Category Archives: music video

Music Video of the Day: Hell by Squirrel Nut Zippers (1997, dir. Norwood Cheek, Grady Cooper, & Tom Maxwell)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

We had the Rapture yesterday courtesy of Blondie, so today we go to Hell. I probably shared this story at some point, but I’ll do it again. I remember back during this time when my mom used to watch Regis & Kathie Lee. On one episode they had Squirrel Nut Zippers on there to perform. I don’t remember if it was this, Prince Nez, or Blue Angel. Shortly after, I went to Tower Records looking for their album. The people there had no idea who I was talking about. Eventually I did find the album. It’s one of the most unusual albums I own. It didn’t come in a regular plastic case, but half paper and half plastic. According to the cover, I was supposed to light it on fire because it says “do not hold in hand after lighting.”

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It has some pictures of Satan in it. One is in the hole where you press to release the CD.

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The disc was even one of those enhanced albums that came with content for your computer. It won’t work with my modern Mac, but the readme file still opens and has some backstory on the album:

When I first heard Katharine, Jimbo and Tom singing their hot songs off the “Inevitable” album on the radio last year I was taken back and amazed by the tremendous diversity and quality of the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ music. I felt like they were the “missing link” in the lost imagination of contemporary music and were successfully bringing together all that is old and all that is new and making it their own. I rushed out and bought “The Inevitable” album and immediately began trying to think up some way of doing something creative with the group. I wrote to Jimbo and Katharine asking them if there was anything that I could do for them in the way of a film or video project.

Luckily they were going to perform here in Atlanta just a few days after I sent them my letter. I went early to “The Point” that evening hoping to talk with someone from the group before the show. I had memorized their names from the album and thought I could easily recognize any of them. However, when I arrived, there were people dressed in ’20’s attire everywhere I looked and I didn’t have a clue as to who was actually in the band and who wasn’t. It wasn’t until Don made a move for the stage that I was able to distinguish a Zipper from the rest of the crowd. I talked to Don for a few moments and he introduced me to Jimbo. That is when this all began.

We didn’t exactly know whether this project would turn out to be a documentary film, video or enhanced CD-ROM but the important thing was to get started in documenting their shows while they were touring extensively last year. Last July, my wife, Leah and our daughter, Sydney, went with me up to Charlotte and Asheville where I began shooting the Zippers’ shows and becoming a permanent fixture in their crowds. Everywhere I went with the Zippers from North Carolina to California, I would overhear people in the audience and even the club owners commenting that it was the largest turnout they had ever for a music performance at their place. The Zippers were starting a glorious craze that I feel will intensify even more with the release of the “Hot” album.

I have always known while I have been making this project that I have been a part of something very special. This has always been the motivation that has kept me burning the midnight oil for days on end to get this project finished in time to make it onto the “Hot” album. I can only hope that what I have done captures at least a fraction of the wonderful experience of seeing the Squirrel Nut Zippers perform live and the diverse and comical personality, brilliant talent and dedication that makes up the band.

I cannot thank everyone in the Zippers enough for their extreme amount of cooperation, patience, openness and trust that they have shown Leah and myself. I also want to thank Lane Wurster and Mammoth Records for taking a chance with my project and Lane’s tireless effort in helping to get it completed.

And of course, this project would never have been what it is without the never-ending support of the one and only Shorty Brown.

Clay Walker
April 28, 1996

I don’t really have anything to say about the music video itself beyond mentioning that it was inspired by Twin Peaks. It does capture that throwback to the swing dance days that bands like Squirrel Nut Zippers were part of in the mid-90s. Out of the bands I remember from the time, they were the ones that really tried to sound like bands from that time period rather than having a more modern take on it.

There seems to be a little bit of disagreement between two sources about the directors of the music video. No one disagrees that Norwood Cheek and Grady Cooper directed it. Cheek directed a few music videos as well as working in other capacities in film. Cooper has done many things over the years including directing 67 episodes of Survivor. According to IMDb, Cooper also appeared in the music video. Cooper edited it as well. Both Cheek and Cooper produced it. I think we can even thank Grady Cooper himself since he appears to have been the one to make a high quality version of this music video available on YouTube.

John Leuba shot the music video and has the usual handful of credits on IMDb.

The part that there is conflicting information about is whether Tom Maxwell had anything to do with directing the music video. Whether he did, or he didn’t, he did write the song. More recently in 2014 he published a book called Hell: My Life in the Squirrel Nut Zippers about the history of the band. He also wrote a post over on Medium about why he wouldn’t be joining the band on their 20th anniversary tour in honor of this album.

Enjoy this throwback to a throwback!

Music Video of the Day: Rapture by Blondie (1981, dir. Keith MacMillan)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

We had some fun the past couple of days watching Carman kill Satan and banish movie monsters from his house, but now it’s time for the Rapture.

I’m sure people know the historical significance of this particular music video by now, but I’ll restate it anyways. In the very early days of MTV, they rarely let blacks appear on the network. They of course had accusations of racism thrown at them. Thinking about it now, it was probably that they were operating on the fringe so much that they figured what little audience they had would go away, and they’d go under based on the demographics information they had. That’s my best guess considering it just took Michael Jackson having a big hit with them to get rid of that. However, during that period, this meant that Rapture by Blondie wound up being the first rap music video aired on the network.

As is often the case, Wikipedia has some good information. The music video was set in the East Village section of Manhattan. That’s exactly what it says over on Wikipedia. I’m not sure if that means it was actually shot there or not.

William Barnes was the guy in the long white suit referred to as the “Man from Mars”. According to IMDb, he went on to work on localizing video games such as Mario Party 5. He also choreographed the music video.

Graffiti artists Lee Quinones and Jean-Michel Basquiat make cameo appearances. Basquiat was hired after Grandmaster Flash didn’t show up for the filming.

Rapper Fab Five Freddy not only is mentioned in the lyrics of the song, but also made a cameo in the music video.

Wikipedia also mentions that much of the outside portions of the music video were shot in one take.

Keith MacMillan directed and John Weaver produced this music video. They both seem to have primarily worked on music videos for Kate Bush, but also did some work for Motörhead. The two as a team went by the name Keef. You can find Keith MacMillan under that name on IMDb. He has also used the name Marcus Keef. John Weaver on the other hand is buried under so many people with his name that I don’t even know if he is there. There are only two that have anything of note in their credits. One worked in the art department on three Playboy movies, and another was a director on the TV Show Dark Shadows.

Enjoy! I always do anytime we get somebody predicting the world will end on a particular day and time.

Music Video of the Day: No Monsters by Carman (1996, dir. Stephen Yake)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I don’t usually like to feature two music videos by the same artist in a row, but this is too perfect to not include during October as a companion to Satan, Bite The Dust.

In this music video, Carman recalls when he was kid watching scary movies. He’d get frightened and have trouble sleeping. However, he would then remember he’s Carman, and banish them from his house. One of them is even a man-gator. They also come for him as an adult by literally stepping out of the television. One of them is Frankenstein, and another looks like Uncle Fester with an axe. If only Rockwell had Carman with him, then he would’ve been fine.

Unlike Satan, Bite The Dust; I do have some info on this one. This music video is from the movie R.I.O.T.: The Movie (1996). Carman himself wrote the screenplay. I haven’t watched it yet, but I do have a copy. The film is padded out with music videos like this one. According to the credits on the film, Stephen Yake produced and directed the music video. There are a bunch of other credits that are all lumped together for all of the music videos in the film. They are too numerous to mention. Also, I have no way of knowing whether every single one of these people worked on this particular music video.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Satan, Bite The Dust! by Carman (1993, dir. ???)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I only found out about Contemporary Christian artist Carman this year thanks to The Cinema Snob review of this music video. From what I have watched of his material, his stuff is hilarious cheesy fun. I am largely guessing about the release date of this music video based on the release date of the album that had this song on it. I think that Stephen Yake probably directed the music video since he would go to direct the movie R.I.O.T.: The Movie (1996) that starred Carman. He also directed at least one music video for Carman. I can’t properly talk about this guy. Plus, I don’t need too. I’ll let Brad Jones do that, or you can just watch the music video. It’s fun. Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Princes of the Universe by Queen (1986, dir. Russell Mulcahy)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I had to do a Queen music video eventually, so why not do one of my all-time favorites from one of my all-time favorite movies. Plus, I think that Clancy Brown as The Kurgan is scary enough for October. I’ve tried to pick out music videos that fit with the month somehow if I could.

Going in to watching this music video, I figured it would just be Queen performing with cutaways to footage from the movie. I wasn’t too far off, but they actually bothered to do more than that. We get to see them performing on the set of one of the final battles that took place on the Silvercup rooftop stage at Elstree Studios, London. We also see Brian May play guitar as the castle from the film collapses. But more than that, we actually get to see Christoper Lambert clash swords with Freddie Mercury at almost exactly the two minute mark. Do you need more of a reason to take four minutes out of your day to watch it just to see that?

That’s really it. All the sources I find say that Russell Mulcahy not only directed the film, but also the music video on February 14th, 1986. I couldn’t find any other credits.

I wish there was more to say, but it’s a simple music video for a great song. Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Dragula by Rob Zombie (1998, dir. Rob Zombie)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Nothing says 1998 like seeing Rob Zombie and a group of devils doing The Night at the Roxbury (1998) head bob.

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The greatest thing about this music video is knowing that Robert Osborne and/or Ben Mankiewicz saw it, which lead to him hosting TCM Underground for awhile. Thanks to Rob Zombie’s brief time there, I was introduced to Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965).

I wouldn’t be surprised if the dancing lady is a reference to that movie. Then again, it could be any cult film from the 1960s.

Thanks to Wikipedia, I know some of the footage he uses. The bit about “superstition, fear, and jealousy” comes from the film The City Of The Dead/Horror Hotel (1960). The line is spoken by Christopher Lee. That part is played over footage from 1920’s Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. The killer robot is from the The Phantom Creeps (1939). Frankenstein is in there too. I know I’ve seen the shocked woman at the beginning somewhere, but I can’t place it. I wanna say the 1958 version of The Fly, but it’s just a guess.

There’s plenty more in there, but those are the only ones I could find. If you can tell me more, then please do so.

The car in the music video and in the song title itself comes from Grandpa Munster’s dragster on The Munsters.

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However, the car in the music video only resembles the car driven on the show.

This stuff came out in an interview that Rob Zombie gave with Billboard magazine. Don’t quote me on it, but I swear I remember him saying his dad or grandfather owned a Dragula, which is where the song came from. I could have just misheard it for Grandpa Munster. I couldn’t find a reference to that anywhere.

Of course Rob Zombie directed the music video before he went on to give us the backstory of Michael Myers that I don’t think anyone was asking about. After Halloween II (2009), I think it’s safe to say he was all but crucified. But being a zombie, it didn’t matter. He’s alive and well. Even 82-year-old John Hetlinger performed the song on an episode of America’s Got Talent back in July of this year despite not knowing what the lyrics mean–according to Songfacts.

Welcome to the club, Hetlinger! I have no idea what they mean either. This is one of those songs where I ignore the lyrics, and take Rob Zombie’s voice to be just another instrument. That goes for the music video that to this day is pure fun, whether it’s October or not.

Jeff Selis edited the music video. He’s edited over 100 music videos, and still is working today with artists like Beyoncé, Usher, Jennifer Lopez, Lana del Ray, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, and many more. It looks like before he was a music video editor, he was a location manager on films such as Body of Evidence (1993) and My Own Private Idaho (1991). I can’t find a credit for him working on a Madonna or Dogstar music video. That would be too awesome.

Dave Hussey was the colorist on this music video. He has worked on somewhere around 330 music videos with Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Eminem, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, OutKast, Aerosmith, The Offspring, Michael Jackson, and many many more. He has worked on two Madonna music videos.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Somebody’s Watching Me by Rockwell (1984, dir. Francis Delia)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

A few years ago when the Snowden stuff happened, it was priceless to come and look at this music video. You’d see comments along the lines that if Rockwell had only knew it was really the NSA that was watching him, or simply that Rockwell was right that somebody was watching him. Of course you also got the usual comments of people coming many decades later wondering if that is Michael Jackson singing the chorus. Yes, it is.

As is par for the course, this is the first time I have actually paid close attention to the music video I’m spotlighting. It is loaded with a lot of interesting stuff to tie-in with the theme of paranoia.

Why is Rockwell reading the Chinese characters at the beginning? Is that some sort of ghostly reference. Is that supposed to be a second Rockwell? We follow that one while it cuts back and forth to Rockwell in the shower. Is that supposed to mean he has a split personality? It’s probably just the music video’s requisite reference to Psycho (1960), but then we also get the scene with him watching himself on TV. I love it.

I think my favorite part is when someone dressed like a grieving widow is right outside his shower, but he doesn’t see them. They do the same thing while he is standing in the cemetery that apparently is in his backyard.

It comes as no surprise to me that this music video was directed by Francis Delia. He’s the director who brought us the music video for Blue Öyster Cult’s Shooting Shark, which is one of the best of the 1980s. That one was also surreal.

We know quite a few of the people who worked on this music video beyond the director.

The blonde coming out from under the bed is Francis Delia’s daughter Amy.

Nancy Leiviska wrote and produced the music video. You might know her as being the mother of RedFoo whom she had with Barry Gordy. She has apparently gone on to work as an executive assistant on numerous films for Ice Cube. She worked on several other music videos including appearing as one of the people in the music video for Rick James’ Super Freak.

Dominic Sena shot the music video. He directed around 40 music videos and shot around 10 of them. He also went on to direct movies like Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) and Swordfish (2001).

Jason Braunstein was the production manager. The only other credit I can find for him is having worked as an associate in charge of production on Ms. 45 (1981).

Jon Leonoudakis was the production coordinator. He is in the music video as the guy who is looking in through the porthole of the front door. I can find a few credits on him like directing some sports documentaries in recent years. However, it’s clearly his work as an electrician on The Last American Virgin (1982), a production coordinator on Dead Women in Lingerie (1991), and a second unit location manager on Maniac Cop 2 (1990) that jump out at you on his IMDb profile page.

You could do a step-by-step review of this music video, but it’s only about three and a half minutes, so if you haven’t seen it yet, then watch it. It is one of the greatest music videos ever made, and still relevant today. In particular when you are trying to find a music video to help bookend the month of October.

Music Video of the Day: Volcano Girls by Veruca Salt (1997, dir. Nancy Bardawil & Paul Andresen)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Since I did Seether yesterday, I had to follow it up with Volcano Girls because of the Glass Onion style reference to Seether in this song.

This music video is exactly how I remember it from when I was a kid. By that, I mean it’s so mid-90s that it hurts. In my head, it fits right in with Only Happy When It Rains by Garbage, Machinehead by Bush, Peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America, and Don’t Speak by No Doubt. There seemed to be a polishing of of everything from the sound to the music videos to the appearance of the artists themselves.

They shot the music video at Essenay in Chicago, Illinois. Everything else is in the music video itself. The band is on bungee cords flying around for the majority of the video while fans are around them. You can read an interview with Post and Gordon about the song and video here. For me it’s a pure nostalgia trip back to a period when I was starting to regularly watch things like MTV and VH1.

The music video had two directors: Nancy Bardawil and Paul Andresen. According to the interview, Bardawil was a Chicago artist they liked, and she came up with the idea. Apparently it was rather rough, and resulted in some funny/dangerous things happening during all the bungee cord stuff. Bardawil has directed at least 30 music videos. Mainly she seems to be known for directing some of Goo Goo Dolls biggest hits like Iris, Slide, Dizzy, Black Balloon, and Broadway.

I’m not sure what role Paul Andresen had, but given that it was one of Bardawil’s first music videos, he was probably there largely to jump in when needed. Looking at his credits, I can see that many of his first music videos were also co-directed. He has done around 60 music videos.

They both have credits outside of music videos, but that seems to be the main part of their careers in film so far.

That’s all I can find on this one. Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Seether by Veruca Salt (1994, dir. Jeff Economy & Tim Rutili)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I wasn’t introduced to Veruca Salt till the album Eight Arms to Hold You with the single Volcano Girls. I would have started with that music video, but that’s like spotlighting The Beatles’ Glass Onion before I Am The Walrus. I picked up on Seether later on. I paid so little attention to lyrics back then that I didn’t notice that Volcano Girls said the Seether was Louise. Of all the places to discover this, it was from somebody in the old MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies who I ran into that was either named Veruca Salt or Seether.

Of course if I had run into Nina Gordon, then she might have beat the crap out of me. At least that’s my odd segue into the meaning of the song since it kind of ties into the music video.

According to Nina Gordon and Louise Post in an interview they did with Radio.com in 2014, the song is based off of a violent fantasy that Nina had which disturbed her. The idea being that she was seething with anger and violence. The song evolved from that.

Over the years, and to this day, there is rampant speculation about it having to do with penis, vagina, anal sex, being a lesbian, and probably anything you can think of that sounds close enough. I’ve even read someone who paraphrased another interview from 1994 saying that is was Louise that had a temper issue from which the song sprang. A year later on the same forum someone jumped in saying that Nina gave an interview around 2014 for Spin magazine saying that is was about a friend who “got pregnant and failed at trying to give her self an abortion, and couldn’t afford to have it done professionally. So, there you go.” They seemed particularly confident since it was Gordon that wrote the song. After that you get endless guesses at the meaning of the song with quoted lyrics that apparently prove their case. I’ll take an interview the two of them gave as the final word on the matter.

But we aren’t here to talk about the song. It was just necessary to bring up a little about it seeing as the music video doesn’t really hint at any meaning besides the cats. They appear docile like a “lovely daughter”, but can have sudden bursts of anger such as the one that appears at the start of the music video. Anymore speculation is going down the Seether-hole. It all evolves out of an angry mental state and where Gordon and Louise were at that time in their life. I recommend reading the interview I linked to above. They do a better job than I could, and it’s from their own mouths.

The music video was shot in front of the Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1979 and closed in 1998. It was an alternative exhibition space. They created a place for artists who normally wouldn’t receive support from the already established places. It makes sense that a new alt-rock band formed in Chicago would celebrate that place by filming there. It also fits especially with Veruca Salt seeing as the place was founded by two women named Tish Miller and Sarah Schwartz.

The music video was directed by Jeff Economy and Tim Rutili. Them seem to have only done a few music videos and almost always worked together. They were also producers, editors, and cinematographers on the music video.

Jeff Economy has continued working to this day–most notably as a camera operator for 72 episodes of Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Tim Rutili also is still around and mainly works on music for film and television.

Carolyn Macartney also worked on shooting the music video. I can only find one other music video credit for her. I can find numerous credits for her on IMDb–mainly for short films.

Jim Powers was the video commissioner. I can’t be sure if he is on IMDb seeing as there are many Jim Powers on there including a very prolific porn director who currently has 788 directing credits since 1993. That would be hilarious if it was him, but I highly doubt it. There is one other one, but he seems have largely worked as a production manager, so I don’t think it’s him. He is probably either one of those people I rarely find credits for that worked for the record company, or who is buried among the other Jim Powers without any credits that jump out at me as being the right person.

Katie MacGuire was the online editor. She did a couple of music videos.

Mellissa Manzagol was the colorist. She too seems to have worked only on the couple of music videos that many of these people did. Unlike Katie MacGuire or narrowing down exactly which Jim Powers was the one I was looking for, I was able to find Manzagol. Her profile comes complete with a bio written by her that seems to indicate she probably worked on more than just a couple of music videos.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Basket Case by Green Day (1994, dir. Mike Kohr)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

This is another one of those music videos I am obligated to do because it so famous. Or at least the song is so famous that I don’t have much choice.

Along with Smells Like Teen Spirit, this is one of those songs that was so overplayed that I got sick of it as a kid. It actually took me awhile before I bothered watching the music video for it. There isn’t much story to it, but there is a little background on it.

At the insistence of the band, they filmed the music video in an actual mental institution that was known as Agnews Developmental Center in Santa Clara, California. It has a bit of a dark history being the site of the greatest loss of life in the Santa Clara Valley during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. According to the Daily Palo Alto at the time:

“The position of the people in Agnews is critical; a number of insane persons having escaped from the demolished asylum, are running at random about the country.”

According to Wikipedia, 117 patients and staff were killed there during the quake.

The music video of course has references to One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975).

It was originally filmed in black and white, then bassist Mike Dirnt colorized it, which gives the music video that surreal look. It reminds me of the way you see light when your eyes are dilated, which fits with the bit in the song about wondering if the anxiety that Billie Joe Armstrong was under at the time–later diagnosed as having a panic disorder–was just insanity, or the cause of drugs.

It’s interesting to me that this song and Silent All These Years by Tori Amos both start off by asking the audience whether they have the time to spare to hear what they have to say. This is particularly interesting considering the director would go on to make a Tori Amos video. He would also later direct Just A Girl by No Doubt.

If I had to guess about the patients who still appear black and white, and are wearing the same color mask, then I would say it’s a reference to how people tend to view mental illness as a black and white issue. You’re either sane or insane without much middle ground. The masks all looking the same would be the grouping of anyone insane into one pot such as the very mental institution they were filming within likely did, or at least the perception people have of such places. Agnews Developmental Center was once known as “The Great Asylum for the Insane”.

You can also think of them as ghosts of the people who died there so many years ago, or lived out their lives there. According to the band, when they entered the place they found old patient files, deep scratches in the walls, and dental molds scattered around the place. My best guess is those people in the music video are the ghosts of people who left those remains behind.

I like how it ends with the gate closing as if to say that visitation hours are over.

The music video was directed by Mike Kohr. He made 9 music videos for Green Day, but has done at least 60 music videos so far. He appears to still be working in music videos today having done This Is Where We Go for Snow Angel in 2013.

Adam Beckman shot the music video. He appears to have only worked on 7 music videos. He has done some work outside of music videos over the years including shooting 12 episodes of This American Life as well as films.

There is one in particular that jumped out at me, which might explain why he was chosen to shoot this music video. In 1987 he was an additional camera assistant on a movie called Doom Asylum that has this plot summary on IMDb:

“A demented coroner uses autopsy equipment to kill off the teenagers who trespass on the long-abandoned asylum he inhabits. Filmed on location in an actual abandoned asylum.”

Enjoy!