I don’t usually like to feature two music videos by the same artist in a row, but this is too perfect to not include during October as a companion to Satan, Bite The Dust.
In this music video, Carman recalls when he was kid watching scary movies. He’d get frightened and have trouble sleeping. However, he would then remember he’s Carman, and banish them from his house. One of them is even a man-gator. They also come for him as an adult by literally stepping out of the television. One of them is Frankenstein, and another looks like Uncle Fester with an axe. If only Rockwell had Carman with him, then he would’ve been fine.
Unlike Satan, Bite The Dust; I do have some info on this one. This music video is from the movie R.I.O.T.: The Movie (1996). Carman himself wrote the screenplay. I haven’t watched it yet, but I do have a copy. The film is padded out with music videos like this one. According to the credits on the film, Stephen Yake produced and directed the music video. There are a bunch of other credits that are all lumped together for all of the music videos in the film. They are too numerous to mention. Also, I have no way of knowing whether every single one of these people worked on this particular music video.
I only found out about Contemporary Christian artist Carman this year thanks to The Cinema Snob review of this music video. From what I have watched of his material, his stuff is hilarious cheesy fun. I am largely guessing about the release date of this music video based on the release date of the album that had this song on it. I think that Stephen Yake probably directed the music video since he would go to direct the movie R.I.O.T.: The Movie (1996) that starred Carman. He also directed at least one music video for Carman. I can’t properly talk about this guy. Plus, I don’t need too. I’ll let Brad Jones do that, or you can just watch the music video. It’s fun. Enjoy!
I had to do a Queen music video eventually, so why not do one of my all-time favorites from one of my all-time favorite movies. Plus, I think that Clancy Brown as The Kurgan is scary enough for October. I’ve tried to pick out music videos that fit with the month somehow if I could.
Going in to watching this music video, I figured it would just be Queen performing with cutaways to footage from the movie. I wasn’t too far off, but they actually bothered to do more than that. We get to see them performing on the set of one of the final battles that took place on the Silvercup rooftop stage at Elstree Studios, London. We also see Brian May play guitar as the castle from the film collapses. But more than that, we actually get to see Christoper Lambert clash swords with Freddie Mercury at almost exactly the two minute mark. Do you need more of a reason to take four minutes out of your day to watch it just to see that?
That’s really it. All the sources I find say that Russell Mulcahy not only directed the film, but also the music video on February 14th, 1986. I couldn’t find any other credits.
I wish there was more to say, but it’s a simple music video for a great song. Enjoy!
Nothing says 1998 like seeing Rob Zombie and a group of devils doing The Night at the Roxbury (1998) head bob.
The greatest thing about this music video is knowing that Robert Osborne and/or Ben Mankiewicz saw it, which lead to him hosting TCM Underground for awhile. Thanks to Rob Zombie’s brief time there, I was introduced to Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965).
I wouldn’t be surprised if the dancing lady is a reference to that movie. Then again, it could be any cult film from the 1960s.
Thanks to Wikipedia, I know some of the footage he uses. The bit about “superstition, fear, and jealousy” comes from the film The City Of The Dead/Horror Hotel (1960). The line is spoken by Christopher Lee. That part is played over footage from 1920’s Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. The killer robot is from the The Phantom Creeps (1939). Frankenstein is in there too. I know I’ve seen the shocked woman at the beginning somewhere, but I can’t place it. I wanna say the 1958 version of The Fly, but it’s just a guess.
There’s plenty more in there, but those are the only ones I could find. If you can tell me more, then please do so.
The car in the music video and in the song title itself comes from Grandpa Munster’s dragster on The Munsters.
However, the car in the music video only resembles the car driven on the show.
This stuff came out in an interview that Rob Zombie gave with Billboard magazine. Don’t quote me on it, but I swear I remember him saying his dad or grandfather owned a Dragula, which is where the song came from. I could have just misheard it for Grandpa Munster. I couldn’t find a reference to that anywhere.
Of course Rob Zombie directed the music video before he went on to give us the backstory of Michael Myers that I don’t think anyone was asking about. After Halloween II (2009), I think it’s safe to say he was all but crucified. But being a zombie, it didn’t matter. He’s alive and well. Even 82-year-old John Hetlinger performed the song on an episode of America’s Got Talent back in July of this year despite not knowing what the lyrics mean–according to Songfacts.
Welcome to the club, Hetlinger! I have no idea what they mean either. This is one of those songs where I ignore the lyrics, and take Rob Zombie’s voice to be just another instrument. That goes for the music video that to this day is pure fun, whether it’s October or not.
Jeff Selis edited the music video. He’s edited over 100 music videos, and still is working today with artists like Beyoncé, Usher, Jennifer Lopez, Lana del Ray, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, and many more. It looks like before he was a music video editor, he was a location manager on films such as Body of Evidence (1993) and My Own Private Idaho (1991). I can’t find a credit for him working on a Madonna or Dogstar music video. That would be too awesome.
Dave Hussey was the colorist on this music video. He has worked on somewhere around 330 music videos with Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Eminem, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, OutKast, Aerosmith, The Offspring, Michael Jackson, and many many more. He has worked on two Madonna music videos.
A few years ago when the Snowden stuff happened, it was priceless to come and look at this music video. You’d see comments along the lines that if Rockwell had only knew it was really the NSA that was watching him, or simply that Rockwell was right that somebody was watching him. Of course you also got the usual comments of people coming many decades later wondering if that is Michael Jackson singing the chorus. Yes, it is.
As is par for the course, this is the first time I have actually paid close attention to the music video I’m spotlighting. It is loaded with a lot of interesting stuff to tie-in with the theme of paranoia.
Why is Rockwell reading the Chinese characters at the beginning? Is that some sort of ghostly reference. Is that supposed to be a second Rockwell? We follow that one while it cuts back and forth to Rockwell in the shower. Is that supposed to mean he has a split personality? It’s probably just the music video’s requisite reference to Psycho (1960), but then we also get the scene with him watching himself on TV. I love it.
I think my favorite part is when someone dressed like a grieving widow is right outside his shower, but he doesn’t see them. They do the same thing while he is standing in the cemetery that apparently is in his backyard.
It comes as no surprise to me that this music video was directed by Francis Delia. He’s the director who brought us the music video for Blue Öyster Cult’s Shooting Shark, which is one of the best of the 1980s. That one was also surreal.
We know quite a few of the people who worked on this music video beyond the director.
The blonde coming out from under the bed is Francis Delia’s daughter Amy.
Nancy Leiviska wrote and produced the music video. You might know her as being the mother of RedFoo whom she had with Barry Gordy. She has apparently gone on to work as an executive assistant on numerous films for Ice Cube. She worked on several other music videos including appearing as one of the people in the music video for Rick James’ Super Freak.
Dominic Sena shot the music video. He directed around 40 music videos and shot around 10 of them. He also went on to direct movies like Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) and Swordfish (2001).
Jason Braunstein was the production manager. The only other credit I can find for him is having worked as an associate in charge of production on Ms. 45 (1981).
Jon Leonoudakis was the production coordinator. He is in the music video as the guy who is looking in through the porthole of the front door. I can find a few credits on him like directing some sports documentaries in recent years. However, it’s clearly his work as an electrician on The Last American Virgin (1982), a production coordinator on Dead Women in Lingerie (1991), and a second unit location manager on Maniac Cop 2 (1990) that jump out at you on his IMDb profile page.
You could do a step-by-step review of this music video, but it’s only about three and a half minutes, so if you haven’t seen it yet, then watch it. It is one of the greatest music videos ever made, and still relevant today. In particular when you are trying to find a music video to help bookend the month of October.
Since I did Seether yesterday, I had to follow it up with Volcano Girls because of the Glass Onion style reference to Seether in this song.
This music video is exactly how I remember it from when I was a kid. By that, I mean it’s so mid-90s that it hurts. In my head, it fits right in with Only Happy When It Rains by Garbage, Machinehead by Bush, Peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America, and Don’t Speak by No Doubt. There seemed to be a polishing of of everything from the sound to the music videos to the appearance of the artists themselves.
They shot the music video at Essenay in Chicago, Illinois. Everything else is in the music video itself. The band is on bungee cords flying around for the majority of the video while fans are around them. You can read an interview with Post and Gordon about the song and video here. For me it’s a pure nostalgia trip back to a period when I was starting to regularly watch things like MTV and VH1.
The music video had two directors: Nancy Bardawil and Paul Andresen. According to the interview, Bardawil was a Chicago artist they liked, and she came up with the idea. Apparently it was rather rough, and resulted in some funny/dangerous things happening during all the bungee cord stuff. Bardawil has directed at least 30 music videos. Mainly she seems to be known for directing some of Goo Goo Dolls biggest hits like Iris, Slide, Dizzy, Black Balloon, and Broadway.
I’m not sure what role Paul Andresen had, but given that it was one of Bardawil’s first music videos, he was probably there largely to jump in when needed. Looking at his credits, I can see that many of his first music videos were also co-directed. He has done around 60 music videos.
They both have credits outside of music videos, but that seems to be the main part of their careers in film so far.
This is another one of those music videos I am obligated to do because it so famous. Or at least the song is so famous that I don’t have much choice.
Along with Smells Like Teen Spirit, this is one of those songs that was so overplayed that I got sick of it as a kid. It actually took me awhile before I bothered watching the music video for it. There isn’t much story to it, but there is a little background on it.
At the insistence of the band, they filmed the music video in an actual mental institution that was known as Agnews Developmental Center in Santa Clara, California. It has a bit of a dark history being the site of the greatest loss of life in the Santa Clara Valley during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. According to the Daily Palo Alto at the time:
“The position of the people in Agnews is critical; a number of insane persons having escaped from the demolished asylum, are running at random about the country.”
According to Wikipedia, 117 patients and staff were killed there during the quake.
The music video of course has references to One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975).
It was originally filmed in black and white, then bassist Mike Dirnt colorized it, which gives the music video that surreal look. It reminds me of the way you see light when your eyes are dilated, which fits with the bit in the song about wondering if the anxiety that Billie Joe Armstrong was under at the time–later diagnosed as having a panic disorder–was just insanity, or the cause of drugs.
It’s interesting to me that this song and Silent All These Years by Tori Amos both start off by asking the audience whether they have the time to spare to hear what they have to say. This is particularly interesting considering the director would go on to make a Tori Amos video. He would also later direct Just A Girl by No Doubt.
If I had to guess about the patients who still appear black and white, and are wearing the same color mask, then I would say it’s a reference to how people tend to view mental illness as a black and white issue. You’re either sane or insane without much middle ground. The masks all looking the same would be the grouping of anyone insane into one pot such as the very mental institution they were filming within likely did, or at least the perception people have of such places. Agnews Developmental Center was once known as “The Great Asylum for the Insane”.
You can also think of them as ghosts of the people who died there so many years ago, or lived out their lives there. According to the band, when they entered the place they found old patient files, deep scratches in the walls, and dental molds scattered around the place. My best guess is those people in the music video are the ghosts of people who left those remains behind.
I like how it ends with the gate closing as if to say that visitation hours are over.
The music video was directed by Mike Kohr. He made 9 music videos for Green Day, but has done at least 60 music videos so far. He appears to still be working in music videos today having done This Is Where We Go for Snow Angel in 2013.
Adam Beckman shot the music video. He appears to have only worked on 7 music videos. He has done some work outside of music videos over the years including shooting 12 episodes of This American Life as well as films.
There is one in particular that jumped out at me, which might explain why he was chosen to shoot this music video. In 1987 he was an additional camera assistant on a movie called Doom Asylum that has this plot summary on IMDb:
“A demented coroner uses autopsy equipment to kill off the teenagers who trespass on the long-abandoned asylum he inhabits. Filmed on location in an actual abandoned asylum.”
When I was a kid, this was one of those music videos that never seemed to get played that much, but when it did, I would stop to watch it. I guess there was just something moving about it that I couldn’t resist. I always had a fondness for the books on the floor part. Watching it today, it doesn’t do a whole lot for me except to send me on a bit of a nostalgia trip.
Whenever I listen to the song, it sounds like the story of a an old woman who dies in one room while a woman gives birth in another room. According to Ed Kowalczyk, the music video created a misinterpretation that the new mother died:
“While the clip is shot in a home environment, I envisioned it taking place in a hospital, where all these simultaneous deaths and births are going on, one family mourning the loss of a woman while a screaming baby emerges from a young mother in another room. Nobody’s dying in the act of childbirth, as some viewers think. What you’re seeing is actually a happy ending based on a kind of transference of life.”
I never really thought of it as having a happy or sad ending, but something sadly inspirational. A mystical experience if you will. I think that aspect is captured well in the music video. You could say that the books represent a lifetime of accumulated knowledge haunted by ghosts of people who have come and gone in the form of the band members who seem to either be ghosts or pass on just as the baby is removed and held high before being given to the young mother.
The music video was directed by Jake Scott who seems to have been drawn to this type of music video seeing as he also did Everybody Hurts by R.E.M., Wonder by Natalie Merchant, and When You’re Gone by The Cranberries. He seems to have directed 50 or so music videos.
Salvatore Totino shot the music video. He seems to have shot around 15 music videos usually directed by Jake Scott. He went on to shoot some well-known films such as The Da Vinci Code (2006), Frost/Nixon (2008), Everest (2015), and the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
Patrick Sheffield edited the music video. He seems to have only worked on a handful of music videos.
Ellen Jackson produced this music video, and that’s all I could find. I highly doubt that is all she has done though. She probably worked for their record company. That’s my best guess.
I’ve always found it ridiculous that Stone Temple Pilots seems to be that band from the early 90s that keeps getting misclassified. The one I see all over the place is that they are a grunge rock band. Every time I read that, I wonder if they have ever actually listened to their music. I find it particularly baffling since they are a straightforward hard rock band–if you must classify them. I get the impression that people overthink their music, and tend to lump them in with grunge because it sounds close enough if you only listen to a couple of songs like Creep, Big Empty, or Plush. Also, I think there tends to be some general confusion about what is and isn’t grunge as opposed to just 90s hard rock. It doesn’t help that the term alternative rock can be slapped on just about anything that wasn’t obviously pop or punk in the 90s. That’s my best guess about this non-issue that I see from time to time.
I was introduced to them via the album Tiny Music…Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop, and the song Big Bang Baby in particular. I later picked up Core and Purple. Today I have all six of their studio albums. Out of all of their songs, I would say Interstate Love Song is right up there at the top along with the hidden lounge singer song at the end of Kitchen Ware & Candy Bars.
There isn’t much to say about the music video itself. The beginning of the music video makes me think of Queen Kelly (1929) for some reason. The video has a character from the silent film portion running around with his nose growing in order to fit with the theme of lying that the song is singing about.
The rest is washed out and has Scott Weiland dressed how I imagine Marc Bolan would look like if he had made it to this decade. I think we can just chalk those things up to that it was the 90s and that was Weiland’s style. I really think it’s that simple.
They got director Kevin Kerslake to do the music video who did most of Nirvana’s videos, but also worked with both Stone Temple Pilots and the spin-off group Velvet Revolver on several occasions. He also worked with other major bands of the era such as Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Green Day. He appears to still be working in music videos today since I can find a credit for him shooting Bang Bang for Green Day, but otherwise his credits seem to drop off in the mid-2000s. Like quite a few music video directors, he also has gone on to numerous concert films and music-related documentaries.
Wow! I waited a whole 92 music videos of the day to do a Madonna video.
This is one of the oddball songs in Madonna’s catalog, but it’s one of my favorites.
The background story is pretty simple. One of her producers at the time named Patrick Leonard had to bring his daughter Jessie to the studio, Madonna took a liking to her, Leonard gave Madonna a song he had written for Jessie, she changed the lyrics a bit, and the rest is history.
There isn’t much to say about the music video itself either. It’s a very literal interpretation of the lyrics filled with animated characters you would expect from 70s-80s Disney. Madonna appears animated as Tinker Bell. I love that there appears to be some sort of cross between Tigger and Chester Cheetah during the marches of animated characters.
There are quite a few people that I was able to find who worked on the music video. Oddly, the little girl herself is not one of them.
Derek Hayes directed the music video. He seems to have only directed three music videos. I couldn’t find him for sure on IMDb, but there does appear to be two Derek Hayes that worked in animation.
Edit: According to Stephan in the comments section, Hayes is currently teaching animation at Falmouth University in the UK.
Nigel Hadley was the editor. I found a Nigel Hadley on IMDb who seems to have only worked as an editor on Derek Jarman’s The Garden (1990). If that is him, then that’s rather amazing seeing as Tilda Swinton played the Madonna in that movie.
Maddy Sparrow was the producer. She produced at least one other music video for Elton John’s Club at the End of the Street. I imagine she worked on other music videos as well.
There were numerous animators, which included Derek Hayes himself. The other ones I could find are as follows: Jimmy Farrington, Andy Goff, Alison Snowden, Neville Astley, Malcolm Hartley, and Erica Russell. I’ll just talk about a few noteworthy ones.
Jimmy Farrington appears to have worked on a bunch of big films from Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) to Harry Potter to Marvel.
Alison Snowden went on to do more work in animation that included winning an Oscar for the film Bob’s Birthday (1994).
Neville Hartley appears to have had great success–going on to be a writer for the British TV Show Peppa Pig. He also co-created the show.
John Stevenson was the Character Technical Director, or Character TD for short. He seems to have been the most successful–going on to direct Kung Fu Panda (2008).
Through the Shattered Lens 