This evening after marching band, I went to what I like to call Frankenfurter (otherwise known as Franklin Dining Hall). While eating my cereal, fruit, and peanut butter and fluff (because there is nothing else there I would put in my mouth), I noticed a friend of mine was sitting at a table behind me. He was facing away from me, chatting with some friends.
Being the person that I am, I decided to be creepy like someone who was watching him from behind and text him: Turn around....
From there, a text frenzy ensued of the lyrics from the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" across the dining hall's expanse. This then spurred a google search of the music video.
What I saw next took my breath away- heh heh. I hope you too, can experience this total 80s mind fuck.
What the hell is going on in this video?!?!?
What is online journalism?
16 years ago
23 comments:
WTF!?!?!?
thanks for sharing - and therefore totally ruining that song for me!
great song.....video is creepy as all hell..
but yay for random Franklin texting
hollller!!!
whats this, another comment- I think this video classifies the 80s in a 7 minute song. Great hair, great music, but really creepy music videos...and zombies with glowing eyes (or just glowing holes we don't know if there are eyes)around every corner.
Wow... I am beyond confused.
Who's singing? Way to take "Bright Eyes" way too literally 80's lady.
I get that it's based in a boy's school...but was with the goggles and water? And why was it based in a boy's school in the first place? I'm SO CONFUSED!
Since the idea of the music video was relatively new in the 80's I'm surprised they attempted to go with a "deep" concept so soon. Crazay.
Maybe... this is actually about her falling in love with someone way younger than her...hence the falling apart. And literally...everything falling apart
As for the boys dancing in their underwear and fencing and football and red curtains...I have no idea.
This video truly is ridiculous. Although I cherish this song, I think seeing the video has ruined it for me.
Perhaps, as an avid listener of Delilah's radio show, I should throw away my deep appreciation for love songs.
It looks to me like the video is full of symbolism: the dark, men/boys, demons, turmoil, etc. Everthing in the video symbolizes the turmoil in her head and heart over someone she has lost.
Katelyn:
It is so obvious. That is your basic prep school/ninja fantasy dream of an aging diva.
Now, if you allow me to slip into my geeky former rock-critic self...
That is Bonnie Tyler, the husky-voiced Welsh singer. It was by far her biggest hit and was No. 1 on the US charts in 1983 for four weeks.
Jim Steinman, who wrote and produced Meatloaf's "Bat Out of Hell" album, wrote the song originally for Meatloaf but the Loaf's music company passed on it.
Steinman got Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan, both from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, to play on the song as well as guitarist Rick Derringer. Canadian singer Rory Dodd, who did background vocals for most Meatloaf songs, sings those haunting "turn around, bright eyes" parts on the song.
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" eclipsed Billy Joel's "Tell Her About It" from the top slot on the Billboard Top 40.
Too much info? Maybe.
And you're right. A totally freaky video. I think the song is supposed to be based on Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, a dark novel filled with dreams, ghosts and angels.
wow! meatloaf! wuthering heights! i am amazed.
Wow, I used to like that song. Not sure if it will ever sound the same with haunting images of the crappy video in my head. They did employ the 1980's video staple - the white dove, that was great.
StacyB, let's not forget about that other staple of '80s music videos: invisible giant fans blowing back our starlet's feathered hair!
Katelyn, where did all of these posts come from? Did you advertise it to anyone?
I mean if telling some of my friends about it and putting it as my status on facebook is advertising, then yes, but otherwise no. I was thinking about twittering about it because I know we talked about that in class, but I have yet to do so. I have been lacking on my tweets lately.
Speaking of meatloaf (the singer, not the food. I do enjoy a good piece of meatloaf though, but thats a different discussion)Another little creepy music video is "I would do anything for Love." its from 1993, so we're out of the 80's, but its still pretty interesting (wierd). Its kind of a creepy Beauty and Beast without the dancing brooms and tea cups(who doesn't love Chip).
Wow, agreed that this is a total 80s mindfuck. It had everything you can imagine: football players, rich people dining, ninjas, little kids, men talking like women, college graduates, doves, and more. The only sense of story I got out of this video was I think Bonnie Tyler had some sort of affair with that college grad who talks like a woman, and then she thought better of it and cut herself off. And maybe this was some sort of flashback of how she felt throughout that scandalous relationship.
Great post Katie. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It's a strange video that I would interpret as a tragic Romeo, Juliet type of love story. The young lover dies somehow and the girl is left thinking about or attempting suicide to be with him forever. The red flowing scarves. The white dove. She doesn't succeed and is left with the images that haunt her through out her life. Her first great love lives in her memory forever and every where she looks she sees things that triger the remind her of him and the time they they spent together. "Turn around and you will see me. I am with you all the time" Her memories like dreams distort the events and images and leave her haunted. She sees him in event, places and people throughout her life.
hahah this video is ridic!
great interpretations of this video. and, i have to say, watching this video again and again never gets old. my question is, what's with the guys dancing in loincloths?
the bucket of water thrown on the boys wearing goggles and swimsuits gets me every time haha. what?!?
This. is. phenomenal. Not only is it the most random series of events but it all kind of makes sense. She's definitely a pedifile and has lost her previous school boy lover and at the end finds a new one? Haha shot in the dark but Meatloaf should have grabbed this one.
RLDeuce: What do you think the "that" is in "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)," which just so happens to be another Jim Steinman song.
Apparently, the Loaf realized the power of Jim Steinman once again in the '90s.
Well after doing a little research on Jim Steinman ( thanks to good ol' wikipedia), I found out that Jimmy went to Amherst College right down the street! It also seems that most of his songs, especially the popular ones, are about love or tell a story about love. "Total eclipse of the heart"-love thats gone bad, "I won't do that"- a forbidden love, "It's all coming back to me now"- reminiscing of an old love (video suggest the lover is dead *check it out,another good one)--- So on the topic of what "that" is...well wikipedia doesn't have an answer, but it does have its own topic section under the song title. I personally think that because he is a beast (at least in the video) he is known for doing uncivilized or unappropriate things. He states many things that he would do for love and I think the "that" is just the opposite of what he will do.(confussing sorry) In other words, he is saying he is not going to go against his words. He won't hurt her. He won't lie, he won't cheat, and will go to the end of the world for her. Its a beast being chivalrous. Its a tough question to answer. Meat Loaf was quoted saying "Jimmy always said, "You know what? Nobody's gonna get it." And he was right."
This made perfect sense to me. My next door neighbor may be the model for the lead. She even has a part-time job as a dancing ninja. Serendipitous, isn't it.
By the way, your intro was a nice moment in time.
well, thanks : ) yeah, the dancing ninja was a personal favorite moment in this video. in those few, fleeting seconds of the dancing ninja, it reminded me of the dance from flashdance, "what a feeling". Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcp7v0uoybc
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