Today’s music video of the day is for Chelsea Girl by Simple Minds. This video makes good use of animation and split screens. Though the video actually pre-dates MTV by a year, it’s a good example of the type of videos that would eventually transform MTV into every teenager’s must-watch cable station in the 80s.
Enjoy!
Remember Gladiator?
No, I’m not talking about the Gladiator with Russell Crowe. I’m talking about a film that came out in 1992 that starred James Marshall and Cuba Gooding, Jr. as two teenagers who get caught up in the lucrative world of street fighting. Robert Loggia plays a trainer.
As was typical of films of the era, the soundtrack featured cover tunes by glam metal bands who were suddenly affordable due to the rise of Nirvana and grunge. This video is for Warant’s cover of Queen’s We Will Rock You. The video itself is split between footage of Warrant performing and footage taken from the movie. So, if you’ve forgotten this version of Gladiator, consider this to be a refresher.
Enjoy!
Here’s the thing about AC/DC.
When it came to music videos, they’ve never needed to do anything fancy. They’re not one of those bands that needs a bunch of bells and whistles to look impressive. All they have to do is come out on stage and rock. Their best music videos are usually very simple performance clips, like this one.
This video was filmed at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, Australia. If it looks rough, that’s because it was supposed to be a part of a large concert film but the film’s backers ran out of money before any major post-production work could be done. The rough look, however, works for AC/DC. They are a band that could handle looking rough.
Russell Mulchay, of course, went on to direct multiple videos for Duran Duran, along with Highlander.
Enjoy!
In 1997, Atlantic Records released a single version of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love that was edited down from the band’s original 1969 recording. They also put together this video, featuring footage edited together from various live performances, to promote it.
Enjoy!
As far as I can tell, this performance clip is the only video that has ever been released for Quiet Riot’s Run For Cover. I am not even sure when this was recorded but, since Run For Cover appeared on 1983’s Mental Health, that’s the year that I am going to use here.
Enjoy!
Today’s music video of the day comes from the Baltimore-born rapper and producer, Sagat.
There’s actually two versions of this song. The first one was called Fuk Dat and was a list of things that annoyed Sagat in ’93 and which are still annoying today. That version became a club hit but, when it was time to release the song commercially, it was obvious that the song would need a title that wouldn’t get radio stations fined by the FCC. Hence, Fuk Dat became the slightly cleaner Funk Dat.
The music video for Funk Dat was filmed on the streets of New York. The video features not only Sagat but also a really cool kid who has it up to here with the radio playing the same five songs over and over again. This video achieved perhaps its greatest exposure when it was featured on an episode of Beavis and Butthead.
Enjoy!
Rest in peace, Bonnie Tyler.
Today’s music video of the day is for another song that I discovered while driving around Vice City in a stolen car.
(Several stolen cars, actually.)
Talk Talk’s Life’s What You Make It is one of the most popular songs on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City‘s FLASH FM. It’s the perfect song to listen to when you’re heading out to take down some drug dealers or if you just want to drive along the beach and wonder why Tommy Vercetti never learned how to swim.
The song was a hit both when it was originally released in 1985 and when it re-released in 1990. The video was filmed in Wimbledon Common, London, during the early hours of the day. The video was directed by Tim Pope, who directed videos for almost everyone in the 80s and 90s but is probably best-regarded for his work with The Cure.
Pope also directed the film, The Crow” City of Angels and was the original director for The Last King of Scotland. Though Pope eventually left and was replaced on that project, he was responsible for casting Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, the role that would eventually win Whitaker an Oscar.
Enjoy!
This video was directed by the French mime, dancer, and choreographer, Philippe Decouflé. Starting with a slap fight to end all slap fights, it also features a person in green makeup hand signing the song’s lyrics. As is so often the case with New Order, what it all actually means is open to interpretation.
Philippe Decouflé went on to direct the video for the Fine Young Cannibals’ She Drives Me Crazy, as well as choreographing the opening ceremony of the 1992 Winter Olympics.
Enjoy!
This song spent 109 weeks on the charts after its release and it remains one of Mötley Crüe’s most popular singles.
Nikki Sixx, who wrote the song, later told Rolling Stone that the song was based on several different drug dealers that he had done business with before getting sober. Just two years before Dr. Feelgood became a hit, Sixx had been a notorious junkie who, after a heroin overdose, was actually legally dead for two minutes before a paramedic was able to revive him with two shots of adrenaline.
Dr. Feelgood became Mötley Crüe’s first and, to date, only gold single in the United States. The video follows the song’s title character as he goes from working the streets to owning a mansion. In a repeat of what happened to Tony Montana, Dr. Feelgood’s own hubris eventually brings him down. As for why Mötley Crüe is performing in a revival tent, it probably just looked cool.
Director Wayne Isham is one of the most recognizable names when it comes to music video directors. If you were someone who was anyone in the music business, Isham probably directed at least one video for you.
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 