Tag Archives: Bill Fishman

Music Video of the Day: Something To Believe In by Ramones (1986, dir by Preacher Ewing and Bill Fishman)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Wow, I had know idea that the Ramones were in it.

This video, obviously, is a parody of star-studded charity events, which were apparently as big a deal in the 80s and they are in the 20s.  Amongst those supporting the band are Toni Basil, X, Weird Al Yankovic, Ted Nugent, Penn and Teller, Harry Shearer, and the band’s Rock and Roll High School co-star, Mary Woronov!

(Do you all remember the whole U.S. Red Nose Day fiasco?  I know it’s a big deal in the UK but it’s never really caught in here in the States.  For the first American Red Nose Day, all three networks surrendered prime time to Red Nose Day and the ratings reflected the fact that 1) most Americans, despite all of the very aggressive advertising, still had no idea what Red Nose Day was and 2) gone were the days when people would watch anything as long as it was on the “major” networks.)

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Last Christmas by Backstreet Boys (2022, dir by Bill Fishman)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Every year, in December, I am stunned to be reminded that Taylor Swift was not the first to sing this song.  Instead, Last Christmas started as a Wham song and apparently, every group has to cover it in December.  This year, the Backstreet Boys took a swing at it.  So, let’s get in the holiday spirit, shall we?

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Shake That Thing by The Georgia Satellites (1990, directed by Bill Fishman)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This is the Georgia Satellites song that is not Keep Your Hands To Yourself.

This video finds the band in New Orleans and dropping in on Kitten Natividad, the famed dancer and adult film star who is best known for the films she made with Russ Meyer. (She starred in both Up! and Beyond the Valley of the Ultra Vixens.) Natividad is still alive and working, at the age of 73.

The Georgia Satellites released their last studio album in 1997, though the band is still apparently active, with guitarist Rick Richards as the last original member to still be with the group. Lead singer Dan Baird retired in 2019, saying on his website, “I won’t quit making music, but it’ll be in my basement, at my home, where I can walk my dog, go to the gym 4 times a week, shave on Friday and go to sleep with my sweetie beside me every night.” That sounds like the ideal retirement to me.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: Keep Your Hands To Yourself by The Georgia Satellites (1986, directed by Bill Fishman)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

From the director of the video for the Ramones’s I Wanna Be Sedated comes a down home, country wedding.  In this video, the groom is lead singer Dan Baird, who goes to his wedding on a flatbed truck and marries his bride while her father points a shotgun at his back.  The video doesn’t make it clear whether Baird was expecting to get married when he and the band first rode up in that truck but at least everyone appears to be having a good time.

This immortal work of Southern rock was the George Satellites’s only hit.  The band still exists, though only one founding member remains, guitarist Rick Richards.  Dan Baird, who left the band in 1990 to pursue a solo career, currently tours with Homemade Sin, a band that features two former members of the Georgia Satellites.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Drive My Car by Breakfast Club (1988, directed by Bill Fishman)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

When I was doing my research for today’s music video of the day, I was sorry to discover that the 80s pop group Breakfast Club was not named after the famous John Hughes film.

Instead, they were formed in New York City in 1979 and they went through several different lineups before they signed with ZE Records.  At one time, a young Madonna was their dummer but she left the band long before they released their first (and only) album in 1987.

Breakfast Club’s biggest hit was Drive My Car, a cover of a song that had previously been made famous by The Beatles.  The cover appeared on the soundtrack of License to Drive, which is actually one of the better films to co-star Corey Haim and Corey Feldman.  It’s no Lost Boys but it is better than Dream A Little Dream and Heather Graham’s in it.

The video is the usual combination of clips from the film and scenes of the band acting crazy.  Since they were already covering a Beatles song, it made sense to go ahead and put Breakfast Club in a 1980s version of Hard Day’s Night and have them spend most of the video trying to escape their obsessed fans.  While the Beatles had to outrun their fans, Breakfast Club was lucky enough to own an invisible car.  I don’t know who edited it but this video does do a good job of integrating the scenes of the band with the clips from the film.

Things worked out better in the video than they did in real life.  Breakfast Club split up shortly after the release of License to Drive.

Music Video of the Day: Pet Sematary by Ramones (1989, dir. Bill Fishman)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

You can hardly tell this was done by the same director who made the video for I Wanna Be Sedated by Ramones.

I Wanna Be Sedated by Ramones (1988)

I Wanna Be Sedated by Ramones (1988)

This song was obviously made for the movie Pet Sematary (1989). It’s the following guy that we have to thank for this song existing:

King is apparently a big fan of the Ramones. According to Wikipedia, King invited them to his home where he proceeded to hand a copy of the book to Dee Dee who went into the basement, and came out an hour later with the lyrics for the song. Impressive. Sure the song would go on to win the Razzie Award for Worst Original Song, but I’m assuming he both read the book and wrote the lyrics in an hour. I find that to be impressive. Still, I can understand why it won that award. All you have to do is play I Wanna Be Sedated back-to-back with this song, and it’s night and day.

The video was shot at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in the New York village of the same name. The band plays on a hydraulic platform instead of sitting at a table while things go on around them.

Those things include Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie, and members of The Dead Boys. I couldn’t find any of them for sure. You’d think Debbie Harry would stand out, but the video quality is so bad. My best guess is that she is the one on the left.

In the end, they’re buried.

Despite the fact that Mary Lambert of music video fame directed the film, as well Pet Sematary 2: Judgement Day, the video was directed by Bill Fishman. He appears to have done around 50-60 music videos total, with the most recent one being in 2014 for The Decemberists. He directed a couple of videos for the Ramones.

Enjoy!