Category Archives: Music

Music Video of the Day: Take My Breath Away by Berlin (1986, directed by Marcello Anciano)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Take My Breath Away was written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock after the producers of Top Gun realized that they needed a romantic scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis and that they would need something other than Danger Zone to play during it.  (Originally, the love scene wasn’t in the finished film but when test audiences said that they would like to see one, Cruise and McGillis were brought back to quickly shoot one.  McGillis had dyed her hair for another film, which is why the scene itself is shot in silhouette.)

The song was originally offered to The Motels but it was eventually recorded by Berlin.  (Terri Nunn, the lead singer of Berlin, was one of the contenders for the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars and would have been cast in the role if, for some reason, Carrie Fisher hadn’t worked out.)  Like most of the soundtrack-related music videos of the 80s, the video for Take My Breath Away is a mix of clips from the film and clips of the band performing.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Who’s Crying Now by Journey (1981, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Love them or hate them, Journey is band that just epitomized an era.  Who’s Crying Now, which was the first single off of their Escape album, was one of their biggest hits.  Until 2009, it was Journey’s top-charting hit in the UK.  (Interestingly, it was Don’t Stop Believin’ that dethroned Who’s Crying Now from that spot as the result of Don’t Stop Believin’ being featured on an episode of The X-Factor 28 years after it was initially released.)

As with most of Journey’s music videos, the video for Who’s Crying Now keeps thing simple with the band performing the song.  Journey wouldn’t try to do a conceptual video until 1983’s infamous video for Separate Ways.  We all know how that turned out.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Problem Child by AC↯DC (1976, directed by Russell Mulcahy)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Here’s the thing about AC/DC.

When it came to music videos, they’ve never needed to do anything fancy.  They’re not one of those bands that needs a bunch of bells and whistles to look impressive.  All they have to do is come out on stage and rock.  Their best music videos are usually very simple performance clips, like this one.

This video was filmed at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, Australia.  If it looks rough, that’s because it was supposed to be a part of a large concert film but the film’s backers ran out of money before any major post-production work could be done.  The rough look, however, works for AC/DC.  They are a band that could handle looking rough.

Russell Mulchay, of course, went on to direct multiple videos for Duran Duran, along with Highlander.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: I’m Bored by Iggy Pop (1979, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Listening to the lyrics and watching the video, I think Iggy Pop might have been bored when he came up with this song.

This song is off of Iggy’s third studio album, New Values.  This was the first of Iggy Pop’s solo albums to not have had any involvement from David Bowie.  New Values was well-received by the critics but it wasn’t a commercial success, peaking at #180 on the Billboard Top 200.  Among the album’s notable fans is Charles Thompson IV, who is better known by the names Frank Black and Black Francis.  It’s easy to imagine I’m Bored as a Pixies song, isn’t it?

While Iggy Pop was promoting New Values in Australia, he appeared on the show Countdown, which was Australia’s version of American Bandstand and Top of the Pops.  In an appearance that would subsequently become legendary, Iggy Pop made no attempt to hide the fact that he was lip-syncing I’m Bored and, at one point, he even stuffed his microphone down his pants and attempted to dance with the teenage girls in the audience.  After the “performance,” Iggy was interviewed by the show’s host and spent the entire time jumping up and down on his chair and shouting, “G’Day, mate!” in a mock-Australian accent.  The video for I’m Bored was subsequently filmed in New Zealand.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: Crackerbox Palace by George Harrison (1976, directed by Eric Idle)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Yes, this video was directed by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame.  Idle appears in the video, as does Neil Innes.  (Innes plays several roles, including the woman pushing the carriage at the start of the video.)  This video was shot on the grounds of Harrison’s estate, Friar Park (which was also known as, you guessed it, Crackerbox Palace).  The video made its debut on the November 20th, 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live.  SNL, that week, was hosted by Paul Simon and featured both Simon and Harrison as the musical guests.

The name Crackerbox Palace was originally used as the name for the Los Angeles estate that was owned by Lord Buckley, a comedian who was admired by Harrison and whom it was felt that Harrison physically resembled.  Harrison wrote the song after meeting Lord Buckley’s former manager, George Grief.  Harrison also payed homage to Blazing Saddles in the song, repeating Madeline Khan’s famous line of “It’s twoo, it’s twoo” during the instrumental breaks.

This whimsical video reflects Harrison’s sense of humor (not to mention Idle’s).  Harrison, with his reputation for being the spiritual Beatle, never seems to get enough attention for his sense of humor.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: Tommy Gun by The Clash (1978, directed by Don Letts)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

“I was saying us rock ‘n’ rollers are all posers and egomaniacs, but we know that terrorists are as bad, or worse than we are. They definitely love to read their own press… I know they dedicate their life to a cause, but they’re always posing for pictures.”

— Joe Strummer, on Tommy Gun

It’s always hard for me to listen to The Clash without also thinking about the way that Johnny Lydon dismissed them as not being a real punk band.  (Lydon was fond of pointing out that Strummer was a diplomat’s son and that he had previously been in a “pub band” before getting involved with punk scene.)  Johnny may have had a point about The Clash never really being as working class as they claimed to be, though that didn’t stop him from collaborating with members of the band on a few projects after The Clash broke up.  Still, I’ve always liked The Clash’s music.

Tommy Gun was the band’s take on international terrorism.  When it was first released, there was some controversy over whether the band was pro-terrorism or anti-terrorism.  As with many of The Clash’s songs, it could be read both ways.  It was The Clash’s first top twenty hit in the UK, peaking at #19.

This video was one of the first of many to be directed by Don Letts.  Some sources say that this was the first video that Letts shot for the band, though Lett’s video for The Clash’s White Riot was actually released before the video for Tommy Gun.  I don’t know how true that is but I do know that Letts went on to direct several videos for both The Clash and Mick Jones’s Big Audio Dynamite.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Maybe Tomorrow Maybe Tonight by Earth and Fire (1973, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

For today’s music video of the day, we have another song from the Dutch progressive band, Earth and Fire. I wrote a little about the history of Earth and Fire yesterday.

This is off of their third album, Atlantis.  From what I can tell, Maybe Tomorrow Maybe Tonight was the only single released off of Atlantis.  It was a hit for the band, breaking into the top ten in both their native Netherlands and in Belgium.  It only reached the 44th position in the German charts.  Who knows why.

This video, like the majority of the music videos from the 70s, is a performance clip.  Apparently, it was originally filmed for a Dutch television show.

Enjoy!