What the hell is going on in this music video to this nice simple song?

[Purple]

There's a lot of songs out there that are known for having really weird music videos. Sledgehammer for instance. But then there's also a lot of songs where they're mainly just famous via actual radio play, and you don't really think of them having videos, and then decades later someone starts doing a goofy comedy project and you suddenly find out that Bonnie Tyler is stumbling around an extra horny version of Furinkan High School infested with vampire choir boys...

... or you're watching Outer Heaven and learn that Loverboy is actually a song about some weird lizard monster kidnapping someone from a shady knock-off Mos Eisley...

... or maybe you're just talking to a friend and sharing links and suddenly find out that the video for The Warrior features Paul Atreides fighting Gozer on a rooftop.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

... Also apparently youtube is being a jerk about every single one of those, but seriously, click through, they are all well worth your time.

 

[Exposition Owl]

No thread featuring the Total Eclipse of the Heart video should be without this Internet classic:

 

[Purple]

That would be precisely the "good comedy project" that brought that one to my attention, yes. Great stuff.

 

[Mr Bean]

The ur-example of this in my mind will always be 'Take On Me.'

 

[Exposition Owl]

That would be precisely the "good comedy project" that brought that one to my attention, yes. Great stuff.

I probably should have picked that up from context, actually. Sorry, Purple!

Anyhow, on the subject of merging animation and live action, in the video for "You Spin Me Round," the lead singer of Dead or Alive really looks like someone transported an anime villain to our world.

The video for The Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" has two themes:
1.) Annie Lennox is actually Lex Luthor
2.) cows

 

[Purple]

I was a little tempted to put Sweet Dreams in the original post, but figured nobody would find it too weird when anyone old enough to remember the song would also remember when she held Paris hostage with her orbital death ray. I DID however forget the team up with the Man-Eating Cow which does put it over.

Similarly I didn't list anything Peter Gabriel adjacent because I mean, we all know about those, right?

Thinking more though, did everyone know the video for You Might Think by The Cars shows some modern shennanigans of their lead singer, Zeus?

 

[Torzelbaum]

The video for The Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" has two themes:
1.) Annie Lennox is actually Lex Luthor
2.) cows

And a bit of proto-Eyes Wide Shut, right?

 

[Exposition Owl]

I was a little tempted to put Sweet Dreams in the original post, but figured nobody would find it too weird when anyone old enough to remember the song would also remember when she held Paris hostage with her orbital death ray. I DID however forget the team up with the Man-Eating Cow which does put it over.

Similarly I didn't list anything Peter Gabriel adjacent because I mean, we all know about those, right?

Thinking more though, did everyone know the video for You Might Think by The Cars shows some modern shennanigans of their lead singer, Zeus?

Yeah, I've been going back and forth about (1) what counts as weird in a music video, given that the baseline level of weirdness in the art form is already pretty high, and (2) which artists I'd actually expect to have weird videos. I figured I'd err on the side of posting rather than not.

But yeah, that Cars video. That sure is some early CG, alright.

And a bit of proto-Eyes Wide Shut, right?

You mean the masks? I'm afraid I haven't seen the movie.


Also, the video for Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More" is probably pretty well known for weirdness, but here it is anyway.

 

[Purple]