Category Archives: Music

Music Video of the Day: Stuck In The Middle With You by Stealers Wheel (1973, dir by ????)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, we all know this song, don’t we?

Apparently, this song was inspired by a music industry cocktail party that the band attended.  It was also apparently inspired by Bob Dylan’s feelings towards the industry, though Dylan was not involved in recording or performing the song.

As for the video, what’s interesting is how literally it interprets the song.  Seriously, the poor guy really is stuck in the middle and he really does have clowns and jokers to either side of him!

Nobody loses an ear in this video.  That would come later….

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: Runaway Boys by Stray Cats (1980, directed by Derek Burbidge)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

“‘Runaway Boys’ being a little more of a song, song, not just a turnarond song, that took us a while to put together. Jim Phantom helped with the lyrics and it took a while to get right. I came up with bass going chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, and wrote the song around that. I mean there’s no set rules, I’ll have an idea in the shower, I’ll come up with the riff or something, I’ll have it floating around in my head, I’ll get an idea and I’ll get inspired to write some lyrics, I’ll get a real catchy phrase that I like. I’ll hear someone saying something and I think, oh that’s great and he actually said something else. I don’t know, there’s no way of putting any, it doesn’t make any sense, it just comes to you.”

— Brian Setzer on Runaway Boys

Since today is Brian Setzer’s birthday, it just seems right that today’s music video of the day should come from Stray Cats.  Runaway Boys was the band’s first big hit in the UK, though it would take the U.S. a little longer to get with the program and embrace the genius that is Setzer.

This video was directed by Derek Burbidge, who directed a number of videos in the 80s.  In fact, most of the videos for The Police were done by Burbidge.  He also did the famous video for Gary Numan’s Cars.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Looks That Kill by Motley Crue (1983, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This is a really dumb video but it’s Mötley Crüe so why should that come as a surprise?

Like almost every heavy metal video that came out in the early 80s, this one is set in an apocalyptic future.  There’s a group of women who look like they just escaped from a dress rehearsal for Cats. Mötley Crüe shows up looking like KISS and carrying torches.  There’s a battle.  The band puts the women in a cage and then performs a concert for them, which I don’t know if you want your music video to say that you have to actually imprison people to force them to listen to your band.  One of the women fights back.  The video ends with a pentagram because Satan’s cool.

It’s Mötley Crüe.  It really doesn’t demand much thought and at least Kip Winger’s not in the band.  I may think it’s stupid but you know who probably loved this video?  These two:

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: The Prisoner by Iron Maiden (1982, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Inspired by the cult 60s television show that was created by and starred Patrick McGoohan, The Prisoner is one of Iron Maiden’s best songs.  This music video is taken from a 1982 performance at the Hammersmith Odeon.  One thing I like about this performance is that, even in the live show, the song still opened with a recording of McGoohan being interrogated in The Prisoner.

According to the band, getting McGoohan’s permission to use the dialogue from the show was the most intimidating part of recording The Prisoner.  The band’s manager, Rod Smallwood, was the one who called McGoohan.  McGoohan has apparently never heard of Iron Maiden but when Smallwood told them that they were a “rock band,” McGoohan said, “Do it!” and then promptly hung up on him.

Did I pick this song for music video of the day because I’m currently going stir crazy as a result of being locked down for three weeks?  No comment.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Livin’ On The Edge by Aerosmith (1993, directed by Marty Callner)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Written during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Livin’ On The Edge was the first single off of Aerosmith’s 11th studio album, Get A Grip.  It’s still one of their most commercially successful songs to date, spending nine weeks at the number one spot on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.

The video features Edward Furlong, living a life almost as dangerous as the life lived by the delinquents in the video for Skid Row’s 18 and Life.  Furlong, fortunately, manages to survive his time living on the edge.  Furlong did this video shortly after starring in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The video also features Joe Perry playing a guitar solo in front of an incoming train.  This scene was filmed on Lake Britton Bridge in Shasta County, California.  The same bridge also appears in Stand By Me.  If I remember correctly, at the same time that this video came out, there was also a PSA about the dangers of walking on railroad tracks that used to show up on television constantly.  The spot featured two kids walking across a bridge, much like the one featured in this video when a train starts bearing down on them.  At the end of the PSA, one of the kids manages to get off the bridge and then has to watch as the train runs over his slower friend.  Whenever I see this video or hear this song, that’s what I think of.

This video was directed by Marty Callner, who directed the majority of Aerosmith’s videos.

Enjoy!