For much of 1993, this song and music video was inescapable on MTV. Director Neil Abramson also directed videos for Belinda Carlisle, Enigma, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Dwight Yoakam. Soiuxsie and the Banshees and Dwight Yoakam? The music business makes for some interesting connections.
Enjoy!
Maybe it’s the whistling at the start but I’ve always thought of this as being a Guns N’ Roses country song.
The video was directed by Nigel Dick, who has directed music videos for anybody who is anyone in music. The scenes of the band performing were filmed at The Record Plant, a legendary Los Angeles recording studio, The scenes in the hotel were filmed at the Ambassador, which is the same hotel where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 shortly after winning California’s Democratic presidential primary. At the time the video was shot, the Ambassador had been closed down and was scheduled to be demolished. (It would be another 17 years before the hotel actually was torn down.)
This was the final Guns N’ Roses video to feature drummer Steve Adler, who was fired from the band after the video was shot. Most people who have seen this video will probably agree that the snake is the true star of the production.
Enjoy!
Today will not be that bad if I can introduce just one person to Carmel, one of the best bands that has never really gotten its due. Carmel was formed in 1981 and they’re still performing, touring, and recording new music. Their latest album came out in February of this year.
This video was directed by Dee Trattmann, who also directed several videos for Cliff Richard. I think every British music video director of a certain age did a video or two for Cliff.
Enjoy!
Today, we give a shoutout to Wales with the music video for Spirit of 76, which was written and performed by the Welsh band, The Alarm. In the 80s, The Alarm earned an international fanbase by opening for U2 and, later, Bob Dylan. Just as U2 will always be associated with Ireland, The Alarm will always be associated with Wales. The band is still together and still proudly Wlesh.
This video was directed by Nick Morris, who was one of the busiest music directors of the 80s and the 90s. He also did music videos for Cinderalla, Toto, The Rainmakers, Jennifer Rush, Europe, Eddie Money, Cliff Richard, Warren, and Radiohead among others.
Enjoy!
How did Ozzy Osbourne come to sing a song about television’s most famous lawyer?
Apparently, it came from a session of guitarist Zakk Wylde and keyboardist John Sinclair just improvising. Wylde liked what they came up with and when he shared the music with Osbourne, Osbourne made up the lyrics on the spot. No one seems to know why Ozzy Osbourne had Perry Mason on his mind that particular day. Maybe he had been watching TV.
The music video features a young girl walking through what appears to be death row and spotting Osbourne performing the song in a cell. It was directed by Ralph Ziman, a South African director who, along with doing anti-Apartheid feature films, had also directed the video for the Ozzy Osbourne’s previous hit, No More Tears. It only made sense to bring him back for Perry Mason.
Enjoy!
You can thank Thor for today’s music video of the day.
This video was shot in the Mendiola’s Ballroom at Huntington Park, California. All of the band’s then-girlfriends are featured in the clip. Erin Everly was dating Axl Rose at the time and he wrote the lyrics with her specifically in mind. Sally McLaughlin was dating Slash. Steven Adler was dating Cheryl Swiderski while Duff McKagan was going out with Mandy Brx and Izzy Stradlin was seeing Angela Nicoletti. Unfortunately, I don’t think any of those people are still together but the song still rocks.
The video was directed by Nigel Dick, which is not surprising. From the 80s to the present day, being a star means that Nigel Dick will eventually end up directing a music video for you. Along with doing several other videos for Guns N’ Roses, he’s also done videos for Nickelback, Il Divo, R.E.M., Barry Manilow, Britney Spears, Madness, Iron Maiden, and pretty much every other band that’s ever had a major recording contract. Did his work with Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses prepare him to work with Barry Manilow? We may never know.
Enjoy!
Does anyone remember Silverchair?
They were the band from Australia who got a lot of attention because they were all teenagers who weren’t even old enough to drink when they were big in America. From the minute that Silverchair showed up on MTV in the 90s, it has been fashionable to dismiss them as being overly derivative of the other bands that were popular at the time. That’s a valid complaint and the lead singer always tried too hard to be angsty but Silverchair did get better towards the end of their run and, if they were derivative, they were never as cynically blatant about it as band like Bush was.
Anthem For The Year 2000 is one of their better songs. To understand both the song and the video, you have to think back to what the world was like in 1999, when everyone was worried that Y2K would lead to computer systems shutting down across the world. It was also a time when people were very worried about “the new world order,” as seen by the video’s robot politician. Actually, I guess 1999 isn’t that different from 2022.
Enjoy!
Today it can be easy to forget just how popular and respected U2 was in the late 1980s and throughout the 90s. Even though, from the start, Bono drew a lot of derision for his messianic posturing, there’s no denying that early U2 rocked. Even a song like Red Hill Mining Town, which was probably the weakest song on Joshua Tree, holds up over thirty years later.
The song was inspired by an actual UK miner’s strike and lyrically, it’s a good example of how U2’s good intentions were sometimes obscured by a heavy-handed approach. (Bono later said that, when he heard the song, he realized that he sounded like a rich man singing about someone else’s unemployment.) The video, though, captures the feeling of despair that the song was going for. This video is memorable for being directed by Neil Jordan, who has since gone on to become one of Ireland’s most important filmmakers.
Enjoy!
What do you get when you set David Bowie and Mick Jagger loose in an abandoned flour mill?
You get the video for their version of Dancing In The Street. Their cover of the classic tune by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas was recorded to raise money for the Live Aid famine relief charity. The video was shown twice during the Live Aid event and it also aired before theatrical showings of Ruthless People, a film for which Jagger had contributed to the soundtrack. The video was also a hit on MTV, where it helped to introduce both Bowie and Jagger to a new generation of listeners.
The video was directed by David Mallet, who did the majority of Bowie’s videos in the 80s and 90s.
Enjoy!
Does anyone 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!
Through the Shattered Lens 