I was torn about whether or not to listen to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon during the eclipse because — bleh! — Roger Waters. But then I remembered that the other members of the band hate Roger Waters as well and I was able to use that to justify things. I mean, seriously, some things are just made for eclipses and that’s certainly true of the somewhat silly and portentous but still effective Dark Side of the Moon.
(Silly, portentous, and effective is also a good description of Pink Floyd as a whole.)
So, with that in mind, here is today’s special Eclipse Day song of the day. Actually, I guess I should say that these are today’s songs of the day because technically, they are two separate songs. But they might as well be two.
The prediction down here is that it’s going to be cloudy and rainy today so we probably won’t have the best view of the eclipse. That’s okay, though. I’m always tempted to look straight at the sun during an eclipse and, apparently, that’s one reason why my eyesight gets worse with each passing year. My friend Tammy says that it doesn’t matter because it will still get dark so we’ll know the eclipse is happening, even if we can’t see it.
With this music video of the day, you can follow the adventures of Kitty Galore as she tries to get pictures of Ratt. Not even a professional journalist doing her job can resist the sound of Ratt’s music. If this video had come out earlier, Tawny Kitaen would have played Kitty Galore but, by the time this song was recorded, Tawny had moved onto David Coverdale and Whitesnake.
The scenes at the hotel were filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana. The concert scenes were filmed at a show in Nashville. For the video, the band performed the song twice during the concert.
This is one of the better Beatles covers that I’ve heard. Styx does the song justice by not trying to add any greater meaning to John Lennon’s lyrics. Many people have claimed that this song was actually about the death of Paul McCartney in an auto accident and how the Beatles replaced him with a look-alike but Lennon always said that most of the lyrics were just meant to be nonsense. Lennon went as far as to cite Lewis Carroll as being the main inspiration for the song.
The trippy music video is fun and cheesy at the same time. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find the name of the video’s director.
116 years ago today, the great actress Bette Davis was born. Today’s music video of the day is for her.
(Bette Davis, incidentally, loved this song and said that when the Kim Carnes version was released in the 80s, it not only made her “culturally relevant” again but it also caused her grandson to look up to her for the first time.)
Today’s music video of the day is a take on the classic episode of The Twilight Zone where William Shatner spots something on the wing of an airplane. This time, it’s not a goblin. Instead, it’s John Bush-era Anthrax!
Director Marcos Siega is one of those directors who did music videos for just about everyone who was anyone. Eventually, he moved on to directing episodic television, along with the occasional movie. Among the shows that he’s directed for: Dexter, True Blood, The Flight Attendant, and Batwoman.
The music video for King Nothing was shot in Park City, Utah in December of 1996. I could not find any information on who had to pick up all those crowns after shooting ended but hopefully, they were paid well.
This video was directed by photographer Matt Mahurin. Mahurin directed his first music video in 1986 and he’s been churning them out ever since. Among the artists that Mahurin has worked with: Disturbed, Goo Goo Dolls, Marilyn Manson, Tom Waits, Alice in Chains, Queensryche, R.E.M., Tracy Chapman, and U2.
In 2006, as a part of their 20th anniversary celebration, Poison recorded a cover of We’re An American Band and also released this music video, which is made up of behind-the-scenes footage of Poison recording the song and also archival footage from the band’s Glam metal heyday.
After all these years, Poison still occasionally play and tour together and they seem to have accepted their status as a nostalgia act with more grace than many of the other bands from the hair metal era. Even back in the 80s, when they were huge, Poison seemed to have a more down to Earth attitude about stardom than many of their contemporaries. You wouldn’t necessarily expect it from the music they were performing at the time but their interview was one of the highlights of Penelope Spheeris’s The Decline of Western Civilization Part II. Unlike some other performers, they stayed focused on having a good time and making the type of music that they wanted to hear and, as a result, they have the type of fan loyalty that many American bands could only hope for.
The 1977 film, Abba: The Movie, is really two movies in one.
One of the movies, and the one that will probably most appeal to fans of the group, is a cinema verité-style look at ABBA touring Australia. This part of the movie not only features the band playing their best-known songs in concert but it also features some behind-the-scenes footage of the members of ABBA trying to enjoy their time Australia. They struggle to adjust to Australian culture and the English language. Agnetha Fältskog complains about the way the tabloids focus on her body as opposed to her singing. The emphasis is on the members of ABBA being down-to-Earth and friendly professionals who love making music but who, even more importantly, love hanging out together and making their fans happy.
The second movie is about an Australian DJ named Ashley Wallace (Robert Hughes) who is ordered to get an interview with ABBA before they leave the continent. It won’t prove easy. For one thing, Ashley really isn’t sure who ABBA is, beyond knowing that they’re a famous pop band. (Ashley’s musical tastes seem to learn towards country and western.) Secondly, ABBA is always surrounded by a mob of fans and bodyguards and it’s very difficult to get close enough to even ask them for an interview. Third, ABBA distrusts reporters, especially after the tabloids print a bunch of salacious articles about Agnetha. Fourth, Ashley is an idiot.
Seriously, Ashley is his own worst enemy. If ABBA heads to the west, you can be sure that Ashley will catch the next train heading east. Even when Ashley does finally manage to talk to ABBA’s manager and schedule an interview, he ends up oversleeping and missing his appointment! Seriously, just think about this. Ashley has been told that his entire future depends on getting an interview with ABBA, a task that soon proves to be nearly impossible. Then, when Ashley finally manages to get a chance to conduct this all-important interview, it doesn’t occur to him to set his alarm to wake him up early. There’s a word for that type of behavior and that word is “stupidity.”
As he struggles to get some time with ABBA, Ashley also takes time to interview people on the street about the opinion of ABBA. Surprise! Almost everyone loves ABBA! I guess that’s to be expected, considering that the movie is named after them. It would probably be counter-productive to have Ashley interview a bunch of people who can’t stand ABBA and would rather be listening to Led Zeppelin. (There are a few people who tell Ashley that they don’t like ABBA but they’re all losers.) Ashley spends so much time talking to people who love ABBA that he soon comes to love ABBA and appreciate their music as well. He even has a series of fantasy and daydreams. He imagines that the two men in ABBA are his best friends. He dreams of being loved by the two women in ABBA. Through Ashley, the audience is provided a view of how one goes from being indifferent to being a fan.
But most viewers won’t care about Ashley. They’ll be watching for ABBA. The performances are strong. The members of the band seem to truly enjoy being on stage and interacting with their fans. Interestingly, the members of ABBA are likable but a bit bland off-stage. They’re people who truly come alive when they’re performing but who are much more subdued and down-to-Earth offstage. Indeed, it almost seems as if Ashley is wasting his time trying to get an interview. In this film, to watch ABBA perform on stage is to know all that you need to know.
This song from Madness is about walking and standing in the rain so, of course, the music video features the members of the band wrecking havoc in Suggs’s ear and Lee Thompson with a rocket strapped onto his back. The video also features several fans of the band hanging out withe Madness and a clever parody of Bob Dylan’s music video for Subterranean Homesick Blues.
The store at the start of the video was “Holts,” a shoe shop in Camden Town. The name of the store has since been changed to British Boot Company.
Who directed this video? I can not find a credited director but Dave Robinson seems like a good suspect since he directed the majority of Madness’s early videos and this video does have the same light-hearted style that he brought to his other videos for the band. But Madness also worked with other directors during this period, including Nigel Dick and Chris Gabrin so who knows for sure?
Through the Shattered Lens 