Music Video of the Day: Respect Yourself by Bruce Willis (1987, directed by ????)


Bruce Willis, R&B star?

It nearly happened!

Well, actually, it didn’t come close to happening but it wasn’t for lack of trying.  In 1987, when Willis was still best known for co-starring on Moonlighting, Motown records released The Return of Bruno, an album that featured Willis and a host of well-respected musicians performing 10 R&B classics.

The Return of Bruno is actually a concept album, with Willis taking on the role of Bruno Radolini, a legendary soul singer who influenced everyone from Elton John to The Bee Gees.  The Return of Bruno peaked at number 14 on the US Billboard 2000 chart and was later named the 4th worst album ever recorded by Q Magazine.  It has since become a collector’s item.  (My father owns a copy!)   Willis performed the songs in his own style, which means that despite the presence of Booker T. Jones, The Pointer Sisters, and The Temptations performing backing vocals, this is still the smirkiest R&B album of all time.  The best way to describe it would be to say that it sounds like John McClane performing karaoke.

There’s an idea!  Die Hard 6: Sing For Your Life.

Heard you the first time, Bruce!

The biggest hit to come off the album was a cover of Respect Yourself, a duet with June Pointer that featured backing vocals from the other Pointer Sisters.  The music video for Respect Yourself plays to what was then considered to be Bruce’s main strengths as an actor: blue collar cockiness and a refusal to let something like a lack of any real musical talent hold him back.

Two years after The Return of Bruno, Willis released one final album, another collection of R&B covers called If It Don’t Kill You, It Just Makes Your Stronger.  Considering Willis went from The Return of Bruno to starring in Die Hard, it was an appropriate title.

Music Video of the Day: Numb by U2 (1993, directed by Kevin Godley)


For today’s music video of the day, we break down the video that the New Musical Express named as being the 16th worst video of all time.  Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to get … Numb!

0:06 — Drip drip drip.  Someone’s in for an unpleasant shock when they get the water bill.

0:30 — Numb is one of the few U2 songs to feature lead vocals from The Edge.  The Edge’s real name is David Howell Evans.

0:35 — That’s U2’s bassist, Adam Clayton, blowing smoke in the Edge’s face.  Clayton is the only member of U2 not to sing on this track but he still plays an important role in the video, as we’ll soon see.

0:50 — Who doesn’t love a good massage?

1:00 — The Edge is learning that singing lead has its advantages.

1:17 — “You’re not Bono!”

1:23 — Holding the rope in the background is, once again, Adam Clayton.

1:45 — As Clayton ties up The Edge, drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. makes an appearance.  It was actually Mullen’s idea to start the band that would eventually become U2.

1:53 — However, Mullen has obviously been overshadowed by Bono.

2:11 — Oh no, they killed the Edge!

2:13 — Hello?

2:15 — Is anyone there?

2:20 — With the Edge apparently dead, now seems like a good time to tell you that Numb was the first single released off of U2’s 1993 album Zooropa, which many consider to be the moment that U2 went from being an energetic group of rockers to the most pretentious band on the planet.  Numb, like the rest of the album, is about sensory overload.

2:23 — Numb was originally recorded for Achtung Baby and was called Down All The Days.  No one in the band liked the song but they still reworked it for Zooropa.

2:27 — Edge, can you hear me?

2:33 — Larry Mullen, Jr. is the new Edge.

2:41 — Adam considers tying Larry up but realizes that he wasted all of his rope on The Edge.

3:00 — The Edge lives!

3:18 — But with those feet in his face, The Edge might wish that he was dead.

3:36 — The Edge catches the bouquet.

3:51 — That is Morleigh Steinberg dancing in front of the Edge.  Nine years after the release of this video, the Edge and Steinberg got married.

4:12 — Just the fact that the fans are using cameras instead of phones proves this video was made in the early 90s.

4:17 — “Excuse me, Mr. Edge, but we have a wedding party coming in so if you and your friends could please vacate the room…”

4:25 — The Edge ain’t going nowhere.

Numb was originally release as a video single, so if you wanted to listen to it outside of Zoorupa, you had to buy it on VHS.  Also included on the tape was a video for Love is Blindness.

Music Video of the Day: Don’t Mean Nothin’ by Richard Marx (1988, directed by Dominic Sena)


Today’s music video of the day is Richard Marx’s Don’t Mean Nothin’.  This video was directed by Dominic Sena, who later directed films like Kalifornia, Gone in 60 Seconds, and Swordfish.  Let’s break it down and see if this video really don’t mean nothin’.

0:03 — I’m not sure but I think we may be in Hollywood.

0:04 — These scenes of Los Angeles street life will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen a movie about a small town girl moving to the big city to pursue her dreams.

0:18 — Welcome to Shangri-La!

0:26 — Cynthia Rhodes plays the small town girl.  You may recognize her from Flashdance, Staying Alive, and Dirty Dancing.  At the time this video was shot, she was dating Richard Marx.  She would marry him a year later.  They divorced in 2014.

0:38 — The sleazy apartment manager is played by the one and only G.W. Bailey.  Bailey has been in a ton of television shows and movies.  If you don’t know him from M*A*S*H, you probably know him from the Police Academy films.

0:48 — Cynthia knows what ol’ G.W. was doing back there.

0:55 — Richard Marx’s father was in advertising and Richard Marx started his singing career when he was five years old and he performed a jingle that his father had written.  When Marx was 17, he moved to Los Angeles.  This song was based on his experiences.

1:14 — Cynthia’s barely been in Hollywood for a week and she’s already got an audition!  That’s better that most small town girls do in the big city.

1:38 — Another great moment from G.W. Bailey.

1:53 — Cynthia is shocked! to discover what goes on in Hollywood.

2:09 — Richard says, “Drink up and enjoy the show!”  Cynthia is not amused.

2:24 — More Hollywood stock footage.

2:44 — That’s Joe Walsh of the Eagles on guitar.

2:59 — Proof that this video was made in 1988: Richard hands over a cassette of his music.

3:24 — Disgusted to see that Cynthia’s become either a maid or a waitress, Richard stops the music and throws away his future.

3:27 — There’s a lot of hockey hair in this video.

3:38 — Ol’ G.W.’s in trouble now.

3:42 — Are they taking pictures of G.W. getting beaten up?  Or does G.W. own a strobe light?

4:08 — Cynthia finally feels comfortable enough to wear an ugly sweater in L.A. and Richard has switched to decaf.

4:20 — A new small town girl arrives.  Cynthia tells her where she can find Ol’ G.W.

4:24 — Cynthia and Richard shares a smile and a private laugh as the new girl naively plunges into the moral abyss that is Hollywood.

4:32 — Don’t worry.  It don’t mean nothin’ at all.

Music Video of the Day: The Heat Is On by Glenn Frey (1984, dir by ????)


I picked this video for one reason.

Check out my weather forecast for the next few days:

That’s right!  Today and tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to get up to 109 degrees!  Then on Monday, it’ll only get up to 108 and we’ll finally get some relief on Tuesday when the high plunges down to 101!

Indeed, the heat is on.

(It could be worse.  Yesterday, they were saying that the high would hit 110 on Saturday.  We’ve gone down a degree!  Yay!)

Seriously, the heat in Texas is so bad that, on Thursday, I could barely even drive home.  I had to steer with my finger tips because it was literally impossible for me to grip the steering while without burning my hands!  If I have to spend this summer driving with oven mitts on my hands, I’m not going to be in a good mood…

As for the song, it was written for the 1984 film, Beverly Hills Cop.  The video features clips from that film, mixed in with footage of an editor working in the heat and the band bringing the heat.

Anyway, on a serious note, be careful out there everyone.  Keep your pets inside.  It might be a good idea to keep yourself inside too.  Usually I hate the idea of wasting a weekend but, when it’s this hot, you really don’t have much choice but to spend a few days being lethargic.

Enjoy the video!

Music Video of the Day: Go! by Public Service Broadcasting (2015, dir by ????)


Seeing as how today is Moon Day, this seems like the perfect time to pick this video for music video of the day!

This is from Public Service Broadcasting’s 2015 album, The Race For Space.  As you can probably guess from the title, every song deals with the American/Soviet space race of the 50s, 60s, and 70s.  Go!, the eighth track from the album, deals with the first moon landing.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Mojo by Peeping Tom, featuring Rahzel, Dan The Automator (2006, dir by Matt McDermitt)


This video was released 12 years ago.  Watching it today, it’s interesting that television hasn’t changed much.  The cop show, the infomercial, the porn film, the horror film, the evangelist, every single one of them is currently playing somewhere.

Yes, that is Danny DeVito sitting on the couch at the end of the video.  I like to think that he’s meant to be Frank Reynolds.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Lilac by Blue Hawaii (2018, dir by ????)


This is an interesting video.

On the one hand, it leaves me wishing that I was on a beach somewhere, preferably Hawaii but I’d even settle for Daytona.  Maybe not Atlantic City, though.  That’s way too far up north.  And don’t even get me started on the beaches in Maine.

On the other hand, it also leaves me worried that something really, really bad is about to happen.  It’s a video that manages to be both positive and ominous at the same time.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Crazy Master by Marijuana Deathsquads (2012, dir by Isaac Gale)


Let’s take a trip through the desert with Marijuana Deathsquads!

Though the video came out long before the TV show, it’s still difficult for me to watch this without thinking about Twin Peaks: The Return.  As I watched, I kept expecting either Cooper or his doppelganger to drive by, searching for JUDY.

Enjoy!