Category Archives: Music

Music Video of the Day: Leader of the Pack by Twisted Sister (1985, directed by Marty Callner)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Since today is Dee Snider’s 65th birthday, it makes sense that today’s music video of the day would come to us from Twisted Sister.  It might not make as much sense for that video to be for their cover of Leader of the Pack, which is widely considered to be one of the worst covers of the 80s.  Personally, I think both the cover and the video are a good example of Snider’s sense of humor.  Watching this, it’s hard to believe that Snider and the band were once considered to be a threat to young minds.  I may be picking Leader of the Pack because I think its underrated or I might be picking it because Valerie already did the video for I Wanna Rock.  Take your pick.

The Leader Of The Pack video is from the 80s and it features something that I always love to see in videos from that era: bad green screen special effects.  The anti-Twisted Sister notes from Mom and Dad float through the video like a weatherman superimposed in front of a map of the continental United States.

The video is about a girl who apparently only has room in her heart for Twisted Sister and Leonard Nimoy.  Just check out that giant poster of Spock that she’s got in her bedroom.  Her parents are probably alright with her love of Spock but they can’t stand the thought of their daughter liking Twisted Sister, probably because they think that Tipper Gore has a point about labeling music.  As for the girl, she may be in love with the leader of the pack (Dee, of course) but that doesn’t make her a good driver.  Not only does she wreck that bulky car but she barely survives.  Was it all worth it?

Just ask Bobcat Goldthwait, who plays her boss for some reason.  Goldthwait is instantly recognizable.  I haven’t been able to find the name of the girl in the video, though she looks familiar to me.

This video was directed by Marty Callner, who directed videos for everyone.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Stayin’ Alive by Bee Gees (1989, dir by ????)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Are they Bee Gees or are they The Bee Gees?  I’m not really sure and, quite frankly, I’ve seen it listed as both on several reputable sites.  Regardless, this is a good song.  “The New York Times‘ effect on man” is a nice and random little lyric, even though Tony Manero really didn’t come across like a reader of the Times in Saturday Night Fever.

If you’re ever giving someone CPR, they say that you should do it to the tune of Staying Alive so, if you memorize this song, you’ll be able to save a life.  That’s the type of helpful information that we happily provide to our readers free of charge here at the Shattered Lens.

According to the YouTube description, this from the “One for All Tour” Live concert at the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne 1989, Australia.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: Sad Song by Blake Lewis (2009, dir by Ana Veselic)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I can still remember the night when it was announced that Blake Lewis has lost the sixth season of American Idol to Jordin Sparks.  That was when the world stopped making sense to me.  Nothing against Jordin but how, I wondered, could she have won while Blake was so cute and adorkable!?  It just didn’t make sense to me!

Of course, the judges were never on Blake’s side.  During the final weeks, when it became obvious that the finale would be Blake vs. Jordin, the judges went out of their way to nitpick every performance that Blake gave.  It upset me.  I spent a lot of time that March calling and voting for Blake.  When he lost, American Idol lost me as well.  I’ve never voted since and, of course, I’m now actually an adult so it would hard for me to justify still caring about the show at this point.

(My cousin-in-law Ronny used to say that he would only watch American Idol to see the judges be mean.  Once they stopped being mean, he lost interest.  He had the right idea.  Reality competition shows are so positive now that I have a difficult time watching them.  For instance, last year, I nearly threw my shoes at the TV while trying to watch an episode of America’s Got Talent.  The whole thing where the judges are all crying and going, “YOU!  You are what this competition is about!” is just so creepy and weird.)

Anyway, Blake continued to make music even after losing American Idol.  This is his video for Sad Song, which came off of his second studio album, Heartbreak on Vinyl.  The video is meant to recall both 40s film noir and 80s video glitz and I think it succeeds fairly well.  Blake’s co-star in the video is Casey Carlson, who was featured during the 8th season of American Idol.

Enjoy!

(Speaking of sad songs, my vacation’s nearly over!  Boo hoo, says I.)

Music Video of the Day: In Front Of The Alamo by Hal Ketchum (2007, dir by Glenn Sweitzer)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is Alamo Day.  It was 184 years ago, today, that 600 men gave their lives in the name of Texas.

That’s one of the many things that I think sets us native Texans apart from the rest of the United States.  Texans believe in freedom.  We always have and we always will.  Some of us may be conservative and some of us may be liberal but what we have in common is a desire to do it our own way.

I don’t think I’ve ever been as moved as I was during the days immediately after Hurricane Harvey.  A lot of people outside of the state seemed to think that Harvey was a disaster of such immense proportions that it would lead to the end of both the state’s reputation for independence and our way of life.   So, what did we do?  We did what Texans always do.  We came together and we helped each other.  We did what we could and, when someone came along who could do the job better, we supported them.  We appreciated everyone who came down to lend a helping hand and we checked on our neighbors to make sure that they were okay.  See, that’s the thing about Texas.  We don’t surrender.  We fight and we help those who need it and, for that reason, we’re the greatest state in the union.

(In fact, if we had never joined the United States, the Republic Texas would probably be a world superpower right now.  Oh well.  In the end, it all worked out.)

Anyway. this music video is about the Alamo so it seems appropriate for today!

Enjoy!