Author Archives: Valerie Troutman

Music Video of the Day: Intergalactic by Beastie Boys (1998, dir. Adam Yauch)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I don’t have a lot to say about this music video. It’s the Beastie Boys having fun with Japanese monster movies just like they did with Danger: Diabolik (1968) for the Body Movin’ music video. They even filmed parts of it in Japan. It was directed by Adam Yauch under the pseudonym Nathaniel Hornblower. What I mostly have to say about this is the interesting copyright/version issues that seem to be at work here.

You may have noticed that video above is not official. I’m pretty sure you can find any other Beastie Boys music video on YouTube, but not this one. Well, not since sometime after September 14th, 2009 as you can see where EMI once had it posted. You can find the song posted twice as part of this new YouTube music thing they have been doing.

You’ll hear that both of them are missing something that is in the music video. It is also missing from my copy that I obtained from iTunes a few years ago. According to Wikipedia, it was on the album. This song originally began with a sample of Stravinsky’s ballet Rite of Spring. I guess they must have lost the rights, or didn’t think it was worth it. How much you wanna bet it was after the Men at Work fiasco over the flute riff in Down Under in 2009?

Strangely, the video is over on VEVO with a different piece of classical music. You can also hear this version below thanks to Dailymotion. If you are running an ad blocker then follow this link because Dailymotion has decided to try and be clever by only letting the audio through if their ad is blocked.

http://dai.ly/xyvwn

The Wikipedia article on Rite of Spring makes it look like it’s very well-known, but is a nightmare of a piece when it comes to copyright and different versions of it.

Songfacts sorta comes to my rescue here. They say it opens with a sample from Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky that was edited out of the radio version. From what I can tell, the version I posted at the start samples the beginning of Night on Bald Mountain.

However, the version I linked to that is on VEVO and embedded from Dailymotion does sample from Rite of Spring as you can hear below.

According to Songfacts and Wikipedia, they also incorporated Les Baxter’s version of Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude C-sharp Minor” and “Love is Blue” by The Jazz Crusaders. I’ve embedded the first one and a different version of the second one below.

I couldn’t pick out those in the song. I also don’t know for sure what was on the original album cause I don’t own a hard copy. Wikipedia also seems to indicate that there were two different versions of the music video to begin with, but doesn’t shine any light on the online posting situation from what I can see.

It’s always an adventure when I sit down to write one of these posts. Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: More Human Than Human by White Zombie (1995, dir. Rob Zombie)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I have very little to say about this music video. It was the first one fully directed by Rob Zombie. According to Wikipedia, the title and lyrics draw from Philip K. Dick’s book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, more commonly known by its’ film adaptation, Blade Runner (1982). The music video is taken from several places. Some of it was shot in the halls of Framingham High School, Framingham, Massachusetts and on the streets of Hollywood Boulevard. The home video footage is just that. It’s of Rob, his brother, Michael Cummings of the band Powerman 5000, and a cousin.

If you’ve heard the song, then you know that there is orgasmic moaning at the beginning of the song that is missing from the music video. That is from the post-apocalyptic film Café Flesh (1982). I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but I do hear really good things about it. I would not be surprised if this music video is inspired more by it than Philip K. Dick. It fits with the post-apocalyptic feel of the music video while also touching on the whole implanted memories thing from Blade Runner as represented by the home movie footage. I’m sure there are more tie-ins with Café Flesh, but I haven’t seen it yet. I can only really tell you that the apocalypse left the majority of the population unable to have sex without getting sick while the rest are forced to perform onstage for them.

That’s it! Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Holy Diver by Dio (1983, dir. Arthur Ellis)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Yeah, that certainly is Ronnie James Dio showing us why he was a fantastic singer, but had a bit of a rough start in music videos. As much as I still love this one, it is largely to see him trying to look like someone who is taking their job seriously, but coming across as stiff as Alan Bagh in Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010).

I never really thought about this song or music video much until recently. To me it’s Dio once again drawing on his upbringing that famously turned the Italian evil-eye hand gesture into the favorite of faux-Christians as something Satanic. I thought of it as Ronnie going in to vanquish the Devil that has taken seat in the Church. Maybe that’s the thought process that was going on in Clear Channel’s mind when they included this song on their list of songs they sent to the stations they owned as songs they might not want to play shortly after 9/11. It wasn’t a blacklist, but just a suggestion. I understand that. You wouldn’t want to be playing It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M. in the days immediately following the attacks. But I find it hilarious that while AC/DC has the most songs on the list–Thunderstruck is not one of them (there are numerous military montages set to that song on YouTube). Yet, Peace Train by Cat Stevens is on the list.

This time Quora came to my rescue as to an interpretation of the song and music video. Basically, it’s about Jesus Christ–the Holy Diver–coming to Earth, delivering the New Testament, being crucified, and then rising back to Heaven having fooled the Devil and redeemed humanity. It fits with the music video. Dio takes the sword that represents the Word of God as the ultimate weapon to deal with the Devil that had taken foot in humanity between the Old and New Testaments as represented by the decaying church. I would say that in the music video, when he gets the newly forged sword, he is tossing aside the Old Testament for the New Testament. The analysis on Quora is more detailed if you are interested.

One of the best things about the music video for Holy Diver is that someone took Pat Boone’s cover version and combined it with the music video. I know this kind of thing bothers some people, but I find it priceless to hear Pat Boone essentially cheering on Ronnie’s character as he goes on his mission.

I have a feeling that director/editor Arthur Ellis would probably approve seeing as he did make the short film Stanley Kubrick Goes Shopping (2001) where you see Kubrick buy the same item 193 times to make sure he has shopped perfectly. He seems to have only done a few music videos, and primarily worked on TV Shows.

Adam Whittaker was the producer of this music video. He and Ellis teamed up to also do Rainbow in the Dark for Dio. He only has a few credits in music videos, but like producers and video commissioners, I’m sure there are plenty more that are undocumented.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Round And Round by Ratt (1984, dir. Marshall Berle)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

First things first here. Yes, that is Milton Berle in the music video both as the husband and wife. He agreed to be in the music video because his nephew Marshall Berle was the manager of the band at the time. It’s interesting to note that while Wikipedia says he is his nephew, mvdbase says that he is Milton’s grandson. Thankfully the Wikipedia article on Milton Berle also states he is his nephew, so I think we can safely say that’s the case. The Google Knowledge Graph also says that Milton Berle’s only grandchild is Tyler Roe via his son William Berle.

The second thing is about who the woman is in this that is drawn to the attic where Ratt is apparently playing for the convienent brittle floor that makes for a great guitar solo scene when guitarist Warren DeMartini crashes through it. That woman is Lisa Dean. She would go on to play Diana in the music video for Michael Jackson’s Dirty Diana. She died of colon cancer in December of 2009 at the age of 50.

I guess the last thing to bring up about this video is that it doesn’t matter how many times I watch it, the butler is still the real star of the show. The information I provided above is all over the Internet, but I can’t find who played the butler. I can find that apparently the song is about a girl who initially pushes a guy away, but ends up coming back to him. I guess that’s the reason they play in that attic a la John Cusack in Say Anything… (1989) till she turns into a rat (???), and comes to them. I can find a person that thinks this is sexist and refuses to show it to their kid, but still loves it regardless. As somebody who is transgender, I could find that it’s transphobic, but whatever, it’s Round and Round by Ratt. I don’t care. Yet, the most simple thing, like who is the awesome butler, is lost to the sands of time. This is particularly sad when he is not just the real star, but the music video is arranged like a mystery about who let the band in the house, and it of course turns out to be the butler.

Anyways, I was able to find out that Ken Barrows was the 1st assistant camera on the music video. He worked on music videos such as Hold On by Wilson Phillips and Burning Up by Madonna. It looks like he is still working in music videos today as I can find a credit as recent as 2015. Outside of music videos, he has also worked on movies such as The Master (2012) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991).

So, enjoy this ridiculous music video for a band that would have probably been long forgotten without it, and don’t take it seriously.

Music Video of the Day: Werewolves Of London by Warren Zevon (1978, dir. ???)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Years before John Landis exposed the American werewolf invasion of London, Warren Zevon was already warning us that native London werewolves were taking over the city.

There! That’s the requisite joke that anyone who talks about this undocumented music video from the 1970s has to make. It also has actual ties to An American Werewolf in London (1981). On the DVD Commentary for the film, David Naughton and Griffen Dunne say they didn’t know why Landis didn’t obtain the rights to use this song since they felt it would have been appropriate for the movie. Then again, what made him or Michael Jackson think that ridiculous quote at the beginning of Thriller would keep people from making accusations that Michael Jackson was involved in the occult.

I’m not sure what else to say that wouldn’t be just delving into the history of Warren Zevon himself except for one thing. If you thought the werewolf from Ozzy Osbourne’s Bark at the Moon was ridiculous, then let me tell you that Zevon can top that.

I highly recommend taking at look at this otherwise unremarkable music video that is made priceless by cutaways to the werewolf just walking around like a normal werewolf on the town looking for a bite to eat.

Music Video of the Day: Bark At The Moon by Ozzy Osbourne (1983, dir. Mike Mansfield)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I am not going to talk about the background of the song or album. There’s a reason I usually stay away from behind-the-scenes stuff, and stick with the finished product. It’s a great song–end of story for me on that matter.

The music video is cheesy fun. It’s Ozzy Osbourne going around like he’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Wolf with the occasional cutaway to band members. It was partially filmed at an actual sanatorium. That sanatorium being Holloway Sanatorium.

My favorite thing I found on this music video was that in at least two places online they bring up that this was early on for music videos, which is why it looks the way it does. Not true. They had been around for a lot longer prior to 1983 in the modern form. Abba did a music video for Waterloo in 1974 and many more throughout the 1970s. You can go back even further to the 1960’s music video for Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles. The same year as Bark At The Moon, we had stuff like Shooting Shark and Love Is A Battlefield that are a far cry from this music video.

I think it looks the way it does because it was directed by Mike Mansfield who also brought us Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant. If you look at several of the music videos that he did for Adam Ant around the time, then you’ll notice they have this stagey/theatrical look about them. I’m willing to bet they hired him because the people involved liked the style Mansfield was using in the Adam Ant/Adam & The Ants music videos that not only look the same as this one, but were mostly made in the years right before 1983. The best example to look at is Stand And Deliver that was done in 1981. In fact, you can look several other artists he did music videos for at the time such as Charlotte Sometimes by The Cure and Love Blonde by Kim Wilde to see the same kind of style.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Red Right Hand by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1994, dir. Jesse Dylan)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I know I can’t speak for everyone, but I first became aware of and fell in love with this song when it became The Smoking Man’s theme from The X-Files. It was also used in the Scream films. I don’t really watch TV of any kind these days, but from what I have read, the song has also been used on the show Peaky Blinders. In addition, it has become the inspiration for a Dr. Seuss Book in Australia.

The title of song comes from the phrase “red right hand” in John Milton’s poem Paradise Lost referring to the vengeful hand of God. Songfacts says the song itself is a “semi-comically melodramatic take on Stephen King’s novel The Stand [depicting] a nightmarish figure emerging on ‘the edge of town.'” Thank you once again, Songfacts!

It has been a couple of years since I read the book, but it’s difficult to forget the character of Trashcan Man. As I recall, he was largely left out of mini-series, but he has an interesting storyline that runs parallel with the main plot. He really is the most important character because it is him that brings the WMD to Las Vegas that allows God to reach down in order to destroy the den of sin that Randall Flagg has created there. The “Red Right Hand”. The lyrics of the song, and the music video itself are what come to your mind when you are reading the Trashcan Man sections. He is a deeply troubled person who has a rather horrifying journey, but one that pulls him eventually to Las Vegas as if he has been called on high to be the enabler of the hand of God on Earth. The evil figure spoken of and portrayed as a serial killer in the music video could be Randall Flagg (essentially the Anti-Christ) and/or the murderous The Kid who was left out of the original printing of the book.

It is always interesting to see them using black and white past the 80s in music videos. Otherwise it is a simple music video that follows the dark narrative that–much like Jace Everett’s Bad Things–could be placed over any scenes with characters that are evil in some fashion, and it wouldn’t seem out of place. I can see why YouTube recommends a video of Psycho Killer by Talking Heads when I finish watching the music video. I can also see why it has been used so many times in film and television since its’ release.

Director Jesse Dylan has done 30+ music videos. You might also know him as the director of American Wedding (2003) and Kicking & Screaming (2005).

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Bad Things by Jace Everett (2005, dir. Kristin Barlowe)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Much to my surprise, this song was released three years prior to being selected as the theme song of the TV Show True Blood. In fact, the song didn’t even chart at the time. I was going to say here that Jace Everett seems to have picked up where Chris Isaak left off, but the Wikipedia article already did that for me. According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine’s review for Allmusic, he compared it to Isaak’s song Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing, only “less menacing and a little rowdier.” He’s right. The songs do share a lot in common. I would say that they both also share that thing with the song Little Red Riding Hood where it seems innocent enough till you play it over dark images and/or video. That certainly explains the multitude of fan-made videos that do just that with Bad Things.

Sadly, the music video for the song is pretty generic. The only artistic touch I can see is when the tint changes from something bright to a darkness when the song lyrics call for it. Otherwise, it is pretty much there to put the primary focus on Everett with the woman he is singing about thrown in while barely playing a role in it. I took a look at another Jace Everett music video, and this tint shift seems to be a thing they repeated at least twice.

Director Kristin Barlowe directed the music video. I can find only 15 credits for sure that she did in the area of music videos, but based on her IMDb page, she has done far more, and continues to work in this field today.

I was able to find an interesting little interview with Jace Everett over on People Magazine’s website. There isn’t a whole lot there, but it is interesting to hear some of the backstory on the song from Everett himself. The most interesting thing he mentions is that country radio really didn’t agree that the song could have been a hit when it was released. That doesn’t surprise me since country radio has been under very tight control for many decades.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Lil’ Devil by The Cult (1987, dir. Larry Williams)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I guess I could have done the music video for The Witch since there is that movie called The Witch that came out this year. I could have also done Love Removal Machine considering I plan to review the late night cable movie called The Love Machine (2016). However, I saw “Devil” in the title, and figured why not do it for October. I’ll get around to those music videos eventually. Plus, this one is timely for a good reason–much to my surprise. I didn’t know that till I sat down to write this post.

I cannot find any information on the music video itself beyond some of the people who worked on it. I can tell you that it is in that glorious 80s purple tinted black and white making it very much a music video of its’ time. The rest of it might as well be just one of those early 80s stage performance music videos. Speaking of which, there is a second version of this music video I found that appears to be entirely undocumented. But let’s first talk about the people who worked on this one.

Larry Williams was the director, and seems to have done at least 25 music videos in the 1980s. I say “at least” because I can find him on IMDb listing some music video credits that don’t appear in the usual places. He died in 1999 at the age of 48. I have seen one of his few directing credits other than this music video. He directed the 1998 TV Movie adaptation of Brave New World. There is one other thing of note with Larry Williams. I can find a Larry Williams II who works on music videos today. I have no idea if there is any relation.

Francie Moore produced this music video. I can find credits for her having worked mostly on either Larry Williams or Leslie Libman music videos. There is one that stands out. She produced Manic Monday for The Bangles.

June Guterman produced this music video too. I can only find a handful of credits for her as well, but she managed to do two well-known ones. She produced The Perfect Drug for Nine Inch Nails and Foolish Games for Jewel.

I can find a few more credits for Guterman such as producing Dice Rules (1991) and working on Prince of the City (1980) as well as Raging Bull (1980). However, I would bet that both her and Moore are two of those people who have a lot more credits in the music video department than I can find. I think this is especially true since there is a decade gap between Guterman producing this and The Perfect Drug.

With that done, here is the different music video I found for this same song

I could not find any information on this one. I kind of like both of them. This one is closer to the kind of music video I expect from The Cult, but you can see in the first one why remaining members of The Doors would have lead singer Ian Astbury stand-in for Jim Morrison more than a decade later.

Speaking of Ian Astbury, while looking for information on this music video, I came across a performance and interview they did on The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers back on May 14th, 1987. They arranged to have Ian’s father call him on the show in order to wish him a happy birthday.

The reason I said doing this post now turned out to be timely is because the company easyJet is currently using it in one of their ads.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Run To The Hills by Iron Maiden (1982, dir. David Mallet)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Happy Columbus Day! Or if I was still living in Berkeley, CA; then the parking meters would be telling me this was Indigenous People’s Day. I couldn’t think of a better time to do my first Iron Maiden music video. Sadly, there isn’t much to say.

The song tells us the story of Europeans coming to America and brutally taking the land from the Native Americans. They tell the story from two different points of view. The first is from the Native Americans. The second one is from the European point of view. The second one takes up the majority of the song. This makes sense since it mirrors how the story of the New World is often dominated by the European side of things. So much so that we got plenty of Westerns like the one they intercut with the band performing the song on a stage.

There is one issue with writing about this music video. There are two different versions of this listed on mvdbase. There is the version above, and one from 1985 that was directed by Jim Yukich. To make matters even more confusing is that there is a version called the Camp Chaos version.

That version is even marked as unlisted on YouTube. I stumbled upon it because it is the version that IMVDb has embedded into their entry for this music video.

All things considered, I’d say that the first and second ones are the same one directed by David Mallet. The only difference being that they took out the old movie and replaced it with some animation instead. You can still see people in the comments on this music video that think the song is racist, so it’s no surprise that they made a different version of the same video. Also, people called the band Satanic back then because of the name of the title track for the album this song is on. In addition, people thought that this cover…

iron_maiden_-_run_to_the_hills

of a Native American in Hell fighting a demon was equating Europeans with devils, and got angry about it. You think? The song isn’t exactly subtle, and neither is the music video.

David Mallet appears to have worked on around 130 music videos in his career

I couldn’t find a music video that they did, so here is just the song We Live from the Native American band XIT.