Music Video of the Day: Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1979, directed Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton)


Though Accidents Will Happen has since come to be seen as one of Elvis Costello’s signature songs, it was only a moderate hit when it was initially released in the UK.  Maybe it would have been more popular if MTV had been around in 1979.  The music video was innovative at a time when most videos were just performance clips of the bands in concert.

The video for Accidents Will Happen is considered to be the first fully animated music video.  The video was directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, who also did videos for Rush and Cathy Denis.  Jankel and Morton would later go on to create Max Headroom and to direct the infamous first Super Mario Bros. film.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Genius Of Love by Tom Tom Club (1981, dir. Rocky Morton & Annabel Jankel)


For that one person who didn’t know already, this is the song that Mariah Carey sampled for her song Fantasy. It has also been sampled for so many other songs that I am not going to list them all. You can find a list of songs on the Wikipedia article for this song.

Tom Tom Club was a side project for Tina Weymouth and her husband Chris Frantz who were the bassist and drummer, respectively, for Talking Heads. I say “was” since Talking Heads are no longer together, but Tom Tom Club still is.

In the case of the song, there is a nice explanation over on Songfacts that is too long to repeat here. I will mention one thing. Apparently David Byrne–lead singer of Talking Heads–basically ignored its success. That fits with a quote over on her Wikipedia article where she described Byrne as “a man incapable of returning friendship.” That must have been frustrating considering she has been married to Chris Frantz since 1977, which is the year the band released their debut album.

The music video was made by duo Rocky Morton & Annabel Jankel based on the artwork of James Rizzi, which is on the cover of the album. They are two directors that are simultaneously thought well of and hated. They are great because they made Max Headroom (1985). They are awful because they also made Super Mario Bros. (1993). They have also done around 15-20 music videos.

Enjoy!