Tag Archives: music video

Music Video of the Day: Over The Shoulder by Ministry (1985, dir. Peter Christopherson)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I have tried to stay away from repeating the same artist before I even reach 50 of these posts, but I can’t. I did Rio by Duran Duran and People Are People by Depeche Mode, so it only feels right to not only do Ministry here, but to follow it up with one of their industrial metal songs tomorrow.

I don’t know if I would call this just dark synthpop, or whether I would go ahead and call it industrial rock. It’s not industrial metal. We’ll see that tomorrow, clear as day. It certainly sounds like something Nine Inch Nails would have done though. You can hear how they have expanded the ingredients thrown into the musical pot in order to start to create this new flavor of music that is still based heavily on repetitious sounds. Just like Depeche Mode’s People Are People, it uses mechanical sounds, but here it’s done to a greater degree. Almost in an orchestral way. I know it sounds weird, but I certainly think of The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails to be less of a rock song, and more of a composition a la classical music.

You can tell that Alain Jourgensen was still not happy yet. I say that because he is still faking a British accent like he did on the band’s previous album. I’m guessing that the record company or other pressures on him said, “If you are going to do this style of music, then you must sound British like Simon Le Bon or Dave Gahan!” For the record, Alain Jourgensen was born in Cuba, and grew up in Chicago. Eddie Vedder is also from Illinois, but we all thought he was from Seattle when I was a kid.

Anyways, this video isn’t that much different from the one for Revenge, which was off of their previous album called With Sympathy. Over The Shoulder was off of their next album called Twitch. It too has a dark look about it. Two of the biggest differences to me are that it looks grimy rather than stagey, and it is comprised of the kind of imagery you would expect from industrial rock/metal. In fact, it ties all of its’ imagery together with the song while actually becoming part of the song the same way that we’ll see tomorrow. They are all disposable things.

I love how the ending of this video has Jourgensen twisting around mostly naked the way Marilyn Manson and Trent Reznor famously would later on. I also love how it seems that if Jourgensen floated around that grocery store any longer, then he probably would have bumped into Thom Yorke in Radiohead’s music video for Fake Plastic Trees.

Director Peter Christopherson would go on to direct a lot music videos, which included ones by Nine Inch Nails.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: People Are People by Depeche Mode (1984, dir. Clive Richardson)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Synthpop, industrial metal, and industrial rock are all the same music to me. The songs are made up of repetitious elements which are sung over. What makes them sound so different is the same reason one type of food tastes so different than that same food that is made a little differently. Take this song for instance compared to Rio by Duran Duran. That song uses the synthesizer as its’ ingredient. It gives it a very smooth and stylish sound that slips down the throat like cough syrup. In this music video, within the first second we see that Depeche Mode used other things like industrial sounds such as a cannon shooting off, hitting metal, and of course the synthesizer still. The repetition is as present as it was in Rio, but since the sources of that repetition have changed, the song comes across as something different when all that’s changed are the ingredients that satisfies the needs of the recipe. The lyrics of the song also take it from something that is pure fun to something that has meaning, but without much punch. It still goes down easy, but it’s a serious pill you are easily swallowing this time.

The video is a rather simple combination of war imagery with the group. The video alternates between fractured and un-fractured images in color and solid black and white. I’m not sure why they didn’t go for the obvious here. I would have had an arc in the video that moved from fractured images of the band in color to them in solid black and white that is paired with the stock footage. It would have helped to drive home that as the song is sung, the message goes from confusion to the issue being very simple, solid, and black and white. Still, it has that kind of effect anyways. In fact, you could argue that by never having such an arc, it makes sure that there isn’t a resolution to the problem despite lyrics like “people are people so why should it be, you and I should get along so awfully.”

The song itself is one I pull out anytime something tragic has happened because of hate. It’s simple too: “I’m relying on your common decency. So far it hasn’t surfaced, but I’m sure it exists. It just takes awhile to travel from your head to your fist.” Sad but true.

Music Video of the Day: Rio by Duran Duran (1982, dir. Russell Mulcahy)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Would you believe that until a week or so ago I didn’t know we had an Olympics coming up? I only realized it because the Diet Coke cans I pulled out of the fridge had changed and had the rings on them. This is seriously my life. So is trying to figure out how to talk about a Russell Mulcahy masterpiece that everyone has seen.

I’m going to go ahead and call it now. Russell Mulcahy is the father of the music video. They existed before he started making them sure. There were films going back to at least the 1940s that were essentially music videos hung on a clothesline plot. I’m watching this music video over and over while I write this, and I have yet to see a single shot that isn’t perfectly done. The angles, the use of iris shots, split screens, the incredible use of color, and everything I’m seeing in every frame is perfect. The music video even goes into black and white widescreen as if you have suddenly stepped into The Longest Day (1962). I love the two guys playing the sax–Nick Rhodes and John Taylor–who are paired via a split-screen. There’s also the part where we think he is going to slip on a banana peel, but he misses it only to be hit by a giant bowling ball. I can only imagine being alive in 1982, turning on MTV, and seeing this. This was probably the first exposure most people had to a truly well-made short film that happened to be built around a song. It certainly would have been for a child who was lucky enough to have cable in 1982. My first exposure was Hungry Like The Wolf, but that’s another Duran Duran/Russell Mulcahy collaboration we’ll get to eventually.

This is one of those music videos where we know more than just the director. Jackie Adams produced this music video. She seems to have worked with Mulcahy on a total of five music videos, and made an appearance in Mama by Spice Girls. Those music videos range from something surreal like Billy Joel’s Pressure that starts off with a version of The Parallax View (1974) training montage to something simple like Only The Lonely by The Motels. By the way, what the heck is it with Billy Joel music videos being some of the most interesting and well-made ones that never get enough attention? Just saying that I’m looking at Pressure right now, and it is amazing.

But back in Rio, we have to mention the band itself because Duran Duran are more than just a band that stood around and played their song in this music video. This is an embodiment of their music and style. As I’m sure you all know by now, Duran Duran are a group of guys from the UK who came over to the US bringing style over substance synthpop with very well-crafted songs. We mentioned synthpop when we spoke about Ministry. I contend that we had style over substance with Duran Duran. We then made it substantive with Depeche Mode, but it was still quite radio friendly, and hadn’t shed the legacy of groups like Duran Duran. Then we had Ministry forced to try and be like them, but then had them turn to something very much on the fringes before evolving synthpop into industrial metal. Ultimately, we had groups like Nine Inch Nails who came along and broadened it into an almost orchestral sound with industrial rock. At least that’s my excuse for the next four music videos I intend to feature after this one.

Sit back and enjoy this classic music video directed by one of the best in the business with all the style and 80s dripping off your screen while a wonderful Duran Duran song plays.

Music Video of the Day: Here I Go Again by Whitesnake (1987, dir. Marty Callner)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Happy Birthday, Tawny Kitaen! You took what would have been a high-spirited, but quickly forgettable “put the band onstage and focus on the lead singer” video, and made it one of the most memorable music videos of the decade.

She didn’t have to do much either. The bits in the car are probably the least focused on, but I have always loved the part when she grabs lead singer David Coverdale and rips him over the front seat. I really love that because she doesn’t do it easily either. She grabs him and yanks him right over the seat. You can even see her reach to grab his leg to get him completely into the backseat just before it cuts away.

Lisa being our resident lover of dance, of course loves the hood dancing part. Who doesn’t? I remember last year when someone tweeted a screenshot of it and said something about her being their second biggest crush in the 1980s. I don’t recall if they even included her Twitter handle, but she responded asking basically: “My God! Who was #1?”

Thank you, Tawny Kitaen. Not only for the video, but insuring that no one would forget what is a really good song. A song that could have been forgotten if they hadn’t made this version, and only stuck with the 1982 music video. All it took was adding dancing a little on two car hoods, hanging out a car window, and ripping Coverdale over a carseat. We’ll talk about the 1982 version next month because Kitaen and Coverdale were kind enough to have birthdays in August and September respectively.

Music Video of the Day: Epic by Faith No More (1990, dir. Ralph Ziman)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I will keep the history lesson to a minimum. From the late 80s to the very early 90s was a weird time. The 80s were already priming themselves to be destroyed, but for a brief period we got incredibly dated stuff like this music video. Lisa loves to call certain films time capsules of an era that is no longer with us. That is this video in a nutshell. The song certainly lives up to its’ title. It is one of those underdog music videos that would sometimes make it on top lists back in the day and sometimes not. The same thing happened with the music video for Godley & Creme’s Cry.

This is one of those music videos that stirred up controversy too. It’s the fish at the end that flaps around out of water. Nothing major like the letter writing campaign that pushed Metallica’s One into late night or the one that stopped The Prodigy’s Smack My Bitch Up from playing anytime.

I love this song and music video. For whatever reason, I lump it together with Silent Lucidity by Queensryche. Since the 2000s, I also lump it together with the music video for Get Free by The Vines.

The music video was directed by Ralph Ziman who seems to have stuck with relatively obscure songs. Some big names like Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne, but past their prime.

Music Video of the Day: Rebel Yell by Billy Idol (1984, dir. Jeff Stein)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I have to admit that there was some strong competition for the music video to feature today. There was the CGI fun of Money For Nothing by Dire Straits, the Michael Bay directed song about masturbation, Ice Ice Baby, and Shania Twain’s remake of a Robert Palmer video staring at me in the same list. However, I decided to just go with something that is pure fun.

I remember when MTV oddly decided to celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2001 rather than their 25th 5 years later. They invited back a bunch of musicians who had been big on the network. It seemed that all of them had lost it. I remember TLC sounding awful. Then Billy Idol came onstage. He was amazing, and so was his guitarist Steve Stevens. They played the living hell out of this song. They didn’t need to, but they did anyways. I remember them sounding as good as in this music video except they did it live.

I have nothing to say except that director Jeff Stein certainly captured Billy and his crew perfectly. A well-filmed concert video is one done by someone who knows the musician’s style. Jeff Stein obviously did. The music video was produced by Kathy Doherty who doesn’t appear to have done anything else. Jeff Stein on the other hand is another director we’ll see again.

ENJOY!!!

Music Video of the Day: Rock the Casbah by The Clash (1982, dir. Don Letts)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

If I can find an excuse to spotlight a particular music video, then I try to take advantage of it. This is one of those days. Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the Gulf War. This song happened to be the first one played on Armed Forces Radio when that war began. Apparently since then all sorts of nonsense has been piled onto the shoulders of this song. I really didn’t need to know that this is apparently considered to be one of the most “Conservative Rock Songs”. Sure, that makes perfect sense. The music video shows both a Muslim and a Rabbi running around, having a good time, and then going to a concert by The Clash. They also throw in capitalism, consumerism, oil, and immigration. Yes, it’s very political. It’s a song by The Clash, but it turns my stomach to think that it has been co-opted like it has for such a purpose. Can we perfect that green goo from Re-Animator (1985), bring back Joe Strummer, and let him tell people what he thinks about it?

The thing I love about this video is its’ interesting tie to Texans. I remember many years ago when I saw a Pop-Up Video on Rock the Casbah. According to it, the shoot for this music video was rather popular with Texans at the time who showed up to watch. Not necessarily because they were fans of the band, but because despite being native to Texas, few Texans had actually seen an armadillo alive instead of roadkill. I like to remember this music video for that rather than what has been done to the song since then. I really didn’t need to know that had happened, but came across it while doing a little research for this post.

That said, I’m not sure what’s worse. That this song is considered conservative, or that Men At Work were successfully sued over the flute portion of Down Under. That’s for another day. Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette (1995, dir. Nick Egan)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

It’s another Canadian holiday that is on my calendar today. Thankfully there are more musicians from the Great White North than just Rush. Otherwise I’d run out of music videos very quickly for other Canadian holidays. It’s my understanding that this “Civic Holiday” is something called a “public holiday” that basically is a day set aside for whatever a particular place decides to celebrate. I am going to co-op this Canadian holiday to celebrate that Alanis Morissette decided to pull a Tori Amos in 1995, and we got the album Jagged Little Pill as a result. To be fair, she was a decent Paula Abdul knockoff before she changed her tune. I could have started with her earlier videos like I did with Ministry. However, I already did the equivalent by spotlighting the early 90s cheese fest of Nothing My Love Can’t Fix by Joey Lawrence back in July. That’s how her music videos used to look.

I remember back in 1995 when I was up in Lake Tahoe, CA with my parents, and saw this music video for the first time. I’m not sure how I wound up watching MTV considering I used to watch the Weather Channel all the time when I was up there for reasons beyond me. Kennedy was interviewing her late at night if memory serves. This was an odd time to release an album like Jagged Little Pill. 1994 saw the height, and deathblow to the early 90s musical renaissance. Kurt Cobain killed himself that year, which brought Nirvana to an end. We also saw the release of Dookie by Green Day, The Blue Album by Weezer, The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails, Throwing Copper by Live, Purple by Stone Temple Pilots, Smash by The Offspring, and Superunkown by Soundgarden to name a few. The next few years we went through a transitional period, and this music video was at the center of it. It’s a great song and good music video, but just like bands such as Bush and Collective Soul, it was part of an aborted second wave of musicians following in the footsteps of Nirvana. A few years later we would be neck deep in boy bands, pop princesses, nu metal, and faux-punk/alt.

The video today looks like they took a standard “just put the musicians in front of the camera performing and add a few arty scenes elsewhere” then passed it through an Instagram filter. It’s a simple music video. The question is does it complement the anger of the song? Yes, it does. Does Alanis really look that angry? No, but that’s not really her fault. She isn’t the type that conveys that easily, which is probably why we’d get much more peaceful stuff from her after this. No, I’m not going to say it. Just enjoy this time capsule. I think 21 years is enough time for us to have gotten over it being played to death.

Music Video of the Day: Shooting Shark by Blue Öyster Cult (1983, dir. Francis Delia)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Lisa has subjected herself to many shark movies during the past week. I thought it was only appropriate to end July with a music video featuring a shark. It also happens to be one of the most bizarre music videos I have ever sat through. I guess it makes sense. Director Francis Delia also did Mexican Radio for Wall of Voodoo and Somebody’s Watching Me for Rockwell. No, this music video is weirder. It’s appropriate that this music video was released the year I was born. I do love the weird, and I am an odd duck.

How many music videos do you know that open with a human wearing a pterodactyl head while riding on a unicorn? It then cuts to the titular shark. What follows seems to be a modern day tortured noir-ish character who also goes through a last temptation of Christ situation, which includes the creepy head of an Asian girl coming out of a pot. This scene also comes complete with women who I’m pretty sure were borrowed from the set of She (1982).

However, that’s not all that happens. What is with the scene where he chases after the woman in the field, catches her, and she turns into a goat? That’s immediately followed by him seeing the ghost of a woman in his motel bed with his gun pointed at her.

In the end, he releases a dove. Why? Does it mean he has made peace with himself? That’s my best guess.

I can at least say this. I’m quite sure that the “Shooting Shark” refers to a comet. I’m also pretty sure The Man Who Laughs (1928) makes a cameo appearance.

One could dissect this music video scene by scene, but I won’t. Just watch it. It will only cost you about five minutes, and is well worth the odyssey it provides. Then come back to get a prescription for that nasty cowbell fever you are having right now.

Music Video of the Day: Groove Is In The Heart by Deee-Lite (1990, dir. Hiroyuki Nakano)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Short post.

How do you say I totally missed Deee-Lite’s existence? How do you say I pretty much wasn’t aware of this song till YouTube? How do you say I have next to nothing to say about this video?

Hmm…I think I just did. If The B-52s made sure we knew that tin roof was rusted, then Deee-Lite made sure you could get stoned without having to take drugs. I mean Bootsy Collins even shows up in this music video at the end to bring up drugs. I think we know the thought process that went through director Hiroyuki Nakano’s mind here. It’s like every acid trip scene that was in 60s and 70s cartoons except in music video form and with real people.

That’s it! Fun is in the music video!