And that’s how you sing the National Anthem!
Enjoy!
Category Archives: music video
Music Video of the Day: Would? by Alice In Chains (1992, directed by Cameron Crowe and Josh Taft)
Would? was originally written in 1990 as a tribute to Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone, after Wood’s death from a heroin overdose. The song first appeared on the soundtrack to 1992’s Singles and the subsequent music video was released to coincide with the release of the film. Singles director Cameron Crowe co-directed this video but the only direct reference to Singles is a quick shot of the film’s poster.
Would? went on to win Best Video From A Film at the 1993 VMAs.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: We’re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister (1984, directed by Marty Callner)
The anthem for dissatisfied 80s kids everywhere, We’re Not Gonna Take It has been co-opted by so many products and campaigns and political candidates that it might be easier to try to keep track of who hasn’t used it at some point. Dee Snider has always come out against anyone trying to claim the song’s message as their own.
The kid in the video is played by Dax Callner, the son of the video’s director. The kid’s father is played by Mark Metcalf, best-known for playing Douglas C. Neidermeyer in National Lampoon’s Animal House.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: Circumstances by Rush (1978, directed by ????)
In honor of Canada Day, today’s music video of the day comes from Rush.
Circumstances was an autobiographical song, written by Neil Peart, about how he came to be disillusioned with pursuing a musical career in England. (It was in England where Peart reportedly first came across the writings of Ayn Rand.) Realizing that stardom waited for him not in London but instead back home, Peart returned to Canada, where he was eventually recruited to play drums in Rush.
Enjoy and Happy Canada Day!
Music Video of the Day: Twist and Shout by Rodney Dangerfield (1987, directed by ????)
Twist and Shout is a song that has been a hit for a lot of artists. Rodney Dangerfield took a swing at it 1987, performing the song for the Back to School soundtrack. The video is largely made up of scenes from Back to School and introduced a whole generation of MTV viewers to not only Rodney Dangerfield but also Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, and Ned Beatty. They probably already knew Sam Kinison.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: Kiss and Tell by Bryan Ferry (1988, directed by ????)
This is one of two videos for Kiss and Tell. Both videos features Ferry performing the song while model Mandy Smith and Christine Keeler pose for the camera. (Smith was the wife of Rolling Stone Bill Wyman while Christine Keeler was at the center of the Profumo Affair, which brought down Harold Macmillan’s government in 1963.) However, the second version of the video also featured scenes from the film adaptation of Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City.
As can be seen in the video, Michael J. Fox played the cocaine-addled main character in the film. It was a largely unsuccessful attempt to change Fox’s clean-cut image and the film struggled at the box office. However, both the song and and the video proved to be very popular on MTV. The video was nominated for Best Video From A Film at the MTV Video Music Awards, though it lost to Los Lobos’s video for La Bamba.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx (1989, directed by Jim Yukich)
Both this video and this post count as a rush job. I’m writing this at the last second so I picked an easy video to write about. Meanwhile, in 1989, Richard Marx was so busy touring that director Jim Yukich was forced to go with a simple approach to the video for Right Here Waiting. The footage of Marx performing the song in an empty auditorium was filmed in Los Angeles during a soundcheck. Black-and-white tour footage was then added to turn that soundcheck into a music video. Though the video was simple by necessity, it also captured the loneliness of being on the road and separated from your significant other.
Right Here Waiting was the second single off of Marx’s second studio album, Repeat Offender. He wrote the song for his then-wife Cynthia Rhodes, who was shooting a film in South Africa. It went on to become one of Marx’s biggest hits and is still regularly covered by other artists.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: Neutron Dance by The Pointer Sisters (1984, directed by ????)
Today’s music video of the day is for Neutron Dance, a Pointer Sisters song that became a hit when it was featured in the film Beverly Hills Cop. The song was not originally meant to be a part of the soundtrack but was instead just used a placeholder during a chase scene in the first cut of the film. However, music producer Richard Perry convinced producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer that Neutron Dance was the perfect song for the scene. Audiences agreed and Neutron Dance ended up a top ten hit.
The music video features not just scenes from Beverly Hills Cop but also Bronson Pinchot and Gary Burghoff as employees (along with the Pointer Sisters) of a theater showing the film. Pinchot, of course, played Serge in Beverly Hills Cop while Burghoff was best known for playing Radar O’Reilly on M*A*S*H.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: The Day The Never Comes by Metallica (2008, directed by Thomas Vinterberg)
The Day That Never Comes was the lead single from Metallica’s 9th studio album, Death Magnetic. Lars Ulrich has said that the song was actually written about a father and a son and their efforts to repair their relationship and move on from the resentments of the past. The music video, as conceived by director Thomas Vinterberg, re-imagines the song as telling the story of a solider deployed to the Middle East. James Hetfield, who has always been outspoken in his belief that musicians should not push their political beliefs on their audience, has said that the video is not meant to be a commentary on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but instead, it’s about remembering that everyone is human.
Vinterberg is a well-known and acclaimed Danish director and one of the founders of Dogme 95. 13 years after the release of this video, Vinterberg would become the first Danish director to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Director for Another Round. Another Round also won the Oscar for Best International Film.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: 2010 by Andy Summers (1984, dir by ????)
Conceived and performed by Andy Summers, the guitarist for the Police, 2010 was a re-imagining of Also Sprach Zarathustra and was included as part of the soundtrack of the 1984 film, 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Though the song itself did not appear in the film, a music video featuring scenes from 2010 was put together for the song and was occasionally played on MTV.
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 