Yesterday’s music video of the day was Dread Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song.
Today’s music video of the day is another video from everyone’s favorite cover band. This one is for Heartbreaker (At The End of Lonely Street). I have no idea who directed it. I don’t know if the song was a hit when it was released. I don’t know if anyone but me cares. But sometimes, you just need to see a Led Zeppelin song covered by a 300-pound Elvis impersonator.
Am I alone in this?
Enjoy!
Today is Bruce Willis’s birthday!
Everyone knows that Bruce Willis is the film star who, late in his career, turned out to be an unexpectedly good character actor. Quentin Tarantino once said that Willis as one of the only modern stars who seemed as if he could easily step into an old gangster movie or film noir and not seem like he was out of place. Tarantino was right.
What is often forgotten is that, early on his career, Willis also pursued musical stardom. He released two albums of R&B covers, the best known of which was the first, The Return of Bruno. Released by Motown, The Return of Bruno was critically dismissed as being a vanity project but Bruce got the last laugh when the album exceeded expectations commercially and Willis went on to appear in movies like Pulp Fiction and 12 Monkeys. Meanwhile, his critics had to settle for appearing in Rolling Stone.
When the album was released in 1987, HBO aired a concert film of Willis performing. The video above is taking from that concert film and it features Bruce singing Under The Boardwalk with The Temptations. Willis’s cover of Under The Boardwalk did not chart in the U.S. but it was hugely popular in the UK, where it reached the second spot on the charts.
Enjoy!
This was from a television appearance that the band did, shortly before lead singer Fran O’Toole, trumpeter Brian McCoy, and guitarist Tony Geraghty were murdered by members of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force on the night of July 31st, 1975. At the time of the murder, the band was traveling home to Dublin after having performed in Northern Ireland.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Enjoy!
Since we’re all locked in for the time being, it makes sense that today’s music video of the day should be for Judas Priest’s Locked In.
This video makes about as much sense as any heavy metal band from the 80s did. Rob Halford is being held prisoner in a medieval castle where he is apparently being tortured by a bunch of living skeletons. The other members of Judas Priest decide to ride their motorcycles over to the castle and then break in so that they can save him. Heavy metal videos of the 80s often feel like what you would get if the members of Monty Python had decided to follow up The Meaning of Life with Monty Python’s Mad Max. That certainly seems to be the case here and the members of the band spend so much time mugging to the camera that there is little doubt that they were in on the joke. David Coverdale would have taken this seriously but not the members of Judas Priest.
This video was one of the many to be directed by Wayne Isham. According to his entry at IMDb, Wayne’s motto is “No Wayne, no pain!”
Enjoy!
Since today is Dee Snider’s 65th birthday, it makes sense that today’s music video of the day would come to us from Twisted Sister. It might not make as much sense for that video to be for their cover of Leader of the Pack, which is widely considered to be one of the worst covers of the 80s. Personally, I think both the cover and the video are a good example of Snider’s sense of humor. Watching this, it’s hard to believe that Snider and the band were once considered to be a threat to young minds. I may be picking Leader of the Pack because I think its underrated or I might be picking it because Valerie already did the video for I Wanna Rock. Take your pick.
The Leader Of The Pack video is from the 80s and it features something that I always love to see in videos from that era: bad green screen special effects. The anti-Twisted Sister notes from Mom and Dad float through the video like a weatherman superimposed in front of a map of the continental United States.
The video is about a girl who apparently only has room in her heart for Twisted Sister and Leonard Nimoy. Just check out that giant poster of Spock that she’s got in her bedroom. Her parents are probably alright with her love of Spock but they can’t stand the thought of their daughter liking Twisted Sister, probably because they think that Tipper Gore has a point about labeling music. As for the girl, she may be in love with the leader of the pack (Dee, of course) but that doesn’t make her a good driver. Not only does she wreck that bulky car but she barely survives. Was it all worth it?
Just ask Bobcat Goldthwait, who plays her boss for some reason. Goldthwait is instantly recognizable. I haven’t been able to find the name of the girl in the video, though she looks familiar to me.
This video was directed by Marty Callner, who directed videos for everyone.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Are they Bee Gees or are they The Bee Gees? I’m not really sure and, quite frankly, I’ve seen it listed as both on several reputable sites. Regardless, this is a good song. “The New York Times‘ effect on man” is a nice and random little lyric, even though Tony Manero really didn’t come across like a reader of the Times in Saturday Night Fever.
If you’re ever giving someone CPR, they say that you should do it to the tune of Staying Alive so, if you memorize this song, you’ll be able to save a life. That’s the type of helpful information that we happily provide to our readers free of charge here at the Shattered Lens.
According to the YouTube description, this from the “One for All Tour” Live concert at the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne 1989, Australia.
Enjoy!
Famous and infamous.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Italy, we stand with you.
Through the Shattered Lens 