The Cure - Lullaby

For the final selection of our 2020 All Hallows Even celebration, we are going with The Cure's "Lullaby."  Skeptics might point at that just about any Cure song could be considered for a Halloween celebration, but this isn't totally true.  Yes, The Cure were known for their goth pop songs - they might even be the masters of this genre.  However, few of their songs were genuinely spooky - although "Lullaby" certainly fits the bill.

While the lyrics of "Lullaby" are literally about being eaten by "The Spiderman," the song is likely a metaphor. Lead singer Robert Smith wrote the lyrics, and in typical form, has provided several conflicting answers as to the meaning of "Lullaby."  Many fans believe that the song is a metaphor for drug addiction, a view shared by Tim Pope, who directed the video.  Other possibilities include depression, sexual assault, sleep issues, and even nightmares.

The video takes a somewhat literal approach to the song, creating a spider infested nightmare - though it is worth noting that Robert Smith plays both the victim and the spider. Amazingly (considering how dark it is), the clip won the video of the year at the 1990 Brit Awards.  The song would go on to reach #5 on the UK charts and become the highest charting single of The Cure's career there.  In the U.S., it was less successful, reaching only #74. ("Lovesong" also off the Disintegration LP, would hit #2 and become the band's highest charting single in the U.S.)

As many readers will know, The Cure remains active as of this writing, and have become one of the most successful alternative bands of the past few decades.  For other ERV videos of the group, "In Between Days" was posted in April, 2013 and "Pictures of You" was posted in September, 2014.

Cool trivia fact:  Rolling Stone ranked the Disintegration LP at #116 on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes To Midnight

We love highlighting the diversity of eighties music at ERV, and we particularly enjoy abrupt transitions from one video to the next. This made it hard to pass up the opportunity to go from Sheena Easton to Iron Maiden as part of our 2020 All Hallows Even Celebration.

Iron Maiden made this even easier by starting "2 Minutes to Midnight" with one of the filthiest guitar riffs of the decade.  Combined with a somewhat creepy video about ... well, we're not exactly sure, but it definitely passes the atmospheric Hallowweny test for us. (Although we're not quite sure why there's a yo-yo starting at 0:26).

The song would go on to become a hard rock classic, and it actually hit #11 on the U.K. charts, while the Powerslave LP reached #2 in the U.K. and #21 in the U.S.  As most readers will know, Iron Maiden remains active as of this writing, and is one of the few 1980s acts that has remained successful during the intervening years. 

For folks who want more Iron Maiden, "The Number of the Beast" was featured on ERV's first All Hallows Even celebration in 2011, while "Flight Of Icarus" appeared on our blog in 2015. Both are highly recommended from your friends at ERV.     

Cool trivia fact #1: "2 Minutes to Midnight" is one of the few Iron Maiden songs not written or co-written by bassist Steve Harris. It was co-written by guitarist Adrian Smith and singer Bruce Dickinson. This helps explain why it sounds different (to my ear, at least) from most other Maiden songs.

Cool trivia fact #2: The video for "2 Minutes to Midnight" about spies, cults, and a stolen nuclear weapon (we think) was the group's first concept video.  The theme plays off the fears on a nuclear war, which drove the title and lyrics for the song.

Sheena Easton - Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)

Nine years ago (!), we started an ERV tradition - the posting of the All Hallows Even videos.  We are justifiably proud of the 22 (and counting) clips that we have presented since then, which can be found using the All Hallows Even label to the right and down a bit.

Kicking off 2020 - on October 13th, no less, we'll start with Sheena Easton. Easton grew up in Scotland, and got her big break on the BBC reality show The Big Time, were amateurs showed off their skills (dressmakers, cooks, comedians, etc.) Easton appeared in 1980, as a singer, which eventually led to a recording contract - even though the talent manager on the show (Marion Massey) was quite lukewarm on her.

Easton would go on to become a genuine pop star, with 15 top 40 hits in the U.S. - all but 1 of which were in the 1980s. "Telefone" came out during Eason's early period of success, and went on to hit #9 on the charts, while the Best Kept Secret album reached #33 and went gold.

The video is a campy black and white classic.  While the single was released in August, the LP came out in October, so perhaps that's why they went with a movie monster theme.  Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, Quasimodo, King Kong, and a disembodied hand all make an appearance - making this a great way to kick off our All Hallows Even celebration.

Sheena Easton had continued success throughout the decade, and famously worked with Prince for a time.  She remains active in the industry to the present day.

As an added bonus, we found some behind the scenes footage shot when the video was being made.

Robbie Nevil - C'est La Vie

"C'est La Vie" was the song that was played at every party in 1987, before fading away.  It was the debut single from Robbie Nevil, and became his biggest hit, peaking at #2.  Interestingly (to me at least), it spent 2 weeks at #2, but was blocked from the top spot by 2 different songs - "Shake You Down" by Gregory Abbott and "At This Moment" by Billy Vera & The Beaters.

Robbie Nevil was born in Los Angeles and worked in the industry for years prior to landing a recording contract in 1986.  His self-titled debut album was a hit, reaching #37 and yielding three top 40 hits ("Dominoes" and "Wot's It to Ya" are the other two).  He would go on the have five top 40 singles before transitioning to songwriting, and remains active in the industry as of this writing.  

The video for "C'est La Vie" was shot at a construction site, and shows a shy Nevil hanging with a bunch of models.  The clip (and song) were strong enough to go into heavy rotation for a time at MTV. 

Oh, and one other thing - this is a cover.  Nevil did co-write the song, but it was released by Beau Williams two years earlier: