Music Video of the Day: Metal Head by Blotto (1982, directed by ????)

Posted on November 20, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

Could this video be more 80s?

Blotto followed up the success of I Wanna Be A Lifeguard with this song, which poked fun at the heavy metal bands that were, at that time, popular on MTV. In the video, lead singer Sarge Blotto finds himself turning into a metal head, which means wearing a bandana and a denim jacket and owning a van. I wonder how MTV felt about this video, which was essentially a good-natured parody of everything that the channel was about in the 80s.

Hailing form Albany, New York, Blotto was a band that never quite hit it big despite having a fervent cult following. An oft-repeated story about the band is that they turned down a major recording contract because they would have had to surrender creative control of their music. Instead, they released their own albums on Blotto Records, which meant less exposure but also more freedom to record what they wanted. Today, a band like Blotto can take their music directly to the people on any number of platforms but, in the early 80s, signing with a major label was the only way to get national exposure.

Blotto disbanded in 1984, though they have occasionally reunited over the years. Unfortunately, Sarge Blotto died on April 10th, 2019. In real life, Sarge Blotto was named Greg Haymes and was a widely respected music journalist.

RIP, Sarge.

Music Video of the Day: Tomorrow’s (Just Another Day) by Madness (1983, directed by Dave Robinson)

Posted on November 19, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

Tomorrow’s (Just Another Day) appeared on Madness’s fourth album, The Rise & Fall. It spent 9 weeks on the British charts, peaking at #8. Like a lot of Madness songs, it didn’t get as much play in the United States as it did in the UK. In fact, in the States, Madness was often incorrectly described as being a one-hit wonder by people who were only familiar with Our House. In fact, Madness is one of the most successful and popular bands to come out of the UK and they’re still performing with six of the seven members of the original line-up. When you consider the number of line-up changes that most bands go through, that’s more than a little amazing.

Tomorrow’s (Just Another Day) opens with a scene that feels like vintage Madness as two end-of-the-world prophets confront each other on a street corner. It then segues into several different scenes. Madness is in jail. Suggs is trying to get into his house. At one point, it appears that band is in danger of turning into Alex and his Droogs from A Clockwork Orange. Suggs has said that, “Madness videos were seven extroverts all mucking about trying to outdo each other,” and that is a good description of what’s going on in a video like this one.

This video was directed by Dave Robinson, who directed several videos for the band.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: A Girl Like You by The Smithereens (1989, directed by John Lloyd Miller)

Posted on November 18, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

This song was originally written to serve as the theme song for Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything… It was ultimately rejected because Cameron Crowe felt that the lyrics gave away the entire plot of the film. Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens, however, argued that the lyrics lend themselves to several different interpretations. Was he right? Judge for yourself:

I used to travel in the shadows
And I never found the nerve to try and walk up to you
But now I am a man and I know that there’s no time to waste
There’s too much to lose
Girl, you say anything at all, and you know that you can call
And I’ll be right there for you
First love, heartbreak, tough luck, big mistake
What else can you do

I’ll say anything you want to hear
I’ll see everything through
I’ll do anything I have to do
Just to win the love of a girl like you, a girl like you

People talk and people stare, tell them I don’t really care
This is the place I should be
And if they think it’s really strange for a girl like you
To be in love with someone like me
I want to tell them all to go to hell
That we’re doing very well without them you see
That’s just the way it is and they will see
I am yours and you are mine, the way it should be

I’ll say anything you want to hear
I’ll see everything through
I’ll do anything I have to do
Just to win the love of a girl like you, a girl like you
A girl like you, oh yeah

Now if I seem a little wild, there’s no holding back
I’m trying to get a message to you
I won’t take anything from anyone
I won’t walk and I won’t run, I believe in you
London, Washington, anywhere you are I’ll run
Together we’ll be
Inside, outside, got my pride
I won’t let ’em take you from me

I’ll say anything you want to hear
I’ll see everything through
I’ll do anything I have to do
Just to win the love of a girl like you, a girl like you
A girl like you, a girl like you
A girl like you, a girl like you, oh yeah
I’ll say anything (I’ll say anything)
I’ll take anything (I’ll take anything)
I’ll say anything, almost anything
Except goodbye
I’ll say anything (I’ll say anything)
I’ll take anything (I’ll take anything)
I’ll say anything, almost anything
Except goodbye

I’m undecided on this one. The lyrics do mention running off to London and Washington, which seems to be a reference to the movie’s final scene. But they also don’t mention anything about the girl’s father getting sent to federal prison for swindling the elderly. I guess both Crowe and DiNizio had a point.

The video for this song is a simple performance clip. It was directed by John Lloyd Miller, who is credited with directing a handful of other videos. Most of them were for the Smithereens but he also directed videos for The Fat Boys, Kool & The Gang, and Melba Moore. He’s also credited as playing “Grumpy Old Man In Bed” in the 1990 horror anthology, Tales of the Unknown.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Blood and Roses by The Smithereens (1986, directed by Albert Pyun?)

Posted on November 17, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

Blood and Roses was the lead single off of The Smithereens’s debut album, Especially For You. In the U.S., it peaked at #14 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart. That’s not bad for the first single from a debut album.

It was also the theme song for a teensploitation film called Dangerously Close. Written by John Stockwell and directed by Albert Pyun, Dangerously Close is about a group of high school students who keep order in their school through fear and intimidation. It’s meant to be a statement about fascism and out-of-control policing but mostly it’s just remembered for being the debut film of future Bond girl and Law & Order actress Carey Lowell. Not surprisingly, the music video duplicates the film’s high school setting.

According to the imdb, this video was also directed by Pyun. However, according to Wikipedia, the video for Blood and Roses features clips from the film, none of which are featured in the video that’s available on YouTube. I’m going to guess that there were two versions of this video, one that just featured the band performing and another one that was done to promote Dangerously Close. Did Pyun direct both of those videos? I don’t know but for now, I’m going to assume that imdb is correct and that Pyun directed the video featured in this post.

Pat DiNizo, lead singer of the Smithereens, would later run for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey as the candidate of the Reform Party. (Remember them?) In the 2000 Senate election, he ran fourth with 0.4% of the vote. That election was won by Jon Corzine. Corzine later went on to serve as governor of New Jersey and did such a terrible job that he was defeated for reelection by Chris Christie. Corzine was then appointed CEO of M.F. Global. Under Corzine’s leadership, M.F. Global went bankrupt, investors lost over $1.2 billion in cash, and at least an extra two years were added to the Great Recession as a result.

In other words: you should have voted for DiNizo, New Jersey!

Enjoy!