Category Archives: music video

Music Video of the Day: Looks That Kill by Motley Crue (1983, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This is a really dumb video but it’s Mötley Crüe so why should that come as a surprise?

Like almost every heavy metal video that came out in the early 80s, this one is set in an apocalyptic future.  There’s a group of women who look like they just escaped from a dress rehearsal for Cats. Mötley Crüe shows up looking like KISS and carrying torches.  There’s a battle.  The band puts the women in a cage and then performs a concert for them, which I don’t know if you want your music video to say that you have to actually imprison people to force them to listen to your band.  One of the women fights back.  The video ends with a pentagram because Satan’s cool.

It’s Mötley Crüe.  It really doesn’t demand much thought and at least Kip Winger’s not in the band.  I may think it’s stupid but you know who probably loved this video?  These two:

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: The Prisoner by Iron Maiden (1982, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Inspired by the cult 60s television show that was created by and starred Patrick McGoohan, The Prisoner is one of Iron Maiden’s best songs.  This music video is taken from a 1982 performance at the Hammersmith Odeon.  One thing I like about this performance is that, even in the live show, the song still opened with a recording of McGoohan being interrogated in The Prisoner.

According to the band, getting McGoohan’s permission to use the dialogue from the show was the most intimidating part of recording The Prisoner.  The band’s manager, Rod Smallwood, was the one who called McGoohan.  McGoohan has apparently never heard of Iron Maiden but when Smallwood told them that they were a “rock band,” McGoohan said, “Do it!” and then promptly hung up on him.

Did I pick this song for music video of the day because I’m currently going stir crazy as a result of being locked down for three weeks?  No comment.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Livin’ On The Edge by Aerosmith (1993, directed by Marty Callner)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Written during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Livin’ On The Edge was the first single off of Aerosmith’s 11th studio album, Get A Grip.  It’s still one of their most commercially successful songs to date, spending nine weeks at the number one spot on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.

The video features Edward Furlong, living a life almost as dangerous as the life lived by the delinquents in the video for Skid Row’s 18 and Life.  Furlong, fortunately, manages to survive his time living on the edge.  Furlong did this video shortly after starring in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The video also features Joe Perry playing a guitar solo in front of an incoming train.  This scene was filmed on Lake Britton Bridge in Shasta County, California.  The same bridge also appears in Stand By Me.  If I remember correctly, at the same time that this video came out, there was also a PSA about the dangers of walking on railroad tracks that used to show up on television constantly.  The spot featured two kids walking across a bridge, much like the one featured in this video when a train starts bearing down on them.  At the end of the PSA, one of the kids manages to get off the bridge and then has to watch as the train runs over his slower friend.  Whenever I see this video or hear this song, that’s what I think of.

This video was directed by Marty Callner, who directed the majority of Aerosmith’s videos.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: The Unnamed Feeling by Metallica (2004, directed by the Malloys)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Are you suffering from anxiety?

Don’t worry, James Hetfield has got your back.  In fact, he wrote an entire song about the moments right before someone starts to panic.  The song calls it The Unnamed Feeling and this is probably the rare Metallica song to which everyone can relate.  St. Anger will probably always be a controversial album but I think it’s aging well.  Hetfield was obviously dealing with some serious things during the recording,  You don’t need to watch Some Kind of Monster to know that.  You just have to listen to the songs.  Personally, I like knowing that even a pioneer of thrash metal can sometimes get nervous.  That means there’s hope for the rest of us.

The video features the band playing in a room in which the walls are slowly closing in.  In between scenes of the band, we watch people dealing with that unnamed feeling.  Keep an eye out for Edward Furlong, who previously lived on the edge for Aerosmith.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band) by The Moody Blues (1972, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today’s music video of the day was written by John Lodge, the bassist and vocalist for The Moody Blues.  The song was inspired by Lodge’s feeling that his fans were expecting him to have all of the solutions for the world’s problems.  His reply, in this song, is that he doesn’t have the answers.  He’s just a singer in a rock and roll band.

The Moody Blues may not have been able to give any answers in this song but it was still one of their biggest hits in the U.S.  For whatever reason, it was significantly less popular in the UK.  In the US, it reached the 12th position on the charts.  In the UK, it could only make it to the 36th position.

After the release of this single, The Moody Blues went on a five year hiatus so that the members of the band could work on other projects.  They wouldn’t release another single until 1978, with Steppin’ In A Slide Zone.

Enjoy!