If it seems like Sammy Hagar looks like he was pissed off during the filming of the music video for Van Halen’s Right Now, that’s because he was.  Hagar was firmly opposed to the video’s concept, saying that the MTV audience would be so busy reading the subtitles that they wouldn’t pay attention to the lyrics.  It also didn’t help that, when the video was shot, Hagar was also suffering with pneumonia.  When Hagar slammed the door at the end of the video, that wasn’t acting.

The video was directed by Mark Fenske and produced by Carolyn Beug.  (Ten years after the video was released, Beug was killed in the crash American Airlines Flight 11 on Steptember 11th, 2001.  At the National 9/11 Memorial, Beug is memorialized at the North Pool, on Panel N-1.)  For the shot of the photograph being set on fire, Fenske used an old picture of himself.  As well, Fenske’s mother appears in the video, kissing the camera.

Right Now is probably the best known of the songs to come out of the Van Hagar period.   Despite Hagar’s reservations, the video was one of Van Halen’s most successful, winning the award for video of the year at the MTV Music Video Awards.