Today’s music video of the day is for a song that epitomizes the 80s for a lot of people. I don’t know how many John Hughes’s film featured Hold Me Now but it seems like everyone one of them should have. This was not only the group’s first big hit but the video was a popular one in the early years of MTV. This was one of those videos that proved that even a performance clip could be more than just a video of the band on stage.
Enjoy!
This song is the epitome of Oasis. They set out to be rock ‘n’ roll stars and they succeeded.
The video was filmed at the band’s Live By The Sea gig at Southend-on-Sea. The clips of the band offstage were filmed at Southend Pier. The bowling alley that the band visits later burned down. It’s a fairly simple video from veteran director Nigel Dick. Anyone who has ever been a rock ‘n’ roll star has been directed at least once by Nigel Dick.
Enjoy!
As Butt-Head once put it, while watching this very video, “His teeth are whiter than white.”
As far as commercial success goes, Winger had a brief but good run in the late 80s. Then grunge came along and the musical landscape changed for the better. Winger later found fame as the favorite band of Stewart Stevenson on Beavis and Butt-Head. It was rumored that Winger became Stewart’s favorite band after Kip Winger complained about his videos being criticized by Beavis and Butt-Head. It’s always better to laugh at yourself than to complain because being associated with Stewart is what really robbed Winger of whatever credibility they had. Of course, it didn’t help that Lars Ulrich was seen throwing darts at Kip Winger’s face in the video for Nothing Else Matters.
This video is typical Winger stuff. Kip sings that he’s headed for a heartbreak and you don’t believe him for a minute.
Enjoy!
I have to give credit for Guns N’ Roses. No matter what else may be said about the band, they were responsible for two of the best covers of the 90s, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and Live and Let Die. Both of these covers treat the original version with respect while also sounding very much like the type of music that Guns N’ Roses was known for.
The video for Live and Let Die features footage of the band in concert, mixed in with pictures of them in their younger days. This was also the last Guns ‘N Roses video to feature Izzy Stradlin as being a part of the band. This video was put together by Josh Richman, an actor who was also a friend of the band.
Enjoy!
Today’s music video of the day is one of the three videos that were shot for Iron Maiden’s Man On the Edge. This was one of the first Iron Maiden songs on which Blaze Bayley sang and it was also one of the first that he wrote for the band. The lyrics were inspired by the film Falling Down. That’s the film in which Michael Douglas plays an engineer who snaps. Bayley felt that the film worked as a parable for the frustration that comes from losing a job and the lyrics reflect that.
This video was filmed on location at Masada, Israel. It was directed Simon Hilton, who also directed videos for Robert Plant, The Chemical Brothers, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, and a host of others. Hilton was one of those directors who everyone seems to have worked with at least once.
Enjoy!
“You’re getting paid to wash dishes … not listen to that … rock and roll music!”
This video could properly be called Washing Dishes With Poison. When you wash dishes with KISS, the dishes don’t get done and your boss yells at you. When you wash dishes with Poison, the dishes not only get one but the boss doesn’t even know what to say when he sees how quickly you did them. What’s going on in this video? Did Poison wash the dishes for him? Is that Poison’s idea of a good time?
This video was directed by Marc Reshovsky, who is also credited as being the director of photography on videos by Seal, kd lang, Billy Joel, and Ice Cube. Those are all talented artist but none of them will wash your dishes.
Enjoy!
In this video, Megadeth performs behind a wire fence while their fans attempt to get to the band. It doesn’t have much to do about the song, which is about a man sneaking back into his house after cheating on his girlfriend. But it probably is a fair representation of what it was like to be in a popular thrash metal band in the 80s.
Directing this video was Penelope Spheeris, who has previously celebrated metal in the documentary, The Decline of Wester Civilization Part II. Spheeris would later direct the film for which she is best remembered, Wayne’s World.
Enjoy!
Superstitious was the first single to be released from Europe’s fourth studio album, Out of this World. Out of this World was released in 1990. One album later, Europe would go on a temporary hiatus as grunge and then generic pop replaced Europe’s style of metal as MTV’s favorite style of music. The band reunited in 2003 and has since released six more albums. Europe rocks!
This video for Superstitious was filmed in Long Island, New York. The video was directed by Nick Morris, who was a very busy video director in the 80s and the 90s. He also did the video for Europe’s best-known song, The Final Countdown.
Enjoy!
Watch out! Cinderella’s in a sensitive mood.
Best known for being discovered and initially promoted by Bon Jovi, Cinderella had their biggest hit with Don’t Know What You Got Till It’s Gone. This song made it up to number 12 on the charts in 1986, proving that there was a market of listeners who were eager for overly sensitive hair metal.
The video was shot at Mono Lake, a California lake that is well-known for the large amount of salt that has accumulated in the water. (It has to be known for something, I guess.) This video was directed by Nick Morris, who also directed the video for Europe’s The Final Countdown.
Enjoy!
I met My Dolphin 15 years ago. It was Christmas Day at Kitty Hawk. I didn’t have any kids yet and the presents were done. I was not hungover; those sorts of mornings happened later. It was a nice Christmas; in contrast to my Christmases growing up- they were very scary because of my Old Man. He would try to stay out of his cups for some holidays and that was always much much worse. I remember wishing that he would just drink and get it over with. Christmas Day back in those days were like distilled fear; I’d get smacked around and go for long walks in Virginia until late afternoon broke and my Old Man’s no drinking pledge would subside.
I was older now, but I still got anxious Christmas morning and liked to go for those walks alone. I needed to feel that wind . . . that cold December wind brace against my cheeks. On Christmas, Kitty Hawk has grey skies and bitter salty winds in beautiful abundance. I liked the way the wind smacked me around safely.
I left the beach house front door, shut it smartly, and remembered to lock it and check it. You can’t trust locks and doors at the Outer Banks the rust and decay is ubiquitous and the salt blows through everything like alpha particles clumsily meandering in space toward wherever they want to go. My shoes made that scraping sound where the salt and sand and shoes come together. I turned and looked ahead to the Dunes that I’d crossed thousands of times. There’s always these openings along the beach road that takes you along the length of island, until the next bridge, and the next barrier island and the next and the next. I always entered to the left entrance where it’s filled with countless footprints no matter what time of day; the wooden entrances just don’t have the same feel. I always looked both ways first, not for cars but to see just how empty it was both along the left and right. I went up and down the Dune entrance, seeing the ocean with that green color it has.
I was about to exhale, but then I heard the screams.
I saw a man trying to pull a beached dolphin back into the ocean. It was low tide and he would be pulling and then the dolphin would roll back to shore. Then, I was upon the man and breathing deeply. I had run at a sprint without thinking. The Man was skinny and no older than 30 with a full beard with beat up jeans and a wool sweater. He grabbed me and had tears in his eyes.
“Help!” “I can’t get him in! I already called emergency marine life, but they’re not answering.”
I grabbed the rear fin – (assume that what it’s called), the man grabbed around his center, and we dragged the dolphin towards the water. We were losing our footing. I remember digging against the wet sand, pulling as hard as we all could. His skin was rubbery, but rough from the sand. He tried to help us by bucking to get back into the sea. His blood was on my hands and washed away. With a pull of all of our strength, the Man, the dolphin, and I fell into the mini-shelf where ocean, sand, and pebbles met. The waves would hit and push us all back. This pattern went on ’til our hands were numb and our clothes were heavy and soaked. Every step was like fighting through foot deep wet snow. Finally, the three of us were exhausted.
I pulled the dolphin to the beach by myself; the Man told me that he was going for help, but we knew he wasn’t coming back because he couldn’t meet our eyes. I hugged My Dolphin and looked into his eyes- they had clear awareness and thought; that’s when I knew that for the first time in my life that I was going to have to help a person die.
My Dolphin was so scared. He wasn’t bucking or squirming anymore; we were too tired for that. He was in my arms and looked at me pleadingly. I shook my head, held my tears in, and told My Dolphin- “You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay.”
He sighed, looked away for a moment at the sea, and looked back at me- calmly. His eyes were telling me that it was going to be okay. My Dolphin died in my arms. Then, I let myself weep.
I’m sure that he had a name among his family, but I’ve always called him My Dolphin that is who he is and will remain to me. We all die, but My Dolphin passed in the arms of another person who loved him. We were gonna be okay…. we were gonna be okay.
Through the Shattered Lens 