The following quotes are from the book, I Want My MTV:
“For Bat Out of Hell [in 1977], I talked the label into giving me $30,000 to shoot three live performance clips, and I got them played as trailers before midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. That is still the number one selling album in the history of Holland, and I never played there. It’s all because of the “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” video.” –Meat Loaf
“MTV was never very kind to me. They never played any of my videos.” –Meat Loaf
I love to speculate as to the reason why. It certainly doesn’t seem to have stopped him from trying. I can find many music videos that he made during the 80s. It’s telling though, that despite being such a well-known artist, most of the videos aren’t in mvdbase or IMVDb. That includes Dead Ringer for Love that had Cher in it.
What else is telling is that no matter what video it is, or no matter how much it tries to look like a modern music video, they are just the Bat Out Of Hell videos with some window-dressing. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not MTV. I’m sure Meat Loaf being overweight didn’t help either. Also, as great as the songs are, it’s not really rock as much as it is rock-tinged opera music, or put more simply, rock opera. If MTV had trouble selling Def Leppard to the point that their videos looked like Duran Duran ones, then imagine trying to sell Meat Loaf. It all adds up to an artist that was kind of destined to fall through the cracks.
A good way to see the difference between Meat Loaf music not making it to MTV, and Meat Loaf music making it to MTV, is to compare his videos to Bonnie Tyler music videos. Her songs were also from Jim Steinman in one form or another. They are operatic as well. You can really hear that on Holding Out For A Hero and Faster Than The Speed Of Night. However, Tyler is pretty, she’s a woman, she’s thin, she can sing, and most importantly, her videos were an event. Even more than thirty years later, you can say her name and the video for Total Eclipse Of The Heart comes to people’s minds. There is symbolism, storylines, an overall vision across several of her best videos, and they are memorable, which makes them re-watchable.
You see a Meat Loaf music video, you like the song, and buy the album. The cycle ends there. That kind of cuts MTV out of the picture when you don’t want to come back to them to see the video. During the time a Meat Loaf video would play, they could be airing Breaking The Law by Judas Priest, Poison Arrow by ABC, and Rio by Duran Duran that all stand separate from the song and bring back viewers. You have to remember that several people who were at the genesis of MTV were from The Movie Channel where it was their job to optimize programming based on demographic research. They needed money and had limited airtime.
Today we live in a world where the record companies can dump everything on YouTube. Who cares if it only brings in a few thousand views? Every single video can be watched concurrently by as many people as there are in the world, and you don’t have to worry about it after that except for licensing deals that you would have to handle anyways. I can’t imagine it costs much to put up either. They also have the benefit of people filling in the gaps by putting the videos up themselves that they can then claim advertising rights on. MTV didn’t have these luxuries.
Of course while this might have been the case for Meat Loaf during the 80s, the 90s were a different story when they and VH1 must have realized that he now fit their more original programming model since he was also an actor on top of being a famous musician. I remember him hosting a game show for VH1. There was also that biopic in 2000 called Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back.
I made a mistake yesterday when I spotlighted Fantasy by Mariah Carey. I only relied on mvdbase for directing credits, so I thought this music video was solely directed and shot by Daniel Pearl. It turns out, she co-directed it with him. He still shot it, but they made the video together. You can still see the strong influence that a talent of Pearl’s caliber had on the music video. It also makes it more interesting to talk about since this video does share aspects with Fantasy, that was directed only by Carey, and those elements are used correctly this time.
The video starts us outside the house as we rise up from behind a birdbath. You’re immediately greeted with white columns that are like prison bars. It is raining. That means that inside of the two seconds that the initial shot lasts, we get a hint that there was once something here that is now empty, the house is like a prison, and the rain sets the sad tone the video begins on.
The next shot we see a man walking past what could be flowers lying on the ground.
That shot is followed by a clear shot into the rain-filled birdbath with the faceless man way in the background, and out of focus, climbing the stairs onto the porch of the house. That confirms to the audience that the birdbath is now only filled with rain that acts as a stand-in for tears while also telling us that the video is now moving from the emptiness of the outside to the interior of this prison. Him being out of focus also highlights his faded existence in Carey’s life.
The rain is then shown washing off the mud his footprint left on the stair. Tears may be sad, but that shot tells us that we are supposed to see them as a cleansing force rather than something that is going to drive Carey deeper into herself. It is also another sign that he is being washed out of her life as he is in the present.
Then we begin our trip into the house through the Baby Doll inspired hole-in-the-wall. You can just barely see the man’s finger in the lower lefthand-corner as the camera moves forward to show us Carey on a bed with a rocking horse behind it. Then, in a split-second, we see Carey get a small smile on her face. That is followed by a shot of her legs that, along with everything else about the shot, indicates to us that she is an attractive person that is cooped up in this house in bed like she is a baby in the safety of her crib. Then the lyrics kick in, we start to get to know her, and begin her journey.
The next shot is of Carey in a barn with a baby horse. You can also see a shadow that moves across the entrance and quickly disappears. We’ve gone from his feet to a quick shot of his hands to a shadow. The horse has gone from something wooden in a room that obviously means something to him since he is making one last visit to it, but that we and Carey are already moving past it. These parts are memories that she is thinking of as she lies half-asleep in bed.
We get a few more shots into the house through the hole, and our last shot of the guy as he pulls away. Awake and still in the bed, she visualizes the horse in the barn again and it running around a small patch of grass surrounded by a wooden fence. She sees the outside via a window that we can see has had been wiped away at to make it possible to see through it–probably on numerous occasions. It cuts between these window shots and her getting progressively up from lying in the bed before she finally rises to move onto the next stage of her recovery.
Now we see her on the stairs. But we see her from behind the bars of the stairs.
We also see the chandelier that is beautiful, but abandoned, as shown by the cobwebs on it. It’s another sign that there was something here once and that this house has now become a prison that needs to be escaped from no matter how gorgeous it once was. This is done at the same time as we see the golden-light shining in from outside representing hope, and indicating to the audience that the video will now move Carey to the next stage of her recovery, which she does as she runs down the stairs outside.
As she does it, we can see that there is not only the peeling on the wall that we could see before, but also another hole in a wall.
We next see Carey outside straddling a tree branch like she would if she were riding a horse. The tree is an intermediary step. It reminds her of both riding the horse and stability–since the tree won’t move.
We can also see the wind blowing in her hair that is in contrast to her hair being stationary inside the house. We also get conflicting images of the horse still in the little gated area and running wild with other horses. It is also no longer raining outside, but can see tears on Carey’s face. She’s beginning to let go.
We now see Carey holding onto the trunk of the tree. She is no longer in its embrace. She is standing on her own two feet, but leaning against it for comfort because she hasn’t completely let go yet. It cuts back a few times to her in the tree before she runs away from it.
Next, we see Carey finally taking the horse out from the first gate that kept it in a very small area.
That is followed by the horse jumping the barb-wire fence. While the horse makes it over the fence, it still catches its legs on it.
Carey then runs up and grabs the fence herself, wounding her hand. It cuts back to her in the tree at first, then follows that with her knocking down the fence. Her and the horse are escaping free, yet wounded. This nicely ties the horse and Carey together. Both were trapped, and in releasing one, the other also gained their freedom. The cut tells us that while necessary, it isn’t painless, no matter how strong she has become at this point.
We now see her ride the horse for the first time in the video.
We see her feed it, and have some last moments with the horse before the camera pans up to show that she is alone again like she was at the start.
The difference is she is outside in the sun, hopeful, ready to start again, and free of the memories of the relationship that were comforting and confining.
The whole time, these images and transitions correspond with the music and lyrics. In particular, she keeps talking about what she is letting go returning to her if they were meant to be together. We see that it doesn’t. I like how you can read this apparent contradiction in different ways.
There are a couple of other things to notice while you watch the music video. There are several indicators of the passage of time. One of my favorite ones is the way the wood that makes up the wood fence changes. Sometimes it looks new.
Other times it appears to be rotting with vines growing on it.
The other thing I like is that it is usually not a single horse running free. You can read that several ways too.
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In Fantasy, the rollercoaster elements are isolated and don’t appear throughout the video. It’s a memorable visual, but that’s it. It is also gone at about a minute-and-forty seconds out of the approximately four-minute runtime. The Butterfly equivalent to the rollercoaster is the horse. The difference is that the horse, and what it represents, is interwoven throughout the video from it being a rocking horse behind the bed to running wild beyond both of the fences–wooden and barbed-wire. Yes, the two songs are quite different in their subject matter, but it could have served the same purpose. It kicks off the song, but doesn’t bookend the video even though it should since it can stand in for a ride through the “fantasy” as well as the song itself.
The other thing that is used better is blur. It is distracting in Fantasy, feels like someone trying out a new feature they discovered on their camera, and almost gives you the impression that Carey wanted to blur out everyone else to place the sole focus on her. Here, you only really notice it when someone tells you to look for it. Otherwise, just like the progression of the horse, it feels seamless.
“I’d done a lot of videos and wasn’t always a hundred percent thrilled. For the most part, I was never thrilled with the results, so I figured I would give directing a shot. It was a pretty simple concept. Most of the scenes were featured at the amusement park, at a late-night outdoor celebration. I was really happy to be able to include O.D.B in the remix video.” — Mariah Carey
If Carey wasn’t thrilled with her earlier videos because they were too well-made, then she sure changed that for this music video. I guess it shouldn’t come as any surprise seeing as twenty years later she would get behind the camera to make her first feature film for Hallmark called A Christmas Melody (2015). I saw it this year, and its one of the worst I’ve seen of the current 263 Hallmark films I have watched almost entirely because of the directing. If that movie is any indication, then she shouldn’t be behind the camera.
As “simple” as Fantasy is, she could have done a much better job. The dancing scenes at night aren’t done very well even if they sort of cap a storyline that is told by the setting sun. There is a drastic overuse of blur (not really a reflection of the title). Also, her earlier music videos had her as the singer surrounded by other people who appeared to organically gather around someone who was a good singer. In Fantasy it feels artificial (again, not a reflection of the title), dated even faster than her earlier stuff, and makes the whole thing feel like two videos spliced together. Carey started it right by shooting it during the day at the Playland amusement park in Rye, New York. So many of her earlier videos were done on studio sets/interiors. I love those rollercoaster bits and when I went into writing this post, I was surprised when it switched to the night dancing sequence. They are so forgettable, while the rollercoaster parts are so memorable, that even 20+ years later, I remembered them distinctly. I forgot that there were any other parts to the video.
However, if Carey wasn’t thrilled with her earlier music videos because they were last generation and made her seem interchangeable with other female artists of the time, then it’s a good thing she made this music video regardless of quality. Her earlier music videos portrayed her like Céline Dion or Whitney Houston. Excellent singers, but whether you like, or can’t stand Carey looking unreal and dolled-up, it is her thing. It makes her stand out and is the stamp of Mariah Carey so much so that you can still find comments on IMDb for Precious (2009) from people surprised that it was her in the movie. It’s her brand.
In summary, I don’t think Carey did a good job here, but she did need a break in the style of her music videos even if that meant ending up with something substandard. It sent a message to other directors–some of whom she had worked with before–that this was the way to film her. You can even see the difference in One Sweet Day that was done by Larry Jordan who directed at least five of her pre-Fantasy music videos, and that was just her in a studio with Boyz II Men. She would go on to direct the music video for Always Be My Baby before largely returning to other directors.
There is also a reworking of this music video that Carey did, which incorporated O.D.B.
That’s all it is. She just added a few bits with him singing, and rearranged the scenes from the original video.
One last thing. I’m sure I will mention it again, but Carey is one of those artists that clearly recognized the talents of legendary music video cinematographer Daniel Pearl. From what I can gather, he has shot about twenty of her music videos. He also shot her movie Mariah Carey’s Merriest Christmas (2015). She even got him to direct two of her music videos. To my knowledge he has only done that five times in his close to fifty-year career. That’s amazing since Pearl has even been quoted as saying that he is perfectly happy with being a cinematographer, and doesn’t see cinematography as a stepping stone to becoming a director–at least for him. Seeing as I did this music video today because I did Genius Of Love by Tom Tom Club yesterday, then I guess I will do one of the music videos Daniel Pearl shot and directed for Carey tomorrow. It’s night-and-day by comparison to this one.
For that one person who didn’t know already, this is the song that Mariah Carey sampled for her song Fantasy. It has also been sampled for so many other songs that I am not going to list them all. You can find a list of songs on the Wikipedia article for this song.
Tom Tom Club was a side project for Tina Weymouth and her husband Chris Frantz who were the bassist and drummer, respectively, for Talking Heads. I say “was” since Talking Heads are no longer together, but Tom Tom Club still is.
In the case of the song, there is a nice explanation over on Songfacts that is too long to repeat here. I will mention one thing. Apparently David Byrne–lead singer of Talking Heads–basically ignored its success. That fits with a quote over on her Wikipedia article where she described Byrne as “a man incapable of returning friendship.” That must have been frustrating considering she has been married to Chris Frantz since 1977, which is the year the band released their debut album.
The music video was made by duo Rocky Morton & Annabel Jankel based on the artwork of James Rizzi, which is on the cover of the album. They are two directors that are simultaneously thought well of and hated. They are great because they made Max Headroom (1985). They are awful because they also made Super Mario Bros. (1993). They have also done around 15-20 music videos.
“Initially, it was going to be footage of the band performing contrasted with footage of the movie. One member of the group objected to that because he wanted to feel that the group was a group on its own and not just tied to the movie, which was pretty valid motivation. I didn’t agree with it. I thought, ‘Hey, let’s capitalize on this movie.’ The same person came up with a storyboard mimicking Stallone’s rise to fortune to a young band from Chicago’s rise to fortune and notoriety. That became the video of a band woodshedding in a funky warehouse, then walking down the street in a funky part of town with determination on their face and eventually hitting the big stage and performing the song. That’s what came out. It was a popular video, but it was in the very early days of video. I look at it now and just cringe because it was so stiff and primitive.” –Jim Peterik
Oh, Peterik. You can cut yourself some slack. Pat Benatar can beat this music video in the cringe-worthy department with the one for her song You Better Run. Plus, there’s always 1986’s The Karate Rap. The only bad thing I see in this music video is the ridiculous idea of having the band members simulate getting hit in a boxing ring. Otherwise, you’ve just got Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve followed by the alley from Never Say Never by Romeo Void swapped out for a garage, and it ends on the set of Talking In Your Sleep by The Romantics. I see nothing wrong with that, and it certainly didn’t belong on WatchMojo’s list of the Top 10 Ridiculous 1980s Music Videos. Besides, what’s better? A fun blood-pumping music video for Eye Of The Tiger that people remember, or a stage-performance video for Burning Heart? I’ll go with Eye Of The Tiger any day of the week.
The information on who directed this music video is a little murky. If you go on to mvdbase, then it says Victoria Rain Kiriakis. I couldn’t find any information on who she is. I have come across some videos mis-credited to someone on there before, so I am inclined to believe Songfacts, which tells me that William Dear directed it. If that’s true, then this music video could have been a lot worse. It could have had a sasquatch in it. William Dear directed Harry and the Hendersons (1987).
I probably won’t do one of these next year, but it happens to be the 50th anniversary of Kwanzaa. That, and I got lucky to come across a legit Kwanzaa music video. I say legit in the sense that it didn’t come across as something that was meant to be shown to children to teach them about the holiday.
When I went to this song, I was treated to a link to a hilarious video where someone was trying to make fun of Kwanzaa and brought up its founder’s past. I kept thinking: “You don’t want to go down that road. Your religion won’t survive the trip.” Besides, since at least 1997, Kwanzaa is no longer intended to be an adversarial holiday to Christmas. Why should it be? There’s no reason it needs to conflict with someone’s religious beliefs as its founder himself said.
As for the music video, it’s nice and simple. It touches on themes of Kwanzaa, but isn’t just educational like I the other Kwanzaa related music videos I came across. There is also something that I highly doubt Hoffman intended when making this music video. I thought Hoffman’s dancing reminded me of a famous music video, so I did mute the song and played Never Gonna Give You Up over it. At about two minutes and thirty seconds it does start to sync up. Its not as good as that Gumby video syncing up with the one for Torn by Natalie Imbruglia. Still, I thought I would mention it. I doubt Hoffman meant that to be the case. Nevertheless, I’ll give her credit for it anyways.
The post on YouTube is ambiguous as to who directed the music video. That’s why I left it blank. However, it does tell you who shot and edited it. That would be Nick Marcoux. I couldn’t find any information on him.
It’s Last Christmas by Wham! What is there to say? Okay, I guess I can say a few things such as that the only reason I didn’t go with one of The Darkness’ Christmas music videos is because I intend to use one of their’s for Valentine’s Day.
There are two interesting details that Wikipedia pointed out to me. The girl that Michael gave the brooch to “Last Christmas” wears said brooch right side up, while Ridgeley’s character wears it is upside down. Also, apparently this music video was the last time George Michael was filmed clean-shaven.
Andy Morahan directed this music video. He’s directed somewhere around 130 music videos. He also directed Highlander: The Final Dimension (1994), which makes the first three Highlander movies done by directors who made music videos.
It was shot by Peter Mackay who has shot only a handful of music videos, but they include songs like Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division, In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins, and Radio Ga Ga by Queen.
Ridgeley’s girlfriend is played by model Kathy Hill.
The video also has former backup singers Helen “Pepsi” DeMacque and Shirlie Hollimam in it along with Spandau Ballet’s bassist Martin Kemp who went on to marry Shirlie. Kemp also happened to be in an episode of the Highlander TV Show.
“There are so many Christmas songs out there. I wanted to give the Jewish kids something to be proud of. We’ve got Adam Sandler’s song, which is hilarious, but I wanted to try to get across some of the depth and spirituality inherent in the holiday in a fun, celebratory song. My boy Kojak was in town so at the last minute we went into the studio in the spirit of miracles and underdogs and this is what we came up with. Happy Hannukah!” — Matisyahu
It also happens to be one of the craziest holiday music videos I’ve come across–Hanukkah or otherwise. Sure, there is that ridiculous Hall & Oates one and the one done by The Ramones, but this one has a Jew getting knocked over by a guy wearing a Santa hat who then wakes up in a bed with a Roman being fed grapes by a lady standing next to said bed. That’s pretty weird, and only the beginning of it.
I know there is sort of a controversy surrounding Matisyahu. It isn’t even listed under a “controversy” section on Wikipedia. He shaved his beard, dyed his hair, got divorced, and moved on from being so religious. That appears to be all there is to it. I just want people to enjoy this fun music video for the holidays.
There are at least two cast members worth mentioning.
Antiochus is played by Tony Cavalero who has gone on to be in quite a few things including Becoming Santa (2015), which Lisa reviewed last year.
Oh, and the lady standing next to the bed is none other than Jacqui Holland of late night cable fame in an early role. Yes, I know she has done other things, but that’s where I know her from and I’ve reviewed all but one of them on the site. I love spotting her in earlier roles. It’s like spotting Marilyn Monroe in movies before she became famous. I didn’t even recognize her till I saw her name in the credits.
According to my calendar, it is The Emperor of Japan’s birthday today. I’ve always wondered why that’s on United States calendars. Regardless, this gives me an opportunity to feature a music video by the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness.
I am not going to go into the history of the band. If you are interested in their career, then I recommend the Wikipedia article on them. I will mention two things though. They were the first Japanese metal act to be signed to a major label in the US. According to Wikipedia, they have released twenty-six studio albums (five in America) and nine live albums as of 2014, having started in 1981.
As for the music video, you aren’t hallucinating about the title of this post. This music video was directed by the same person who directed …Baby One More Time by Britney Spears. I’ve only done two music videos by Nigel Dick so far. The other one being Wonderwall by Oasis. I might have mentioned it before, but he seems to be the Michael Curtiz of music videos. He doesn’t have any distinct signature like Michel Gondry. He seems to be a director you go to with whatever you need made, and he turns in a quality music video.
At first I thought I had no idea why this music video looks the way it does. It makes some sense to me now.
It’s shot in what looks like the Mad Max universe, so you have the post-apocalyptic look to it. That probably represents the death of Imperial Japan via the atomic bomb. You have the American car, plane, and TV sticking out of the desert since Japan would rise again technologically. It also probably represents the quick turnover of American culture.
The flag behind them is The Flag of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force that has been in use since 1954. From what I can gather, it is the same as the Flag of the Imperial Japanese Navy that was in use prior to the American Occupation, but isn’t the same flag as the War flag of the Imperial Japanese Army.
The band is playing a genre of music that originated in Britain, then invaded the United States in the 80s with it in the same way that the British invaded the states in the 60s after taking up blues and early rock. Both countries having attacked the United States in the past before having close ties down the road.
We see a samurai sword plunged into the ground at about the midpoint of the song, which also seems to represent death of old Japan without having to abandon pride in their country as shown by the flag.
In the end, the flag is in shown in shadow and a guitar in flames. I see that as rock being a universal language that transcends borders and burns brighter than any flag.
There seems to be two forces tearing at the Japanese since the war. Symbols representing pride in their nation without actually celebrating the awful things done during WWII under those same symbols. That seems to tie-in with the lyrics of the song. I know it all ties together somehow.
That’s my best attempt at an interpretation without really reading up on a bunch of history of the country, the flag, and the band.
One more thing. I don’t know if it was a continuity error or not, but the flag appears to change positions are certain times in the video. It even looks like it has disappeared at about three minutes and forty-nine seconds. If the video weren’t filled with so much symbolism, then I wouldn’t have mentioned it.
This was shot by cinematographer Dariusz Wolski whose work you have most likely seen. He shot four of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, The Crow (1994), Dark City (1998), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Prometheus (2012), and The Martian (2015), among others.
I love that this is a Japanese metal band whose music video is made by a British director and shot by a Polish cinematographer for an American audience that covers similar issues that were faced by post-war Germany and Italy using the genre of rock that was seen as a savior for people living under Communist rule during the 80s that also happened to be a high point of the Cold War.
Sorry for keeping this short. Just before I sat down to write this yesterday, I became so dizzy that I collapsed. I am going to try and stay in bed all day. Luckily, there isn’t much to say that I haven’t already in my posts for Dog Police by Dog Police and Old Timer by That Dog.
You have a music video that uses similar dog makeup and themes from Dog Police, but without the humor. It is played straight. You have Spike Jonze collaborator and drummer for That Dog–Tony Maxwell–playing Charles. Charles comes to the big city obviously different from everyone else because he is a dog person–much like someone moving from the country or suburbs to the big city. That makes him in the process of trying to adapt to a new place. He also has the physical handicap of a broken leg that that doesn’t really come into play except to complement the mental handicap that the radio represents. We see that not only does it have a sentimental tie to his youth as shown by the picture with his dad, but we also see that he literally can’t turn it off because of the missing buttons. He does run into an old friend and would be able to follow her on the bus were it not for the radio he can’t turn off yet and the bus doesn’t allow radios. It also means he will have a tough time getting people to accept him in much the same way that the band did to get to this music video that included a review of a pre-Daft-Punk album by Melody Maker that called the music they made as “a dafty punk thrash.” There’s more you can read in the “history” section on Wikipedia that ties into this video as well.
It all sounds quite depressing. However, we know throughout, and at the ending, that the short time we have spent with him is only a rough patch–he’ll make it through. I guess you could look at the ending as him going out into the street as a suicide attempt. I don’t see it that way. I see tough times ahead for Charles. Tough times that Charles will be able to overcome as we can see that he has a strong spirit despite the barriers to entry that the big city throws at him.
A stylistic choice that is interesting here is that it is shot on the streets rather than the studio music videos people are typically familiar with even from Spike Jonze.
Through the Shattered Lens 