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Category Archives: music video
Music Video of the Day: The Bubblemen Are Coming! by The Bubblemen (1988, directed by ????)
The Bubblemen are coming!
Who are the Bubblemen?
According to this video, the Bubblemen lived in London and looked like they might be offshoots of the infamous killer bees who used to appear during the early seasons of Saturday Night Live. Underneath the Bubblemen costumes were Daniel Ash, Kevin Haskins, and David J, three former members of Bauhaus who later formed a band called Love and Rockets.
The Bubblemen were a side project of Love and Rockets. They only released one single and video but they later made cameo appearances in the videos for Love and Rockets’ No New Tales To Tell and Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man).
The Bubblemen Are Coming was issued by Beggars Banquet Records and came with three additional tracks, Bubblemen Rap, Bubblemen Rap (Dub Version), and Bees. The video perhaps achieved its greatest exposure when it was featured on an episode of Beavis and Butthead. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it but, if I remember correctly, this video really freaked out Beavis.
Music Video of the Day: Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins (1986, directed by Tony Scott)
For better or worse, few songs have come to epitomize a decade to the extent that Danger Zone has come to epitomize the 1980s.
The song was originally written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock for the Top Gun soundtrack. When the film’s producers heard the demo (performed by background singer Joe Pizzulo), they knew they wanted the song but they also knew they wanted it to be performed by a big name artist.
The problem was that no one wanted to perform it.
Byran Adams thought that the song and its use in the film would glorify war. (He wasn’t wrong.)
Corey Hart, best known for Sunglasses at Night, turned down the opportunity because he only wanted to record songs that he had written.
REO Speedwagon (!) declined an offer when they were informed that they wouldn’t be allowed to contribute any other songs to the soundtrack.
Toto came close to recording the song but their lawyers couldn’t come to an agreement with the production’s lawyers. (Toto’s song, Only You, was also originally written for the film but was rejected in favor of Take My Breath Away.)
In the end, it was Kenny Loggins who finally agreed to perform the song and the rest, as they say, is history. Not only was the film a huge hit but it spawned one of the best-selling soundtracks of the 1980s. Fueled by the film’s success, Danger Zone reached the #2 spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
As for the video, it was directed by Tony Scott (who, of course, also directed Top Gun). The video mixes footage from the film with shots of Kenny Loggins deep in thought, which makes it appear that Loggins simply can’t stop thinking about the first time that Maverick and Goose met Charlie. This video has been called “the most effective recruiting poster ever produced.”
For me, though, Danger Zone will always be the song that I used to hear while listening to the classic rock station in Los Santos.
Music Video Of The Day: Elegantly Wasted by INXS (1997, directed by Michael Stern)
The 1990s was a decade when many bands, who otherwise had little in common, were bonded together by a mutual hatred for Oasis.
Originally hailed as being the second coming of the Beatles, Oasis was fronted by two brothers, Liam and Noel Gallagher. At the height of Oasis’s popularity, the Gallaghers never hesitated to let it be known how little they thought of their musical competition. At the 1996 Brit Awards, when Noel Gallagher received an award from INXS’s Michael Hutchence, he accepted by saying, “Has-beens should not be presenting awards to gonna-bes.” Backstage, Hutchence got into a scuffle with the other Gallagher brother, Liam. Apparently, Liam made some disparaging remarks about Hutchence’s then-girlfriend, Paula Yates. Hutchence reacted by throwing a fire extinguisher at Liam.
Following the altercation, Hutchence went to the recording studio and added some additional vocals to the chorus of the song that would become the title track to INXS’s upcoming album, Elegantly Wasted. The original chorus was “I am elegantly wasted.” Hutchence added, “I am better than Oasis.” You have to listen carefully for it but it’s definitely there.
(The rest of INXS reportedly didn’t find out about Hutchence’s additions until several months later, when the album was released.)
As for the song itself, depending on which source you consult, it was originally inspired by either a pub crawl with U2’s Bono or by Hutchence’s relationship with Yates. The video was filmed in Los Angeles, on a set that was made up to resemble an airport. While the song may not have been as big a hit as the some of INXS’s previous releases (it peaked at 20 in the UK and 48 in Australia), it did reach the number one spot on the Canadian charts.
Sadly, it would also be one of the last INXS single to be released in Michael Hutchence’s lifetime. Hutchence committed suicide in November of 1997. He was 37 yeas old.
Song of the Day: Kill Bill (by Brown Eyed Girls)
This is not the first time I’ve featured the K-Pop girl group Brown Eyed Girls. Their 2008 song, “Abracadabra,” was featured as a song of the day. It was really that song that first introduced me to K-Pop. While my interest didn’t skyrocket after that song, it did simmer for a few years before I was finally fully on-board.
The latest K-Pop Song of the Day is from B.E.G. and it’s their 2013 single release from their 5th studio album, Black Box. It’s a song titled “Kill Bill” and the song and accompanying music video is a homage to the 2003 Quentin Tarantino grindhouse mash-up. Even the music video literally lifts sequences and camera shots from the film.
Some have called this a loving tribute to the film of the same name which inspired the song. Others have called it a blatant rip-off. No matter which side one is on the song showcases the group’s ability to remain relevant in a music industry that either caters to the cute, bubblegum pop scene or to the overtly sexual (at times way too sexual) aesthetic.
B.E.G. continues to show that they can still bring a more mature visual that toes the line between the two extremes of cute and sexual. This is not to say that the song is just all about the visuals. “Kill Bill” is a catchy tune that shows it’s Western-infused sound of acoustic guitars, bluesy electric guitar riffs and the ever-present whistling of past Spaghetti Western scores.
Music Video of the Day: Rocket by Def Leppard (1988, directed by Nigel Dick)
The seventh and final single to be released off of their album Hysteria, Rocket allowed the members of Def Leppard to acknowledge the music of their youth. Among others, the song’s lyrics cites The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, T. Rex, and especially Lou Reed’s Satellite of Love.
Directed by Nigel Dick, the video for Rocket features Def Leppard playing in the same warehouse that was used in the video for Women. This time, the band is surrounded by televisions that flash footage from the 70s. Not only are there the expected clips of Richard Nixon, the Apollo 13 disaster, and Edward Heath but there’s also plenty of footage of various artists performing on Top of the Pops. Because Def Leppard is an English band, there’s also a good deal of footage of Arsenal winning the 1971 FA Cup Final. There’s also a very brief shot of the infamous Gary Glitter, who was a British icon at the time this video was released but who, nine years later, would dramatically fall from grace after being convicted on charges of downloading child pornography. This video was the last to feature lead guitarist Steve Clark, who died from alcohol poisoning in 1991.
Rocket ultimately peaked at number 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Music Video of the Day: Right Now by Van Halen (1991, directed by Mark Fenske)
If it seems like Sammy Hagar looks like he was pissed off during the filming of the music video for Van Halen’s Right Now, that’s because he was. Hagar was firmly opposed to the video’s concept, saying that the MTV audience would be so busy reading the subtitles that they wouldn’t pay attention to the lyrics. It also didn’t help that, when the video was shot, Hagar was also suffering with pneumonia. When Hagar slammed the door at the end of the video, that wasn’t acting.
The video was directed by Mark Fenske and produced by Carolyn Beug. (Ten years after the video was released, Beug was killed in the crash American Airlines Flight 11 on Steptember 11th, 2001. At the National 9/11 Memorial, Beug is memorialized at the North Pool, on Panel N-1.) For the shot of the photograph being set on fire, Fenske used an old picture of himself. As well, Fenske’s mother appears in the video, kissing the camera.
Right Now is probably the best known of the songs to come out of the Van Hagar period. Despite Hagar’s reservations, the video was one of Van Halen’s most successful, winning the award for video of the year at the MTV Music Video Awards.
Song of the Day: Lion Heart (by Girls’ Generation)
The latest Song of the Day: K-Pop Edition comes courtesy of the girl group who has helped usher in the worldwide success of the genre beyond just the borders of South Korea and the surrounding region. Girls’ Generation (aka SNSD) has been one of the biggest K-Pop girl groups since they debut in 2007.
Girls’ Generation originally had 9 members, but since 2014 has been promoted as an 8-member group after one of it’s original members, Jessica Jung was removed from the group due to conflicting schedules. Yet, despite this the group never lost a beat and continued to crank out hits after hits.
Their musical style was typical of the K-Pop groups which has been heavily influenced by dancepop and electropop. This made their earlier releases and accompanying music videos to be very high-energy with the bubbly, sugarpop aesthetics of other girl groups of the time.
Things began to evolve with each new album release and while the group still retains their high-energy dance and electropop origins they’ve also added hip-hop and punkpop to their repertoire. They remain cute and accessible, but now with a nice edge to round them out.
This could be seen with their “Lion Heart” release and especially with their msuci video for the song. The song itself has basis on bubblepop with some soul infusion to give it a retro sound. The video itself conveys a 60’s-retro aesthetic mixed with the candy color palette of past K-Pop videos.
And as the image above shows, the video also shows a bit more of the group’s ever present sultry side as choreographer Tony Testa and in-house choreographer Shim Jaewon get the ladies to provocatively get low with their hip sways and rolls.
It’s definitely a nice bit of dance move that’s hypnotic and catches the viewer’s eye. It’s especially surprising in contrast to the glittering, Flapper-style fashion the group wears in the video during the song’s breaks.
Girls’ Generation is one group from the previous generation that I would recommend for those new to the K-Pop scene. While the group itself is now down to 5-members, they still continue to make an impact on the K-Pop music industry and have cemented their legacy as one of the first K-Pop groups break through beyond Korea and the surrounding region and be successful globally.
Music Video of the Day: Just A Friend by Biz Markie (1989, directed by Lionel C. Martin)
Just A Friend is a song anda video that, for years, has inspired people to ask, “Is Biz Markie okay? Why is dressed up like Mozart?”
The song’s piano medley, as well as the phrasing of “You got what I need,” is lifted from Freddie’s Scott’s (You) Got What I Need. Biz Markie tells the story of meeting a girl at a show, being told that the man in her life is “just a friend,” and then later discovering her kissing that same friend. It’s a universal tale that everyone can relate to. However, what most people remember about this song isn’t the story of a bad relationship but instead the sound of Biz Markie’s increasingly crazed cry of, “Oh Baby — You! You got what I need! But you say he’s just a friend!”
And, of course, Biz Markie wearing a powdered wig.
With the help of this popular music video, Just A Friend proved to be Biz Markie’s biggest hit to date, reaching #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990.
Music Video of the Day: Away We Go by Bad Suns (2018, dir by Dan Huiting)
With the final two days of 2018 coming up on us, let’s keep things simple with today’s music video of the day. Away goes 2018 and away we go to 2019!
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 