Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City

The political music and concert trend of the 1980s was somewhat weird.  The whole thing started with Bob Geldof's Band Aid project "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in late 1984.  In 1985, seemingly every musician on the planet was recording an all star song or appearing at a concert.  USA for Africa, Live Aid, Farm Aid, Hear 'n Aid (yes, we kid you not, there was a heavy metal charity project) all took place within 12 months of Band Aid.

Still, Artists United Against Apartheid seemed to be a bit different.  First, it was much more blatantly political (younger readers can look up apartheid here). and second, it seemed to be more genuine.  The project was organized by Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band and included Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Bono, Pete Townshend, Peter Gabriel, Pat Benatar, Bonnie Raitt, Lou Reed, Keith Richards, Run-D.M.C., Clarence Clemons, Hall and Oates, and Jackson Browne among others.

The point of the video was twofold:  to raise awareness of apartheid, and to pressure artists who were considering performing at Sun City, thus pressuring the South African regime.  This was not a totally trivial issue, as performers such as Frank Sinatra, Queen, Elton John, Liza Minnelli, Julio Iglesias, The O'Jays, Linda Ronstadt, Cliff Richard, Johnny Mathis, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick and Laura Branigan had performed at the casino.

While an early version of the song named names, it was decided to take a more subtle route in the end.  In spite of this, "Sun City" was not a huge success -- the single hit #38, while the album peaked at #31.  It is likely that the blatant political message of the song, combined with the rap elements made this a little bit of a tough sell.  Still, the project did generate a fair amount of publicity, and it also raised money for anti-apartheid causes.  Overall, we think it was a solid success for Little Steven.  And this story has a happy ending, as South Africa is now a free and democratic country in the community of nations.

Cool trivia fact:  Rolling Stone ranked the Sun City album as the 100th greatest LP of the 1980s.

Ian Hunter - All of the Good Ones Are Taken

Ian Hunter's "All of the Good Ones Are Taken" is another video that fits in perfectly in the ERV neighborhood, and there are a bunch of cool factoids associated with the vid to boot.

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.

Michael Stanley Band - He Can't Love You

The Cleveland-based Michael Stanley Band is yet another group that made some great music, but never quite broke out at the national level.  They did, however, achieve no small measure of success in the Midwest during the 1970s and early 80s, due to their solid, if somewhat mainstream rock sound.

Ironically, 1980 found the band at an ebb in their career, as their label (Arista) dropped them.  With no other label showing any interest in them, the MSB recorded their own album, 1980's Heartland, without any outside interference.  Eventually, EMI heard the record, and signed the band to a four record contract.

"He Can't Love You" was the first single off Heartland and broke the top 40 (peaking at #33).  The band was no doubt helped by MTV, which played the song on their first day (the 45th video ever played on the fledgling channel).  Unfortunately, success proved elusive for the band, and they finally called it quits in 1986, after a series of farewell concerts in Ohio.

Cool trivia fact:  The Big Man, Clarence Clemons, played the sax on the studio recording (sadly, he does not appear in the video).

Note that the MSB's last top 40 single, "My Town," was posted on ERV in November 2014.