Tag Archives: music video

Music Video Of The Day: Dangerous by Big Data (2014, dir by ????)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

With each passing day, I became more and more convinced that Big Data’s Dangerous is the most important song of the 2010s.  No other song quite captures our paranoid times like this one:

How could you know, how could you know
That those were my eyes?
Peepin’ through the floor, it’s like they know
It’s like they know I’m looking from the outside
And creepin’ to the door, it’s like they know
And now they’re coming, yeah, now they’re coming
Out from the shadows
To take me to the court because they know
Gotta shut this down
‘Cause they been watching all my windows
They gathered up the warrant ’cause they

You understand, I got a plan for us
I bet you didn’t know that I was dangerous
It must be fate, I found a place for us
I bet you didn’t know someone could love you this much

How could they know, how could they know
What I’ve been thinking?
Like they’re right inside my head because they know
Because they know, what I’ve been hiding
They’re right under my bed, they’re on patrol
Here they come, yeah, here they come
Out of the shadows
To take me to the court because they know
Gotta shut this down
‘Cause they’ve been watching all my windows
They gathered up the warrant ’cause they

You understand, I got a plan for us
I bet you didn’t know that I was dangerous
It must be fate, I found a place for us
I bet you didn’t know someone could love you this much

Nobody’s listening when we’re alone
Nobody’s listening, there’s nobody listening
No one can hear us when we’re alone
No one can hear us, no, no one can hear us

I’ve gotta get out of here
Sink down, into the dark
Keep on runnin’
And I’ve gotta get out of here
Keep on runnin’
Sink down, into the dark

You understand, I got a plan for us
I bet you didn’t know that I was dangerous
It must be fate, I found a place for us
I bet you didn’t know someone could love you this much

Valerie already shared two other videos for Dangerous.  Here’s another one of Big Data performing at Los Angeles’s KROQ Red Bull Sound Space.  While the studio version features Joywave’s Daniel Armbruster performing the vocals, this live version is performed by Alan Wilkis and Liz Ryan.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: If You Really Love Nothing by Interpol (2018, dir by Hala Matar)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I have to admit that this is yet another video that I initially assumed was about vampires.  Apparently, it’s not.

My second guess was that it was about the Russian mafia but then they started breaking those plates and I decided that it was more likely that the club was owned by the Greek mafia.

Actually, I think the video’s just about Kristen Stewart doing what she wants and generally kicking ass.  That’s why I like this video.  The meaning is less important than the style.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Just For One Day by David Guetta featuring David Bowie (2003, dir by Richard Fenwick)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This song, of course, features a sample from David Bowie’s Heroes.

As for the video, I always assume that everyone here is having one last party before a gigantic meteor crashes into the planet and wipes out all human life.  To be honest, I tend to assume that most music videos are about humanity’s attempt to ignore the fact that everyone’s life will eventually end in a combination of misery, death, and absolutely horror.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Wild Night by John Mellencamp, featuring Me’shell Ndegeocello (1994, directed by Jonathan Kaplan)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today’s music video of the day is for John Mellencamp’s cover of Van Morrison’s Wild Night.

Back in the day, the opening of this video was the most popular 40 seconds on MTV.  I have traveled in a lot of taxi cabs and I regularly use both Uber and Lyft.  I’ve been lucky enough to meet some very good drivers but none of them appeared in the 1992 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.  The driver, in this video, is played by Shana Zadrick, a model who was often compared to Cindy Crawford.

Back in 1994, if you enjoyed this video, you could go down to your friendly neighborhood Musicland (or Suncoast Motion Picture Company) and, for just $19.98, you could see even more of Shana in this commemorative video:

The other good thing about this video is that bassline, which was provided by Me’shell Ndegeocello.  Wild Night was released at the same time that Ndegeocello had her biggest solo hit, If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night).

This video was directed by Jonathan Kaplan.  A former film school classmate of Martin Scorsese’s, Kaplan got his start directing films like Night Call Nurses and The Student Teachers for Roger Corman.  He eventually became a mainstream film and television director.  His most highly regarded film is probably 1988’s The Accused, for which Jodie Foster won her first Oscar.

Music Video of the Day: So Alive by Love and Rockets (1989, directed by Howard Greenhalgh)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Love and Rockets was an English alternative band, made up of all of the members of Bauhaus who were not named Peter Murphy.  From 1985 to 1998, before breaking up to pursue other projects, Love and Rockets released 7 studio albums.  Though Love and Rockets always struggled to escape the shadow of Bauhaus, the band was still responsible for some of the best music of the late 80s and 90s.

Their best known song was So Alive, which was a number one hit in both the United States and Canada.  The video is highly regarded by aficionados of long legs and backlighting everywhere.

The song was written by the song’s lead vocalist, Daniel Ash.  As Ash explained in an interview with Xsnozie:

“I’d gone to a party on Saturday night, and I was married at the time, and I saw this woman over the other side of the room, and I was completely transfixed which is very odd because I was freshly married.  It was very weird, but I was completely infatuated by her and so much so that I couldn’t go near her to even speak to her, it was just this overwhelming thing. I can’t explain it to this day. That’s why the first line is, ‘I don’t know what color your eyes are.’ Because I didn’t get that close, I just saw this person in the distance.”

The video was the first to be directed by Howard Greenhalgh, who would later direct the video for Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun.

And yes, Love and Rockets did take their name from the comic book series by the Hernandez Brothers.

Music Video of the Day: Tarzan & Jane by Toy-Box (1998, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Lisa tells me that today is Tarzan Day so, in honor of the Lord of the Jungle, today’s music video of the day is Toy-Box’s Tarzan and Jane.

106 years ago, Tarzan made his debut in an issue of The All-Story.  Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan was actually John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke.  Born to British nobility, Tarzan was raised in the jungle by a tribe of apes.  Tarzan’s great love was an American named Jane Porter.  After marrying Jane, Tarzan would divide his time between England and Africa, always returning to the jungle whenever the hypocrisy of civilization became too much for him to deal with.

The character of Tarzan would go on to star in numerous films and television shows.  He’s been played by everyone from Johnny Weissmuller to Buster Crabbe to Ron Ely.  In the music video for Toy-Box’s Tarzan and Jane, he’s played by Amir El-Falaki.  El-Falaki was one half of Toy-Box.  The other half, Anila Mirza, plays Jane.

Toy-Box was a Danish pop group.  They never achieved much fame in the United States but they were briefly big in Scandinavia.  Tarzan and Jane was their biggest hit, especially after it was re-released in 1999 to coincide with the release of Disney’s animated Tarzan.  Tarzan was not anything special but it will always be remembered for unleashing the Phil Collins ballad, You’ll Be In My Heart, on an unsuspecting world.

Four years after the release of Tarzan and Jane, Toy-Box broke up but they have recently reunited and performed for a series of 90s concerts.

Music Video of the Day: Miss Independent by Kelly Clarkson (2003, dir by Liz Friedlander)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hearing this song transports me back to 2003, when life seemed so simple and the future seemed limitless… actually, that’s the way things still seem to me in 2018.  I guess I’m a born optimist!

Anyway, I always think of this as being a song of liberation but that’s mostly just because of the title.  The lyrics are actually about an independent woman finding the courage to let people into her life.  But, ultimately, what matters is how a song — any song — makes you feel.

As for the video, I would say it features just about the safest house party that I’ve ever seen.  Compare it to the video for Fiona Apple’s Criminal.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: You Don’t Get Me High Anymore by Phantogram (2016, dir by Grant Singer)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This video from Phantogram (who are like one of my favorite musical duos of all time) puts me in the mood for apocalypse.  The starkness of the interiors reminds me of David Lynch.  The crashing waves reminds me of Jeff Nichols’s Take Shelter.  And then, of course, you’ve got the whole Ex Machina thing going on as well.

This video was directed by Grant Singer, who has directed videos for pretty much everyone.  Well, maybe not everyone by he has worked with Taylor Swift, which is just as good.  He’s also done videos for Lorde, The Weeknd, Ariel Pink, Sleigh Bells, and Skrillex.

(Also, to all of our readers and to my fellow collaborators here at the Shattered Lens, rest assured that all of you still get me high.)

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Don’t Leave Me Alone by David Guetta, featuring Anne-Marie (2018, dir by Hannah Lux Davis)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This video reminds me of … well, almost every recent futuristic dystopia movie that I’ve ever seen.  You’ve got the large but kinda messy apartment.  You’ve got the virtual reality.  And you’ve got the really, really bright sun.

Seriously, have you ever noticed that?  Futuristic dystopias are always either extremely dark and rainy or extremely bright.  It’s like, in the future, people aren’t allowed to close the curtains or pull down the shades on a sunny day.  I don’t know if I’d be able to handle that.  Hopefully, the robots won’t take over anytime soon.

Anyway, enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Keep Good Time by Tommy Tucker and the Supernaturals (2009, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Today’s video is Keep Good Time by Tommy Tucker and the Supernaturals.

Like the two previous music videos of the day, this video was filmed in Baltimore’s red light district, the infamous Block.  As Tommy dances down the street, be sure to keep an eye open for The Hustler Club.  The Larry Flynt-owned establishment is often credited with revitalizing the Block.

For me, the best part of this video is the nonchalant reaction that the people on the streets have to Tommy’s dancing.