The place for great and not-so-great nearly forgotten videos from the decade of Miami Vice, mullets, and acid wash jeans. All praise to the bands, YouTube, and the original posters of these videos.
Electric Boys were Sweden's contribution to the cool, but short lived funk metal scene. The band was formed in 1988 in Stockholm by guitarist/vocalist Conny Bloom (Blomqvist) and bassist Andy Christell. Their first single, "All Lips and Hips" was released the same year, and became a hit in Sweden. The local success of the song led to a recording contract, and in 1990, the band's debut album (Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride) was released. [Hence, astute readers might view "All Lips and Hips" as a 1990 release, but we tend to go with the original release date at ERV. Is this cheating? Perhaps, but it does allow us to highlight a few videos that otherwise would not be included.]
As Allmusic points out, Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride was not funk metal the way Faith No More was, it was more funk shaded hard rock like vintage Aerosmith or early 1970s Rolling Stones. "All Lips and Hips" cracked the Billboard charts, but only reached #76, and ended up being the only Electric Boys song to chart in the U.S. However, the band's psychedelic gypsy-inspired videos did pick up some airplay on MTV, and it seemed as if they were well-positioned to build their audience. Then Nirvana's Nevermind happened, and the Electric Boys soon found themselves totally out of favor.
The band did release two subsequent albums in 1992 and 1994, but neither charted, and they broke up in the mid 1990s. Electric Boys has re-formed in recent years, and even released a new album in 2011.
Part of the appeal of rock and roll is that it is an escape from the real world, but every once in a while, the real world crashes the party. Few bands know this better than Great White, as their story includes one of the most tragic chapters in rock history.
Of course, we are referring to the February 2003 fire at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island. As most folks will recall, pyrotechnics lit by the band's touring manager ignited soundproofing foam and led to a fire that killed 100 people and injured another 200. It was the fourth deadliest fire in U.S. history. Among the dead was Great White's guitarist, Ty Longley, and WHJY DJ Mike "The Doctor" Gonsalves (who was MCing the show).
In the aftermath of the show, Great White toured to support the Station Family Fund, before the band split into two factions. Lead singer Jack Russell continued to tour, using the name Jack Russell's Great White, while several other original members played shows using the Great White name.
All of this was a far cry from the band's successes during the late 1980s / early 1990s. Their brand of blues-rock led to three straight top 25 albums, and two top 40 hits. Great White's biggest hit was their cover of Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," but they had a second hit with "The Angel Song." (Nope, not sure we remember that one either.)
For the blog, we went with their breakout hit, 1987's "Rock Me" from the Once Bitten ... LP. While the song peaked at #60 on the charts, it introduced the band to a wider audience, helped by the video below. By the way, the woman in the video is Tracy Martinson, who appeared in a bunch of Great White videos, but left the industry years ago.
BulletBoys are your basic late 1980s pop metal band, and we'll admit that we have a soft spot for them, even if they did come off as a mimeographed Van Halen. The band formed in LA (of course) in 1987, and were led by Marq Torien, who had previously been a member of Ratt and King Kobra.
The band's self-titled debt and early videos tried to duplicate the Van Halen formula, right down to Torien doing his best David Lee Roth impression. It didn't hurt that their first three albums were produced by Ted Templeman, who also produced Van Halen's first 6 albums.
Drafting off the huge popularity of pop metal and Van Halen, BulletBoys found their audience, and the debut record hit #34 on the album charts, while "Smooth Up In Ya" (#71) and a cover of the O'Jays "For the Love of Money" (#78) both broke the top 100. The band's second LP charted, but changing tastes and weaker material consigned them to working band status, were they continue to this day.
Coll trivia fact: BulletBoys did a surprisingly solid version of Tom Wait's "Hang On St. Christopher," on their 1991 album, Freakshow.
Although Def Leppard is one of the bands that defined music in the 1980s, there are some rare and semi-rare videos of them. In this way they are a lot like Bon Jovi, who went up on the blog last September. And like Bon Jovi, the Leppards were not an overnight success; it took a few years to find their sound.
The band formed in Sheffield, England in 1977 and emerged as part of the new wave of British heavy metal in the early 1980s, alongside such bands as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Def Leppard's first album came out in 1980, and it was immediately apparent that they were different from most other metal groups in terms of their melodic, pop-influenced melodies. In a stroke of good fortune, their sound caught the ear of producer extraordinaire Mutt Lange, who agreed to work on the band's second album, 1981's High and Dry. [Lange would continue to work with the band on the Pyromania and Hysteria albums, as well.]
High and Dry was a modest success, reaching #38 on the U.S. charts, although "Let It Go" did not break the top 100. We have to say, High and Dry is our favorite Def Leppard album -- it was a bit rougher than the band's later stuff, but it is really good.
The video was a straight up performance filmed at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool, England. In fact, Def Leppard shot "Let It Go," "High and Dry" and the original version of "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" all at the same time ... ah, the innocence of those pre-MTV days.
Of course, Def Leppard would crack the code of pop-metal with their 1983 Pyromania album (the catchy videos on MTV didn't hurt) and become huge stars -- Pyromania and Hysteria (1987) each sold in excess of 10 million units in the U.S. Unfortunately, the band was also know for their tragedies as well, especially drummer Rick Allen's 1984 car accident (and loss of an arm) and guitarist Steve Clark's death in 1991.
Cool trivia fact: The working title of "Let It Go" was "When The Rain Falls."
Cool trivia fact #2: The dark-haired guitarist (with the Gibson Explorer) is Pete Willis, who was fired from the band in 1982 for alcoholism. He was replaced by Phil Collen (not the one from Genesis), who remains in the band to the present day.
Led by diminutive (5'6") camo-wearing vocalist Udo Dirkschneider and known for their hard and fast sound, the German band Accept put out several strong heavy metal albums in the early to mid 1980s. While their aggressive, uptempo version of heavy metal laid the groundwork for thrash, the band had difficulty in the U.S. market, as they were simply too heavy for American audiences of the time.
Accept formed in Solingen, Germany and slowly built a following in Europe during the late 1970s and early 1980s. [For hard rock fans, we'd recommend "Fast As a Shark" from the 1982 Restless and Wild LP and "Balls to the Wall" from the 1983 album of the same name.]
Following the modest success of Balls to the Wall, which hit #74 of the U.S. charts, the band decided to craft a more commercial album. They hired producer Dieter Dierks (famous for his work with the Scorpions) and focused on writing more melodic hard rock. The result was 1985's Metal Heart, a good but unsuccessful album that alienated some of the group's core fans and did not expand its audience. Ironically, Metal Heart is now well-regarded by many Accept fans.
While the band continued on for a few years, Udo left Accept in 1987, effectively ending their period as a premier hard rock band. The band has continued on and off in the intervening years (including a few periods with Udo) and generally continues to have modest success, especially in Europe.
Cool trivia fact: "Midnight Mover" is generally regarded as the first video to use bullet time, which became popularized by The Matrix movies. As with all thing Accept, the use here is completely unsubtle, but cool, although it may cause motion sickness and / or convulsions.
By 1988, as pop metal was reaching its zenith, Britny Fox emerged out of the Philadelphia music scene. Led by lead singer "Dizzy" Dean Davidson, the band came off almost as Cinderella lite, but truth be told, their first album is not half bad. However, the Cinderella comparisons are not totally off base; several Britny Fox members had played in earlier versions of Cinderella, and the band took both musical and style cues from their more established compatriots.
Britny Fox' self titled debut became one of the best selling first albums of the year, peaking at #39 and going gold. The first two singles, "Long Way to Love" and "Girlschool" both broke the top 100. Unfortunately, weaker material, changing tastes and tensions within the band caused Britny Fox to fade from view almost as quickly as they had appeared. While the members remained in the music industry (to this day, in fact), they have not been able to catch lightning in a bottle twice.
For the blog, we went with the second single, "Girlschool." This song was the band's biggest hit, reaching #81 in the U.S. and #67 in the U.K. The video is classic hair metal goodness, with the band ... and lots of girls. By the way, the lead actress is Kim Anderson, who did a bunch of rock videos in the 1980s.
Amazingly, we also found some behind the scenes footage (this seems to be a recurring theme), which we have included for those who are interested. We have to say, we were struck by how professional the shoot seems ... I'm not sure what we were expecting, but probably not that.
A strong candidate for the second-best Halloween video ever, "Bark at the Moon" came about in large part due to Ozzy's fascination with werewolves. As many readers will know, werewolves were everywhere during the 1980s (much like vampires today), including in An American Werewolf in London (which inspired Osbourne and Michael Jackson) and the "Thriller" video.
Once Osbourne decided on the werewolf theme, the decision was made to use the same team for the album cover shoot and the video. While he did not get John Landis (who directed both An American Werewolf and "Thriller"), the team that was put together consisted of horror movie professionals, and the results were quite solid, in my opinion.
The song is also noteworthy in that it was the first collaboration between Ozzy and Jake E. Lee, who replaced Randy Rhodes as Ozzy's guitarist. Rhodes, of course, died in a plane crash in 1982. Lee worked with Ozzy until 1987 and would then go on to form Badlands, who have already appeared on this blog and are one of the rare underrated 1980s hard rock bands, in your author's opinion.
The Bark at the Moon LP would peak at #19 in the U.S and would go on to triple platinum status. "Bark at the Moon" (the single) would not do as well, and did not break the top 100, hitting #109 at its peak. To be fair, few of Ozzy's singles did well. However, Ozzy has remained successful and continues to perform and record to the present day.
There was never anything easy about Guns N' Roses. The band announced their presence with screaming vocals and howling guitars, and made music that was raw, rough and occasionally ugly -- but it was very, very real. They also brought a level of excitement that rock had not seen in years. For an all-too-brief period in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they were the Biggest Band in the World, before it all went south.
Between 1987 and 1991, the band released four albums, and sold just shy of 90 million units worldwide. Appetite for Destruction, their debut LP, was a #1 record and sold 18 million units in the U.S. alone. So how does a band this big show up on ERV? Well, that's a funny story ...
Back in 1987, after the band recorded Appetite, they decided to release "It's So Easy" as their lead single. The video was filmed at Riki Rachtman's Cathouse club, a run down bar that was popular among up and coming LA hard rock bands. So the video is shot, a rough cut is made ... and the label freaks out. The video is just way too rough to be played in the U.S. In fact, an edited version was rejected by MTV, and Geffen drops the video (and never promotes the single, as far as we can tell).
Later, when "Welcome to the Jungle" is released, Geffen still has a hard time with MTV, but finally gets the station to air the video -- at 5AM on a Sunday. Apparently, MTV almost immediate started getting requests for the video, the momentum built, and ... well, you know the rest of the story.
Years later, the original promo video for "It's So Easy" is leaked and shows up on the internet. Overall, this makes it the perfect video for ERV -- totally rare video from a huge band. Oh, and be warned, the video is somewhat explicit, so NSFW (or kids).
2018 Update: GnR officially released a better quality, official video, so we have updated the link. It includes a bit of behind the scenes footage from back in the day.
Cool trivia fact: Rolling Stone rates Appetite as the 27th best album of the 1980s ... and as the 62nd best album ever.
I'll admit it: I've always had a soft spot for Bon Jovi. First off, the band is from my home state (NJ), and second, they wrote a bunch of damn good pop metal songs in the eighties, and then were able to evolve musically during the nineties.
In typical ERV form, we are not going to feature any of the videos from Slippery When Wet; instead we went with "In and Out of Love," from 1985's 7800° Fahrenheit (so named because that is the temperature at which rock melts). 7800° Fahrenheit highlighted the radio-friendly pop metal sound that would take over the music world a year or two later, but it didn't quite resonate with the listening public at the time. It is not as if the album was a bust -- it hit #37 and went gold, but that is a far cry from the 12 million units that Slippery did. (As a side note, 7800° Fahrenheit did go platinum in 1987, pushed by the success of Slippery When Wet.)
The "In and Out of Love" video is typical Bon Jovi -- fun and enjoyable. The video was shot in Seaside Heights, NJ, and features a cast of locals. The clips of London and Japan that bookend the video underscore the background of the song -- Jon Bon Jovi wrote it after the band's first tour.
After 7800° Fahrenheit, Bon Jovi focused on improving their music (and sales) and made two significant changes. First, they brought in professional songwriter Desmond Child to help with a few songs and second, they test marketed the songs (yes, really) with local teenagers in NJ to help determine what went on the record. The results: two consecutive #1 singles ("You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer") and a boatload of record sales.
By the late 1980s, hard rock was enjoying huge commercial success, a backdrop that should have made Badlands big, big stars. Surprisingly, though, the band's blues-rock sound did not resonate with the record- buying public, making Badlands a rare case of an underrated late 1980s hard rock band.
The driving force behind Bandlands was guitarist Jake E. Lee, who left Ozzy Osbourne with the stated intention of forming a band. The addition of lead singer Ray Gillen from Black Sabbath helped to cement that sound, which was roughed up blues-rock (think updated Led Zepplin). Although the band was well-regarded in the music industry, their debut album (Badlands) was a commercial disappointment, peaking at #57 on the album charts.
"Dreams in the Dark" was their lead single, and it did not chart. The video shows the band's approach -- we would describe them as a "let the music do the talking" sort of band. Unfortunately, this image just didn't click with their audience at the time.
Their follow up LP, Voodoo Highway performed worse, and the band broke up in 1993. Jake E. Lee has kept a pretty low profile since then, although he has put out a few solo albums and continues to play. Ray Gillen died of an AIDS-related disease in 1993.
Along with Joan Jett, Lita Ford built a successful solo career after the collapse of The Runaways. However, Ford's style was more pop/metal (as contrasted with the punk sensibilities of Jett) and in fact, it was this musical divergence that was the main cause of The Runaways breakup.
In the aftermath of the breakup, Ford took vocal lessons and worked a variety of odd jobs, including gas station attendant, perfume salesperson, fitness instructor and hairdresser (!) before she landed a recording contract. While her first solo LP, Out for Blood (1983), did not chart, her second album, 1984's Dancin' on the Edge, hit #66. We remember seeing "Gotta Let Go" on MTV at the time, but it did not chart in the U.S. (it did break the top 100 in the UK, though).
Of course, Ford is best-known for her 1988 LP, Lita, which yielded two top 20 hits ("Kiss Me Deadly" and "Close My Eyes Forever.") That album broke the top 30 and went platinum in the U.S. While Ford has only had modest success since then, she remains musically active; her last album as of this writing (Living Like a Runaway) was released in May 2012.
"Gotta Let Go" is a fun video that features Ford as a suburban housewife who can magically transform into a leather-clad heavy metal super-heroine with her trusty guitar. Unfortunately, aside from hitting and choking bad guys (who look a lot like The Stray Cats), the guitar has limited special abilities -- no shattering glass or laser beams here. Still, the video gets a solid from us -- good song, fun story and reasonably rare.
Is there a larger, more important eighties band than Spinal Tap? Well, yes, but that does not diminish what David, Nigel and Derek achieved. They brought their special blend of music to countless audiences and in the process sold dozens of records.
As many readers will know, Spinal Tap started as The Originals (later they changed the name to the New Originals, as there was another Originals) and went through several other names before settling on Spinal Tap. They then had a period of some success, and although they have had many drummers (at least 19), the core of David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls has remained constant through the years.
For this blog, we settled on "Hellhole," from their 1982 LP, Smell the Glove. We know that some fans will regret that we didn't consider something off Intravenus de Milo or The Sun Never Sweats, but we wanted to stay on the 1980s theme.
In any event, "Hellhole" does a great job of showcasing the band's strengths -- you can almost smell them.
As a special treat, we am also including "Rock and Roll Nightmare," a great early video from ABC's The TV Show. This is rare and really interesting.
We also wanted to take a moment to thank anyone reading this. This post is our 100th on ERV, and we have really enjoyed it. Please feel free to check out the other 99 videos on the site -- we think we have a bunch of good stuff here.
For folks who are so inclined, there are a few ways to offer support to ERV. You can: like us on Facebook (link is on the right), subscribe to the blog, tell your friends about us, leave comments and / or click on our sponsors. And do not worry -- this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end (but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning, as Churchill said). As of this writing, we have 118 videos in the bullpen, ready to be added (and more are put on the list nearly every week). It turns out that there were lots of good songs and videos done in the 1980s (even rare ones).
So rock on and thanks again for reading.
And by the way, we do know that Spinal Tap is a parody (before someone posts a snarky comment). ;)
Femme Fatale was a pop metal band from Albuquerque, New Mexico who were led by the charismatic front woman Lorraine Lewis. The band formed in 1987, and quickly moved to LA -- the center of the pop metal movement of the late 1980s. From there, they signed a record deal, and put together an album (their 1988 self-titled debut).
While the singles "Waiting for the Big One" and "Falling in and out of Love" both received some airplay on MTV, the album's sales were only so-so. Neither single charted, and the album peaked at #141. This was likely due to the abundance of similar bands; we think Femme Fatale simply got lost in the mix.
After touring as the opening act for Cheap Trick, Femme Fatale went back to the studio to work on their follow up effort, which was to be called Lady in Waiting. However, it was never released, as they were dropped by their label (MCA).
The video for "Falling in and out of Love" is classic late 1980s hair metal goodness, complete with headbanging, swirling cameras and lots of lights.
Lorraine Lewis has remained in the industry without much mainstream success, but she continues to perform Femme Fatale songs to this day.
Y&T was a band that was playing the right kind of music at the right time, but somehow never really broke through. The band formed in Oakland in 1974, and were named after the Beatles LP, Yesterday and Today. After they signed to A&M in 1980, they shortened their name to Y&T, probably because it sounded more metal. They would go on to release six radio-friendly hard rock albums in the 1980s, but somehow never found their audience, in spite of the fact that their high energy live shows were legendary. In retrospect, much of the blame likely lies with the label, as A&M had few hard rock bands (and seemingly had no idea how to promote them).
"Summertime Girls," from the 1985 album Down for the Count was the closest thing to a genuine hit that Y&T had, but it peaked at #55 on the Billboard charts, so the band does not even count as an official one hit wonder. The video is a cheesy masterpiece of 1980s fun, complete with lots of girls in bikinis, a few metal babes, and roller skates. And, we found a version that includes the somewhat rare 30 second intro.
While the band broke up in 1991, they reformed in 2001 and are still performing, although we believe that the only original member left is singer/guitarist Dave Maniketti.
While Cinderella's image was hair-metal, their sound was more bluesy, hard rock. "Shake Me" fits right in with this, and is a spiritual successor to "You Shook Me" (covered by Led Zeppelin) or "You Shook Me All Night Long" (AC/DC). Now that we think of it, there should be more hard rock songs using the verb 'to shake' -- we propose the ultimate song could just be called "Shake" or "Shaken" or "Shaky."
Moving right along, "Shake Me" was the first song from Cinderella's first album, 1986's Night Songs. The video does feature another fine example of a supernatural guitar -- it falls from the poster and then magically teleports the attractive young woman right on to the stage at the local Cinderella concert. Though this is not as impressive as laser beams (or ill-tempered bass, for that matter), it still is pretty cool. And no, apparently not all Les Pauls can magically teleport young women.
"Shake Me" did not chart, but Night Songs hit #3 on the charts in early 1987, spawned two other singles that did chart, and sold three million units. The band went on to sell more than twenty million units in the 80s and early 90s, before the shift to grunge (and problems with lead singer Tom Keifer's vocal chords) ended the bands' run of platinum records.
Cool trivia fact: Cinderella was discovered by Jon Bon Jovi, who saw them in 1985 at the old Empire Rock Club in Philly. He told his A&R rep about them and soon after they were signed to Mercury/Polygram.
Cinderella's "Gypsy Road" was posted on ERV in June, 2015.
What is more Halloweeny (yes, we just made up that word) than some good old-fashioned metal? How about some metal with horror clips and a demonic-sounding title?
Iron Maiden's 1982 album, The Number of the Beast, is on a short list of the greatest heavy metals albums ever. Dark, loud and surprisingly melodic, it is the prototypical Iron Maiden record, and the first one with lead singer Bruce "Air Raid Siren" Dickinson. The album also proved to be a tremendous commercial success, and has sold some 14 million units worldwide. It reached #33 on the US charts, but hit #1 in the UK, where both "The Number of the Beast" and "Run to the Hills" broke the top 20 on the singles chart!
While religious conservatives were concerned with the "satanic message," the title song from the album was actually inspired by bass player Steve Harris' nightmare after watching Damien: Omen II. To be fair, though, the band did play up the supernatural angle in interviews, which (of course) seemed to help sales.
Cool trivia fact: the band originally wanted Vincent Price to read the intro (foreshadowing "Thriller") but he proved to be too expensive for their budget. As a result, an actor named Barry Clayton was hired to do it.
Nine Inch Nails blasted onto the music scene in 1989 with Pretty Hate Machine, their debut album. Complex, diverse and dark, the band sounded unlike anything else at the time. While their music reflected clear industrial influences (particularly Ministry), the focus on melodic, complex sounds (and lyrics) was truly refreshing.
For those who don't know, Nine Inch Nails (NIN) is Trent Reznor; while he uses a backup band to tour, he alone is responsible for the music. "Head Like a Hole" is a great early example of the band's sound, with multiple melodies, a driving beat, and a dark, rocking chorus.
The video is also classic NIN, with rapid cut black and white images interspersed with the band. Definite art house movie feel, and more than a little bit strange. Again, seriously ahead of its time.
"Head Like a Hole" was the first NIN song to chart, but it did not break the top 100 (it peaked at #109). The Pretty Hate Machine album did better, peaking at 75. NIN would go on to have tremendous success in the early to mid 1990s, and their next 5 albums would break the top 10.
Cool trivia fact: Rolling Stone ranks Pretty Hate Machine 453rd on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Another wonderfully ridiculous video featuring supernatural guitars (see Breaking the Law for an earlier example). Set in the future (or at least a 1981 version of the future), Aldo Nova portrays a mystical guitar player with bodyguards, and the geekiest guitar tech known to man. Nova uses his guitar laser to break into a warehouse in order to ... play guitar with his band?
In fact, Aldo Nova's 1981 self-titled debut was moderately successful. The album quickly went gold (it has since gone on to be certified double platinum!!) and peaked at #8 on the album charts. The single, "Fantasy," no doubt helped by the video, hit #23 on the singles chart. However, Nova's subsequent work did not do very well, and while he has remained in the business, it is not pretty. He has written songs for Jon Bon Jovi, Faith Hill, Clay Aiken and ... Celine Dion (man, say it ain't so Aldo).
Cool trivia fact: Aldo Nova played George Harrison in Beatlemania.
Make no mistake -- Whitesnake was lead singer David Coverdale's band, and he hired and fired musicians to suit his tastes. By 1984, the then 33 year old Coverdale was becoming increasingly focused on commercial success, and when the Slide It In album peaked at #40 in the U.S., he made his move. Coverdale fired guitarist Micky Moody and replaced him with John Sykes. The 1987 follow up album, simply titled Whitesnake, went on to sell 8 million copies and rose to the #2 position on the Billboard chart. Ironically, Coverdale and Sykes didn't get on either, and Sykes was fired just as that album was released.
While Slide It In was a commercial disappointment to Coverdale, it did introduce American audiences (including your humble author) to the band. In our opinion, this is one of the best hard rock albums of the 1980s, and we are particularly partial to the blusey "Slow An' Easy." Yes, the video is dated and the story makes little sense, but the song rocks.
Wonderfully ridiculous video, but based on a true story (no, not really). We particularly like the intro, with the pigeon-feeding, guitar-carrying pilgrim/bank robbers chilling on a park bench. The video was directed by Julien Temple, who became a mainstay on MTV in the 1980s; if he's smart he might consider leaving this one off of his CV. The guitars here are so powerful that they can shatter glass, even without amplifiers. (There is some metal bar bending too, but that is clearly due to the brute strength of Rob Halford.) Spectacularly cheesey video of a great song. From 1980's British Steel -- a classic heavy metal album.
Priests' "Hot Rockin'" was posted on ERV in December 2014.
