I always like the trippy videos.
Enjoy!
Tag Archives: music video
Music Video Of The Day: Don’t Look Back by She & Him (2011, dir by Jeremy Konner)
Welcome to the future!
Or, at the very least, welcome to the future as seen by the past!
Needless to say, I like the retro feel of this video. I’ve seen enough old short films about what life was going to be like in the 1970s and the 1980s that I immediately “got” this video. One thing that I’ve noticed about people trying to predict the future is that the future usually looks just like the present, just with more screens and neon and maybe a flying car or two.
This is an enjoyably quirky video from an enjoyably quirky duo.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: Like A Kennedy by Joywave (2019, dir by Dear Mr Quistgaard)
This is a dark song and an even darker video. How many times can Daniel get shot in the head? The video seems to suggest that it’s going to happen an infinite amount of times. After each shot, you just put a new Daniel in his place. Judging from the song’s lyrics, he just wants to be happy but he can’t stop obsessing on everything that’s happening in the world. It makes his want to explode like …. well, like a Kennedy riding in motorcade next to his wife….
I mean, goddamn, this is dark!
Of course, when you live in Texas (and especially when you’re in Dallas), it’s pretty much impossible to escape the shadow of JFK. Even though it happened over 50 years ago, people always bring up the fact that John F. Kennedy died here. People up North especially love to bring it up, as if we should all be hanging our heads in shame over something that happened before many of us were even born. Oddly, Los Angeles is never solely blamed for the assassination of Robert Kennedy nor is Buffalo continually references as being “the city where McKinley was shot.”
Well, here’s what I can tell you. Jack Ruby was from Chicago and Lee Harvey Oswald lived in the Bronx for a year. Blaming one city for one event that was perpetrated by outsiders is just dumb. (Yes, Oswald acted alone. FIGHT ME!)
Anyway, enjoy!
Music Video Of The Day: Bankrobber by The Clash (1980, directed by Don Letts)
My daddy was a bank robber
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to steal your money
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to steal your money
Some is rich, and some is poor
And that’s the way the world is
But I don’t believe in laying back
Sayin’ how bad your luck is
And that’s the way the world is
But I don’t believe in laying back
Sayin’ how bad your luck is
So he came to jazz it up
Never learned to shovel
Break your back to earn our pay
Don’t forget to grovel
Never learned to shovel
Break your back to earn our pay
Don’t forget to grovel
My daddy was a bank robber
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to take your money
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to take your money
He’s gone now
No, the lyrics of Bankrobber are not meant to be autobiographical. Joe Strummer’s father was a foreign office diplomat and apparently never robbed a bank. As Mick Jones would later describe it, Bankrobber is meant to be a modern folk song. Like many The Clash’s best songs, Bankrobber dealt with a working class hero getting back at the establishment. In this case, he does it through robbing banks.
This video was considered to be controversial enough that it was banned by Top of the Pops. The two masked robbers were played by two Clash roadies named Johnny Green and Barry Glare. The bank that they’re robbing was located in Lewisham, South London.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: Baby Don’t Forget My Number “by” Milli Vanilli (1988, directed by ????)
Remember these guys?
Milli Vanilli was the band that not only put out crappy music but who didn’t actually sing on their records or in their concerts or anywhere else for that matter. Though the band’s manager, Frank Farian, insisted that this song was actually sung by a German and a French dancer, both of whom spoke with heavy accents that were nowhere to be heard in “their” songs, the truth soon came out that the singing was actually done by backup singers John Davis and Brad Howell. Davis and Howell later turned Europe as the Real Milli Vanilli while the original Milli Vanilli had to return their Grammy Awards and spent the rest of the 90s trying to make a comeback while being made fun of by teenage music critics.
What’s up, guys?
This song was their second and last big hit. By the time it was released in America, it was well-known in Europe that Milli Vanilli didn’t sing their own songs. However, it took two years for that news to reach America, during which Milli Vanilli turned down numerous offers to perform on The Arsenio Hall Show. The band was also caught lip syncing in Connecticut when their recording start to skip backstage. We all remember that episode of Behind the Music.
The revelation that Milli Vanilli didn’t actually sing was a huge scandal back in the day. Today, it would never happen. They would have just autotuned the band until they got the results they wanted.
Enjoy, if you dare!
Music Video of the Day: A Groovy Kind of Love, covered by Phil Collins (1988, directed by Jim Yukich)
To say, as one BBC documentary did back in 2000, that “critics sneer at Phil Collins” is to be guilty of a massive understatement. For as long as I can remember, critics have loathed Phil Collins and most of his fellow musicians haven’t had much good to say either. Who can forget Noel Gallagher imploring the British public to vote for Labour because “if you don’t and the Tories get in, Phil Collins is threatening to come back and live here. And let’s face it, none of us want that.” And, of course, in American Psycho, Patrick Bateman vigorously defended Phil Collins as a musical genius and both hookers and audiences laughed.
It’s easy to understand how the fatigue with Phil Collins set in. In the 80s through the mid 90s, he was everywhere. His songs were hits but many of them sounded so similar that they were difficult to keep straight. Music critics love authenticity and that was often what Phil Collins seemed to be lacking.
Still, you can’t deny that the man sold a lot of records. Critics and hipsters may not have liked him but, for a while there, everyone else couldn’t wait to hear the latest from Phil Collins. For me, Phil Collins’s music will always be a guilty pleasure. He’s easy to mock but his music epitomizes an era and still holds up better than something from Michael Bolton.
No, I just don’t think he’s as bad as people say.
But we’re talking about Phil …. er, never mind, man.
This cover of The Mindbenders’s A Groovy Kind of Love appeared in the movie Buster, which was an attempt to turn Phil Collins in a film star. The movie took place in the 60s and the soundtrack is full of music from that era. This was one of two songs that Collins recorded for the film’s soundtrack. The other was Two Hearts, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
The video is one of the many videos that find Phil Collins sitting in a dark room and singing. While singing, he watches scenes from Buster. The film did well in the UK and less well in the States. Some critics complained that the film glorified crime (it was about the real-life Great Train Robbery), which led to Prince Charles and Princess Diana canceling plans to attend the film’s London premiere. Collins later stated that he was the one who told Charles that he should stay home in order to save him from any embarrassment. Telling royalty to stay away from your movie for their own good is classic Phil Collins.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: (I Just) Died In Your Arms by Cutting Crew (1987, directed by Peter Kagan and Paula Greif)
Today’s music video of the day is for yet another song that I remember fondly from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I used to think that I inherited my love of music from my father, who played bass in several different bands back in the day. Now, I realize that it’s probably all due to spending too much time playing Grand Theft Auto. Never let it be said that outrageously violent video games don’t serve a purpose.
When Nick van Eede sings that he “died in your arms tonight,” he’s referring to the French phrase, Le petite mort, which is also slang for having an orgasm. As van Eede later explained it, he wrote the song after a one night stand with an ex-girlfriend. Every aspiring artist dreams of coming up with a hit while also getting laid at the same time but van Eede actually did it. It took him only three days to write and record the song and it subsequently went on to become Cutting Crew’s biggest hit. It was also, at the time, the most successful single to be released by Virgin Records in the States.
Enjoy!
Music Video Of The Day: We Are All Made of Stars by Moby (2002, by Joseph Kahn)
Today’s music video of the day is dedicated to Marianne Williamson. I don’t endorse political candidates. I learned my lesson from all the angry messages that I got after I said I was planning on voting for Gary Johnson in 2016. My outlook is more libertarian than liberal but who knows? Marianne might get my primary vote.
Before anyone says anything, I know that Moby is now officially on the creepy list but I still like his music, especially from the 18 and Play eras. So, you know, why not?
Enjoy!
Music Video Of The Day: One Better Day by Madness (1984, directed by Nigel Dick)
“The idea of that song was when you’d hear people say, ‘Oh, he’s seen better days,’ like when you see a guy in a suit looking a bit tatty. I thought, ‘What was that one better day?’ Then I had the idea that he would meet this other homeless person that happened to be a woman – and they fell in love. Between them they could engender one better day as people who had, supposedly, seen better days.”
— Graham “Suggs” McPherson on One Better Day
In this song and music video, the lads from Madness prove that they were capable of doing serious songs, along with the comedic romps for which they were best known.
This video was filmed in front of Arlington House, which was a homeless shelter located in the band’s hometown of Camden Town, London. Because this was their final single for Stiff Records, the label refused to put up any money for the video so what you’re seeing here was funded by the band themselves.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: Hip To Be Square by Huey Lewis and the News (1986, directed by Godley & Creme)
“Everyone thinks I’m the boy next door because I look like the boy next door. But look at my parents, and look where I come from. I’m a beatnik kid.”
— Huey Lewis
For the record, Huey Lewis has always insisted that the lyrics of Hip To Be Square are meant to be ironic. They were originally written in the third person and were meant to satirize the band’s clean-cut image. Because Huey Lewis and the News were older than the average rock band when they hit it big, they were often considered to be safe or conservative. In real life, Huey Lewis was the stepson of beat poet Lew Welch, whom Lewis has described as being a major influence on his life and music. (Huey, who was born Hugh Cregg III, even paid tribute to Lew Welch with his stage name.) After high school, Lewis hitchhiked through Europe and he spent several years as a part of San Francisco’s decidedly unsquare music scene.
Despite what Patrick Bateman might try to tell you, Hip To Be Square was never meant to be an anthem for square people. In concert, Lewis usually makes this point square by signing the song as Too Hip to Be Square.
The video was directed by the team of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who directed several memorable music videos in the 80s. Godley and Creme directed this video using the type of medical cameras that are typically inserted into a human body to allow doctor to get a closer look at what might be ailing you. The video was nominated for Best Experimental Video at the 1987 MTV Music Video Awards.
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 