusable formula for his songs. They have all have a similar visual style. Most importantly, Barron found a good place for Jackson. Yes, I’m aware he does more than just play the piano. I’m referring to the idea of each video being a short film that happens to have Jackson pop in, not as a the star, but as the story teller. Kind of like a holographic musical narrator.

Jackson didn’t completely leave music videos. He came back with other ones, which includes getting the Propaganda Films treatment for his song Nineteen Forever. You might know a couple of the people who worked or founded Propaganda Films, such as Nigel Dick, David Fincher, Michael Bay, Mark Romanek, and in the case of Nineteen Forever, Jackson got Alex Proyas.

Despite the 1979 comment, you can find several music videos from 1979. I guess they were done just for fun rather than something that he was obligated to make and weren’t taken so seriously. You can see the second one in the video for his song I’m The Man.

As for this video, it’s pretty basic all things considered. You have the kid who doesn’t like seeing a girl getting pushed around. Then you have the same kid going to put on some powder in a mirror with an American flag in the lower right. He decides against it, and instead goes and watches Red River (1948). Then you get some of the typical gay imagery with bikers and our main character who has grown up to be James Dean. He has trouble with girls and isn’t sure if it’s just that he isn’t good with them or if it’s something else. Jackson pops up occasionally, but isn’t the main focus.

The best part of the video is how it cuts back to footage from earlier in the video as you approach the tragic ending. I especially like the part where it implies that the kid who shot at the girl may or may not be straight himself. They also pair the two guys hitting it off with each other with him not being able to kiss the girl he’s with because she pulls away.

Despite the content of the song and video, it appears to have done well on early-MTV. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from doing these posts, it’s that music video history is distorted. For awhile, early Bon Jovi music videos, like the one for Runaway, were not to be played because it conflicted with the current image of the band.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Do It Again by Wall Of Voodoo (1987, dir. ???)

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

Wow! I have no idea what the story behind this video is, but for some reason, four years after Stan Ridgway left Wall Of Voodoo, they covered The Beach Boys’ song Do It Again, and Brian Wilson is in the video. The only information I can find is in the YouTube comment sections on postings of this video. One says that Wilson and Wall Of Voodoo had a good time putting this together despite the content and where Wilson was at this time in his life. Another says that the group was probably forced by their record company to do something pop friendly, yet dark, in order to survive as a group. Other comments are just about the quality of the song or taking jabs at Eugene Landy–played by Paul Giamatti in the film Love & Mercy (2014).

Sit back and take in the weird. This is like a post-apocalyptic look at the vision of California The Beach Boys created while also being prophetic about their own group breaking up the next year.

30 Days Of Surrealism:

Music Video of the Day: Here She Comes by Bonnie Tyler (1984, dir. ???)

Posted on June 4, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

Sure, there’s a better known video by Bonnie Tyler where Rambo’s head explodes, but I’ll get to that at some point. This Bonnie Tyler video has both zombie soldiers & a white Bonnie chasing after a black Bonnie while a UFO floats overhead.

Let’s look at the summary on Wikipedia:

The video is set in London. Tyler, dressed in a black leather dress, walks down a cobbled road lined with statues of soldiers. She occasionally looks up to see a duplicate of herself, dressed in a white dress, standing at the top of a fire escape, shrouded in shadow. The statues come to life and follow Tyler down the road. Behind them follows a black car, driven by the duplicate of Tyler. She runs away from them as she notices the statues following her, and locks herself inside a garage. The car then breaks through the doors of the garage and attempts to run Tyler over. She escapes through another door and finds herself on a street, looking up to see a spaceship in the sky. The spaceship descends, and a car appears, which Tyler enters and drives away. The duplicate chases after Tyler in her own car. Tyler drives into another building, and as the spaceship flies above the building, the duplicate drives inside as the entrance explodes. The spaceship then flies away as the animated statues look on.

When you describe it like that, it just sounds stupid. Plus, where is the mention of the UFO exploding at the end?

The only piece of information I could find isn’t about the video. It’s that the song was used in the 1984 release of Metropolis. That would explain the white and black Bonnies. One is meant to be Maria, and the other is meant to be the robot version of Maria. Where the zombies, or “animated statues”, come in to play, I don’t know. I also don’t get the inclusion of a UFO.

I wish I had more. The only other thing I have is something that really belongs with Total Eclipse Of The Heart, so I’ll save it till then. If you go to her section on mvdbase, you’ll find that the majority of her videos have no director listed. Coincidentally, Meat Loaf is the only other very well-known artist that I’ve come across whose music videos are as undocumented as Bonnie Tyler’s. The difference is that they seem to at least have her videos in there.

Enjoy!

30 Days Of Surrealism:

Music Video of the Day: The Cooler with Ringo Starr (1982, dir. Godley & Creme)

Posted on June 3, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

I’m terrible with anniversaries or other things I should be aware of to make tie-in posts for. That’s why I missed the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I’m sure everyone posted the music video for Strawberry Fields Forever yesterday. So let’s go with something else Beatles related.

Back in 1982–or 1981 according to mvdbase–a short film was made starring Ringo Starr that is an extended music video for the songs Private Property, Sure To Fall, and Attention. From what I’ve read, this earned Lol Creme and Kevin Godley a nomination for a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Best Short Film. Also from what I’ve read, it not only has Ringo in it, but Paul, Linda, and Barbara Bach.

I know I’ve said on numerous occasions that when something crosses the into A Hard Day’s Night territory then I don’t include it in one of these posts, but I’m making an exception here. Besides, it’s only about 10 minutes long. It’s not like the ABC film Mantrap (1983). That is over 50 minutes long.

I’m guessing this is Barbara Bach. I’m not really sure. I have no idea where Linda is in this.

I do know that this is definitely Paul.

The gist is that the audience travels with Ringo as he goes through a bunch of references to prison movies like The Great Escape (1963). As we go along we see Ringo try to escape in different ways. He has to shine Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS’ boots. He has a delusion that he is in the Old West where Paul may have also played the following cowboy:

I’m quite sure it’s him. I’m just not 100% sure.

Eventually Ringo McClane…

comes across what he thinks is going to be an exit, but it just takes him back to the cooler again.

Seeing as this came out in 1982, that would make this year the 35th anniversary of The Cooler. I found it to be enjoyable. It’s a nice little piece of post-Beatles work that I have to imagine has all but fallen into obscurity.

We can do one better than just that though. Since it is 2017, that means it’s also the 30th anniversary of when Ringo did commercials for Sun Country Classic Wine Cooler.

Ringo and a polar bear. I love it. I would have enjoyed it more if it were the polar bear played by Vincent Price, but I still enjoy these.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Take Me Away by Blue Öyster Cult (1983, dir. Richard Casey)

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

I really wish I hadn’t done Shooting Shark by Blue Öyster Cult last year because it would be a perfect fit here. Also, Burnin’ For You by Blue Öyster Cult just doesn’t cut it for me as far as being part of this surreal videos collection. That’s not going to keep me from referencing it in a later post. I just wish I had an excuse to do it before I do the post on the video where I’ll reference it.

Anyhow, let’s take a look at this one brought to us by the same director as Burnin’ For You. He also brought us Buck Dharma having a guitar battle with a Mad Max type character in Born To Rock.

The video starts off with some guy playing a game while we can hear aliens inviting people to join them. The guy has a chip on his neck for…reasons.

Meanwhile, in a giant circuitboard.

Now we meet our main character as she rides with the lead singer of the band to somewhere.

That looks suspicious.

Imagine, if this were a few years later. Then she could have gotten a ride from Admiral Al Calavicci.

Quantum Leap

Instead, she is taken to a gas station run by someone creepy.

Don’t worry honey, that light back there is just waiting around to make an appearance in the music video for Let It Go by Loudness.

Let It Go by Loudness (1986)

I was more concerned about him. Wait…how do you know that?

We did a song called Godzilla, and not only are Loudness a Japanese heavy metal band, but that video ends with Godzilla showing up.

That doesn’t explain anything. What are those symbols?

Just step over that “Caution” sign. Also, that lock always closes on its own. I never understood why either since we can just hop the gate.

Seeing as this is a horror related video, they don’t have peripheral vision. That’s why these people go unnoticed.

Honey, who exactly are you singing to?

Never mind, I’m going to investigate whatever this is.

I didn’t notice till I was going through these screenshots that this light turned into a skull.

It has the same effect as the ending of Death Game (1977) except with better music.

Death Game (1977, dir. Peter S. Traynor)

There’s all sorts of weird stuff going on down there, including this guy.

She eventually screams and a nearby plane starts up. She appears inside and can’t get out.

Cult Tim Curry looks really happy to be taking her away.

The gas station was in on it all along.

He tries to stop things, but Cult Robert Z’Dar stops him.

Samurai Cop (1991, dir. Amir Shervan)

In the end, she’s taken away.

And the audience is left wondering just how long they’ve been there.

I think the moral of the story is that while you’re obsessed with leaving this world, someone you love can be suddenly taken away from you while you were completely focused on yourself. That’s my best guess. According to Songfacts, lead singer Eric Bloom was referring to aliens that he would go with if they were good ones. Obviously these ones weren’t good.

Nova of Aldo Nova wrote the music for the song, Eric Bloom ended up writing the lyrics, and it became a Blue Öyster Cult song. You might recall that director Richard Casey directed the music video for Fantasy by Aldo Nova.

John Marsh produced the video. He seems to have only worked on 4 music videos. He would go on to be an executive producer on Richard Casey’s film Horror On Highway Five (1985) and on a film my parents would watch on occasion called V.I. Warshawski (1991).

Enjoy!

30 Days Of Surrealism: