Music Video of the Day: Sussudio by Phil Collins (1985, directed by Jim Yukich)


The music video for Sussudio was filmed at The Princess Victoria, a London pub that, at the time, was owned by Richard Branson.

This video was directed by Jim Yukich, a frequent Collins collaborator who has basically directed videos for everyone who was anybody in the music business.

Enjoy!

Song of the Day: Immortal Imperium (by Jesper Kyd)


Jesper Kyd’s Immortal Imperium is one of those tracks that immediately tells you exactly where you are: deep in the grim, overbuilt nightmare of Warhammer 40,000. It has that massive, oppressive scale the setting needs, but it never settles for sounding like generic sci-fi battle music. The heavy electronic pulse, ominous choir work, and mechanical textures make it feel like a hymn being blasted through the speakers of a hive city while factories churn, alarms scream, and thousands of people march toward jobs or wars they probably will not survive.

What makes the piece work so well is how naturally it channels 40K’s particular brand of gothic industrial opera. The choirs bring in the religious side of the Imperium, with all its worship, ceremony, and Emperor-centered fanaticism, while the synths and pounding rhythms supply the cold machinery beneath it all. It sounds sacred, but in an intimidating and almost inhuman way. You can picture enormous cathedral walls covered in smoke, servitors working beneath statues of saints, and the constant hum of ancient systems that nobody fully understands anymore.

Kyd also captures the fact that the Imperium is supposed to be impressive and horrifying at the same time. Immortal Imperium has real grandeur to it; the music makes the setting feel enormous, ancient, and powerful. But there is no clean sense of triumph in it. The momentum feels more like an endless machine pushing forward, powered by fear, faith, violence, and habit. That is very much the Darktide version of 40K: humanity is still standing, technically, but it is surviving inside a decaying system that treats every person as another disposable part.

As a soundtrack piece, Immortal Imperium does a great job of making Tertium feel bigger than the missions themselves. Even when the player is just fighting through corridors, sewage systems, transit stations, or ruined manufactorums, this kind of music reminds you that those spaces are part of a colossal and uncaring empire. It is dramatic, grimy, religious, mechanical, and weirdly beautiful—the exact mix that makes Warhammer 40,000 such a distinctive universe.

Music Video of the Day: 2010 by Andy Summers (1984, dir by ????)


Conceived and performed by Andy Summers, the guitarist for the Police, 2010 was a re-imagining of Also Sprach Zarathustra and was included as part of the soundtrack of the 1984 film, 2010: The Year We Make Contact.  Though the song itself did not appear in the film, a music video featuring scenes from 2010 was put together for the song and was occasionally played on MTV.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Unchained by Van Halen (1981, directed by ????)


Today’s music video of the day is an early one from Van Halen.  Coming from 1981, this video was a product of the time when videos were usually performance clips that focused on showing off the skills of the musicians.

As with all of the early Van Halen videos, this one balances the technical skills and talent of Eddie Van Halen with David Lee Roth’s sense of showmanship.  David Lee Roth and Van Halen had their conflicts but they were always at their best when they were performing together.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Somewhere Down The Crazy River by Robbie Robertson (1988, directed by Martin Scorsese)


This video was directed by Martin Scorsese, who was frequently described as being one of Robbie Robertson’s best friends.  (Robertson is also credited as having been the music supervisor for many of Scorsese’s films.)  This was Scorsese’s second music video to direct, following Michael Jackson’s Bad.

Appearing with Robertson in the video is Maria McKee, the singer who may best known for “If Love Is A Red Dress (Hang Me In Rags),” which appeared on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.