Category Archives: music video

Music Video of the Day: Walking Away by Information Society (1988, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Information Society was formed, in Minneapolis, by Paul Robb in 1982.  Despite a small but devoted fan base, the band initially struggled to achieve mainstream success, which led to several lineup changes during the group’s early years.  It wouldn’t be until 1985 that Information Society would have their first minor hit and then it would be another three years before they released their two best known songs, What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy) and Walking Away.

According to Paul Robb, Walking Away was written while he was thinking about all of the people who had recently left the band.  In Robb’s own words, “So if you listen to the lyrics of ‘Walking Away,‘ it’s basically just someone complaining about people who left. That’s because that’s exactly what it is.”  Though Walking Away was not as big a hit as What’s On Your Mind, it still charted at #9 and there’s a good chance of hearing it played at any 80s night.

Just as Pure Energy sampled Leonard Nimoy, Walking Away opens with William Shatner saying, “It is useless to resist us.”  Leonard’s son, Adam Nimoy, was a huge fan of the band and was instrumental in winning the band permission to use the audio samples in their songs.

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: I Dare You by The Regrettes (2019, dir by WATTS)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, yesterday, I was in a terrible mood because I’d gotten a parking ticket and my pick for music video of the day reflected that.

Today, I’m in a great mood!  It turns out that my parking ticket was just a warning and I’m not going to have to pay a fine!  That makes me feel like dancing!  And hence, today’s music video of the day.

Seriously, this exuberance of this music video just makes me happy!

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Blacklight by The Ting Tings (2018, dir by ????)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

All of the darkness in this video goes along nicely with my current mood.

For instance, on Monday, we had company so, when I came home from work, there were already two cars sitting in the driveway.  So, in order to not to block anyone in, I parked in front of the house.  I then went inside and had a wonderful dinner and got caught up with some old friends.  Around 8:15, I got a call from our neighbor across the street, informing me that some guy had just put a piece of paper on my windshield.  I went outside to see what was going on and guess what I found?

A PARKING TICKET!

That’s right.  I parked in front of my own house and I got ticketed.  Officially, I was ticketed for “illegal parking — facing traffic.”  And now, apparently, I’m supposed to go down to our municipal court (which is located “right behind Walgreen’s,” to quote the court’s website) and pay $60 because I parked IN FRONT OF MY OWN HOUSE!

Needless to say, that ruined my entire Monday night and it ruined most of Tuesday as well.  And I’m still pretty mad even as I sit here typing this.  I mean, if you’ve ever wondered why I have issues of authority, it’s because of crap like this!

But this song and this video both helped to cheer me up.  The Ting Tings are a group that I tend to listen to whenever I’m feeling down.  They made me feel better about things and I hope they’ll do the same for you!

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Shut Up by Madness (1981, directed by Chris Gabrin)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In this video, the members of Madness start off as crooks and then they become cops before becoming crooks again.  But regardless of which side of the law that the band finds itself on, they’re all always chasing after the band’s lead singer, Suggs.  What crime has Suggs committed?  It has something to do with cars and a black mask.

In the song, Suggs attempts to convince the police that he’s innocent, even though it’s obvious that he’s guilty.  Despite the song’s title, the words “Shut Up” are never heard.  Originally, the song was meant to have a verse that would be told from the point of view of the cop, singing about how chasing after petty criminals is keeping him from spending time with his family.  At the end of the song, the cop would order Suggs to “Shut up!”  However, that verse was ultimately dropped, leaving the request to shut up merely implied.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: It’s Gettin’ Late by The Beach Boys (1985, directed by Dominic Orlando)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Does this video have a good message or not?

It starts with a sexy beach babe making out with a skinny guy who is wearing glasses so that’s good.

But then the girl leaves with a bunch of stereotypical jocks and her boyfriend isn’t allowed to come because he has bad eyesight.  That’s bad.

Then the spirit of Big Kahuna shows up and the video takes a Cinderella turn when the Big Kahuna uses his kahuna powers to turn the nerd into a jock.  Is that good or not?  It depends on whether or not our hero learns a lesson about being himself at the end of the video.

Our hero then drops in on the beach party. where he discovers his girl sitting next to the main jock.  So, he reacts by flirting with all the other girls at the party.  That’s doubly bad.

Then the Big Kahuna shows up and turns the our hero back into his nerdy self.  All of the other girls run away but not his girlfriend because, it turns out, she loves him just the way he is.  That’s so good that it makes up for all the bad stuff that happened before.

But then the Big Kahuna punishes the shallow jocks by turning them into nerds, which would seem to indicate that, in this video’s moral universe, being nerdy is some sort of karmic retribution.  That’s bad.  But then everyone’s much happier after they’ve all turned nerdy so maybe that’s actually a good thing.

Having sent several mixes messages, the Big Kahuna throws away his magic shell and heads back to the ocean.  At least true love wins in the end.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: One Night In Bangkok by Murray Head (1985, directed by David G. Hilier)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

One Night in Bangkok was written, by Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Tim Rice for a musical called Chess.  Chess, which was meant to be a satire of the Cold War, tells the story of two chess champions, one an American and one a Russian.  One Night in Bangkok opens the second act as the American, who has now retired from playing professionally, is hired to provide commentary for a chess championship that is being held in Bangkok.  As is evident from the lyrics, he is not impressed by the city.  In fact, the American was so unimpressed by the city that the song was banned in Thailand and officially condemned by the Thai government.

The song was performed by actor Murray Head, who played the American in the Broadway production.  The single proved to be an unexpected hit, reaching number three in Canada and the U.S. and number twelve in the UK.  It’s gone on to have a long life outside of Broadway, being successfully covered by several different groups.

As of this writing, it’s still officially banned in Thailand.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: I Quit by Blotto (1983, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Just in time for Friday, today’s music video is all abut quitting your job.  This is the video that asks, “If Nixon could do it, why not you?”

I previously wrote about Blotto last year, when I shared their music video for I Wanna Be A Lifeguard.  Sadly, despite the success of Lifeguard, Blotto never really broke into the mainstream.  They did, however, have a strong cult following in the Northeast, especially among college students who appreciated their humorous lyrics and DIY style.  While this video never made it into the regular MTV rotation, it did show up on Canadian television.

One final note: at the time this video was released, Blotto was being managed by none other than actor Burt Ward, who was best known for playing Robin on the 60s Batman television show.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Mother 93 by Danzig (1993, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

“Al Gore wanted to tell people what they could listen to and what they couldn’t…it was basically coming down to the idea that he wouldn’t let anybody record any music that he didn’t think you should be doing. There was going to be an organization that would tell you what you could and couldn’t record. And certainly if you couldn’t record it, you couldn’t put it out. It was really fascist.”

— Glenn Danzig, on the inspiration for Mother

There’s been a lot of debate about what Glenn Danzig is singing about in Mother.  Some people think that the song is supposed to be pro-Satanist, even though Danzig himself has said that he’s not a Satanist and is merely interested in the occult.  Others think that the song is sung from the point of view of a teenager who is warning his parents that he has decided to reject their values and embrace his evil side.

More likely, the song is exactly what Danzig has often said it is.  It was a song written to protest the 80s push by Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center to have the government step in and regulate music.  The “mother” that Danzig is singing to was probably Tipper herself.

The above video was the second one for Mother, hence why it’s called Mother ’93.  It features live footage of the band performing at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in California.  At around the same time this video was in rotation on MTV, Glenn Danzig was invited to audition for the role of Wolverine in one of the early attempts to make an X-Men film.  Danzig, who had the right look for the role, had to turn down the opportunity due to scheduling conflicts.

This video also inspired a classic line from Beavis and Butt-Head: “That little dance isn’t very cool.”

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Ride Like The Wind by Christopher Cross (1980, directed by Bruce Gowers)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Ride Like The Wind tells the story of an outlaw who has been convicted of multiple murders and condemned to hang.  He is now trying to outrun the posse and reach Mexico where, apparently, the posse would have no jurisdiction.  The plot sounds like something from the Doobie Brothers so it’s appropriate that Michael McDonald provides the backing vocals.

Christopher Cross wrote this song while on acid and traveling between Houston and Austin and it went on to become the lead single off of his debut album and one of his biggest hits.  Cross would later go on to win an Oscar for writing the theme song for Arthur but, by his own admission, neither Cross nor his music were a good fit for the network that came to dominate pop culture in the 80s, MTV.

Speaking of MTV, the video for Ride Like The Wind clearly comes from a time when music videos were viewed as being a novelty.  If the video had been made a few years later, it probably would have dramatized the song’s story.  Instead, like many early music videos, it’s just a performance clip.

As for Cross, he’s still recording and performing and Ride Like The Wind continues to be a soft rock staple.  It was most recently covered by Belgian DJ Laurent Wery.

Enjoy!