Music Video of the Day: Aeroplane by Red Hot Chili Peppers (1996, directed by Gavin Bowden)

Posted on August 6, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

A song about drug abuse that features a children’s chorus?

Not creepy at all!

Aeroplane makes a lot more sense if you know that it’s based on a traditional blues song called Jesus is my Areoplane. In their version of the song, the Chili Peppers are saying that music has saved them and taken them to a higher plane of existence. Whenever Anthony Kiedis struggled with his addictions and was tempted to turn to dust in his kitchen, it was music that kept him from destroying himself. The original song was about people flying away with Jesus. The Chili Peppers are flying away with songs like this one. The Chili Peppers might be going to Hell but at least they got to make some music and shoot his video with a group of smoking hot models and synchronized swimmers.

The children’s chorus, which shows up at the end and changes the entire feel of the video, were reportedly all friends of Flea’s daughter. Flea’s daughter is among the children singing. At the end of the song, when you hear one girl outsinging all the rest with “You’re my areoplane!,” that’s her.

Enjoy!

Song of the Day: Gui La Testa by Ennio Morricone

Posted on August 5, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s song of the day comes from Ennio Morricone’s score for Sergio Leone’s 1971 film, Duck, You Sucker! Also known as A Fistful of Dynamite, this is probably Leone’s most underrated film and Morricone’s excellent score seems to be a bit underrated as well.

Though it may have been dismissed when originally released, many critics have recently discovered that the film actually holds up surprisingly well. So does Morricone’s score.

From Duck, You Sucker!:

Previous Entries In Our Tribute To Morricone:

Music Video of the Day: Hell In A Bucket by Grateful Dead (1987, directed by Len DellAmico)

Posted on August 5, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

I may be going to Hell in a bucket but at least I’m enjoying the ride

The members of the Grateful Dead didn’t do many music videos. I think Hell In A Bucket was their second video, following the surprise hit that they had with A Touch of Grey. From what I’ve read, it was the band’s record label that insisted that the band make some videos to help promote their 12th studio album, In the Dark. Some members of the band were concerned that agreeing to do music videos would mean that they were “selling out.”

The video for Hell In A Bucket feels like it could be a parody of the type of videos that were popular on MTV. With his Miami Vice-Style outfit and the way he mugs for the camera, Bob Weir almost seems like he could be Huey Lewis’s coked-out older brother. The video opens in a biker bar, populated with the type of rough characters who most bands would never dream of featuring in a video. While Jerry Garcia keeps his distance, Bob Weir sings a song of rock and roll decadence that seems to be saying, “This is what it’s all really about.”

No, I don’t know why there’s a duck at the bar. It’s just there. Jerry daughter’s Trixie is also in the video. She plays one of the dancing devils.

Enjoy!

Song of the Day: The Main Theme From For A Few Dollars More by Ennio Morricone

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Continuing our tribute to Ennio Morricone, today’s song of the day is the main theme from 1965’s For A Few Dollars More. If Sergio Leone’s version of the old west was as a mythological landscape, Morricone’s music was always the perfect soundtrack.

Previous Entries In Our Tribute To Morricone:

Music Video of the Day: Embarrassment by Madness (1980, directed by ????)

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

“We were trying to do Motown with this one. Lee Thompson’s sister had a baby with a black man and it caused consternation in his family. It’s a great lyric – really sensational. You couldn’t believe such sensitivity could come from such a rough diamond, but Lee is one of the best lyricists of his time. We were having trouble with people associating us with the NF, so it was nice to establish once and for all that we weren’t.”

— Suggs on Embarrassment

The NF that Madness’s frontman refers to was the National Front, a fascist British political party that was at the height of its prominence when Embarrassment was recorded. Because Madness was a ska band and because many of the skinheads who supported the National Front were also into ska music, Madness had to spend a good deal of their early career just assuring people that they were not themselves supporters of the National Front. (Today, of course, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could listen to any of Madness’s songs and mistake them for supporters of the NF.) This song, which sympathetically tells the story of a woman who has been rejected by her racist family because she’s having a black man’s baby, is not only a repudiation of everything the NF stood for but it’s also one of Madness’s rare “serious” songs.

Enjoy!

Song of the Day: The Main Theme From A Fistful of Dollars by Ennio Morricone

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Our tribute to Ennio Morricone will be coming to a close at the end of this week. We’ve shared a lot of unforgettable music from Morricone and hopefully, we’ve encouraged you to track down a few of the films that he scored. Obviously, there’s no way that we could do a tribute to Morricone without including the main theme from Sergio Leone’s first Spaghetti western, A Fistful of Dollars.

Though it may not be as well known as Morricone’s scores for The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and Once Upon A Time In The West, it’s just as epic. The real old west may not have featured Morricone’s music playing in the background but it definitely should have.

Here is the main theme from A Fistful of Dollars!

Previous Entries In Our Tribute To Morricone:

Music Video of the Day: Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi (1987, directed by Wayne Isham)

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

Jon Bon Jovi has said that the inspiration for Wanted Dead or Alive came to him one morning while he struggling to sleep on a tour bus. It occurred to him that being in a rock band was much like being an old west outlaw. As Bon Jovi described it, a rock band was “a young band of thieves, riding into town, stealing the money, the girls, and the booze before the sun came up.” I’m not sure that every rock band would agree with that description but, judging from the deathless success of this song, it worked for Bon Jovi.

(I’m also not sure how many old west outlaws came out of New Jersey.)

The video was directed by Wayne Isham and the black-and-white cinematography is courtesy of Derek M. Allen. It was shot over the course of Bon Jovi’s 1987 world tour and it features scenes that were shot at venues all over the United States. The theme of the video is that life on the road is hard and Bon Jovi works really hard. Looking at other music videos that were released around the same time as this one, I’ve noticed that hard work is a recurring theme in many of them. Bands, especially ones that were often dismissed as being “hair bands,” really wanted to make sure people knew that a tremendous amount of work into their performances.

You have to give Bon Jovi some credit. Their music not only epitomized an era but, as a band and with the exception of Richie Sambora, they’re largely stuck together and continued to rock. That’s more than you can say for Winger.

Enjoy!

Song of the Day: Main Theme From An Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion by Ennio Morricone

Posted on August 2, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, we’re starting in on the final week of our tribute to Ennio Morricone so today, I want to share one of his most important compositions.

The 1970 film, Investigation Of A Citizen About Suspicion, was a dark satire about police corruption and murder in Italy. It was not only critically acclaimed but it also won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. (That award is now known as Best International Film.) The success of this film showed that Morricone was more than just a composer of epic Western themes and it also introduced his music to a whole new group of filmgoers.

Here is Morricone’s Main Theme From Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion:

Previous Entries In Our Tribute To Morricone:

Music Video Of The Day: Rush Rush by Debbie Harry (1983, directed by ????)

Posted on August 2, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

Remember when we used to drive around Liberty City listening to this song?

Even though Rush Rush may be best known to some for its use in Grand Theft Auto III, it was actually first recorded for the soundtrack of Scarface. This was Debbie Harry’s second collaboration with producer Giorgio Moroder. Their first collaboration was Call Me, which shot to number one on the charts. Rush Rush was slightly less popular, peaking at #105 in the U.S.

The video features people watching and reacting to footage of Debbie Harry. Interestingly enough, this video came out around the same time as David Cronenberg’s Videodrome, which featured James Woods doing the same thing.

Enjoy!

Song of the Day: Main Theme From Autopsy by Ennio Morricone

Posted on August 1, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 1975 film Autopsy is a great giallo, one that definitely deserves to be better known than it is. Another thing that deserves to be better known is Ennio Morricone’s wonderful score for this film. Hence, today’s song of the day: Ennio Morricone’s Main Theme From Autopsy!