If Sucker Punch had taken place during the Christmas season, one could very easily imagine this video as being a scene in the film. It just needs a giant ninja and Scott Glenn offering up words of pithy wisdom.
That said, what this song and this video do so well and what I love about them is that it provides a whole new spin to a very familiar song. Does the Grinch now own a casino or an Old West saloon? Is the Grinch now a gangster? And what exactly is the Grinch’s relationship with Sabrina Carpenter? This video leaves us with much to ponder during the holiday season.
This video was directed by Joshua Schultz, who has also directed videos for Juliet Simms and Haley Reinhart. According to the imdb, he’s currently in pre-production for a film called The Fog.
Happy Holidays! Trust Linsdey Stirling to elevate one of the worst Christmas songs ever written with an energetic performance and an entertaining music video.
(I should admit that I have a personal bias against Santa Baby, one that goes back to my dancing days. Let’s just say that falling flat on your ass in front of a huge crowd of people while dressed like one of Santa’s helpers and while Santa Baby plays in the background is not necessarily one of my happiest holiday memories.)
Today’s music video of the day finds the world’s best-dressed salsa artist in a whole heap of trouble… Why has Kid Creole been kidnapped by a group of New Wave Amazons who are now threatening to hang him in a warehouse? Their leader is Annie and she wants Kid Creole to admit that he is her father. The Kid, however, says differently.
Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy is often compared to Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, though Annie came out a few months before Jackson’s song. Much like Billie Jean, Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy features its singer denying being the father of a child. The big difference is that, while Jackson’s song was inspired by a fan who swore that Jackson had fathered her child, Kid Creole has stated that his song is in no way autobiographical. The lyrics of Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy are also considerably more savage than Billie Jean‘s but, because of the song’s upbeat sound, you don’t really notice until you read them:
They say that all is fair in love and war and child, believe it When mama stayed in St. Tropez, she had a fall or two And I’m telling it to you straight So you don’t have to hear it in another way
Oh Annie I’m not your daddy Oh Annie I’m not your daddy
They say that out of sight is out of mind and child, believe it Your mama was in search of love, but all she got was used And I’m telling it to your face So you don’t have to hear it in another place Bring it to me gently now Don’t forget, I’m just a child
Oh Annie I’m not your daddy (mama’s baby’s papa’s baby) Oh Annie I’m not your daddy (mama’s baby’s papa’s baby)
See, if I was in your blood then you wouldn’t be so ugly Oh!
I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna be a I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna be a I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna be a I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna be a I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna be a I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna be a I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna be a I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna be a
Yes, I’m telling it to you straight So you don’t have to hear it in another way Bring it to me gently now Don’t forget, I’m just a child
Oh Annie I’m not your daddy (mama’s baby’s papa’s baby) Oh Annie I’m not your daddy (mama’s baby’s papa’s baby)
Kid Creole (real name: Thomas August Darnell Browder) has said that the income royalties off of this song alone are enough for him to live comfortably for the rest of his life. The third and final single from the album Tropical Gangsters, Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and it reached number 18 on the U.S. Club Play Chart.
Don’t Stop Believin’ is now probably destined to be forever associated with The Sopranos but the song itself had established itself as a classic long before it was used in the finale of HBO’s famous show about the New Jersey mafia.
In fact, the song means so much to Journey’s Steve Perry that he was hesitant to give HBO permission to use the song until it was explained to him exactly how the song was going to be used and he was assured that it wouldn’t be played over any type of violence. Other than the members of the cast and the production crew, Steve Perry was one of the few people to know, in advance, how The Sopranos was going to end.
While Perry has said that the majority of the lyrics were inspired by his own early struggles to find success in the music industry, keyboardist Jonathan Cain says that the name was inspired by something that his father told him when Cain was thinking about leaving Hollywood and returning to Chicago. Cain’s father told him, ‘No, son. Stay the course. We have a vision. It’s gonna happen. Don’t stop believin’.”
As for the video, it was filmed in Houston and features Journey performing the song as a part of their Escape tour. With the exception of the infamous video for Separate Ways, Journey was known for keeping things simple and straight-forward when it came to their music videos. This one is no exception.
On October 4th, 1986, CBS News anchor Dan Rather was attacked on the streets of New York by a man who, as he pummeled Rather, repeatedly shouted, “Kenneth, what is the frequency?!” When a doorman intervened to protect Rather, the man took off running. (Some accounts say that there were actually two men attacking Rather.)
Though he wouldn’t be identified for another 11 years, the attacker’s name was William Tager. Tager believed that the television networks were beaming signals into his brain. In 1994, he killed a stagehand while trying to force his way into NBC studios. In 1997, while Tager was serving a 25-year prison sentence, he was identified as the man who had attacked Rather. Tager was subsequently paroled in 2010.
The same year that Tager was arrested, R.E.M. released a song called What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? Though the song was clearly inspired by the attack on Rather, lead singer Michael Stipe has also said that the song was about an older man trying to understand the younger generation.
The video for What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? was directed by frequent R.E.M. collaborator Peter Care and features the band performing the song. The jacket worn by bassist Mike Mills once belonged to the legendary Gram Parsons.
Rumors that R.E.M. stands for “Rather’s Ear Muffs” were once popular but have been denied by the band. Instead, Michael Stipe selected the name after randomly coming across “Rapid Eye Movement” in the dictionary.
Animal is a song that took three years for Def Leppard to complete. The band started work on the song in 1984 with producer Jim Steinman, who is best known for his collaborations with musicians like Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler. Steinman’s orchestral style proved to be a poor fit with Def Leppard’s more straight forward sound. After realizing that Steinman wasn’t going to work out, the band brought in Mutt Lange, who was able to get the sound that the band wanted.
Though the band had already found success in the United States, Animal was the first Def Leppard song to became a hit in the UK. Not only did it reach No. 6 on the UK Single Chart but it also scored the band their first invitation to perform on Top of the Pops. (For the benefit of our American readers, that was, back in the day, a big effing deal.)
The video finds the band working and performing in a traveling circus. The video was directed by Doug Freel and Jean Pellerin, both of whom have directed videos for several different artists. Along with directing several other videos for Def Leppard, Freel and Pellerin have also worked with Metallica. On his own, Freel has done videos for Roxette and Faith No More. Pellerin, meanwhile, directed the films, Laserhawk, For Hire, Daybreak, and The Clown At Midnight.
Love is Strong was the first single to be released off of the Rolling Stones’s 1994 album, Voodoo Lounge. Since everyone already knew that the Rolling Stones were giants of music, the video for Love is Strong took the idea one step further by casting the Stones as actual giants, towering over New York City.
The video was directed by David Fincher. Having already made a name for himself as a talented music video director before even making his first feature film, Fincher did this video after directing Alien3 but before Seven. Fincher has said that Alien 3 was such a frustrating experience that, after completing the film, he had no desire to ever make another feature. (Of course, he would change his mind upon reading the script for Seven.) As this video shows, even if Fincher had stopped making movies after Alien 3, he would still be remembered and highly regarded for his music videos.
Love is Strong subsequently won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video-winning song.
You may think that this song is actually about something other than driving a car but, according to keyboardist Mike Barson, you’re wrong. As he explained it in The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters, “No, it wasn’t about sex … at that time there weren’t many people writing about simple things like driving in your car. You know: rolling your window down, the little joys of life, simple pleasures.”
The video is also a tribute to an actual white 1959 model Morris Minor that the band used to drive from gig to gig before hitting it big. The video finds all the members of Madness playing mechanics and drivers. As frontman Suggs once explained it, “Madness videos were seven extroverts all mucking about trying to outdo each other.”
(Suggs was born Graham McPherson. He chose is his nickname while he was in school, by randomly sticking a pin in an encyclopedia of jazz musicians and hitting Peter Suggs.)
The video was directed by Dave Robinson, who also directed the video for Our House.
The other version features Alexis Denisof, trying to win the heart of a young woman at an arcade by winning her a toy ballerina. George and the band appear in a hand-cranked movie viewer.
Like the other version, this video was directed by filmmaker Gary Weis. Along with the videos for Got My Mind Set On You and several short films for Saturday Night Live, Gary Weis also directed the videos of Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Aland Walk Like An Egyptian by the Bangles.
Inspired by the collapse of Soviet-style communism in the late 80s and the early 90s (in particular, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the overthrow of Nicolae Ceaușescu in Romania), Right Here, Right Now not only sold over 1 million copies but it was also the most played song on college radio in 1991.
The video, which mixes performance footage with news footage from Eastern Europe, was the first music video to be directed by Matthew Amos. Amos went on to direct videos for Stereo MCs, Manic Street Preachers, Slipknot, and the Charlatans.
Through the Shattered Lens