AC/DC was always a no frills/no bullshit/hard-rocking band and the same is true of their music videos. While other bands of the period were using elaborate videos to covers for their deficiencies as musicians, AC/DC used videos to show off what they could do on stage. AC/DC always respected their fans enough to let the music speak for itself and that’s what they did in the video for For Those About To Rock (We Salute You).
Enjoy!
Along with their “official” videos, Saint Motel also frequently releases videos for alternate versions of their songs. This is for the acoustic version of Save Me, which can be found on The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album.
This video description on YouTube offers up only one credit — which is “cinematography by Mario Contini.” I know that A/J Jackson is usually credited for directing the group’s videos (and, of course, he’s the band’s lead singer as well) but since I don’t have any official listing for a director, I’m just going to leave that credit blank.
Mario Contini, according the imdb, has worked on several music videos, including ones by Lady Gaga, Post Malone, and Muse. I like the look of this video. The band certainly has a talent for finding good locations in which to be filmed performing.
Enjoy!
Rest in Peace, Joel Schumacher.
Despite what some sites on the internet would have you believe, this song was not written for a Batman film. It was featured in 1995’s Batman Forever but it was not actually written for the movie. Instead, the song was first written in 1987 and then it was first recorded and released in 1994. When it was first released as a single, it didn’t get much attention and it quickly fell out of the charts. Then it was featured during the end credits of Batman Forever and it was re-released and promoted with this Joel Schumacher-directed video and it became a huge hit. This is one of those songs that will never die. As long as there are weddings and funerals, this song will live. As long as there are comedy shows that want to do over-the-top falling-in-love montages, this song will live forever.
I used to know a guy who would sing this song every Saturday night for karaoke and, every single time, he would start crying about halfway through the song. When I asked him why the song always made him cry, he replied, “Showmanship.” I’m not really sure what happened to him, as it’s been more than a while since I last went to any sort of karaoke night. I hope he’s okay, wherever he is. The world of karaoke can be very competitive and ruthless. Someone should make a movie about it. It would probably have a really good soundtrack.
Enjoy!
It is a dream? Is it a fantasy? Is it a mirage? Is it a vision of the future? Perhaps it’s all four.
I just know that it’s atmospheric and, by this point, everyone should know how much I love atmosphere.
Enjoy!
Take My Breath Away was written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock after the producers of Top Gun realized that they needed a romantic scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis and that they would need something other than Danger Zone to play during it. (Originally, the love scene wasn’t in the finished film but when test audiences said that they would like to see one, Cruise and McGillis were brought back to quickly shoot one. McGillis had dyed her hair for another film, which is why the scene itself is shot in silhouette.)
The song was originally offered to The Motels but it was eventually recorded by Berlin. (Terri Nunn, the lead singer of Berlin, was one of the contenders for the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars and would have been cast in the role if, for some reason, Carrie Fisher hadn’t worked out.) Like most of the soundtrack-related music videos of the 80s, the video for Take My Breath Away is a mix of clips from the film and clips of the band performing.
Enjoy!
Why not get your week off to a good start with this cover of Nine Inch Nails’s Closer?
Enjoy!
Yes, this video was directed by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame. Idle appears in the video, as does Neil Innes. (Innes plays several roles, including the woman pushing the carriage at the start of the video.) This video was shot on the grounds of Harrison’s estate, Friar Park (which was also known as, you guessed it, Crackerbox Palace). The video made its debut on the November 20th, 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live. SNL, that week, was hosted by Paul Simon and featured both Simon and Harrison as the musical guests.
The name Crackerbox Palace was originally used as the name for the Los Angeles estate that was owned by Lord Buckley, a comedian who was admired by Harrison and whom it was felt that Harrison physically resembled. Harrison wrote the song after meeting Lord Buckley’s former manager, George Grief. Harrison also payed homage to Blazing Saddles in the song, repeating Madeline Khan’s famous line of “It’s twoo, it’s twoo” during the instrumental breaks.
This whimsical video reflects Harrison’s sense of humor (not to mention Idle’s). Harrison, with his reputation for being the spiritual Beatle, never seems to get enough attention for his sense of humor.
Enjoy!
“I was saying us rock ‘n’ rollers are all posers and egomaniacs, but we know that terrorists are as bad, or worse than we are. They definitely love to read their own press… I know they dedicate their life to a cause, but they’re always posing for pictures.”
— Joe Strummer, on Tommy Gun
It’s always hard for me to listen to The Clash without also thinking about the way that Johnny Lydon dismissed them as not being a real punk band. (Lydon was fond of pointing out that Strummer was a diplomat’s son and that he had previously been in a “pub band” before getting involved with punk scene.) Johnny may have had a point about The Clash never really being as working class as they claimed to be, though that didn’t stop him from collaborating with members of the band on a few projects after The Clash broke up. Still, I’ve always liked The Clash’s music.
Tommy Gun was the band’s take on international terrorism. When it was first released, there was some controversy over whether the band was pro-terrorism or anti-terrorism. As with many of The Clash’s songs, it could be read both ways. It was The Clash’s first top twenty hit in the UK, peaking at #19.
This video was one of the first of many to be directed by Don Letts. Some sources say that this was the first video that Letts shot for the band, though Lett’s video for The Clash’s White Riot was actually released before the video for Tommy Gun. I don’t know how true that is but I do know that Letts went on to direct several videos for both The Clash and Mick Jones’s Big Audio Dynamite.
Enjoy!
I ain’t no hollaback girl …. I ain’t no hollaback girl ….
Oh wait, wrong Gwen Stafani song. This one’s Cool too, though. In fact, that’s the name of the song! It’s all about how Gwen used to date this guy but they broke up but they’re still cool, as in they’re still friends. In this video, Gwen proves just how cool she is by inviting her ex and his now lover to her Italian villa.
This video was filmed at Lake Como, Italy and the main reason I like it is because I like Italy and watching a video like this reminds me of how much I want to go back and visit Italy. That was kind of the plan for the second half of this year but then the COVID-19 panic hit and upended everything.
By the way, are we still doing the quarantine thing? It’s hard to keep track. I know that two weeks ago, people were threatening to throw me up against the wall for wanting to go outside. Now, they want to do the same thing because I don’t want to go out. Personally, I just want to know that I can safely travel to Italy.
Anyway, enjoy this video and hopefully, we’ll all get to travel again at some point in the near future!
This video features Olivia Krash covering one of my favorite songs, Big Data’s Dangerous!
Covers are always interesting. I like covers when they bring something new to the song and I think that Olivia Krash definitely does that with her version of Dangerous. Her version is a bit less paranoid than the original version that was performed by Big Data and Joywave. It takes an anthem to suspicion and turns it into a party song and there’s nothing wrong with that. In the future, all parties will be paranoid. Really, they already should be. I remember there was a Brinks Home Security commercial that featured a woman throwing a house warming party and discovering, to her surprise, that she didn’t know one of the guests. His name was AJ and later, he broke into her house. If she had been properly paranoid, she would have said, “Hey, what’s the stranger doing at my party!?” Instead, she was just like, “Who’s that? I don’t know him! Ha ha!” It’s not so funny once you’ve got a broken window that you’re going to have to pay to get repaired, is it?
My least favorite covers, by the way, are the ones that sound like duplicates of the original. I mean, what’s the point? I’m also not a fan of extremely overdramatic cover versions. For instance, there used to be a WGU commercial that featured the most over-the-top version of The Times They Are A Changing that I had ever heard and it was so terrible that I always had to hit mute whenever I came across that commercial. I’m also not a huge fan of the song Amazing Grace, largely because everyone who sings it always seems like they’re on the verge of tears and that’s just not fun to watch. Plus, I just take issue with any song that requires me to describe myself as being a wretch. I mean, I like songs that make me feel confident, y’know? Calling myself a wretch would be the exact opposite of that.
Enjoy!
