We'll start with Ian Hunter, your basic under-appreciated musician. Hunter started his career as the frontman for Mott the Hoople, a groundbreaking English glam rock band that never quite broke out. Mott the Hoople are best known for their 1972 classic, "All the Young Dudes" (written for the band by David Bowie). Hunter left Mott in late 1974 and embarked on a solo career that was critically acclaimed, but generally flew under the radar of the listening public. In particular, Hunter's 1979 LP, You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic is viewed by many as a rock classic (and totally goes on my list of greatest album titles).
"All of the Good Ones Are Taken" comes from the 1983 album of the same name -- note that the album contained two versions of the song (fast and slow) The video is set to the fast version of the song (the slow version can be found here, for interested readers). It is also worth pointing out that the sax solo is performed by Clarence Clemons, who does not appear in the video.
The video is pitch perfect in my humble opinion and is notable for the presence of Carol Miller (she is the blonde with the side ponytail). Miller is a famous NY DJ (WPLJ, WNEW-FM and now Q104.3) and one of your author's favorite DJs ever. The butler is played by Arthur "Captain" Haggerty, a famous animal trainer and actor. And, of course, we have to call out the presence of roller skates (!) at 1:14. All this adds up to a fun, rare video of a good and nearly forgotten song.
Cool trivia fact: ERV reader Corkey pointed out the Martin Briley, whose song "Salt of My Tears" was posted on ERV in October 2011 can be seen (well, the back of his head can, at least) at 0:31.
Cool trivia fact #2: Hilly Michaels, who appeared on ERV in February ("Calling All Girls"), played drums on the All of the Good Ones Are Taken LP, and co-wrote one of the songs on the album, as well.
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