I really wish I hadn’t done Shooting Shark by Blue Öyster Cult last year because it would be a perfect fit here. Also, Burnin’ For You by Blue Öyster Cult just doesn’t cut it for me as far as being part of this surreal videos collection. That’s not going to keep me from referencing it in a later post. I just wish I had an excuse to do it before I do the post on the video where I’ll reference it.
Anyhow, let’s take a look at this one brought to us by the same director as Burnin’ For You. He also brought us Buck Dharma having a guitar battle with a Mad Max type character in Born To Rock.
The video starts off with some guy playing a game while we can hear aliens inviting people to join them. The guy has a chip on his neck for…reasons.
Meanwhile, in a giant circuitboard.
Now we meet our main character as she rides with the lead singer of the band to somewhere.
That looks suspicious.
Imagine, if this were a few years later. Then she could have gotten a ride from Admiral Al Calavicci.
Quantum Leap
Instead, she is taken to a gas station run by someone creepy.
Don’t worry honey, that light back there is just waiting around to make an appearance in the music video for Let It Go by Loudness.
Let It Go by Loudness (1986)
I was more concerned about him. Wait…how do you know that?
We did a song called Godzilla, and not only are Loudness a Japanese heavy metal band, but that video ends with Godzilla showing up.
That doesn’t explain anything. What are those symbols?
Just step over that “Caution” sign. Also, that lock always closes on its own. I never understood why either since we can just hop the gate.
Seeing as this is a horror related video, they don’t have peripheral vision. That’s why these people go unnoticed.
Honey, who exactly are you singing to?
Never mind, I’m going to investigate whatever this is.
I didn’t notice till I was going through these screenshots that this light turned into a skull.
It has the same effect as the ending of Death Game (1977) except with better music.
Death Game (1977, dir. Peter S. Traynor)
There’s all sorts of weird stuff going on down there, including this guy.
She eventually screams and a nearby plane starts up. She appears inside and can’t get out.
Cult Tim Curry looks really happy to be taking her away.
The gas station was in on it all along.
He tries to stop things, but Cult Robert Z’Dar stops him.
Samurai Cop (1991, dir. Amir Shervan)
In the end, she’s taken away.
And the audience is left wondering just how long they’ve been there.
I think the moral of the story is that while you’re obsessed with leaving this world, someone you love can be suddenly taken away from you while you were completely focused on yourself. That’s my best guess. According to Songfacts, lead singer Eric Bloom was referring to aliens that he would go with if they were good ones. Obviously these ones weren’t good.
Nova of Aldo Nova wrote the music for the song, Eric Bloom ended up writing the lyrics, and it became a Blue Öyster Cult song. You might recall that director Richard Casey directed the music video for Fantasy by Aldo Nova.
John Marsh produced the video. He seems to have only worked on 4 music videos. He would go on to be an executive producer on Richard Casey’s film Horror On Highway Five (1985) and on a film my parents would watch on occasion called V.I. Warshawski (1991).
Enjoy!
30 Days Of Surrealism:
Through the Shattered Lens 