I am one of those people that relate songs to movies all the time. I can hear the first ten seconds of a tune that was featured in a film and it takes me right back to the scene. There is no way you can hear the Tears for Fears song Everybody Wants to Rule the World without thinking of the popcorn scene at the end of Real Genius. Unless of course, you haven’t seen the film. But that is crazy talk.
Sometimes it’s the song that makes the scene shine so much more, and other times it’s a video that may bring you back to a time where you remembered when it first aired on MTV. Back when a video premiere was a big deal, people would patiently wait to see the latest music videos of the greatest pop stars of that time. The Michael Jackson Thriller video was probably my most anticipated release, and the biggest music video of the time period.
I am a huge movie fan and my personal favorite videos are ones that had footage of the films. A new movie came out and it was accompanied by a new music video. It was also a chance to see clips of a movie that was not quite in theaters yet. Remember, there was no internet, so this was another way to see a little of a film you highly anticipated.
Each month I am going to highlight some of my favorite movie music videos with either a fan made music video, official music video or a scene that includes a song that is so epic you always get hyped when you see it.
1. Cyndi Lauper – The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough
Cyndi Lauper may have been one of the coolest pop singers to come out of the 80s. She could sing, she had her own unique fashion style and she could take getting hit over the head with a folding chair by Rowdy Roddy Piper. She also put Captain Lou Albano in her music video for Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Being such a fan of wrestling, I thought that was the coolest thing ever.
But when she made the music video for 1985’s most anticipated release of a film that was getting tons of hype called The Goonies, she really went all in. Lauper had been doing some guest stuff in the WWF at the time and when she made the music video for The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough, she included Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Wendi Richter, The Fabulous Moolah, Classy Freddie Blassie and of course she brought back Captain Lou Albano.
Plus, not only did she include the greatest WWF stars minus Hulk Hogan all of the kids from The Goonies are in the video. The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough also features Sandra Bernhard and the members of the band The Bangles. The Bangles are more in the background of One-Eyed Willie’s ship scene, but you can see quick close up of Susanna Hoffs. At the end of the video Andre the Giant shows up and lays a smack down on all the wrestlers.
What many people do not remember is that the part one of the videos debuted on MTV before The Goonies was released in theaters, and part two premiered after the movie was released! Everyone couldn’t wait to see the part two and it was a brilliant marketing trick to further build anticipation.
2. Starship – Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now
Starship’s song Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now was featured in the 1987 comedy Mannequin. The video itself mixes in footage of the movies stars Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall along with new footage Starship’s singers Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick acting out the same thing. The video includes big hair, silly hi-jinks, a guy with a rad key-tar and lots of footage of the film. But, the real surprise comes from Meshach Taylor aka Hollywood appearing in the movie footage and the music video footage with a silly ending. You will miss your mullet after watching this video.
3. Cheech Marin – Born in East L.A.
The summer of 1984 was riddled with hit after hit from Bruce Springsteen’s album Born in the U.S.A. The album had seven top ten singles worldwide. Cheech and Chong released an album with a short home video the following year called Get Out of My Room. This featured their own parody of Springsteen’s hit they called Born in East L.A.
The video was popular and had guests like Elvira Mistress of the Dark and Jan-Michael Vincent, but what really came out of this was the film of the same title starring Cheech Marin in 1987. The popularity of Cheech’s first solo effort brought the music video for Born in East L.A. back into rotation. Many people today do not realize that this video came out a few years before the film. Just think, the popularity of a silly music parody helped create enough hype to make a movie. Sounds a little like Machete!
4. Anthrax – Medusa
Now, this is not an official video. It is a fan made video. Anthrax had released their record Spreading the Disease on October 30, 1985. They were still a new band and the songs lyrics for Medusa was actually written by Neil Turbin. Many people didn’t catch that it’s Neil Turbin singing on their debut album called A Fistful of Metal, and not Joey Belladonna. The first album Belladonna sang on was Armed and Dangerous. One can only guess the band was still performing Medusa live and wanted to record it, which they did, and quite frankly it’s one of the best tracks on the album next to the track Madhouse.
A fan decided to take some footage from the classic film Clash of the Titians (Probably an influence in Turbin writing the song) and put together this clever video to Ray Harryhausen’s masterpiece. I only recently found out about this but have watched it a bunch of times. Enjoy!
