Mark Wahlberg, the man once known as Marky Mark, is 54 years old today. That’s the type of news that really makes you realize how quickly time passes.
GoodVibrations was Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg’s first MTV-promoted music video. The woman in the video is model Traci Bingham, who later went on to appear on Baywatch. Boxer Mickey Ward was brought in to show the 18 year-old Marky Mark how to convincingly throw a punch in the ring. Years later, Wahlberg would play Mickey Ward in TheFighter.
I would love to be able to go back to 1991 and tell everyone that Marky Mark was destined to be an Oscar nominee. They would be so shocked that they probably wouldn’t even flinch when I told them that, when Marky Mark turned 54, Donald Trump was serving his second nonconsecutive term as President.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to Shane Kippel!
Shane Kippel, as I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, played Spinner Mason on Degrassi: The Next Generation. He started out as the school bully but, by the time the third season began, he was pretty much the heart of the ensemble. How cool was Shane Kippel? He was so cool that Spinner ended up getting held back three times just so there would be an excuse to keep Kippel on the show!
(“What type of idiot fails his own language!?” Spinner once said when confronted with his grade in English. Oh, Spinner!)
Today’s song of the day features Shane Kippel on drums. From Degrassi, here is Downtown Sasquatch with Dust!
(The other members of the band are Jake Epstein on vocals, Aubrey Graham on guitar, and Adamo Ruggiero on bass.)
The Power Station was one of the best supergroups of the 80s. Made up of Robert Palmer, Chic’s Tony Thomas, and Duran Duran’s John and Andy Taylor, this group may have started as a whim (with Thomas and the Taylors specifically wanting to to do a cover of T. Rex’s Get It On) but it’s first record was such a hit that it led to the band going on tour and also singer Robert Palmer leaving the band to pursue his solo career.
Originally, the band wanted to have a rotating list of lead singers. Palmer was recruited just to sing Communication but when Palmer also said he wanted to sing Get It On, it led to Thomas and the Taylors hiring him to sing on all the songs on the album. After Palmer left, he was replaced by Michael Des Barres.
Communication was one of three music videos that The Power Station released for their debut album. It was directed by Julian Caidan, who is better-known for his work as an editor. Caidan went on to direct several music videos for Robert Palmer’s solo career and he also did the video for Iron Maiden’s Stranger in a Strange Land, which is about as far away from Robert Palmer as you can get.
As a guy from Toad Suck, Arkansas, I’ve always loved this early breakout song from 2005 for the country group, Little Big Town. As the song says:
“I feel no shame, I’m proud of where I came from, I was born and raised in the boondocks.”
One of the group’s members, Phillip Sweet, is actually from Arkansas which makes it even “sweeter!” So if you’re proud of where you came from, no matter if it’s the biggest city or the most backwoods boondocks, sit back and enjoy this classic from Little Big Town!
Along with it’s breathtaking cinematography, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar also features a beautiful and haunting musical score. Just listen to today’s song of the day.
This song is off of Anthrax’s sixth studio album, Sound of White Noise and it was one of their bigger hits from the John Bush era. No less than James Hetfield referred to this as being a “perfect song.” The video mixes surreal imagery with clips of the band playing.
If the man with the mirror looks familiar, that’s because he’s played by Frank Silva, who was also Killer Bob on Twin Peaks. This was Silva’s only role outside of Twin Peaks.
Director Paul Elledge was a photographer who also directed videos for Ministry.