The cover of Bruce Springsteen's 1975 album, Born to Run, is one of rock's most iconic photographs. And to think that the photo session almost didn't take place.
Springsteen had been working so intently on the album that he had cancelled several sessions with photographer Eric Meola who nearly quit the project altogether. "One day I got really upset," Meola said. "I called up Mike and said, 'Hey, it's either going to be next time or never.'" Springsteen finally kept his appointment and brought the Big Man, Clarence Clemons, with him. "He wanted Clarence on the cover from the beginning," says Meola, "and the whole thing of isolating them against a white background just worked."
It took Meola 900 images and only three hours to capture the essence of Bruce. The Boss' grin, his laid back posture and the casual way he's leaning on Clarence are what make the photograph so memorable.
Meola claimed, “Other things happened, but when we saw the contact sheets, that one just sort of popped. Instantly, we knew that was the shot."
Whether or not Matt Damon and Ben Affleck actually wrote the screenplay for Good Will Huntingwithout the assistance of a ghost writer is highly debatable. Nevertheless, it's a good flick as Damon and Affleck won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The soundtrack is equally good due in part to Elliott Smith's contributions.
Director Gus Van Sant asked fellow Portland resident Elliott Smith to supply several songs to the film's soundtrack. Smith recorded an orchestral version of "Between the Bars" with composer Danny Elfman, offered three previously-released tracks ("No Name #3", from Roman Candle, and "Angeles" and "Say Yes," from Either/Or, and a new song, "Miss Misery," that was eventually nominated for an Academy Award.
Smith reluctantly agreed to perform "Miss Misery" at the 1998 Academy Awards Ceremony. For me, the musical segment of the show that honors the nominees for Best Song is when I usually take a bathroom break. I mean how many times can you watch Randy Newman perform?
Wearing a white suit and looking completely out of place, Smith strummed an acoustic guitar, while accompanied by the house orchestra. He sang quietly; his performance was understated; and there was no way in hell that his song would win. James Horner and Will Jennings would eventually win for "My Heart Will Go On" (from Titanic) which was performed by Celine Dion. But for two glorious minutes the Academy Awards were musically relevant.
Elliott Smith commented on the experience: "...I enjoy performing almost as much as I enjoy making up songs in the first place. But the Oscars was a very strange show, where the set was only one song cut down to less than two minutes, and the audience was a lot of people who didn't come to hear me play. I wouldn't want to live in that world, but it was fun to walk around on the moon for a day."
Has it really been more than twenty years since Aimee Mann left 'Til Tuesday for a solo career?
To honor her two New York shows -NY Music Hall of Williamsburg (1/27) & Carnegie Hall (1/28) - let's take a look at the singer/songwriter's early days.
After high school, Aimee Mann attended the Berklee College of Music. She didn't stay long, however, dropping out to devote herself full time to her first band, a punk rock outfit called the Young Snakes. In 1982, they released an EP, Bark Along with the Young Snakes, but the following year Mann co-founded the new wave band 'Til Tuesday with Berklee classmate and boyfriend Michael Hausman.
The 1985 album Voices Carry produced a hit with the title song. The video was in heavy rotation on MTV, winning the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. The band was riding the crest of success, Mann was flexing her creative muscles and on their next two albums, Welcome Home and Everything's Different Now, she wrote most of the material.
'Til Tuesday eventually broke up in 1990 when Mann left to start her solo career. Michael Hausman became her manager.
It has been five years since The Shins last album, Wincing the Night Away. Port of Morrow, the band's fourth studio album, will be the first onJames Mercer's new label, Aural Apothecary.
Mercer put together a stellar new band for the upcoming tour: singer/songwriter Richard Swift, Modest Mouse drummer Joe Plummer, bassist Yuuki Matthews of Crystal Skulls and guitarist Jessica Dobson.
In our new series, Music & Film, directors, actors and producers will discuss their work in music videos. In our first installment, director Jim Pace discusses the band Hoodless and its video "Waiting."
Jim Pace fell in love with music early on and thought they would live happily ever after. When he met film, he was captivated by the flying car, ear slashing grandeur of it all. While studying at NYU, he was faced with an ugly truth; he loved both music and film. To this day he still feels guilty.
Pace is currently directing a new music video and will soon begin preproduction on his first feature film, which he will write and direct. It will be released sometime in 2013. If he had one wish, he would save the Twinkie. It's delicious.
Riffraf: How did you meet Hoodless? What was it like working with them?
Pace: I told a friend I was planning to direct a few videos to try some ideas, next day he sent me an ad the boys had placed, looking for a director. I contacted them. It was great working with them, we complimented each other. I encourage fist fights on the set, they enjoy having them. Everyone's a lot sharper when they know at any moment, they could get jumped.
Riffraf: Are you a fan of their music?
Pace: Yes. I asked them if they did any cover songs, they gave me a dirty look. I became a fan right then.
Riffraf: Did you develop the concept for the video?
Pace: I liked the idea of a band living in their own little world, filled with light and sound, while everything else is happening outside. That's what it's really like when you're in a band. I had some thoughts for the narrative, as did the band. So we bandied about some ideas. It was a collaboration.
Riffraf: What was the biggest challenge of shooting the video?
Pace: Lack of time and budget. It was the first time I had to wear so many hats. Directing, editing, effects, etc. Not enough people to blame. I did bring a DP. So if anything is wrong with the video, it's obviously his fault. A captain goes down with his ship, but I prefer to watch it from the lifeboats.
Riffraf: What are your favorite music videos?
Pace: These stay with me:"Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys. The song is great, the video makes it greater. The one that makes directors say, "I wish I made that. "Take On Me" by A-ha. Memorable images. Dated? Nope."Jump" by Van Halen. Has a video ever reflected a band's personality more than this one?"Free As a Bird" by The Beatles. If you know anything about Beatle songs and their history, this is astounding. "Hurt" by Johnny Cash. Heart wrenching. "Subterranean Homesick Blues" by Bob Dylan. Nothing happens, but try to take your eyes off of it."Jeremy" by Pearl Jam. Overly dramatic? You bet. Does the end still give me chills? You bet.Oh, and the umbrella bit in "Singing in The Rain" is still the best music video ever made.
Riffraf: Who are your favorite directors?
Pace: Features? I have many. Welles. Ingenious. He went nuclear when he made "Kane." Hitchcock, Brilliant craft. THE Director. Watch his movies, better than film school. Preston Sturges. Underrated and great. Made seven crazy comedies. "The Palm Beach" story contains the single funniest line in movie history. Oh, and his screenplay for "The Power and the Glory" was the prototypefor "Citizen Kane." Ernst Lubitsch. Charm. Pure Charm. Vincente Minnelli. Entertainment and Color. Visit one of his movies and you want to stay. Frank Capra. How many times can you watch his best? Over and over again. Charles Barton. He scared us... while making an Abbott and Costellocomedy! I don't care if you don't put him in this company! Woody "One take" Van Dyke. Studio hack? Hardly. 75 years later, his "B" movies still hold up. Nicholas Ray. For better or worse, he introduced attitude. Akira Kurosawa. He made us think, and took us on great adventures. A giant. Jean-Luc Godard. Everyone looked so cool. His contribution to the language can't be overstated. Howard Hawks. "The Big Sleep" didn't make sense; it's still great. Quentin Tarantino. He has the Welles' syndrome. One towering achievement and a few close calls. But he reenergized movies for awhile.Spielberg. He knows how to make movies. Raiders is the best ride you'll ever go on. Woody Allen. Like him or hate him, his voice is unique. I like him. Scorcese. He doesn't hit with everything, but when he does, hang on. Also Soderbergh, Woo, Stevens, Proyas, Hughes bros, Zemeckis, Ford, Fincher.
Music Video. Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. These two fuckers are too good.
Riffraf: What are your future plans? More videos?
Pace: I am going to make a couple more before I have to go and make a pilot. I still have some idea's I'm excited about. I'd like to experiment with movement, color, perspective. Get ready for some giant sets! Sorry, I think Michael Bay yelled that from the street. I'd also like explore some uncomfortable themes on this next one, but I'll try to keep it entertaining. I don't want to make anyone cry.Except, you know, people I don't like.
I'm old enough to remember when MTV took to the airwaves - August 1, 1981. It didn't take long before MTV assaulted all of us with its slogan, "I want my MTV." I remember the cheesy promotional photos of the Apollo 11 moon landing, with the flag featuring MTV's logo. I even remember the original five VJs - Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson and Martha Quinn - and thinking none of them had an ounce of talent but at least Martha Quinn was adorable.
I didn't see the first two videos that were aired, The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" and Pat Benatar's "You Better Run," because my family didn't have cable. Both videos are merely mediocre, but here are five killer videos that I have had the opportunity to view.
Song: "Hurt"
Artist: Johnny Cash
Director: Mark Romanek
Romanek's video captures a beleaguered Cash at the end of his tumultuous life. The video accomplishes what great videos should - it enhances the singer's performance.
Song: "Buddy Holly"
Band: Weezer
Director: Spike Jonze
Who's the coolest fictional character of all time? That's right, Fonzie. Well, The Fonz is the star of Spike Jonze's video, so that makes Weezer's video the coolest of all time.
Song: "Once in a Lifetime"
Band: Talking Heads
Director: Toni Basil
Remember Toni Basil? She had one that annoying hit in the 80's called "Mickey." She also directed and helped choreograph this video that managed to capture David Byrne's bizarre brilliance. Even though "Once in a Lifetime" didn't receive much radio play, it was in heavy rotation on MTV.
Song: "Jeremy"
Band: Pearl Jam
Director: Mark Pellington
One of the most artistic videos ever. The final scene still gives me goose bumps. Mark Pellington stated, "I think that video tapped into something that has always been around and will always be around. You're always going to have peer pressure, you're always going to have adolescent rage, you're always going to have dysfunctional families."
Song: "Sledgehammer"
Artist: Peter Gabriel
Director: Stephen R. Johnson
In 1986, Stephen R. Johnson's video for "Sledgehammer" was considered groundbreaking for "its innovative use of claymation, pixilation and stop-motion animation." Today, it's still impressive.
MTV helped catapult the careers of Madonna and Michael Jackson. But it also ended those of many established artists who were unable to groove with the alternating rhythm of the times.
In their recent book, I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, journalists Craig Marks an Rob Tannenbaum have compiled an oral history that reflects the power MTV had in making or breaking artists in the early 80's.
For those artists/bands who embraced the music industry's new medium - Madonna, Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, ZZ Top, and Def Leppard for instance - MTV enabled them to reach an audience they would never have reached with vinyl records alone, turning them into international stars. According to J. Freedom duLac at The Washington Post, "Record sales doubled during the first decade of MTV’s existence, although the advent of the CD had something to do with it."
Some artists/groups simply refused to make videos, and then there were those established musicians like Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Rick James and Billy Squier who tried and failed. To their credit, they at least recognized how quickly music videos had become a vital part of the business. Image had become a crucial component of the rock and roll equation. Unfortunately, their music didn't quite translate as well on television.
In Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark," the singer asks a girl in the audience (Courtney Cox) to join him on stage. They dance like two dorks at a middle school dance, while the band plays on. In Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl," Billy, dressed as a car mechanic, dances around a garage, while holding a crescent wrench. Rick James' "Superfreak" is downright cheesy; and then there is Billy Squier's "Rock Me Tonite." A video that takes Rick James' cheese to unreachable heights. It's most likely the worst video ever made. Whereas Springsteen, Joel and James were able to rebound, poor Billy Squier's career went down in a ball of flames.
Billy Squier was a hard-rock superstar before he released the "Rock Me Tonite" video in 1984. The video is riddled with cliches that succeed in tarnishing the hard rocker's image: Squier skips around his bedroom, grinds on the floor, rips off his pink t-shirt, then falls back onto his bed. The singer blames the video, which was directed and choreographed by Kenny Ortega, for his career's demise.
Marks and Tannenbaum dedicate an entire chapter to the Billy Squier debacle. The authors interviewed over 400 people - artists, managers, filmmakers, record company executives and MTV employees - and none could agree on the best video, but all agreed that "Rock Me Tonite" was the worst. Squier has said:
The video misrepresents who I am as an artist. I was a good-looking, sexy guy. That certainly didn't hurt in selling records. But in this video I'm sort of pretty boy. And I'm preening around a room. People said "He's gay." Or "He's on drugs." It was traumatizing to me. I mean, I had nothing against gays. I have a lot of gay friends. But like it or not, it was more of a sticky point then.
Take a look for yourself and you decide if it's the worst music video ever made.
Last week in "Richard Melo's High Dosage of Rock and Roll (Part I)," the writer claimed that a line from Bob Dylan's "She Belongs to Me" - "She wears an Egyptian ring that sparkles before she speaks" - served as the first line of his novel Jokerman 8 for several years (it was eventually omitted).
As for my experience with the Dylan classic, I included it in one of my earliest plays, New Hope. Henry brings Camille - someone he has just met - back to his apartment with every intention of sleeping with her. He lies to her every chance he gets in order to make himself look good. Eventually, Henry picks up his acoustic guitar and sings "She Belongs to Me," claiming that he has expressly written the song for Camille. He'll do whatever he can to get her into bed, even plagiarize.
Like the irony in my play, Dylan's song is also ironic. Even though the tune is entitled "She Belongs to Me," the man clearly belongs to the woman, while she belongs to no one:
She's nobody's child. The law can't touch her at all.
Further irony can be seen in the way the woman belittles the man; nevertheless, he's proud to be her servant. He "bow[s] down to her on Sunday" and "salute[s] her when her birthday comes." The woman is clearly manipulative, but the man remains willingly subservient: "[He] will start out standing/proud to steal her anything she sees." In the end, he'll end up on his knees outside her door, peeping at her through a keyhole.
There is much speculation as to who the woman is. Some critics believe she is Dylan's former lover and folk singer Joan Baez, while others think it could be Nico from the Velvet Underground. The "Egyptian ring" might allude to the ring Dylan had given Baez.
John Cale of the Velvet Underground believes the song is about Nico with whom Dylan spent a great deal of time around the period of its composition.
Whoever she might be - Joan Baez or Nico - Dylan thought highly of the power she possesses: "She can take the dark out of the nighttime and paint the daytime black."
I first heard "Care of Cell 44" around six years ago. I was sitting in a cafe, working on my novel There is No End to This Slope, but became pleasantly distracted by a poppy tune that was unfamiliar to me. I asked the barista if it was Spoon's latest record; he told me it was The Zombies. The Zombies? Really? Even though "Care of Cell 44" was released forty-four years ago, its sound is thoroughly contemporary.
As the lead single on The Zombies' seminal record Odessey and Oracle, keyboardist Rod Argent's song tells the story of somebody writing to their partner who has been incarcerated. Argent has said, "It just appealed to me. That twist on a common scenario, I just can't wait for you to come home to me again."
The song was not a success in 1968. In fact, it was the source of tension within the group, eventually leading to their breakup later that year. The band's vocalist, Colin Blunstone, said, "I thought that "Care of Cell 44" was incredibly commercial. I was really disappointed when it wasn't a hit."
However, in recent years the Odessey and Oraclehas developed a cult following and as a result "Care of Cell 44" has gained well deserved popularity. Several artists, including Elliott Smith, have covered the song.
When Everclear'sArt Alexakis was twelve years old, his brother George died of a heroin overdose. Three years later, Alexakis' girlfriend committed suicide. Shortly after her death, Alexakis filled his pockets with sand and lead weights and jumped off the Santa Monica Pier. Alexakis survived and years later drew upon these poignant experiences when he wrote "Santa Monica."
In an interview with Songfacts.com, Alexakis discussed Everclear's most popular song: "I'm using a place where I grew up and palm trees as iconic references. It's what I grew up with. I grew up in a seaside town called Santa Monica, which is like L.A. but on the coast. I've lived in cold places and been in bad relationships, and I think everybody has a place in their mind that is like a safe haven. It's also about getting away from bad times... the ending of something is also the beginning of something new, whether it's with someone or getting out of a bad job, a bad way of life or an abusive relationship.
"In the Eastern way of looking at things, 'Chaos' doesn't necessarily mean no boundaries, it means new beginnings. It's kind of one and the same, something that never ends. It's about getting to a point where you can leave bad things behind and just be self sufficient. There's a sense of romance about it. I feel like that very much now, but I was just getting to where I understood that when I wrote that song."
I am still living with your ghost Lonely and dreaming of the west coast I don't want to be your downtime I don't want to be your stupid game
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