Yesterday we looked at the Talk Talk version of the song It’s My Life. This time around No Doubt and director David LaChapelle stuck with the theme of the lyrics, but instead put it into a darker context. It screams 2002’s Best Picture winner Chicago all over it. It also has a fair amount of film noir elements in it except it’s the guys who are the ones who do her in rather than the other way around as it appears throughout the video. At least that’s the way it comes across at the end whether they some how arranged the appearance of their deaths or are looking at her execution from the afterlife. I can’t help but think some of the song and the video is the way it is because of Stefani’s relationship with the band and Gavin Rossdale at this time. That stuff certainly showed up in other videos and songs from the band going all the way back to Don’t Speak. But that’s for another day.
Even by 1984, artists and the directors of their videos were rebelling against lip-syncing in them. That’s why you don’t see the lead singer doing that here. Sometimes even black bars go over his mouth to emphasize this fact while the video is primarily made up of nature footage. This discontinuity of image and sound was another example of early experimentation in music videos. There is another version of this video as well that apparently has them lip-synched, but doing other things to still make fun of the process. People of my generation learned of this song obviously because of tomorrow’s Music Video of the Day. Also, some may know it from the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories soundtrack. Although, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City used their song Life’s What You Make It instead. Their hit songs seem to be rather positive and empowering. No doubt that’s why tomorrow’s post exists.
Seeing as it is Canada Day, I thought I would go with some of the best known Canadian musicians. This also happens to be one of my favorite songs by Rush and a good video that goes with its’ message of societal pressures to conform. I love how it opens with the slow synthesizer, then goes into a zooming out aerial shot like you are taking off into the song and the video. Then it ends on a Game Over screen from the game Tempest. Old arcade games make great analogies for unwinnable situations that everyone thinks can be accomplished if they try hard enough.
Why Tarzan Boy you might be asking yourself. Sure it’s fun. Sure it’s catchy. But as soon as it’s over you forget about it. That’s the point. At the time of writing this, the music video has been on YouTube since November 2nd, 2005. That’s only about 7 months after the very first YouTube video was uploaded for a current total of about 10 years. Also, it kind of fits to end LGBT month. So, enjoy this catchy fun Andy Warhol inspired music video of the 1980s.
One of the most common arguments I’ve seen about why music videos aren’t actually films is that they are just advertisements for a song. Right now Gary has just finished reading that sentence and is digging out his copy of Dewar’s-It’s Scotch (1898), Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee (1930), and other examples that destroy the illusion that even ads aren’t films. I think The Smashing Pumpkins video for Tonight, Tonight is one of the finest examples of why that argument is a bunch of BS. Why? Because it’s a remake of Georges Méliès’ A Trip To The Moon (1902). Even IMDb Data Editors agreed with me when I submitted it as such about a year ago. Tom Kenny and Jill Talley play the man and woman who go through their incredible journey. One that ends with them even being rescued by the S.S. Méliès. Not only have more people probably seen short films since the launch of MTV then since the pre-1915 days of cinema, but this video introduced many kids to Georges Méliès long before Martin Scorsese did with Hugo (2011).
Just like when you watch early cinema, you can see that they were innovating in music videos shortly after the launch of MTV. With famed comic book artist Michael Kaluta at the helm, they used cel animation, stop-motion, and claymation to create the video. It’s a nice throwback to the Old Hollywood days of Humphrey Bogart and Dick Tracy complete with a reference to A Trip To The Moon (1902).
By the way, thanks Lisa for the encouragement to not throw out this idea to spotlight a music video from time to time this morning.
A few years back I noticed that music videos were largely missing from IMDb. Sure you could find Thriller, but that was about it. I went and tried to get Metallica’s One submitted. I knew I could argue anyone into the ground about it. I did have to argue with someone at IMDb about it, but it went nowhere. Last year I went and checked to see if maybe it eventually had made it’s way in there. It had. Why not try again? I submitted Take On Me by a-ha knowing I could also argue anyone into the ground about it. It was almost instantly accepted the moment I pressed the submit button. I tried again and again with various videos. They were all accepted. I even received two emails from two separate people at IMDb telling me to keep submitting them with a couple little guidelines. I don’t think they should be marked as video rather than a regular music short, but it’s progress.
Lately it has been difficult for me to get on here and do full reviews of movies for various reasons. As a result, I thought it would be fun to spotlight a video here from time to time. There are some interesting ones out there. I know I found it interesting to discover that William Friedkin made Laura Branigan’s Self Control and Brian De Palma did Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing In The Dark. I’ll try to have something to say about it, but other times it will just be the video itself.
This one is directed by veteran music video directors Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton. I love the choice of going with black and white. The 80s turned the use of color upside down from color meaning a dream like in The Wizard of Oz (1939) to black and white meaning a dream. The video essentially takes place inside of the lead singer’s mind filled with empty chairs, the rest of the band, and memories that play out on projections around him. To my knowledge, all the clips are original, but I’m not 100% sure and I’ve seen other music videos use clips from other films. Enjoy.
What better way to end another month of horror here at Through the Shattered Lens than with a showing a the greatest music video ever made (not even a contest or a question). No matter what one’s personal opinion of Michael Jackson as a person there’s no denying the genius talent the man had and this video just speaks to the horror fan even if one was not into his music.
It has a werewolf (though here it’s a werecat), 50’s horror trope of the girl in distress, zombies, John Landis directing, Vincent Price with one of the best spoken word performance in a music video…and did I say zombies courtesy of make-up FX guru Rick Baker.
A music video that was more a short film plus horror musical, Thriller would become a cultural phenomenon that spread across the globe. It didn’t matter whether one lived in the US or the furthest corner of Mongolia. Everyone saw and enjoyed this music video. Even it’s detractors could only nitpick flaws from the final product.
Oh yeah, it has ZOMBIES!
Hope everyone had a great, happy and safe Halloween!
Thriller
It’s close to midnight, and something evil’s lurkin’ in the dark Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before you make it You start to freeze, as horror looks you right between the eyes You’re paralyzed
‘Cause it’s a thriller, thriller night And no one’s gonna save you from the beast about to strike You know it’s thriller, thriller night You’re fighting for your life inside a, killer, thriller tonight, yeah
You hear the door slam, and realize there’s nowhere left to run You feel the cold hand, and wonder if you’ll ever see the sun You close your eyes, and hope that this is just imagination Girl, but all the while, you hear a creature creepin’ up behind You’re outta time
‘Cause it’s a thriller, thriller night There ain’t no second chance against the thing with the forty eyes, girl (Thriller, thriller night) You’re fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight
Night creatures call and the dead start to walk in their masquerade There’s no escaping the jaws of the alien this time (They’re open wide) This is the end of your life
They’re out to get you, there’s demons closing in on every side (boom!) They will possess you, unless you change that number on your dial Now is the time, for you and I to cuddle close together, yeah All through the night, I’ll save you from the terror on the screen I’ll make you see
That it’s a thriller, thriller night ‘Cause I can thrill you more than any ghoul would ever dare try (Thriller, thriller night) So let me hold you tight and share a killer, diller, chiller thriller here tonight
‘Cause it’s a thriller, thriller night Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghoul would ever dare try (Thriller, thriller night) So let me hold you tight and share a (Killer, thriller)
I’m gonna thrill you tonight
(Vincent Price voiceover)
“Darkness falls across the land The midnight hour is close at hand Creatures crawl in search of blood To terrorize your neighborhood And whosoever shall be found Without the soul for getting down Must stand and face the hounds of hell And rot inside a corpse’s shell”
I’m gonna thrill you tonight (Thriller, thriller) I’m gonna thrill you tonight (Middle of the night, thriller) I’m gonna thrill you tonight Ooh, babe, I’m gonna thrill you tonight Middle of the night, babe
(Vincent Price voiceover)
“The foulest stench is in the air The funk of forty-thousand years And grizzly ghouls from every tomb Are closing in to seal your doom And though you fight to stay alive Your body starts to shiver For no mere mortal can resist The evil of the thriller”
Through good times and bad I have always been a huge fan and follower of Metallica. Even as they foolishly went off track following the path Bob Rock set for them throughout most of the 1990’s through the disastrous St. Anger debacle as they tried to return to their earlier sound, I have always followed this band which made up the original Big 4 of thrash metal (Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth).
It was on their 1998 cover album, Garage Inc., that the band released one of their most popular songs. It wasn’t an original, but a cover of the classic Bob Seger hard rock song about the hard road and life of a musician. Seger’s “Turn the Page” is just one of those hard rock tunes that latches onto the listener and forces them to listen and understand. Most such songs tend to be quite pretentious with nothing much to say once the listener really pays attention. The same cannot be said about Seger’s song.
Metallica decided to cover this song for their Garage Inc. album which was all about them covering their own favorite hard rock and metal songs of the past. While Metallica kept the original’s tempo, they added their own heavier and harder edge to song that straddles the line between hard rock and heavy metal. Even James Hetfield’s alcohol and cigarette ravaged vocals lent a sense of the hard road and life the track sings about.
The biggest change from the Seger song to Metallica’s cover has to be the accompanying music video which still remains one of the most controversial in MTV’s music video history (well, when they still played music videos). Seger’s song was released in 1973 when the concept of music video was nonexistent. With Metallica’s cover it was almost a guarantee that it would get a music video and what a video it was and still is.
The video was directed by Jonas Akerlund who had made a name for himself directing some of the most creative and innovative music videos of the day. His take on the song switches from a musician’s hard road and life on the road to that of a single mother trying to make ends meet as an erotic dancer by day and a prostitute by night to provide for her young daughter. The video was banned from receiving any sort of airplay on MTV as it dealt and showed the disturbing side of such a life. The fact that the tamer version of the video (below) still couldn’t make it on the airwaves just showed how much more haunting and controversial the uncensored version turned out to be.
Turn the Page
On a long and lonesome highway, East of Omaha You can listen to the engines Moanin’ out it’s one note song You can think about the woman, Or the girl you knew the night before But your thoughts will soon be wanderin’, The way they always do When you’re ridin’ 16 hours, And there’s nothin’ much to do And you don’t feel much like ridin’, You just wish the trip was through
(Chorus)
Here I am, on the road again, There I am, up on the stage There I go, playin’ star again, There I go, turn the page
So you walk into this restaurant, All strung out from the road And you feel the eyes upon you, As you’re shakin’ off the cold You pretend it doesn’t bother you, But you just want to explode Yeah, most times you can’t hear ’em talk, Other times you can
All the same old cliches, Is it woman, is it man And you always seem outnumbered, You don’t dare make a stand Make your stand
(Chorus) Ah But here I am, on the road again, There I am, up on the stage Here I go, ah playin’ star again, There I go, turn the page Woah
Out there in the spotlight, You’re a million miles away Every ounce of energy, You try and give away As the sweat pours out your body, Like the music that you play
Later in the evenin’, As you lie awake in bed With the echoes of the amplifiers, Ringin’ in your head You smoke the day’s last cigarette, Rememberin’ what she said
What she said
Yeah, and here I am, On the road again, There I am, up on that stage Here I go, playin’ star again, There I go, turn the page And there I go, turn that page
There I go, yeah, Here I go, yeah, yeah There I go, yeah, Here I go, yeah Here I go, There I go And I’m gone
“An’ I’ve made up my mind, I ain’t wasting no more time but here I go again, here I go again.”
Previous entry to our 27 Days of Old School I mentioned something about how hard rock and metal music videos were mostly the realm of hair metal bands. Videos all about loud, over-the-top costumes and personalities. bands such as Motley Crue and Poison just to name a few. Other bands would mimic the long, over-teased and hairsprayed look which gave hair metal it’s name. Coming in at #22 is a rock band from England that took on the look of your typical hair metal band, but had some deep roots in old school blues rock.
“Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake is a great song of the 80’s and part of it was due to an even more awesome video which included a young Tawny Kitaen, white lingerie and the frontman’s Jaguar XJ. Yes, the car used in the video is David Coverdale’s own car. Kitaen would later marry David which just took the whole thing full circle.
While Whitesnake and Coverdale made sure to take advantage of the hair metal look of the 80’s he definitely channeled Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant more than he did Vince Neil or Bret Michaels. And for that the world was and continues to be grateful.
Through the Shattered Lens 