Kool & The Gang - Fresh

As ELP once said ... "Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends."  Welcome to another year of rare, spooky, and/or atmospheric videos ... it's ERV's All Hallows Even celebration!

Leading off this year is Kool & The Gang's, "Fresh," which was a pretty big hit in 1985 (it was released in November 1984).  The song hit #9 on the charts, while the Emergency LP peaked at #13 and went double platinum.

Long time readers may note that this is Kool & The Gang's third time on ERV, as "Misled" was posted in 2018, as part of a previous All Hallows Even collection, while "Get Down On It" appeared way back in 2013.  As we noted then, the group had 16 (!) top 40 hits between 1979 and 1986, including 11 (!!) top 10 singles.  In spite of this, the video remains rare in our view, primarily as our favorite video music channel was more rock and pop focused.

The video is all 80s goodness, and uses a Cinderella theme ... which reminded us of Cinderella's "Shake Me" (now how's that for a strange link).  The strong bass line is one of our favorites for the decade, shown here with a Steinberger headless model, because of course it was.  Add some "Kool" atmosphere, "Fresh" costumes (OK, we'll stop) and voilà, an excellent Halloweeny video is born.

Grateful Dead - Hell in a Bucket

The Grateful Dead occupy such a unique place in rock history that it is difficult to even describe them.  Here's my attempt:  The Dead were a counterculture jam band with modest commercial success who built one of the most loyal fanbases in all of rock.  Their music was an eccentric combination of folk, blues, rock, jazz, and country.  Lives shows were an event and lasted for hours and many fans would travel to see them - some even effectively toured with the band. 

The group formed in the San Francisco Bay area in the mid-1960s and released their first album in 1967.  By the mid-1980s, they were seen as performing aging hippy/druggie music, though they had a series of FM radio hits in the late 70s/early 80s - "Good Loving," "Shakedown Street," and "Alabama Getaway."  However, few would have predicted the success of 1987's In the Dark LP.  "Touch of Grey," "Hell in a Bucket," and "Throwing Stones" all picked up a bunch of radio play while the videos went into heavy rotation on MTV.  The result was a bit of a renaissance for the band, though the new, younger audience clashed at times with the older Deadheads.

In typical form, The Grateful Dead didn't attempt to capitalize on their new success; they simply continued to tour, up until Jerry Garcia's death in 1995.  The remaining members of the band remained active in the industry, even touring under "The Dead" name, but have mostly passed on at this point.

For the blog, the obvious video choice would have been "Touch of Grey," so we went with "Hell in a Bucket."  We've always been partial to the song, and the over-the-top insanity of the video sealed the deal.

Cool trivia fact: The Grateful Dead are an official one hit wonder; only 1987's "Touch of Grey" (#9) broke the U.S. top 40.  

The Cult - Fire Woman

Long time readers may remember that this is The Cult's fourth appearance on ERV, as "She Sells Sanctuary," "Rain," and "Lil' Devil" have been previously posted.  To be fair, we're up to nearly 500 posts, so there are a lot of non-Cult options, but can we justify this?  (In a word: yes.)

The Cult were an unusual 1980s band, both in terms of aesthetics and sound.  We've previously described the sound as new wave's answer to AC/DC and over time the AC/DC elements became more visible.  Unsurprisingly, this led to greater commercial success, though The Cult never broke out as a truly mainstream act.  For example, they never had a top 40 hit or a top 9 album.

"Fire Woman" off 1989's Sonic Temple represented the commercial peak of the band.  The song hit #46 while the album reached #10 - both representing their highest charting successes.  The video is less gypsies and more arena rock, with the emphasis on rock.  In our view, it holds up remarkably well.

Paul McCartney – Take It Away

Yep.  We're back - and what better way to restart ERV than with true Rock Royalty™ - Sir Paul McCartney?  Books have been written on Sir Paul and the Beatles, so we're not going to attempt that, but the simple version is that the Beatles were arguably the most popular AND the most innovative act of their generation.  Needless to say, this is highly unusual in any art form.

While we think of McCartney as a 1960s star whose success continued well into the 1970s, he was still productive and successful in the 1980s.  Sir Paul released 7 LPs during the decade; all but one broke the top 30 (the exception was the Снова в СССР album).  McCartney also had 10 top 40 singles, including 3 #1s ("Coming Up," "Ebony and Ivory," and "Say Say Say.")  For those asking, "The Girl Is Mine" peaked at #2.

"Take It Away" hit #10 on the top 40 (#15 in the UK), while the Tug of War album reached #1 on the charts in both countries.  The video is a high budget, nostalgic look at a band's rise to popularity through the years.  Is it modeled after Wings?  The Beatles?  Perhaps.

Eagle-eyed viewers will recognize drummer Ring Starr, producer George Martin (on the piano) and Linda McCartney.  Even sharper readers may recognize Eric Stewart on guitars (10cc, performed on several McCartney albums in the early 1980s) and Barbara Bach (Ringo Starr's wife since 1980). 

Actor John Hurt (Midnight Express, The Elephant Man, Alien, among others) plays the lead, because of course he does.

Amazingly, McCartney remains active as of this writing.