Going Back to Cali was a song that originally appeared on the Less Than Zero soundtrack. Supposedly, the song is as much about producer Rick Rubin’s ambivalence towards Los Angeles as it is about LL Cool J’s feelings towards the city.
The video was directed by Ric Menello, who best-known for his work with the Beastie Brothers and for his later collaborations with director James Gray. One of the dancers is MTV VJ Martha Quinn, who was dating the video’s cinematographer at the time.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to the Flaming Lips’s Wayne Coyne! Our music video of the day is for The Golden Path, his classic collaboration with The Chemical Brothers.
That is Fran Kranz, who acted in The Cabin In The Woods and who directed the brilliant Mass, playing the lead character.
I was thinking of re-binging The Sopranos next month and that led to me remembering this totally awesome bit of music from the show’s third season premiere!
Rest in Peace to Bob Weir. A founding member of the Grateful Dead, Weir passed away yesterday at the age of 78.
Today’s music video of the day was also the Grateful Dead’s first. Touch of Grey introduced the Dead to the MTV generation and caused a notable rise in the band’s popularity. The shots of the audience were taken from a Dead show in Monterey, California. The scenes with marionettes were filmed at Laguna Seca Raceway. Director Gary Gutierrez was a longtime associate of the band who had previously created the animation sequences for The Grateful Dead Movie.
Today is Rod Stewart’s 81st birthday and today’s music video of the day is One More Time, taken from his 32nd studio album, The Tears of Hercules. Appearing with Stewart in this video are his actual backup singers, Amanda Miller, Holly Brewer, and Becca Kotte.
Rod Stewart holds the record for being the artist featured most frequently during MTV’s first day of broadcast. On August 1st, 1981, MTV featured eleven of his videos.
Johnny Cash’s “Cocaine Blues” rolling over Lucy gleefully mowing down the ghoul Elvis-faction is one of those perfectly twisted Fallout moments — absurd, violent, and darkly funny. The song’s tale of a killer singing about his own crimes while Lucy grins through the carnage gives the whole scene a warped playfulness. Cash’s deliberate rhythm, all swagger and doom, turns what could’ve been grim into something closer to a dance — a gunslinging ballet where the wasteland’s chaos feels almost celebratory. That contrast is what makes it pop.
In that moment, “Cocaine Blues” becomes more than just needle-drop nostalgia; it’s commentary on Lucy’s transformation. She’s still got that vault-born cheer in her step, but now there’s something unhinged behind it — she’s caught up in the thrill. The imagery of her gunning down rhinestoned ghouls to Cash’s steady beat blurs innocence and indulgence — she’s no longer reacting to the brutality around her, she’s participating in it with genuine abandon. The song’s tale of killing and comeuppance hangs over her like prophecy, reminding us that even the brightest smile in the wasteland can cast a long shadow.
As the gunfire fades and Cash’s voice trails off, the irony hangs in the dust. Fallout has always thrived on these juxtapositions — the sunny Americana soundtrack to utter moral decay. “Cocaine Blues” leaves the scene pulsing with contradictions: joy and violence, freedom and madness, music and mayhem. It’s the sound of Lucy crossing another invisible line while smiling all the way through it, and Cash is there to make sure we don’t miss the joke.
Cocaine Blues
Early one mornin’ while makin’ the rounds Took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down Went right home and I went to bed I stuck that lovin’ 44 beneath my head
Got up next mornin’ and I grabbed that gun Took a shot of cocaine and away I run Made a good run, but ran too slow They overtook me down in Juarez, Mexico
Laid in the hot joints takin’ the pill In walked the sheriff from Jericho Hill He said, “Willy Lee, your name is not Jack Brown You’re the dirty hop that shot your woman down”
Said, “Yes, sir, yes, my name is Willy Lee If you’ve got a warrant, just read it to me Shot her down because she made me sore I thought I was her daddy, but she had five more”
When I was arrested, I was dressed in black They put me on a train and it took me back Had no friends for to go my bail They slapped my dried up carcass in that county jail
Got up next mornin’ ’bout a half past nine Spied the sheriff coming down the line Hopped and he coughed as he cleared his throat He said, “Come on you dirty hop into that district court”
Into the courtroom, my trial began Where I was handled by 12 honest men Just before the jury started out I saw that little judge commence to look about
In about five minutes in walked the man Holding the verdict in his right hand The verdict read in the first degree I hollered, “Lordy, Lordy, have mercy on me”
The judge he smiled as he picked up his pen 99 years in the Folsom pen’ 99 years underneath that ground I can’t forget the day I shot that bad bitch down
Come on you hops and listen unto me Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be
Through the Shattered Lens 