Category Archives: Music

Music Video of the Day: (We Want) The Same Thing by Belinda Carlisle (1990, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

It’s not quite Heaven Is A Place On Earth but (We Want) The Same Thing did very well for Belinda Carlisle in Europe, where it was enough of a hit to reach the 6th spot on the UK charts.  This was the 6th and final single to be released from Carlisle’s 3rd album, Runaway Horses.  The video alternates between Belinda in love and Belinda performing.

A little bit of Belinda Carlisle trivia: Belinda is the daughter-in-law of the late actor, James Mason.  She married Morgan Mason in 1986.  Before Mason married Belinda, he worked on Ronald Reagan’s first presidential campaign and held a post in the State Department until 1982.  Mason went on to become a film producer.  He and Belinda currently live in Bangkok.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Problem Child by The Beach Boys (1990, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

I have never seen any of the Problem Child films and I have mixed feelings about learning that, in the 90s, The Beach Boys had gone from Pet Sounds to performing the theme song for this particular film.  But none of that matters because we’re all here for Gilbert Gottfried, rest in peace.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Wall of Hate by Shine (1988, directed by Richard Levine)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

To tell the truth, up until 8:03 pm yesterday, I had never hear of Shine nor had I ever heard their first single, Wall of Hate.  It was at 8:03 that I came across an entry for this video over at the Internet Movie Video Database.  I liked the song so I decided to go with it.

This video was uploaded to YouTube by George Wheelwright, who was a member of the group.  In the video’s description, he explains that this was Shine’s first single and that it was released by RCA.  He writes that the song did well on college radio and the video occasionally aired on MTV “but alas didn’t set the world on fire, story of a thousand bands i know, but we had a great time…”  I’m glad they had a great time because it’s actually a pretty good song.  Wheelwright adds that the video was shot around Glasgow.  The video has a very 80s, Miami Vice-like feel to it, as does the song.

Today, I’m featuring this video as a way to honor all of the good bands that “didn’t set the world on fire” but who still produced some damn good music.  If you get a chance, click on the video YouTube link and let George Wheelwright know that the song is still appreciated.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: And We Danced by The Hooters (1985, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today’s music video of the day comes to us from The Hooters, a Philadelphia-based band whose sound will always be identified with the mid-80s.  And We Danced is their biggest hit to date.  It’s certainly the one that most people think of if they think about The Hooters.

This music video, which was hugely popular back when MTV played music videos, was shot at a drive-in theater in Exton, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1985.  Unfortunately, the theater has since been torn down but, in a sense, it will exist forever because of this music video.  The video itself was nominated for a Best New Artist award at the MTV Music Video awards but it lost to Take Me On by a-ha.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: All of My Life by Phil Collins (1990, directed by Jim Yukich)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

What sets All of My Life apart from all of the other adult contemporary, “easy listening” music that Phil Collins released in the 90s is that saxophone solo at the start of the song.  That sax solo almost makes up for all the bland Disney sons that Collins wrote in search of that first Oscar.

As for this video, it’s largely a performance clip but, mixed in, there are a few scenes of Phil Collins going about his everyday life.  Of course, for Phil, everyday life meant a private plane and a luxury tour bus.  What a likeable bloke!  Personally, I don’t care how Phil Collins spent his money.  As the saying goes, “If you’ve got it…”

This video was directed by Jim Yukich.  Yukich was one of those video directors who, if you were a successful musical artist in the late 80s or the 90s, you would probably end up making at least one video with Yukich.  Yukich directed videos for everyone from Iron Maiden to Genesis to REO Speedwagon.  He got around.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Me Myself and I by De la Soul

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

To understand this video, it is necessary to understand how Me Myself and I came to be written in the first place.  While recording their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul was told that they needed to record a song that would serve as an “introduction” and which would also hopefully become a radio hit.  In other words, the label wanted at least one song that wasn’t, as Posdnous put it to Rolling Stone, “so over everyone’s head.”.  Me Myself and I was De La Soul’s way of letting listeners know that they were individuals but they also weren’t hippies.  The band was surprised when it went on to become their biggest hit off the album.

Me Myself and I finds the members of De La Soul as the students of Prof. Defbeat, who ridicules De La Soul for not conforming to the “traditional” hip hop image before the band is finally able to drop out of his class.  The video’s message is summed up by producer Prince Paul, who says, “If you take three glasses of water and put food coloring in them, you have many different colors, but it’s still the same old water. Make the connection?”

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Bombers in the Sky by Thompson Twins (1990, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Like so many of the songs that were written in the 80s and the early 90s, Bombers in the Sky was inspired by the fear of the nuclear war that so many people assumed was, at the time, inevitable.  However, the song was better known for being included on the soundtrack of Gremlins 2.

There are actually two videos for Bombers in the Sky.  They’re both pretty much the same, except that the second video mixes in scenes from Gremlins 2 with the band performing the song.  The second version is the version featured in this post.

Three years after the release of the single, Thompson Twins changed their name to Babble and recorded for three more years before calling it quits.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Back to the Cave by Lita Ford (1989, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

At the risk of getting called a nerd by our readers, when I came across this video and I saw that the song was called Back to the Cave and that the video was released in 1989, my initial thought was, “I didn’t know Lita Ford was on the Batman soundtrack.”

I didn’t know that because she’s not.  The song has nothing to do with Batman.  The title is Back To The Cave, not Back to the Batcave.  The Batman soundtrack was pretty much dominated by Prince and Danny Elfman.  All of this, I should have been able to figure out on my own without resorting to Google and Wikipedia.  Excuse me while I hang my head in shame.

No, this song isn’t in any ways connected to Batman.  Instead, it’s just Lita Ford doing what Lita Ford does best.  The video doesn’t need any gimmickry.  All it needs is Lita Ford being a guitar goddess.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Love In An Elevator (1988, directed by Marty Callner)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Lovin’ it up when I’m goin’ down

I don’t think anyone has ever accused Aerosmith of being a particularly subtle band when it comes to the subject matter of their songs.  That’s one reason why their fans love them.  Love In An Elevator is one of their least subtle songs and, not coincidentally, it’s also one of their most popular.

The elevator operator is played by Brandi Brandt, who was Playboy’s playmate of the month for October of 1987.  She had a brief acting career, one that largely consisted of this video and an appearance on Married With Children.  Many years later, in 2014, she pleaded guilty to smuggling cocaine into Sydney and she did some time in prison in Australia.  Fortunately, she received an early parole and is now safely back in California.

The video was directed by Marty Callner, who directed several videos for not only Aerosmith but almost every other popular band of the period as well.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Always On My Mind, performed by Pet Shop Boys (1988, directed by Jack Bond)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In 1987, ITV commemorated the 10-year anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley by airing Love Me Tender, a special that featured popular British acts covering songs that were originally made famous by Elvis.  Pet Shop Boys’s synth-pop version of Always on My Mind proved to be the unexpected hit of the program and the band released the song as a single.  It went on to become the UK’s Christmas number one single for the year.

It was also featured in It Couldn’t Happen Here, a surreal film that starred Pet Shop Boys and which was directed by documentarian Jack Bond, who had started his career with a ground-breaking film about Salvador Dali and who later became famous for his work with The South Bank Show.  The subsequent music video was lifted from the film.  In the movie and the video, Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant are driving a taxi cab.  They stop to pick up a passenger, an older man played by Joss Ackland.  (In the movie, there’s an earlier scene in which Lowe and Tennant hear a news report about an escaped killed who matches their new passenger’s description.)  While their passenger rambles on, Lowe and Tennant turn on the radio and listen to the song, which leads to several other clips from the film.  And while the critics may not have cared much for It Couldn’t Happen Here, the band’s version of Always On My Mind remains a popular classic.

Enjoy!