Tag Archives: music video

Music Video of the Day: I Predict by Sparks (1982, dir. Doug Martin & Steve Martin)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Or is directed by David Lynch?

Back when I went through all the David Lynch music videos, I specifically mentioned this one because it is frequently credited to David Lynch. If you do a Google search, then you’ll turn up lots of reviews and lists of Lynch music videos that include it. Even Wikipedia disagrees about it. If you go to the list of David Lynch music videos, then it’ll say he directed it. However, if you go to the article written about the song and video, then you’ll find out that it wasn’t. That article cites a book called Talent Is An Asset: The Story Of Sparks by Daryl Ealesa. It says the video was directed by Doug Martin and Steve Martin in the style of Lynch. I haven’t read it yet. Regardless, I just bought it so I can provide you with an excerpt covering it:

‘I Predict’ came with a striking video that fell foul of the conservatism of MTV. Directed in the style of David Lynch by group friends, identical twins and occasional actors Doug and Steve Martin, it is crammed full of strangeness. Shot in a dimly lit bar outside LA, Ron, in drag, develops the bride theme from the album’s cover with Russell still wearing the cover’s wedding suit. And Ron is stripping. And Russell is watching. Something is clearly not right. With the attendant promotion and the video’s notoriety, ‘I Predict’ reached number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sparks had finally achieved a US Top 100 single after a decade of trying.

Below is the album cover the excerpt speaks of:

The funny thing is that despite being mis-credited to David Lynch, it does have a connection to him beyond being done in his style. David Lynch made a music video for the song Thank You, Judge by his group called BlueBOB that was made up of him and Jeff Neff. At the end of that music video, you have Eli Roth and Naomi Watts laughing at Jeff Neff about to receive an anal probe. Anyone who has watched Cabin Fever (2002) and David Lynch’s work, knows that from the opening to the very end, you’d be thinking of Lynch regardless of whether you knew there was any connection between them. From the Blue Velvet (1986) style opening credits to Party Cop to the person in the rabbit suit. There’s even a thanks to him in the credits. 7 years later, director Ti West made a sequel that is basically a lover-letter to 70s and 80s exploitation films. I watched all the Cabin Fever movies recently, and something caught my eye in the credits on Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009). They used the Sparks song Eaten By The Monster Of Love, which is from the album, Angst In My Pants, that includes the song I Predict. Even without having directed this video, Lynch is still connected to it beyond the use of his style in the video.

David Lynch being credited for this in so many places doesn’t surprise me. I have a copy of Madonna: The Immaculate Collection. It’s a compilation of her early music videos. It lists Mary Lambert as the producer of Borderline–not the director.

You’d think that would be pretty definitive. In fact, there’s a reference to Star Wars in Pet Sematary II (1992)–Bruce Logan having done visual effects on Star Wars.

However, if you read the book I Want My MTV, then you get information straight from Lambert and others that she did indeed direct Borderline.

The point is that it’s easy for this stuff to get confusing, and as a result, you can end up with these kinds of situations.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Never Tear Us Apart by INXS (1987, dir. Richard Lowenstein)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

A couple of weeks ago a relative of mine passed away. He had serious issues in his life that brought it to a close far too early. I wasn’t close with him, but nevertheless. A week later we lost Chris Cornell under similar circumstances. Now we have the concert bombing, among other things.

When I heard of Cornell’s passing, I thought of this song because lead-singer Michael Hutchence also died of an apparent suicide 20 years ago in 1997. I thought it was an appropriate music video to spotlight at this time.

It was shot in Prague. It was directed by Richard Lowenstein, who directed many videos for INXS. It was edited by Bruce Ashley.

I’ve included numbers below that you can call if you find yourself in these kinds of situations. Thank you, Patrick, for listing them on your Twitter account.

24/7 Suicide: 800-273-8255
DV: 800-799-7233
Crisis: Text START to 741-741
Trans: 877-565-8860
TTY: 800-799-4889

Music Video of the Day: A View To A Kill by Duran Duran (1985, dir. Godley & Creme)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

That turned out to be longer and more of a rollercoaster for my mind and body than I expected. After all the side effects of the meds and the subsequent withdrawals, it didn’t help the chronic cough. On the plus side, I now own a second dog named Elke. Whether she’s named after Elke Sommer or not, we don’t know. Regardless, since Lisa was kind enough to cover for me, it means I need to watch Lisa And The Devil (1973) with Elke Sommer. On the downside, I watched 70 films since my last post, which means I will have more stuff to sift through at the end of the year. Oh, well.

Rest in peace, Roger Moore.

To my knowledge this is the only music video that has Roger Moore in it–even if it is only in footage from the film. Speaking of which, you will notice two things immediately when you start up this music video:

  1. It is silent for a little over a minute.
  2. The video quality isn’t very good.

At first I thought my iPhone was glitching on me. It’s not like the iOS YouTube app is perfect or anything. I scrubbed forward, and the song kicked in. I didn’t notice the video quality was low until now. I have a theory about why it is silent during the opening film footage and is of low quality throughout.

This isn’t like Romancing The Stone by Eddy Grant. Yes, they tried to integrate him into the footage from the movie, but it’s easy to edit that out, and they did just that for a separate version of it. This video heavily integrates the film footage into the music video. You really can’t separate them, and expect to be able to put this up. My best guess, is that behind-the-scenes, a deal was struck that so long as they muted the opening part and reduced the quality, then whoever currently holds the license to the film would let them post it. Also, seeing as directors Godley & Creme integrated Duran Duran into the movie footage, you also couldn’t treat them differently. Thus, the whole thing is the way it is. That’s my theory.

If you pay attention to the music video, then you might notice a little Easter Egg in it. That of course being the female model having pictures taken of her. You guessed it. Godley & Creme directed the music video for Girls On Film.

In addition, you can say that the use of iris shots is a nod to Rio, and visually makes Duran Duran perfect to have made a Bond theme song. Finally, the name Simon Le Bon not only lends itself to being a stand-in for the famous “Bond, James Bond” line, but Roger Moore played Simon Templar on The Saint before becoming James Bond.

Wikipedia has an interesting backstory on how the band and John Barry worked together to write the song. I suggest going over there and reading it.

Lexi Godfrey produced the video.

I’m sorry it took till your death, Roger. But I need to go see how you managed to be in a movie called Gold (1974), the same year as you were in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)–if for no other reason, than it being my favorite Bond film

…

Wait a second, you also played both Sherlock Holmes in 1976 and Inspector Clouseau in 1983. You sneaky devil. I’ll miss you.

Music Video Of The Day: Clocks by Coldplay (2003, directed by Dominic Leung)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

For the longest time, I’ve had a fantasy about the collapse of civilization.

It goes something like this: The Left and the Right in America have finally realized that their true enemy is the deeply entrenched, deeply authoritarian, nonideological government.  The people have finally risen up.  Rioters are in the street, attacking both each other and their oppressors.  With the police proving either incapable or unwilling to try to control the riots, the National Guard has been called in.  Tanks roll down Main Street.  Helicopters hover above burning building.  Disembodied voices announce that anyone caught violating curfew will be shot.  It started with a burning city but now the entire country is on fire.

I see all of this as I sit in back of the limo that is carrying me and a few of my loved ones to the airport.  At first, I feel sad that America is collapsing but, as we get closer to the airport, that sadness is replaced by hope.  As bad as things are, at least we’ve got somewhere else to go.  At least we can start again, hopefully without any of the bullshit that led to the collapse of civilization in the first place.

There’s a private plane waiting for us.  We take our seats.  As the plane takes off, I look out the window and I can see that the tanks and the rioters have just arrived at the airport.  Our plane is the last one to take off.  We are the last ones to escape.  As the plane flies us to our new home (sometimes it’s Ireland, sometimes it’s Italy, sometimes it’s Spain, sometimes it’s an island off in the middle of nowhere), I looked out the window and I see the city burning below.

And, during all of this, Clocks is the song that’s playing in the background.  Seriously, it’s great escaping music!

As for the video above, it was filmed in London, at the Docklands Excel Building.  The audience was largely made up of local college students.  It’s actually a rather simple video but that’s okay.  It’s perfect for the song.

Enjoy!

(Val should be back and handling music video duties tomorrow!)

Music Video of the Day: Only Happy When It Rains (1995, dir by Samuel Bayer)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’ve been told by more than one person that this song basically is me.  At first, I assumed they were just saying that because both Shirley Manson and I have red hair and people always tend to assume that all redheads are alike.  But then I actually listened to the song and I was like, “I’m only happy when it rains?  I’m only happy when it’s complicated?  My comfort is the night gone black?  Yeah, I guess that does kinda sound like me…”

And then I watched the video, which is basically Shirley singing and dancing in a dilapidated warehouse while the other members of the band destroy stuff in the background and I immediately had flashbacks to when I was going to college and me and my friends would spend the occasional weekend exploring an abandoned and/or condemned building.  And I was like, “I guess this song basically is me!”

This video was directed by Samuel Bayer.  Bayer has directed close to a 100 videos, for everyone from Maroon 5 to P!nk to Nirvana.  Bayer directed Nirvana’s famous Smells Like Teen Spirit video.  And, just by doing quick check, I see that Val has actually reviewed two other videos directed by Bayer: Zombie by the Cranberries and No Rain by Blind Melon.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Won’t Look Back by Duke Dumont (2014, directed by Tim Main)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Y’all are going to have to forgive me.  I am absolutely exhausted as I write this so I’m not going to say as much about this wonderful video as I possibly should.

One the one hand, this video is a pitch perfect takeoff of almost every heist film released since the mid-90s.  From the masks to the guns to the thrilling escape and subsequent chase, Won’t Look Back gets everything right.  Of course, what sets Won’t Look Back apart from other action homages is that it replaces fast cars with pogo sticks and segways.  It’s terrifically amusing and it all works a thousand times better than it has any right to.

This video was directed by Tim Main and edited by Sam Jones.  Pat Scola is credited as director of photography.  All three did an excellent job and have a lot to be proud of with this video.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: Midnight Madness by The Chemical Brothers (2008, directed by Dom & Nic)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Did you know that apparently there are goblins living in London trash bins and that these goblins just love to dance?  Well, if you’ve watched the video for The Chemical Brothers’s Midnight Madness, you do!

I have to admit that I was disappointed to learn that this video did not feature an actual goblin.  Instead, it’s just a man in a goblin costume.  (Oh well.  I guess real goblins are camera shy.)  When we first see the goblin, he’s played by Daniel Ilabaca.  When the goblin starts dancing on stage, he’s played by the Algerian dancer Lilou, a member of Pockemon Crew. Speaking for myself, regardless of who is playing him from scene-to-scene, I just love how happy the goblin is.

This video was directed by Dom & Nic, who have been directing music videos since the early 90s.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Gagarin by Public Service Broadcasting (2014, dir by Alex Kemp)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

There are some things that just make you smile and, for me, this video is one of those things.  I love this song.  I love the dancing.  I love the whole spirit of the video.  It brings me enjoyment at a time when the world seems like a very negative place.  What more need I say about it?

Gagarin was the first single to be released from Public Service Broadcasting’s 2nd album, The Race For Space.  As you can probably guess just from the title (and the song), the entire album deals with the history of the space race and the rivalry between the Americans and the Russians.  Gagarin is specifically about Yuri Gagarin, the first man ever to journey into space.

Did Yuri Gagarin find time to dance during his orbit around the Earth?  No, of course not.  He was in a tiny Vostok spacecraft and, as a Communist, he probably wasn’t allowed to dance.  (This is the main idea behind communism, isn’t it?  No dancing unless you’re listening to Rage Against The Machine or something like that.)  Gagarin was lucky in that, unlike a lot of other participants in the Russian space program, he actually survived his journey.  Still, if it had been allowed and if there had been room and maybe a source of gravity, I bet he would have danced.

Gagarin was directed by Alex Kemp, who has two other videos to his credit: Public Service Broadcasting’s Signal and Duotone’s Alphabet.  The choreography is credited to Kieran Donovan.

Anyway, enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Drugs by Ratatat (2010, dir by Carl Burgess)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s music video of the day is Drugs by Ratatat.

Some of my friends have told me that they actually found this video to be the creepiest thing that they had ever seen and that they would never forgive me for making them watch it.  Myself, I think it’s only as creepy as you choose to make it.

Visually, this video is entirely made up of Getty stock footage.  None of the images are actually connected, beyond the fact that they were all designed so that they could basically mean just about anything.  As viewers our natural instinct is to try to force everything we see and experience into a coherent storyline.  That’s an instinct that this video exploits to perfection.  In short, this video means whatever you think it means.  And what you think it means says more about you than the video.

Enjoy!