Category Archives: Music Review

Music Video of the Day: Signs, covered by Tesla (1990, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Tesla did not come up with this song on their own.  Instead, Signs was written by Les Emmerson in the late 60s and it was a hit for Five Man Electrical Band in 1970.  The song was inspired by a trip Emmerson took down Route 66.  While driving, Emmerson noticed that there were a lot of … you guessed it … signs!  Embraced by the “long-haired freaky” people mentioned in the opening lyrics, Signs became a surprise hit.

Twenty years later, the song was revived when Tesla performed an acoustic version of the song.  At the time, Tesla was the opening act for Motley Crue’s Dr. Feelgood tour but, because they had an off-day, the band booked an acoustic show.  Each member of the band picked a different song to perform.  Signs was selected by lead singer Jeff Keith, who grew up in Oklahoma and, as you can see in the video, had some definite thoughts when it came to signs blocking out the scenery (or “fucking up the scenery” as the band put it in the uncensored version of the song).

Signs is a good example of song that probably would have been forgotten if not for MTV.  When the song was originally released, it didn’t get much attention but the subsequent video proved to be popular and the song eventually became a hit.  The success of Signs led to other bands do acoustic shows and eventually MTV launching Unplugged.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: House of Fun by Madness (1982, directed by Dave Robinson)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This is probably one of the best songs ever written about a 16 year-old buying condoms before heading to a brothel (that would be the House of Fun referred to in the title).  Only Madness could have pulled it off.

This video was filmed at a Camden joke shop, a Kilburn chemist (or pharmacy), and a roller coaster in Great Yarmouth.  Reportedly, the band had to ride the roller coaster 54 times before director Dave Robinson was happy with the footage.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: Blood Makes Noise by Suzanne Vega (1992, directed by Nico Beyer)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Blood Makes Noise was the 2nd single to be released from Suzanne Vega’s underrated 1992 album, 99.9F°.  Vega is a performer that deserved to be a bigger star than she was.  If you’re the right age, you remember Tom’s Diner but otherwise, I don’t feel like she ever got the type of success and recognition that she really deserved.

This video was directed by Nico Beyer, a German director who has worked extensively in advertising and who also directed music videos for The Verve, The Pet Shop Boys, They Might Be Giants, and others.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Wake Me Up by Avicii (2013, dir by Mark Seliger and C.B. Miller)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’m sharing this video in memory of Avicii, who would have been 31 years old today and whose talent was taken from us far too early.

This video tells the story of two sisters, outsiders in their village who find a new and better home.  The older sister is played by Kristina Romanova while the younger sister is played by Laneya Grace.  It’s a song and a video that epitomizes everything that made Avicii such a special talent.  In the end, the sisters find a better life.  They wake up, as hopefully everyone will have a chance to do at some point in their existence.

Rest in peace, Tim Bergling.

Music Video of the Day: No Sleep till Brooklyn by Beastie Boys (1987, directed by Adam Dubin and Ric Menello)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This song was supposedly written on a train ride from Philadelphia to New York City.  Having played a killer show in Philly, the band was riding the train back home when they noticed some members of the crew were starting to fall asleep.  To keep everyone awake, the Beastie Boys started to chant, “No sleep till Brooklyn!”

(The name of the song is also a play on the title of Motörhead’s No Sleep ’til Hammersmith.)

The song is one of the band’s signature tunes and the video features the Beastie Boys when they were young, rebellious, and didn’t care who they pissed off.  The video parodied that type of glam rock (think Poison, for example) that was popular in 1987.

The video was directed by Adam Dubin and Ric Menello, who previously directed the video for (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party).  Menello also plays the club owner who rejects the band at the start of the video.

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: No New Tales To Tell by Love and Rockets (1987, directed by Tony van den Ende)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Love and Rockets is definitely one of those 80s bands that should have been bigger than they were.  Basically made up of every member of Bauhaus except for Peter Murphy, Love and Rockets was responsible for some of the best songs of the decade.

No New Tales To Tell is from their third studio album, Earth, Sun, Moon.  Thanks to this music video, which was put in heavy rotation on MTV, the song did manage to reach number 18 on the U.S. charts.  The video was directed by the very prolific Tony van den Ende and it features a few shots of the band in their Bubblemen costumes.  (The Bubblemen were a side project for several members of the band.  They performed while dressed as friendly bees.)

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Aeroplane by Red Hot Chili Peppers (1996, directed by Gavin Bowden)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

A song about drug abuse that features a children’s chorus?

Not creepy at all!

Aeroplane makes a lot more sense if you know that it’s based on a traditional blues song called Jesus is my Areoplane.  In their version of the song, the Chili Peppers are saying that music has saved them and taken them to a higher plane of existence.  Whenever Anthony Kiedis struggled with his addictions and was tempted to turn to dust in his kitchen, it was music that kept him from destroying himself.  The original song was about people flying away with Jesus.  The Chili Peppers are flying away with songs like this one.  The Chili Peppers might be going to Hell but at least they got to make some music and shoot his video with a group of smoking hot models and synchronized swimmers.

The children’s chorus, which shows up at the end and changes the entire feel of the video, were reportedly all friends of Flea’s daughter.  Flea’s daughter is among the children singing.  At the end of the song, when you hear one girl outsinging all the rest with “You’re my areoplane!,” that’s her.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Hell In A Bucket by Grateful Dead (1987, directed by Len Dell’Amico)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

I may be going to Hell in a bucket but at least I’m enjoying the ride

The members of the Grateful Dead didn’t do many music videos.  I think Hell In A Bucket was their second video, following the surprise hit that they had with A Touch of Grey.  From what I’ve read, it was the band’s record label that insisted that the band make some videos to help promote their 12th studio album, In the Dark.  Some members of the band were concerned that agreeing to do music videos would mean that they were “selling out.”

The video for Hell In A Bucket feels like it could be a parody of the type of videos that were popular on MTV.  With his Miami Vice-Style outfit and the way he mugs for the camera, Bob Weir almost seems like he could be Huey Lewis’s coked-out older brother.  The video opens in a biker bar, populated with the type of rough characters who most bands would never dream of featuring in a video.  While Jerry Garcia keeps his distance, Bob Weir sings a song of rock and roll decadence that seems to be saying, “This is what it’s all really about.”

No, I don’t know why there’s a duck at the bar.  It’s just there.  Jerry daughter’s Trixie is also in the video.  She plays one of the dancing devils.

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: 3 A.M. Eternal by The KLF (1991, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

There are so many stories about the careers of British musicians Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty that it would probably take several posts to tell them all.

Drummond’s musical career began in 1977 when he formed a punk band called Big in Japan.  After Big In Japan broke up, Drummond was one of the co-founders of Zoo Records and he worked as a manger and producer for several post-punk bands, including Echo and the Bunnymen.  He also worked with a band called Brilliant, which had been formed by former Killing Joke bassist, Jimmy Cauty.

Drummond and Cauty must have hit it off because they went on to start their own musical project.  Originally known as the The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), the project also recorded under the name The Time Lords and, eventually, the KLF.  Among their first hits (as The Time Lords) was Doctorin’ The Tardis.  After Doctorin’ The Tardis hit number one despite being intentionally designed to have no musical value whatsoever, Drummond published a book called The Manual (How To Have A Number One The Easy Way), a semi-satirical how-to book about how to write a song vapid enough to become a hit.  Drummond promised that anyone who read the book would have a hit song or they would get their money book.  Drummond later admitted that some readers did subsequently contact him, asking for a refund.

As the KLF, their biggest hit was 3 A.M. Eternal.  3 A.M. Eternal was originally recorded in 1988 and was subsequently re-recorded in 1991, this time with the addition of rapper Ricardo Da Force and vocalist Maxine Harvey.  This video feature Da Force rapping while playing with a very big phone while Maxine Harvey sings in what appears to be a pyramid.  Meanwhile, the members of the KLF drive around at three in the morning.  The car from the driving scenes also appeared in the video for Doctorin’ The Tardis.

When the KLF performed this song at the 1992 Brit Awards, they fired machine guns at the audience.  Though the machine guns were full of blanks, no one had informed the audience of that fact and there was quite a panic as a result.  After the show, the KLF announced that they were retiring from the music business and then deleted their back catalog.  They also had a dead sheep sent to the after party.

Enjoy!