Category Archives: Music

Music Video of the Day: Taxman, performed by George Harrison and Eric Clapton (1991, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today is Tax Day here in the States so this music video of the day feels especially appropriate.

George Harrison originally wrote this song in 1966. It appeared on Revolver. The song was inspired by the fact that, even tough the Beatles were making a huge amount of money, they were also expected to give a huge amount of that money to the government. Harrison said that the music was inspired by the theme song for the Batman TV series and once you learn that, it’s impossible to listen to this song without thinking, “Batman!”

This performance is from a 1991 concert in Japan and features Harrison’s frequent collaborator and friend, Eric Clapton. Eric Clapton has said that he originally disliked the Beatles because he felt that they were too “poppy,” and that he preferred the blues. Clapton, of course, went on to collaborate with all four of the Beatles on several different projects. When it appeared that Harrison had left the Beatles during the tense recording of the album that would become Let It Be, John Lennon briefly speculated about replacing him with Clapton. Harrison, however, returned to the band and the Beatles broke up shortly afterwards.

(Clapton, for his part, says that if Lennon ever had made the offer, he would have refused because of his friendship with Harrison.)

In 1969, following his famous spiritual awakening, George Harrison would tell BBC Radio, “”No matter how much money you’ve got, you can’t be happy anyway. So you have to find your happiness with the problems you have and you have to not worry too much about them.”

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Not The End of the World by Katy Perry (2020, dir by Similar But Different)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I used to really like Katy Petty and then I ended up getting annoyed with her because Firework was so extremely overplayed and the whole “feud” with Taylor Swift just made me roll my eyes at both of them. However, I’ve recently come back to liking Katy Perry and appreciating her style of music. While everyone else was getting self-important and embracing the gloom, Katy was discovering how to live again, as you can hear with this song and see in this video. Ultimately, this song is right. It’s not the end of the world and some people out there kind of need to accept that.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: I Want You Back by *NSYNC (1996, dir by Jeff Clark)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The year was 1996 and Justin, JC, Chris, Lance, and Joey were so depressed over losing “you” that they had to go into outer space and start dancing. Listen, we’ve all been there. Thank you, *NSYNC, for not holding back.

This music video of the day is dedicated to anyone who has ever unfollowed me on social media.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Across The Miles by Survivor (1988, directed by Jim Yukich)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Every story has to end somewhere and for Survivor, it was pretty much with the release of this single. Though Across The Miles was one of their biggest hits, the album from which it came, Survivor’s seventh studio album Too Hot To Sleep, was not. The album was considered to be a commercial disappointment and the band went on hiatus after it was released. There would not be another Survivor album until 2006’s Reach.

To date, Across The Miles is Survivor’s final original single. (Eye of Tiger reentered the singles chart in 2007, coinciding the release of Rocky Balboa and the Best of Rocky soundtrack compilation.) The video for Across the Miles does feature one woman waiting for a phone call in a lonely room but it’s mostly just a clip of the band performing. Like many of the videos from the time, it’s shot in noirish black-and-white.

Director Jim Yukich directed music videos for almost everyone. If you were a band whose music appeared on the Adult Contemporary charts, it’s probable that Jim Yukich did a video for you.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Walking Down Your Street by the Bangles (1987, directed by Gary Weis)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Yes, that’s a youngish and less crazed-looking Randy Quaid, playing the truck driver who asks the Bangles if they want to walk like an Egyptian. It can sometimes be surprising to remember that, before he dedicated his life to exposing the Star Whackers, Randy Quaid was a busy and popular character actor.

Little Richard also shows up towards the end of this video. There’s no chance of ever mistaking Little Richard for being anyone other than Little Richard.

This video was directed by Gary Weis, who is best-known for directing short films for the first few seasons of Saturday Night Live. You know that black-and-white film where John Belushi goes to a cemetery and talks about how he outlived the entire cast? Weis directed that. He also directed Steve Martin’s first stand-up special and several concert films.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: It’s Not Love by Dokken (1986, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Back in the 1980s, you never knew when a glam metal band might suddenly drive by your home or your office, inviting you to rock out to the thundering beat of the band and the vibrato-laden lyrical stylings of a lead singer like Don Dokken.

This video for Dokken’s It’s Not Love has everything:

An opening shot of a hot blonde getting into a truck? Check!

A dancing homeliness man? Check!

The band rocking out as they’re driven through Los Angeles? Check!

Groupies? Check!

A shout-out to pioneering underground radio station KMET 94.7? Double check!

Thank you, Dokken, for doing it the 80s way!

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Mother by Danzig (1988, directed by Ric Menello)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Originally, I was going to post this on Sunday but this is probably not an appropriate Mother’s Day song. One rumor is that this song is about a young Satanist telling his parents not to try to lead him away from the lifestyle that he wants. Danzig, himself, once said that the mother he was singing to was meant to be Tipper Gore, who was big on banning heavy metal music and whose then-husband, Albert Gore, was actually a part of a Senate committee looking into “obscene” music.

This is the first video for Mother. Danzig redid the song in 1993 and came out with a second video as well. I prefer the first video because Danzig doesn’t dance. As Beavis and Butthead said when they viewed Danzig shaking his hips in the second video, “That little dance wasn’t very cool.”

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Blaze of Glory by Jon Bon Jovi (1990, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

To be honest, I’m neither a huge fan of Bon Jovi or Young Guns II but Blaze of Glory is still a rocker of a song, one that both makes the film it appears in better and which can also stand on its own. Jon Bon Jovi captured the feel of a great western with this song, in a way that he tried too hard and failed to do with Dead or Alive.

Of course, the video is full of footage from Young Guns II. It’s not only a good music video but it’s a good trailer as well. The only problem is that it almost reveals the plot of the entire movie.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Back For More by RATT (1984, directed by Matt Rezyka)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Like a lot of people, I was shocked and saddened when I heard yesterday that Tawny Kitaen had died at the age of 59. Though Kitaen is arguably best-known for appearing in a series of music videos for Whitesnake, her first music video appearance was in today’s music video of the day.

In this video, Kitaen plays one of two women who apparently really love RATT. (At the time, she was dating the group’s guitarist, Robbin Crosby.) When she puts the Out of the Cellar album on the jukebox, it mystically summons two members of the RATT. Soon, Tawny and her friends are running out on the check, stealing cars, and eventually getting pulled over by two cops who turn out to be Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee! At the end of the video, Milton Berle shows up, recreating a role that he played in an earlier RATT video. Milton’s nephew, Marshal, was the band’s then-manager.

Despite the presence of Uncle Miltie and two members of the Motely Crue, this video today is all about Tawny Kitaen, who is young, beautiful, and appears to have not a care in the world. Rest in peace, Tawny.

Music Video Of The Day: In the City by Eagles (1979, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Joe Walsh, who joined the Eagles in 1976, originally wrote and performed In The City for the 1979 cult classic, The Warriors. Around the same time that The Warriors came out, The Eagles released their sixth studio album, The Long Run, which featured the full band’s version of In The City.

This was an early music video, released before MTV was even a thing and when music vides were still viewed as largely being a novelty. Like most of the music videos of the era, it’s a simple performance clip.

Enjoy!