Category Archives: Music

Music Video of the Day: Anthem For The Year 2000 (1999, directed by Gavin Bowden)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

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!

 

Music Video of the Day: Red Hill Mining Town by U2 (1987, directed by Neil Jordan)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

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!

 

Music Video of the Day: Dancing in the Street, by David Bowie and Mick Jagger (1985, directed by David Mallet)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

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!

Music Video of the Day: We Will Rock You by Warrant (1992, directed by Jeff Stein)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

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!

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!