As a group, Animotion is destined to be most remembered for Obsession but they did record other songs. I Want You appeared on Animotion’s second studio album and was one of the first single releases from it. Despite a good beat and a video that was very MTV-friendly, it only reached the 84th position on the U.S. charts. It was, however, considerably more popular in Germany, reaching the 24th position.
Nick Morris, the prolific director of this video, also did videos for Big Country, Cliff Richard, Europe, Cheap Trick, and Mister Mister. He also directed a production of The Toxic Avenger: The Musical, which was released in 2018.
Superstitious was the first single to be released from Europe’s fourth studio album, Out of this World. Out of this World was released in 1990. One album later, Europe would go on a temporary hiatus as grunge and then generic pop replaced Europe’s style of metal as MTV’s favorite style of music. The band reunited in 2003 and has since released six more albums. Europe rocks!
This video for Superstitious was filmed in Long Island, New York. The video was directed by Nick Morris, who was a very busy video director in the 80s and the 90s. He also did the video for Europe’s best-known song, The Final Countdown.
Today, we give a shoutout to Wales with the music video for Spirit of 76, which was written and performed by the Welsh band, The Alarm. In the 80s, The Alarm earned an international fanbase by opening for U2 and, later, Bob Dylan. Just as U2 will always be associated with Ireland, The Alarm will always be associated with Wales. The band is still together and still proudly Wlesh.
This video was directed by Nick Morris, who was one of the busiest music directors of the 80s and the 90s. He also did music videos for Cinderalla, Toto, The Rainmakers, Jennifer Rush, Europe, Eddie Money, Cliff Richard, Warren, and Radiohead among others.
If you were a member of the band Europe in 1987, you were all about rocking the night!
And what better way to rock the night than by going to the Hard Rock Cafe and watching one of your own music videos on television?
There were actually two videos filmed for this song. The first one was a simple performance clip, featuring Europe rocking and the audience rolling. The second and more popular video features Europe going to a Hard Rock Café and discovering that the first video is playing on TV! This, of course, leads to the band rocking and rolling in the restaurant. In the 80s, a hair band rocking a chain restaurant was as common a sight as a flapper doing the Lindy Hop in the 20s.
This video was filmed at an actual Hard Rock Café in Stockholm. The first Hard Rock Café was opened in London in 1971 and the company really didn’t start to expand worldwide until 1982, five years before this video was filmed. At the time of the video, the Hard Rock Cafe brand was still very cool and a pretty big deal. (Yes, those shirts used to really stand for something.) When the Stockholm Hard Rock Café first opened in 1985, it was only the chain’s seventh location. (Today, by comparison, there are 180 operating Hard Rock Cafes.) The Stockholm restaurant is currently still open but I don’t know if Europe still hangs out there.
The Swedish band Europe will always be best known for The Final Countdown but they also found some success with Carrie, a power ballad that was written about a break-up. Was it a break up with girl named Carrie? Not according to lead singer Joey Tempest, who told Songfacts that there was no Carrie. “It was a far more general thing, actually.”
Carrie was a big hit in the United States. In fact, in the States, Carrie even charted higher than The Final Countdown and it remains the band Europe’s highest-charting song outside of the continent of Europe. The music video was directed by Nick Morris, who also did The Final Countdown.
It’s Election Day! If this song can work for waiting on a burrito, then it can work today.
As for the music video, it’s your standard mid-80s concert video. They do a good job of capturing “the final countdown” itself visually, as well as that come-to-our-concert thing that was prevalent in 80s hair-metal band music videos. The concert footage was shot at two concerts at Solnahallen in Solna, Sweden on the 26th and 27th of May, 1986. They also shot some additional footage during sound checks for those concerts.
Director Nick Morris has done around 40 music videos.
Fiona O’Mahoney produced at least 19 music videos. Sadly, according to a memorial site, she passed away in 2010. It also looks like she and Nick Morris got married.
I hope you enjoy this music video on what is otherwise a very serious day.
Through the Shattered Lens 