Tag Archives: music video

Music Video of the Day: Always There For You by STRYPER (1988, dir. Jim Yukich)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Happy Easter!

For Easter, I bring you a bunch of guys dressed like bumblebees doing a stage performance on a hundred-dollar bill. In other words, I bring you the Christian metal band, STRYPER. It stands for salvation through redemption, yielding peace, encouragement, and righteousness. If that sounds contrived, it’s because it is. It’s a backronym for the name they already picked out. The name comes from Isaiah 53:5, which is why you see it prominently featured in the video. From that passage, springs the stripes.

There’s a nice little “Where Are They Now?” video below. It was made before the group reunited. In it, you find out that they used to toss bibles out to their audience during performances. That sounds dangerous. I am picturing someone wearing glasses getting hit in the face with a book. They also substituted 666 for 777. According to Wikipedia, that has to do with Christianity looking at the number “7” as divine perfection. I honestly didn’t know that. It’s also branding the band to make them stand out against all the other hair bands of the time.

As you might expect, STRYPER took a lot of crap back in the day. I don’t mean because the songs are cheesy and they look funny. I mean because they did what they did, but as a supposed Christian band. There’s definitely some controversial material like you would expect concerning any band. But other stuff is just plain ridiculous, such as people calling them Satanists and other things. One quote over on Wikipedia from their manager Daryn Hinton says, “It was just like if Ozzy Osbourne was there,” when concert-goers would show up to see them and there would be all kinds of protestors.

One quote over on their Wikipedia article rubs me the wrong way. It’s from the Los Angeles Times in 1985:

“The band gets sullen fans of Twisted Sister cheering and poking stubby ‘one way’ fingers heavenward—a refutation of the double-fingered ‘devil horns’ salute of many metal groups.”

Ghosts, Italian Style (1967, dir. Renato Castellani)

The Machine That Kills Bad People (1952, dir. Roberto Rossellini)

That second screenshot is an Italian explaining to an American the Italian tradition that Ronnie James Dio saw a family member do, them being Italian and all. He did it a few times onstage and it caught on like wildfire in the metal community. I wouldn’t bring this up were it not for the fact that you can see ignorance about this show up in religious movies as recent as 2010.

I had a long thing written out about religion and metal, but I’ll let Ronnie James Dio speak about it in the video below.

I have only listened to a few of their songs. I can’t find a music video for To Hell With The Devil. What a crime it is that there isn’t a video for this song. I’m not even a Christian, and I love that song. So, here it is anyways without a proper video.

The music video was directed by Jim Yukich who is extremely prolific. He directed about 200 music videos.

The music video was produced by Paul Flattery who has produced around 250 music videos.

The music video was shot by Toby Phillips who has shot around 65 music videos. He’s also worked as a Steadicam operator on films such as Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), Twins (1988), and Born On The Fourth Of July (1989).

Enjoy, and again, happy Easter!

Music Video of the Day: All The Things by Chrysta Bell & David Lynch (2014, dir. Nicolangelo Gelormini)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

That was a music video. I can’t say it did anything for me. I like the classic Lynch dark interior. I also appreciate the contrast between that, and the outside part, which was shot at the Cloister in Naples, Italy. Also, the log is a tribute to Lynch. I can’t say I get it, beyond Lumberton and the Log Lady from Twin Peaks.

Here’s the complete description given on the YouTube video:

“‘All The Things’ music video was filmed primarily at an historic structure in Naples, Italy, called the Cloister.
The Fondazione Tramontano Arte mission is to transform this 16th century gem, an exceptionally rich symbol of
the Neapolitan Renaissance, from it’s current state to a thriving center for the arts.
The ‘Made in Cloister’ project will make of the Cloister a venue and a creative center for
implementing new ways of reviving ancient artisanal skills through the vision of contemporary
artists, musicians and designers.
Support Made in Cloister Project.”

I refuse to copy from it, so here is a link to a nice little interview concerning this video over on Oyster Magazine. I will mention the most humorous part of the interview. We find out that Chrysta Bell has a sense of humor. Lynch asks her, “why is it that everytime you see me, you leap on me and smother me with kisses?” The most important part of her response is that “the leaping part is just for fun.” If there isn’t a compilation video of Chrysta Bell leaping on David Lynch, then there should be.

Like most young directors, Nicolangelo Gelormini doesn’t have a large body of work I can point to.

The rest of the people who worked on the video are listed in the credits at the end of the video. Oddly, David Lynch is listed as a producer in the description of the video, but not in the credits. I don’t know what that is about.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Bird Of Flames by Chrysta Bell & David Lynch (2012, dir. Chel White)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

This is the first 21st century music video I have come across where the director has already taken care of explaining it for me.

From IMDb:

“Driven by the music of David Lynch and Chrysta Bell, Bird of Flames is a meditation on the enigmatic nature of love. In a small nightclub, a magician coaxes a beautiful chanteuse to perform like a living doll. In the audience, a young man falls in love with her archetypal image of feminine beauty.”
-Chel White

Here’s what I see.

We begin by being introduced to the nightclub.

Inside, we see a master of ceremonies, or magician, dancing around an egg-shaped wedding veil.

Eventually Chrysta Bell emerges and goes up to the microphone to do her best Kate Bush.

In the audience we can see a guy looking at her.

Meanwhile, in the background we can see another woman who is watching, and having none of this. It’s probably because she stands in contrast to the ideal beauty on stage that this guy seems to be fascinated by, while she blends into the bar.

Then clouds move in, and the credits roll.

This looks awfully familiar to me. Let’s see here.

We begin by being introduced to the nightclub.

Inside, we see a master of ceremonies who comes out onstage to introduce us to “The Blue Lady”.

Eventually Isabella Rossellini emerges and goes up to the microphone to do her best film noir nightclub singer routine.

In the audience, we can see Kyle MacLachlan looking at her.

Meanwhile, next to MacLachlan, we can see Laura Dern watching and she is clearly uncomfortable. She stands in contrast to the ideal beauty on stage that MacLachlan seems to be fascinated with, and we only see Dern in the occasional shot.

Then the darkness envelops Rossellini…

and MacLachlan is now locked into an obsession with her.

Okay, so the music video is kind of an homage to that particular scene from Blue Velvet (1986). I have no complaints. I love that film, and I think that scene is used well here.

You can see all the people who worked on this in the credits on the video. They are too numerous to list here.

There’s one thing I want to mention since I am doing David Lynch videos because of the upcoming new Twin Peaks. According to IMDb, Chrysta Bell will be playing Special Agent Tamara Preston in the first episode.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Angel In Blue by J. Geils Band (1982, dir. Paul Justman)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Seeing as we lost J. Geils himself a couple of days ago, I thought it was appropriate to do one of their music videos. If you want a history of the band, and about the recent passing of J. Geils, then I point you to Gary’s article.

The music video is a far cry visually from Centerfold and Freeze Frame. It’s a simple stage performance that uses overlays of famous women, such as Marilyn Monroe and Louise Brooks. Monroe was already gone by the time this was released and Brooks would pass away three years after the release of this music video. Brooks had moved into isolation long before this video, and her last film was in the low-budget pre-Stagecoach John Wayne film, Overland Stage Raiders in 1938.

It’s a nice companion piece to Centerfold. That one was fun and nostalgic about a woman you knew in childhood that had grown up to be a centerfold, and you felt your fantasy about her had been “sold”. This one is a sad follow-up to that song that takes off the nostalgia goggles. I don’t see her in the video, but I have to imagine that they picked out the title based on the Marlene Dietrich movie, The Blue Angel (1930).

Director Paul Justman did only a handful of music videos. He appears to have directed all but two of them that the J. Geils Band made.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: I’m Waiting Here by David Lynch & Lykke Li (2013, dir. Daniel Desure)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Ever go driving out in the middle of nowhere–especially at night? I have. Ever felt the need to drive down the middle of the road? I hope not. I guess this video is putting its focus on highway hypnosis seeing as there isn’t anything interesting to look at, and the car keeps drifting in and out of its lane. I think it fits the song well.

I love this quote from Tom Breihan on Stereogum about this video:

“It’s a very pretty piece of work, and the night-time parts recall Lynch’s Lost Highway. Still, call me crazy, but maybe David Lynch should be the guy responsible for all of David Lynch’s videos.”

If any of them are going to be like Came Back Haunted by Nine Inch Nails with its seizure inducing flashing, then maybe it’s for the best. I don’t care if seizures were often mistaken for demonic possession, which would fit the title of the song.

I put down that Daniel Desure directed this video even though it doesn’t list a director on the video. On the video it lists the crew as the following:

Concept by Lykke Li and Daniel Desure
Edited by Jesse Fleming and Sadie Strangio
DP – Nicholas Trikonis
Designer – Michelle Park

Based on that, I guess Fleming and Strangio are more the directors than Desure, since it appears as if someone just drove down the highway with a dashboard cam from one place to another, and they edited that footage down to the desired runtime. Personally, I would take it farther and list Lykke Li, Daniel Desure, Jesse Fleming, Sadie Strangio, Nicholas Trikonis, and Michelle Park all as directors of the video. I put down Desure because that’s how it is listed on IMVDb.

You can find some information on the people who worked on this video, but they all seem to be relatively new, so there isn’t a large body of work to bring up.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Came Back Haunted by Nine Inch Nails (2013, dir. David Lynch)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

And if the viewer is epileptic, then they might come back having had a seizure and their driver’s license temporarily revoked because they didn’t see the warning onscreen that lasts four seconds.

What was David Lynch and everyone else involved thinking?

To add to this stupidity, there is another video for this that doesn’t do that, and is more interesting. That one is essentially a remake of the video for Bastards Of Young by The Replacements. The difference is that it’s a reel-to-reel instead of a speaker.

Jeez…if only there were some way to indicate to anyone coming across the video before they started playing it that it might cause seizures. It’s a real shame that YouTube doesn’t let you change thumbnails or anything like that.

Oh, but the idiocy doesn’t stop there. Remember that YouTube has an autoplay option. That means somebody could be listening to music, it moves over to the next video, they happen to be looking away, turn around, and have completely missed the warning. If it is a playlist on the iOS app, then you don’t even see the description. In fact, the description on YouTube videos don’t show up on the YouTube iOS app if you don’t click on the video, and then click for the description.

Here’s what it looks like if you do a search on the iOS YouTube app:

Here’s what it looks like after you have clicked on the video:

As I’m sure you already know, even the web interface while showing part of the description by default, is very easy to miss or is offscreen entirely at times unless you scroll down to look at it.

The flashing begins at six seconds–immediately after the warning–in case you were wondering.

Here’s a congrats from Uwe Boll wearing a wristwatch in his adaptation of Bloodrayne to everyone who made this video the way it is.

If you’re unhappy about what I said here, then here’s another part from Bloodrayne to tell you how much I care–courtesy of Michael Madsen.

I’m not even linking to the video. You can watch the Bastards of Young version below. And look at that? They were kind of enough to tell you in the title that it is only audio. That’s very important, but putting a warning in the title of a video is too much work. Not that it would’ve mattered anyways because plenty of people don’t even read the titles of YouTube videos before clicking on them. Just wow.

Music Video of the Day: Crazy Clown Time by David Lynch (2012, dir. David Lynch)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

That’s as weird as I remember when I watched it for the first time, then never watched it again till I went to write this post.

It’s the bad horror movie cliche of idiots partying if it were trapped in the David Lynch universe. It’s also a music video that is already a literal music video. It’s also Lynch reworking Rockit by Herbie Hancock. You’ve got Lynch shown in brief shots on a TV as he orchestrates nightmare fuel with his music. It’s the same music video–just Lynchified. I have no problem with that. As for the meaning, as usual, have at it for yourself.

This is one of those music videos where I have to mention the YouTube comment section. Apparently, a gamer who goes by the name Crendor must have brought this video up, so a lot of people watched it about a year ago. As usual, they felt the need to announce what brought them there. There seems to be some argument over how these people could have not known who David Lynch is. David Lynch has essentially been out of the spotlight since Mulholland Dr. in 2001. How is it surprising that people around the ages of 16-25 wouldn’t know who he is? The only thing I can point to as a reason how Lynch could have shown up on some kid’s radars is the Twin Peaks inspired game, Deadly Premonition, that came out in 2010. I have included the “FK in the coffee” scene below.

I only know who David Lynch is because I happened to catch Blue Velvet (1986) on late night cable when I was in middle school, and I fell in love with his work. Twin Peaks was also on the air for its original run when I was in elementary school. I only knew of it then because I believe there is an episode of The Simpsons where Homer is watching Twin Peaks, and it’s somebody dancing with a horse at night. If you weren’t around in the 80s or 90s, then it’s perfectly reasonable to not be familiar with David Lynch.

Finally, I have included the behind-the-scenes video for it below.

Three of the actors are Emily Elicia Low, Chris Pounders, and Pandie Suicide.

Christopher Gray did the casting for the video. He and casting associate Christopher Gonzalez have worked on many movies and the upcoming new Twin Peaks.

Shakana Beatty was the casting assistant on the video.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Good Day Today by David Lynch (2011, dir. Arnold de Parscau)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

This time around, we have a French crew who put together a music video for David Lynch.

Director: Arnold de Parscau
Cinematography: Jonathan Bertin, Antoine Bon
Actors: Elia Blanc, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, Brigitte Aubry, Sarah Barzyk.

The video is your typical downbeat commentary on modern family life–or lack there of. There are two interesting things to note about it.

First, it features prolific French actor Jean-Christophe Bouvet.

Second, it is edited from/or into a short film by Arnold De Parscau called Tommy that also came out 2011. I have embedded the film below.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: I Know by David Lynch (2011, dir. Tamar Drachli)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I don’t know if David Lynch still does this, but at least for awhile, he held music video competitions for his songs. That is the case with this music video. The following people worked on it according to the officially posted video:

Director: Tamar Drachli
Actors: Adam Horowitz & Vaan Nguyen
Director of Photography: Tom Goldwasser & Nadav Gordon
Camera Operator: Tom Goldwasser
Costumes Designer: Leeat Ramon
Compositing: Roi Werner
Online: Shahar Naor

It goes on to give some background on the competition:

“Almost 450 were entered into the competition to create the official music videos for David Lynch’s single ‘Good Day Today / I Know’m released on Sunday Best Recordings http://www.sundaybest.net

This fantastic video directd by Tamar Drachli was chosen by David Lynch as the winner for ‘I Know’ from a shortlist of 10 finalists.

The response to this competition was amazing with almost 450 videos published and some fantastic creativity and talent on display.”

That’s a lot of music videos to go through.

Based on what little I can turn up, the cast and crew are from Israel, or at least have connections there (the taxi has Hebrew characters on it). The one that stood out the most is Vaan Nguyen. The reason is because there is a whole movie about her father called The Journey of Vaan Nguyen (2005). I haven’t seen it myself.

I can find next to nothing on the others. There is a website for director Tamar Drachli, but I can’t get it to load. I can only view it in the Google Cache, which shows me she has directed some other music videos. There is also a website for costume designer Leeat Ramon.

Just to clarify one thing about the credits, it does say Adam Horowitz with a ‘w’, not a ‘v’.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Lights by Interpol (2011, dir. David Lynch)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

This is the second music video for Lights by Interpol. It was made a year after the Charlie White one in 2010. That one looks more like an induction into the cenobites. This one looks like a guy repeatedly pressing an emergency button, which may or may not have sexual connotations. That’s all I can give you.

Enjoy!