Music Video of the Day: Shining Love by Odin (1985, directed by ????)


Odin was one of the many hair metal bands that tried to make it big in the 80s.  They were a part of the same L.A. scene that launched everyone from Poison to Guns ‘N’ Roses to Mötley Crüe.  Today, they are probably best-remembered for being prominently featured in the 1988 documentary, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years.  While bands like Poison and RATT and musicians like Ozzy Osbourne appeared in the documentary as battle-weary veterans, Odin was meant to represent the up-and-coming band that was on the verge of breaking through.  This video came out a few years before Odin was featured in Decline.

Who directed this video?  I’m not sure.  I even resorted to asking Google A.I.  Google A.I. replied with:

Mark Romanek is a pretty well-known director so if he started out his career directing videos for Odin, that would be a pretty big deal.  However, every list of credits that I could find for Romanek online listed neither Odin nor this video.  The video was released in 1985.  Both Wikipedia and the IMDb list Romanek’s first music video as being 1986’s Sweet Bird of Truth by The The.  I could be wrong but I’m 99.9% certain that Mark Romanek did not direct this video.

Odin never did break through and broke up shortly after the release of the documentary.  (They may have gotten more screentime then most of the veterans but what most people remembered from that movie was Ozzy making breakfast and Chris Holmes drinking beer.)  Maybe one reason they didn’t really break through is because, according to this video, their drummer could blow people up just by looking at them.  It’s not a good idea to blow up your own fans.

Enjoy!