Archive for the ‘Classic Videos’ Category

Classic Video: Echo & the Bunneymen

Posted: September 23, 2014 in Classic Videos, New Wave, Post-Punk
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“The Killing Moon” is a single off of Echo & the Bunnymen’s fourth album, Ocean Rain, released in 1984. The album marked a change in the group’s music, moving away from their post-punk roots to a lighter sound incorporating strings and piano. The song remains one of the band’s biggest hits – peaking at #9 on the UK charts. The single didn’t make much of an impact in the U.S. and is probably most well-known for its use in the opening scene of the 2001 film Donnie Darko (one of the great marriages between film and song). The video is dark and full of wind-swept images that perfectly fit the mood of the song.

 

Forever Young Turns 30

Posted: September 22, 2014 in Albums, Classic Videos, New Wave, Synthpop
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This week marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Alphaville’s debut album “Forever Young.” With an estimated 2,000,000 copies sold, it was the German group’s most successful album. Besides producing the single of the same name, it also yielded the hit “Big in Japan.” Although quite successful in Europe, the album had little chart success in the US, peaking at #180. The single “Forever Young,” which has gone on to achieve pop culture status, only reached #65 on the US charts. Despite this, numerous artists have covered the song and it’s been used prominently in movies, commercials, and television throughout the years. The video for the song was filmed in a sanatorium in Surrey, England. If features the group performing before a ragtag audience of young and old, and sporting matching jumpsuits, which were quite popular at the time.

 

Classic Video: Split Enz

Posted: September 18, 2014 in Classic Videos, New Wave
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New Zealand’s Split Enz are partially responsible for my love of new wave music. Not only because the Finn brothers wrote some great songs but also because their videos were some of the first I recall from the early days of MTV. Known for their theatrical stage performances, they were a natural fit for the video age. “One Step Ahead” is a single from their sixth album, Waiata, released in 1981. With it’s penetrating bass line and carnival-like keyboards, it sounded unlike anything else at the time. Shown on MTV’s historic debut back on August 1, 1981, the video features keyboardist Eddie Raynor doing a pretty good “moonwalk” (albeit forward). You can catch it around the two minute mark.

 

Classic Video: Duran Duran

Posted: September 15, 2014 in Classic Videos, New Romantic, New Wave, Synthpop
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I recently went to see the Duran Duran concert film, Duran Duran: Unstaged. The film was released on September 10th, showing for one night only at over 300 theaters across the U.S. Directed by David Lynch, it captures the band in concert at the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles in 2011. In light of this event, I’ve decided to highlight Duran Duran’s “Planet Earth” as the first in a series of classic videos.

“Planet Earth,” released in 1981, was the band’s first single and quickly became a hit in the UK and Australia. It was included on their self-titled album released later that year. This was the first collaboration with director Russell Mulcahy, who would go on to direct several more videos for the group. The band is costumed in full “New Romantic” frilly fashion. The video also features some of their club friends prancing around barefoot in some pretty outrageous outfits. This is one of my favorites from the group and still has heavy rotation on my playlists.

 

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