Johnny Hates Jazz - Shattered Dreams

Named after a friend of the band (who really did hate jazz), Johnny Hates Jazz was one of a series of groups who shot to prominence, only to quickly fade away.  [Spandau Ballet, Cutting Crew, Level 42 and The Blow Monkeys all come to mind right away in this category.]

Johnny Hates Jazz formed in 1986 and were ironically signed by Virgin Records after performing at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London.  Seriously.  "Shattered Dreams" was their first single on Virgin, and it became a worldwide smash -- hitting #5 in the UK and #2 in the U.S. (where it was released in 1988).  Their follow up single, "I Don't Want to be a Hero," also from their debut LP Turn Back the Clock did reasonable well, peaking at #31 in the U.S.  For those keeping score at home, this means that Johnny Hates Jazz was not a one hit wonder.

While they did not appear on the U.S. charts after those two songs, the band had four additional top 100 songs in Britain, all but one from their Turn Back the Clock album.  The band (minus original lead signer Clark Datchler) did release a second album in 1991, but it did not chart, and they officially broke up soon afterwards.

The video shows the trio in fine form, and while it is a bit reminiscent of The Car's "You Might Think," it still gets a solid in my book. It was directed by David Fincher, who would go on to become a successful movie director (Seven, Fight Club, etc.)

Update [January 2021], as an added bonus, we are including the UK version of the video (below):