Before streaming reigned supreme, a little outfit called MTV revolutionized what it meant to “listen” to music. And thanks to YouTube, music videos will always be around in some form or another, archived away just waiting to be (re)discovered.
To that extent, there’s something about the early years of any medium that remains propulsive and original. Yes, there were music videos and even movies, plus “live” performances designed for TV audiences, but the format of a single video — made especially for a song — felt new and a little untamed.
What follows aren’t necessarily the best music videos ever made, just six of the ones that meant (and still mean) something to me. If anything, they are a time capsule. Guess you didn’t have to be there, after all.
Hungry Like The Wolf. The video was loosely (and I mean very loosely) based on the movie Apocalypse Now, with the rest of Duran Duran searching for their lead singer Simon Le Bon. It was shot in Sri Lanka (where your grandparents were born!) with scenes of the band running through the streets of Galle like a feverish Indiana Jones dream.
Fun fact: the guy who directed HLTW is better known for directing the very first video MTV ever aired.
Big Me. This song is evidently about being dumped. Lead singer Dave Grohl broke it down: “Girl meets boy, boy falls in love, girl tells him to f#%k off!" But ignore that, the video certainly did.
It’s a parody of Mentos commercials, which are amazing themselves. In each spot, someone gets a moment of inspiration after eating a Mentos and is then able to overcome some life obstacle — I highly recommend you get some to solve any challenge you might face!
So the video has the band in similar situations, solving problems with the aid of their own special candy called Footos. It’s a loving parody, which probably did more for Mentos sales than the original adverts themselves. Unfortunately for the Foos, the candies made great projectiles and for years fans would hurl them on stage when the band played the song.
Sabotage. Directed by Spike Jonze (he was once married to Sophia Coppola, who you’ll care about one day) and inspired by ’70s cop shows like Starsky & Hutch, Kojak, and Baretta, the video is hyper, hypnotic and hilarious. The propulsive music feels like an action soundtrack to a bust gone wrong… I’m sure I’m not the only person who would pay to see this turned into a feature-length movie. I mean, how many music videos have their own comic adaptation?
November Rain. It stars actress and model Stephanie Seymour, Axl Rose’s girlfriend at the time. The plot goes like this: she and Axl get married with Slash serving as best man and the rest of the band in the front row. After the wedding, it starts raining (go figure!). The next scene is Stephanie’s funeral in the same church. Somehow this stretches out for over almost 9 minutes, guitar solo and symphony included. The song defines epic excess and could only exist in the 90s.
People Get Ready. Everyone from Bob Marley to Bob Dylan has covered it, Rolling Stone named it the 24th greatest song of all time, and its gospel origins give it a certain reverence. I didn’t know any of this when I first witnessed Rod Stewart waiting to meet his buddy, guitar legend Jeff Beck, riding in on a freight train. Yes, there was a time when picking up your friend from the train station or even airport still felt like a sort of homecoming, no matter the distance or time in between. And what a joy when they do meet up!
Waiting On A Friend. Similar to Rod and Jeff above, Mick Jagger is waiting for his friend (Keith Richards!!!) to come by, but standing in a doorway. When Keith shows up, they hang on the stoop for a while, then swagger over to a bar in the Lower East Side and meet up with the rest of the Stones. It’s a classic, if only to imagine being in that bar at that moment.
Some fun facts: Reggae legend Peter Tosh is the Rasta sitting on the stoop in the beginning, adding to the feeling that anything could happen back then.
And it was filmed in New York City when Manhattan had true grit; the building where they’re waiting also shows up on the cover of my favorite Led Zeppelin album Physical Graffiti.
I’m not sure if these videos will be anything more than a way to remember what your old man loved growing up. I’m sure there are some lessons and themes in there, I know I had some in mind when I wrote this... In the end, I hope they will at least inspire you to find the soundtrack to your own life.
