Music Video of the Day: If You Don’t Know Me By Now by Simply Red (1989, dir. Vaughan Arnell & Anthea Benton)


A few years back I noticed that music videos were largely missing from IMDb. Sure you could find Thriller, but that was about it. I went and tried to get Metallica’s One submitted. I knew I could argue anyone into the ground about it. I did have to argue with someone at IMDb about it, but it went nowhere. Last year I went and checked to see if maybe it eventually had made it’s way in there. It had. Why not try again? I submitted Take On Me by a-ha knowing I could also argue anyone into the ground about it. It was almost instantly accepted the moment I pressed the submit button. I tried again and again with various videos. They were all accepted. I even received two emails from two separate people at IMDb telling me to keep submitting them with a couple little guidelines. I don’t think they should be marked as video rather than a regular music short, but it’s progress.

Lately it has been difficult for me to get on here and do full reviews of movies for various reasons. As a result, I thought it would be fun to spotlight a video here from time to time. There are some interesting ones out there. I know I found it interesting to discover that William Friedkin made Laura Branigan’s Self Control and Brian De Palma did Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing In The Dark. I’ll try to have something to say about it, but other times it will just be the video itself.

This one is directed by veteran music video directors Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton. I love the choice of going with black and white. The 80s turned the use of color upside down from color meaning a dream like in The Wizard of Oz (1939) to black and white meaning a dream. The video essentially takes place inside of the lead singer’s mind filled with empty chairs, the rest of the band, and memories that play out on projections around him. To my knowledge, all the clips are original, but I’m not 100% sure and I’ve seen other music videos use clips from other films. Enjoy.