The place for great and not-so-great nearly forgotten videos from the decade of Miami Vice, mullets, and acid wash jeans. All praise to the bands, YouTube, and the original posters of these videos.
Another superb Halloween video (if we say so ourselves ... and we do) is Yazoo's "Don't Go." Long time readers and 1980s synth pop fans will recall that Yazoo (Yaz if you live in the U.S.) was formed by Vince Clarke after he left Depeche Mode. Although they only released two albums, Yazoo produced some of the strongest synth pop material of the early 1980s, helped by Alison Moyet's powerful vocals.
Yazoo's first album, 1982's Upstairs at Eric's was a smash in the UK, where it went to #2 on the charts. (The band's follow-up, 1983's You and Me Both, peaked at #1). However, Yaz had less mainstream success in the U.S., where they were mainly seen as a dance band. In fact, "Don't Go" did not break the top 100 on the Billboard charts in the U.S., although it did hit #1 on the U.S. Dance charts (and #3 in the UK). However, the video was popular on MTV back in the day. We dig the Rocky Horror vibe of the video, and we think it works quite well with the song.
Yazoo disbanded after their 1983 album. Vince Clarke would of course go on to form Erasure (ERV featured "A Little Respect" back in March) while Alison Moyet had a successful solo career (particularly in the UK). Clarke and Moyet re-formed Yazoo in 2008, and they have worked together from time to time since then.
Cool trivia fact: Yazoo never had a top 40 hit in the U.S., although "Only You" and "Situation" both broke the top 100.
A strong candidate for the second-best Halloween video ever, "Bark at the Moon" came about in large part due to Ozzy's fascination with werewolves. As many readers will know, werewolves were everywhere during the 1980s (much like vampires today), including in An American Werewolf in London (which inspired Osbourne and Michael Jackson) and the "Thriller" video.
Once Osbourne decided on the werewolf theme, the decision was made to use the same team for the album cover shoot and the video. While he did not get John Landis (who directed both An American Werewolf and "Thriller"), the team that was put together consisted of horror movie professionals, and the results were quite solid, in my opinion.
The song is also noteworthy in that it was the first collaboration between Ozzy and Jake E. Lee, who replaced Randy Rhodes as Ozzy's guitarist. Rhodes, of course, died in a plane crash in 1982. Lee worked with Ozzy until 1987 and would then go on to form Badlands, who have already appeared on this blog and are one of the rare underrated 1980s hard rock bands, in your author's opinion.
The Bark at the Moon LP would peak at #19 in the U.S and would go on to triple platinum status. "Bark at the Moon" (the single) would not do as well, and did not break the top 100, hitting #109 at its peak. To be fair, few of Ozzy's singles did well. However, Ozzy has remained successful and continues to perform and record to the present day.
Long time readers will remember that ERV loves Halloween, and we put up a few Halloweeny videos last year before the holiday. [As an aside, last year's videos can be found by clicking the All Hallows Even tag here or to the right.]
This year's All Hallows Even tribute starts with a classic by The Sherbs. This is the band's second appearance at ERV; "I Have the Skill" was featured in June, 2012. In short, The Sherbs were the re-formed version of Sherbert, a successful Australian pop band who changed their name, updated their sound, and released two albums in the early 1980s.
"We Ride Tonight" was from the second solo record, 1981's Defying Gravity. The song hit #26 on the U.S Mainstream charts, but did not break the Billboard top 100. The LP did not do well, and the band broke up soon afterwards.
The video has an eerie feel to it, no doubt inspired by the keyboard intro and unusual bridge. Both of those sections of the song feature the motorcycle vs. strange people in robes scenes that make the video perfect for this time of year. The remainder of the video features that band performing, often in close-up. All-in-all, it seemed like a good way to start the season.
Earth, Wind and Fire were perhaps the most successful funk/pop act of the 1970s, with six consecutive top five albums. "Let's Groove" was on the last of those, 1981's Raise. Although the single and album sold well, critics were less enthusiastic, and in retrospect, this album marked the beginning of the end for the band.
Maurice White, the main creative force behind Earth, Wind and Fire, co-wrote "Let's Groove," and he was clearly searching for an updated sound. He used a vocoder to create the intro; this funky futuristic vibe is accentuated by the video. In particular, we love the costumes and the video effects (the video was made using the classic Scanimate computer system, commonly used in the 1970s and early 1980s).
"Let's Groove" peaked at #3, while the Raise LP peaked at #5. In my book, it is noteworthy that even during their descent, E, W & F were still churning out some really solid music.
While the band soldiered on, they did not have any top 40 hits after 1982, and their album releases became less frequent, as well. However, they continue to perform (with Maurice White) to this day.
There was never anything easy about Guns N' Roses. The band announced their presence with screaming vocals and howling guitars, and made music that was raw, rough and occasionally ugly -- but it was very, very real. They also brought a level of excitement that rock had not seen in years. For an all-too-brief period in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they were the Biggest Band in the World, before it all went south.
Between 1987 and 1991, the band released four albums, and sold just shy of 90 million units worldwide. Appetite for Destruction, their debut LP, was a #1 record and sold 18 million units in the U.S. alone. So how does a band this big show up on ERV? Well, that's a funny story ...
Back in 1987, after the band recorded Appetite, they decided to release "It's So Easy" as their lead single. The video was filmed at Riki Rachtman's Cathouse club, a run down bar that was popular among up and coming LA hard rock bands. So the video is shot, a rough cut is made ... and the label freaks out. The video is just way too rough to be played in the U.S. In fact, an edited version was rejected by MTV, and Geffen drops the video (and never promotes the single, as far as we can tell).
Later, when "Welcome to the Jungle" is released, Geffen still has a hard time with MTV, but finally gets the station to air the video -- at 5AM on a Sunday. Apparently, MTV almost immediate started getting requests for the video, the momentum built, and ... well, you know the rest of the story.
Years later, the original promo video for "It's So Easy" is leaked and shows up on the internet. Overall, this makes it the perfect video for ERV -- totally rare video from a huge band. Oh, and be warned, the video is somewhat explicit, so NSFW (or kids).
2018 Update: GnR officially released a better quality, official video, so we have updated the link. It includes a bit of behind the scenes footage from back in the day.
Cool trivia fact: Rolling Stone rates Appetite as the 27th best album of the 1980s ... and as the 62nd best album ever.
Regular readers of ERV may remember a post about Love and Rockets from July 2012, which mentioned that the band formed after a failed Bauhaus reunion (lead singer Peter Murphy did not show up). Although Murphy did not attend the rehearsal, he remained active in the music industry, and carved out a solo career as an independent artist.
Curiously, in the aftermath of Love and Rockets big hit ("So Alive"), Peter Murphy has his biggest commercial success. Perhaps it was karma, or possibly his record label made an extra effort to promote the single, knowing that his former bandmates had just scored a hit. In any event, "Cuts You Up," from the 1989 album Deep became an unlikely hit -- reaching #1 on the U.S. Modern Rock charts and peaking at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100. [As a fun aside, Deep was released on December 19, 1989, making it one of the last albums of the eighties.]
Deep would go on to peak at #44 on the album charts. While Murphy had other small successes, and released some critically acclaimed material, "Cuts You Up" was his only charting U.S. single.
In spite of the first failed reunion, Bauhaus would reform several times, starting in 1998, and they actually released a new album in 2008. However, they do not appear to be together as of this writing.
Total non sequitur, but we have always thought of Peter Murphy as a modern, new wave version of David Bowie.
The BusBoys are another interesting rock and roll story, and are another band that by all rights should have have been more successful. The band's big break came when they were featured in the movie 48 Hours (they were the bar band and wrote half of the soundtrack). While the movie was a smash, the record label was slow to promote the soundtrack, and never released "Boys are Back in Town" as a single. As a result, The BusBoys did not really capitalize on their success.
The back story to 48 Hours highlights just how unique the band was. The studio decided that they wanted a black rock and roll band for a scene in the movie, and The BusBoys were one of the only bands that fit the bill. It also didn't hurt that they had the same agent as Eddie Murphy. However, their label (Arista) never did figure out how to promote the band, and dropped them after two records. While they did have a minor hit with "Cleanin' Up the Town" from the 1984 Ghostbusters soundtrack (it hit #68), even that was not enough to convince a major label to re-sign them.
Although they never really broke out, the band has remained together and continues to perform to this day.
We also have to say, we dig the old school MTV intro.
Long time readers will know that in addition to posting rare videos, ERV also likes to highlight covers, particularly ones that fit in the category of "songs that you didn't know were covers." That is how a totally non-rare song, such as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (or "Bette Davis Eyes" or "I Love Rock 'n' Roll") can show up on the blog.
So try this one on for size: Cyndi Lauper's breakout hit is a cover. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was originally written and recorded by Philadelphia local hero Robert Hazard and the Heroes in 1979. When Lauper was putting together her first album, 1983's She's So Unusual, the record label provided her with a bunch of material. At that time, the label (Portrait / Epic) was interested in Lauper for her voice, but did not have confidence in her songwriting, so they relied on other material (this perception changed after the success of the Lauper co-written hit, "Time After Time").
To her credit, Lauper re-worked the lyrics to suit her, and changed the style of "Girls," making it much more upbeat. And, undoubtedly some of the success was due to the video, which went on to win the 1984 MTV VMA for Best Female Video.
The song, of course, became a smash, peaking at #2 on the charts -- the first of 4 consecutive top 5 hits from She's So Unusual. That album, in turn, peaked at #4 and sold 6 million units in the U.S. (16 million worldwide), launching Lauper's career.
Robert Hazard, on the other hand, never had that hit, and is another in a long list of artists who wrote strong material but never found commercial success. For readers who are so inclined, Mr. Hazard's "Escalator of Life" is also up on the blog (click on the link to see it). We'll also point out that the original version of "Girls" is very good, in your author's opinion.
The famous Cyndi Lauper Version:
And the Robert Hazard version:
Cool trivia fact: Rolling Stone ranked She's So Unusual as the 75th greatest album of the 1980s (and #184 on their list of the greatest albums ever).
I'll admit it: I've always had a soft spot for Bon Jovi. First off, the band is from my home state (NJ), and second, they wrote a bunch of damn good pop metal songs in the eighties, and then were able to evolve musically during the nineties.
In typical ERV form, we are not going to feature any of the videos from Slippery When Wet; instead we went with "In and Out of Love," from 1985's 7800° Fahrenheit (so named because that is the temperature at which rock melts). 7800° Fahrenheit highlighted the radio-friendly pop metal sound that would take over the music world a year or two later, but it didn't quite resonate with the listening public at the time. It is not as if the album was a bust -- it hit #37 and went gold, but that is a far cry from the 12 million units that Slippery did. (As a side note, 7800° Fahrenheit did go platinum in 1987, pushed by the success of Slippery When Wet.)
The "In and Out of Love" video is typical Bon Jovi -- fun and enjoyable. The video was shot in Seaside Heights, NJ, and features a cast of locals. The clips of London and Japan that bookend the video underscore the background of the song -- Jon Bon Jovi wrote it after the band's first tour.
After 7800° Fahrenheit, Bon Jovi focused on improving their music (and sales) and made two significant changes. First, they brought in professional songwriter Desmond Child to help with a few songs and second, they test marketed the songs (yes, really) with local teenagers in NJ to help determine what went on the record. The results: two consecutive #1 singles ("You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer") and a boatload of record sales.
Although Lou Reed had only modest commercial success, he was an important and influential musician who reshaped the language of rock. In particular, he approached songs in much the same way that a novelist would, leading to lyrics that touched on adult and even previously taboo topics in a mature way.
For readers who are unaware, Reed got his start in the Velvet Underground. Much has been written about them; suffice to say that they were an enormously influential band who laid the foundation for punk and new wave. The famous quote about the VU was that "the first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band." [This quote has been attributed to both Brian Eno and Peter Buck.]
In 1989, Reed released his 15th solo album, a concept album titled New York. Although it was well-regarded by critics (who appreciated the back to basics approach), it was not a huge commercial success. The album peaked at #40, and "Dirty Blvd." did not chart on the main charts (it did hit #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks). We don't think that the video was played much on MTV, though it was played on 120 Minutes (the alternative video show running at the time).
At any rate, "Dirty Blvd." is vintage Lou Reed -- he does his talk/sing thing over a catchy guitar hook, telling a story with provocative lyrics. We have to say, this is a guy who was creating solid rock songs 25 years after his first band started. Impressive.
Sadly, Lou Reed died on October 27, 2013.
Cool trivia fact: Rolling Stone rated the New York LP as the 19th best album of the 1980s.
