Music Video of the Day: The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails (1997, dir. Mark Romanek)

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Valerie Troutman

First things first, the music video is there despite what it looks like. Somebody just decided to get clever and put the YouTube video-has-been-removed pic as the thumbnail. If it actually gives you the error message after clicking on it, then I’m sorry. I’m also sorry that the last few seconds are missing. However, I can’t agree with a YouTube commenter about that problem. The music video doesn’t fall apart without them. I do have to agree and disagree with another commenter. This song will indeed wash your ears clean of Fifth Harmony’s song Work From Home, but I don’t see anything wrong with that music video. They are just very passionate about equating construction equipment with sex.

Meanwhile, over in the music video for The Perfect Drug, Trent Reznor is reminding me of why I bothered to buy the soundtrack for Lost Highway (1997) back when it came out. I didn’t care about any of the other songs. I just wanted The Perfect Drug. I wasn’t even a fan of Nine Inch Nails. I just fell in love with the song. My favorite part is the drum solo near the end. The music video is what lured me in with its’ cold Victorian look that was a beautiful and haunting representation of the music of Nine Inch Nails. I am sure that bit in the hedge maze was meant to be a reference to The Shining (1980) to fit with the theme of madness/obsession. I could have featured this music video anytime, but I figured October was as good a time as any.

This music video brings back a lot of familiar faces from earlier music videos I have spotlighted.

Danielle Cagaanan was an executive producer on the music video. I can’t find a whole lot of information on her credit-wise. I can find a bunch of other information. She must have gotten married because she now goes by the name Danielle Peretz. I also found out that back in 1994, she accepted an award for Spike Jonze being that year’s top director. You can even see a picture of her here with the director of the music video for Green Day’s Longview. According to American Photo magazine in 1995, she gave Spike Jonze his start with MTV. I also found her Linkedin page. It looks like she founded her own company this year that helps youth with cognitive challenges find jobs. Back during the making of this video, she was near the end of her 6 years at Satellite Films/Propaganda Films before hopping over to MCA Records.

June Guterman is back. She is the one who produced the music video for Lil’ Devil by The Cult.

Jeff Cronenweth is new. He has shot some music videos, but he’s probably best known for his work on other films like Fight Club (1999), The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and Gone Girl (2014).

Robert Duffy is back. He edited this as well as Hella Good by No Doubt, Closer by Nine Inch Nails, and Losing My Religion by R.E.M–among others. He has also worked on numerous Tarsem Singh films.

Tom Foden was the production designer. He did the same for Closer by Nine Inch Nails. He has worked on numerous Tarsem Singh films. He has one credit that jumps out at me. He was apparently an assistant art director on Playboy: Kerri Kendall – September 1990 Video Centerfold (1990), which was directed by Michael Bay. I would think that was a fake credit on IMDb, but Michael Bay did direct music videos back then. One of those music videos being I Touch Myself by Divinyls. Also, it really isn’t that uncommon for major directors to get their start in porn. Abel Ferrara’s first feature film was a porno.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Halloween by Helloween (1987, dir. Mark Rezyka)

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Valerie Troutman

HELLOWEEN is the Band
HALLOWEEN is the Song
Anyone who confuses the two shall be turned into a Great Big Pumpkin.

I don’t own the 1987 cassette album that this song was on, but that’s what a YouTube commenter said is on it, and YouTube comments have never mislead me before. I tried to look it up, but it only lead me to a “Christian” website about the evils of Halloween. They even include that clip from The Pagan Invasion series that the general consensus says is just a guy reciting the plot to Hack-O-Lantern/Halloween Night (1988) as if it were his own experience.

I had no idea this band or song existed till I stumbled upon it in director Mark Rezyka’s filmography. He is the one who brought us the music video for Quiet Riot’s Bang Your Head (Metal Health). They are a German power metal band, not to be confused with the band Halloween from Detroit, Michigan. The band appears to have recognized that YouTube was a good thing for them as far back as 2006. This music video is on the official Helloween YouTube channel and was posted on August 14th, 2006.

I like that it references Charlie Brown, Linus, and The Great Pumpkin. Oh, and the opening line is “Masquerade, masquerade”, no matter how much it sounds like “Masturbate, masturbate.” It doesn’t help that misheard lyric when director Mark Rezyka is the one who also brought us the music video for Quiet Riot’s Cum On Feel The Noize.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Looks That Kill by Mötley Crüe (1983, dir. Marcelo Epstein)

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Valerie Troutman

I think I only saw this music video once before now. It is as crazy as I remember. I think the best part is when the lady they are singing about appears by knocking down that wall. If you are thinking they didn’t quite know what to do with Mötley Crüe at this point, then I highly recommend you check out the music video they did before this for the song Live Wire. They seemed to have been under the impression they were Van Halen in that one. In fact, it looks like it wasn’t till director Wayne Isham got ahold of them in 1985 that they found the way to really sell this Sunset Strip band.

But what else could we expect from director Marcelo Epstein who brought us the notoriously bad breakdancing movie with Lorenzo Lamas called Body Rock the following year. I could only find out that he did a handful of music videos, but it appears that Body Rock killed his career in film. I even found one review that was convinced that “Marcelo Epstein” must have been a pseudonym for Michael Haneke or Jonas Mekas.

While Epstein is a bit of a mystery, producer Alexis Omeltchenko sure isn’t. You can find all kinds of information about him online. I can tell you when he was born, who his parents were, his political party of choice, where he went to college, and more. I can only find 15 producing credits on mvdbase, but I highly doubt that’s it. He owns his own production company and has been a member of the Music Video Producers Association since 1984. I’m sure there’s more.

What else can I say? If by some chance you haven’t seen this thing, then watch it. You won’t be sorry. It’s really stupid.

Music Video of the Day: Living After Midnight by Judas Priest (1980, dir. Julien Temple)

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Valerie Troutman

There’s so little to say about this music video that I’m surprised they even bothered. The only noteworthy thing I can see is the beginning where we have somebody–possibly Dave Holland–drumming sans drums. Other than that, I believe that with Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen, it is the only one I have done so far that is partially made up of a live performance rather than being lip-synced (according to mvdbase). It feels like they needed a promotional video for the song, so they took a filmed live version they had, and spliced it together with some footage they shot at another time. So, exactly how we got Dancing in the Dark, except I have a feeling it wasn’t planned in this case. But I could be wrong. According to Wikipedia, it was filmed at Sheffield City Hall.

It is the second music video directed by Julien Temple that I have spotlighted. He has worked in both music videos and other types of films. His music video output was quite large from the beginning of the 1980s till the mid-1990s. Then he seemed to drop off the face of the Earth in music videos except for one here and there. He did a bunch of music videos with the group ABC, so it’s no surprise that they brought him back this year for the music video of their comeback song Viva Love. Unfortunately, it has been blocked on YouTube in certain countries (including the United States).

Enjoy this quite unremarkable video for a fun Judas Priest party song.

Music Video of the Day: Enter Sandman by Metallica (1991, dir. Wayne Isham)

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Valerie Troutman

My earliest memory of this song is a 6th grade math class. I don’t remember why, but they had a computer in there, and one of the kids put the song on. I have no idea when I first saw the music video. All I remembered about it was the bed getting hit by a truck. The rest of the music video is pretty forgettable.

I guess you could take it simply. It’s about a kid having nightmares that we ascribe to the “Sandman” bringing by putting you to sleep. Trying to carefully watch it now and paying attention to the lyrics, it looks a lot like the kid is having nightmares of death that don’t go away with age, but only become closer and closer to reality as the years pass. According to Songfacts, the line “off to Never Never Land” was supposed to be “disrupt the perfect family” as a reference to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The Sandman can bring you sleep, which is where you can die at any age, as shown by the old man who we also see alone in the bed. Plus, we tend to use sleep to mean both going to sleep at night and death, as in putting an animal to sleep. You also see that in the image of the old man underwater as if he is trying to kill himself. The scene with the kid praying as the old man watches really makes me think that they are meant to be the same person. In particular, since you are your own Sandman in reality. Never Never Land is a place where you never grow up, but sung darkly as Enter Sandman is by Metallica, then it makes it sound like a fantasy to cloak the fear of your eventual death. In that case, the Sandman could also be seen as The Reaper, and Never Never Land is just death. Or maybe I am just overthinking all of this because I had a friend who died in his sleep when he was a teenager. Probably not though seeing as this kind of thing is a bit of a motif in Metallica’s music such as the songs One and The Memory Remains.

The music video was directed by veteran music video director Wayne Isham. Unless you have never watched a music video before, you probably have seen his work. One minute it’s Enter Sandman for Metallica, and the next he is directing Bye Bye Bye for *NSYNC. More recently he brought us a music video for Nickelback and a couple for Neil Diamond. The point is that Wayne Isham seems to be willing to direct anything you give him.

Martin Coppen shot the music video. He has done around 40 music videos.

Jay Torres edited the music video. He has a handful of music video credits, but based on his website, seems to have gone on to other things.

Curt Marvis, Jeff Tannebring, and Matt Mahurin were producers on the music video. Matt Mahurin is the only one that seems noteworthy. He appears to have directed somewhere around 70-80 music videos. One of them was as Allen Smithee for the music video for Building A Mystery by Sarah McLachlan.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Joan Crawford by Blue Öyster Cult (1981, dir. Richard Casey)

Posted on October 23, 2016 by Valerie Troutman

I have never seen Mommie Dearest (1981), so I can’t speak to the tie-ins with that film. Wikipedia does assure me that the music video is inspired by both the book and the film. That’s actually kind of interesting. I say that because the song can only be inspired by the book since the album this was on came out two months prior to the release of Mommie Dearest. The music video was released at the same time as the film. That means the song and music video were only inspired by the book. This is according to Billboard magazine, circa September 19th, 1981

Going purely off of the music video, it seems to be doing several things. The first being that Joan Crawford was a force to be reckoned with that should strike fear into people’s hearts if she were to suddenly come back to life. I wouldn’t say that part is explicitly directed at her daughter Christina, but people in general. The second thing would appear to be a commentary on stable studio actors who are all waiting to be stars or struggling to hold on to stardom (Crawford and Davis), and having no problem killing off anyone who got in their way. That part being represented by the Catholic schoolgirls who act like vampires. However, that could also all be part of the way Christina was raised by Joan Crawford. That’s what some sites imply. The music video also seems to be saying that the greatest horror is that she lived so much under the watchful eye of her mother that she became her until we see her broken free to be left silently wiping the makeup off her face by the pool. It could be that the entire video is supposed to be one of Christina Crawford’s nightmares. Of course it’s all speculation based on the music video. I have not seen the movie, nor read the book. I just couldn’t resist spotlighting this during October.

The music video was filmed at Beulyland in Los Angeles that was allegedly the former home of silent film star Mabel Normand, also according to the aforementioned release of Billboard Magazine.

Richard Casey directed it, and appears to have only done a handful of music videos before going on to do other work in film.

George Harrison produced it, but mvdbase assures me this is a different George Harrison than that of The Beatles.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Bang Your Head (Metal Health) by Quiet Riot (1983, dir. Mark Rezyka)

Posted on October 22, 2016 by Valerie Troutman

I used up all my juices yesterday writing about Nirvana’s Heart-Shaped Box. I’m sure that “Metal Health” can drive you mad, but apparently looking at a bunch of music videos composed of loads of symbolism, surrealism, metaphors, and more can cause you to wind up with a migraine headache. With that in mind, I only have a couple of things to say.

According to Wikipedia, the music video was filmed in the Walt Disney Modular Theater and hallways of the California Institute of the Arts using students as extras. Walt Disney and a song about headbanging. I love connections.

It was filmed by Mark Rezyka who made about 50 or so music videos in the 80s. They seem to be primarily heavy metal and hard rock. He also happened to direct Billy Bob Thornton’s second movie called South of Reno (1988).

Patricia Friedman produced the music video. She seems to have at least produced around 20 music videos such as Weird Science by Oingo Boingo and Pretty In Pink by The Psychedelic Furs. Just like Rezyka, she appears to have continued to stay in the field of music, but moved on to music documentaries and concert films. She actually has a bio on mvdbase with more information about her work.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana (1993, dir. Anton Corbijn)

Posted on October 21, 2016 by Valerie Troutman

As if watching the first one again after all these years wasn’t hard enough, that director’s cut is even harder to watch. I am really thankful I am not director/photographer Anton Corbijn. Talk about a blessing, and a curse to have worked with those bands over the years. I mean considering he got his start with Joy Division, only to make the last music video with Nirvana about a decade later. Let’s not forget having made Enjoy The Silence and other things with Depeche Mode considering what happened with Dave Gahan.

Everyone seems to have talked about this music video on its own. I don’t intend to do that. I find it more interesting to look back at Corbijn’s earlier music videos to see where some of the notorious weirdness of this music video comes from and other visual ties to Nirvana in his work. Some things don’t translate well to only a still image, but otherwise, enjoy! I found all, but one or two music videos released prior to Heart-Shaped Box. Oh, and the heart appears a little over 30 seconds into his very first music video.

Hockey by Palais Chaumburg (1983)

Beat Box by Art of Noise (1984)

Dr. Mabuse by Propaganda (1984)

Red Guitar by David Sylvian (1984)

Seven Seas by Echo & the Bunnymen (1984)

The Ink in the Well by David Sylvian (1984)

Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2 (1984)

Bring on the Dancing Horses by Echo & the Bunneymen (1985)

Bring on the Dancing Horses by Echo & the Bunnymen (1985)

Quiet Eyes by Golden Earring (1986)

A Question of Time by Depeche Mode (1986)

Bedbugs and Ballhoo by Echo and the Bunneymen (1987)

Bedbugs and Ballyhoo by Echo & the Bunnymen (1987)

Strangelove by Depeche Mode (1987)

Pimpf by Depeche Mode (1987)

The Game by Echo & the Bunnymen (1987)

Lips Like Sugar by Echo & the Bunnymen (1987)

Never Let Me Down Again by Depeche Mode (1987)

Behind the Wheel by Depeche Mode (1987)

Blueprint by Rainbirds (1988)

My Secret Place by Joni Mitchell & Peter Gabriel (1988)

Atmosphere by Joy Division (1988)

Headhunter by Front 242 (1988)

Love is a Better Word (White City of Light) by Rainbirds (1989)

Sea of Time by Rainbirds (1989)

Faith and Healing by Ian McCulloch (1989)

Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode (1989)

Killer Wolf by Danzig (1990)

Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode (1990)

Policy of Truth by Depeche Mode (1990)

World in My Eyes by Depeche Mode (1990)

May This Be Your Last Sorrow by Banderas (1991)

Clean by Depeche Mode (1991)

Two Faces by Rainbirds (1991)

Marie by Herbert Grönemeyer (1991)

Tragedy (For You) by Front 242 (1991)

Halo by Depeche Mode (1991)

One by U2 (1992)

Hail Hail Rock ‘n’ Roll by Garland Jefferys (1992)

Lover Lover Lover by Ian McCulloch (1992)

Straight to You by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (1992)

Dirty Black Summer by Danzig (1992)

Do I Have to Say the Words by Bryan Adams (1992)

I Feel You by Depeche Mode (1993)

Walking in My Shoes by Depeche Mode (1993)

Condemnation by Depeche Mode (1993)

Music Video of the Day: Intergalactic by Beastie Boys (1998, dir. Adam Yauch)

Posted on October 19, 2016 by Valerie Troutman

I don’t have a lot to say about this music video. It’s the Beastie Boys having fun with Japanese monster movies just like they did with Danger: Diabolik (1968) for the Body Movin’ music video. They even filmed parts of it in Japan. It was directed by Adam Yauch under the pseudonym Nathaniel Hornblower. What I mostly have to say about this is the interesting copyright/version issues that seem to be at work here.

You may have noticed that video above is not official. I’m pretty sure you can find any other Beastie Boys music video on YouTube, but not this one. Well, not since sometime after September 14th, 2009 as you can see where EMI once had it posted. You can find the song posted twice as part of this new YouTube music thing they have been doing.

You’ll hear that both of them are missing something that is in the music video. It is also missing from my copy that I obtained from iTunes a few years ago. According to Wikipedia, it was on the album. This song originally began with a sample of Stravinsky’s ballet Rite of Spring. I guess they must have lost the rights, or didn’t think it was worth it. How much you wanna bet it was after the Men at Work fiasco over the flute riff in Down Under in 2009?

Strangely, the video is over on VEVO with a different piece of classical music. You can also hear this version below thanks to Dailymotion. If you are running an ad blocker then follow this link because Dailymotion has decided to try and be clever by only letting the audio through if their ad is blocked.

http://dai.ly/xyvwn

The Wikipedia article on Rite of Spring makes it look like it’s very well-known, but is a nightmare of a piece when it comes to copyright and different versions of it.

Songfacts sorta comes to my rescue here. They say it opens with a sample from Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky that was edited out of the radio version. From what I can tell, the version I posted at the start samples the beginning of Night on Bald Mountain.

However, the version I linked to that is on VEVO and embedded from Dailymotion does sample from Rite of Spring as you can hear below.

According to Songfacts and Wikipedia, they also incorporated Les Baxter’s version of Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude C-sharp Minor” and “Love is Blue” by The Jazz Crusaders. I’ve embedded the first one and a different version of the second one below.

I couldn’t pick out those in the song. I also don’t know for sure what was on the original album cause I don’t own a hard copy. Wikipedia also seems to indicate that there were two different versions of the music video to begin with, but doesn’t shine any light on the online posting situation from what I can see.

It’s always an adventure when I sit down to write one of these posts. Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: More Human Than Human by White Zombie (1995, dir. Rob Zombie)

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Valerie Troutman

I have very little to say about this music video. It was the first one fully directed by Rob Zombie. According to Wikipedia, the title and lyrics draw from Philip K. Dick’s book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, more commonly known by its’ film adaptation, Blade Runner (1982). The music video is taken from several places. Some of it was shot in the halls of Framingham High School, Framingham, Massachusetts and on the streets of Hollywood Boulevard. The home video footage is just that. It’s of Rob, his brother, Michael Cummings of the band Powerman 5000, and a cousin.

If you’ve heard the song, then you know that there is orgasmic moaning at the beginning of the song that is missing from the music video. That is from the post-apocalyptic film Café Flesh (1982). I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but I do hear really good things about it. I would not be surprised if this music video is inspired more by it than Philip K. Dick. It fits with the post-apocalyptic feel of the music video while also touching on the whole implanted memories thing from Blade Runner as represented by the home movie footage. I’m sure there are more tie-ins with Café Flesh, but I haven’t seen it yet. I can only really tell you that the apocalypse left the majority of the population unable to have sex without getting sick while the rest are forced to perform onstage for them.

That’s it! Enjoy!