Retro Video of the Week: "Eyes Without a Face" by Billy Idol

Today, the 2025 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced.  It's a pretty good list: Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Maná, Oasis, Outkast, Phish, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes.

It's been a while since we've had a Billy Idol song for Retro Video of the Week, so to honor his nomination, I'm going with his 1984 hit "Eyes Without a Face," off of his second solo studio album, 1983's Rebel Yell.  Inspired by the title of a 1960 French horror film -- Les Yeux Sans Visage, which, as you guessed it, translates to "eyes without a face" -- and his life in New York in the '80s and sexual indiscretions on the road, Idol wrote a brooding, ballady song that wasn't the typical uptempo punky song that audiences had grown to expect from Idol.

Whatever he did, it worked.  "Eyes Without a Face" became Idol's first Top 10 (or Top 20) song in the U.S., reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.  It also reached the Top 10 in Canada, Germany, and New Zealand, and was Top 20 on the pop charts in six other countries (including #18 in his native UK).

I was today years old when I discovered what the haunting female backing vocals were saying.  It was Idol's then-girlfriend Perri Lister, who was singing "Les yeux sans visage."  That makes me like the song even more.  And the video has a fun little story.  It was a marathon three-day shoot, and on the plane ride after the shoot, Idol discovered that his contact lenses had fused to his eyeballs, requiring surgery to remove them and three days of wearing bandages over his eyes until his scraped corneas grew back.  So for a few days, he was -- wait for it -- a face without eyes.

Hair Band Friday - 2/7/25

1.  "Burning Heart" by Vandenberg

2.  "Goin' Off the Deep End" by Y&T

3.  "Could This Be Magic?" by Van Halen

4.  "Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest

5.  "Not For The Innocent" by KISS

6.  "Ride the Storm" by Shotgun Messiah

7.  "Six Guns Loaded" by Britny Fox

8.  "All The Fools Sailed Away" by Dio

9.  "Heaven is Waiting" by Lynch Mob

10.  "Dream On" by King Kobra

Hair Band Friday - 1/31/25

1.  "Reason to Live" by KISS

2.  "She's Too Hott" by Rough Cutt

3.  "I'm So Hot For You" by Twisted Sister

4.  "Shotgun Kiss" by Spread Eagle

5.  "Riding on the Wind" (live) by Judas Priest

6.  "Time for Change" by Mötley Crüe

7.  "Midnight Moses" by Britny Fox

8.  "Stand Up and Shout" by Dio

9.  "Eagles Fly" by Sammy Hagar

10.  "Sing Me Away" by Night Ranger

Retro Video of the Week: "Kokomo" by The Beach Boys

Last week, I finally had the chance to watch the recent Beach Boys documentary on Disney+.  I've been a Beach Boys fan since I was a young kid, and I enjoyed the documentary, even though I thought it skipped over some things and probably could have been extended into a series to fully capture the band's story.

But I digress.  In 1988, the Beach Boys were not exactly at the forefront of popular music.  Sure, the year before, they had a #12 hit with their collaboration with The Fat Boys, "Wipeout," but they hadn't had a Top 10 hit since their 1976 cover of Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music, and they hadn't had an original Top 20 hit since 1968's "Do It Again."

Enter "Kokomo," a song about a fictional island in the Florida Keys, with a more interesting background and cast of characters than I knew about.  Brian Wilson did not perform on the song, which I guess I didn't know.  The song was co-written by four legends:  Mike Love of the Beach Boys; John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas; Scott McKenzie of '60s anthem "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" fame; and producer/songwriter Terry Melcher.  Melcher also produced the album.  As I learned while watching the Beach Boys documentary, Melcher had been connected with the Beach Boys (which I knew about), but Dennis Wilson introduced Melcher to Charles Manson, who at the time was an aspiring musician.  Manson auditioned for Melcher, and Melcher turned him down.  Not long after that, Melcher moved out of the house he had been renting.  Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate moved in -- and that was the site of the Manson Family's first infamous killings in August 1969, where they killed Tate and several others in gruesome fashion.

Aside from the star songwriters, guitarist Ry Cooder contributed acoustic guitar, slide guitar, and mandolin work to the song, legendary session drummer Jim Keltner played drums, and Brian Wilson's late '60s songwriting partner Van Dyke Parks played accordion.  Oh, and John Stamos appeared in the video.

"Kokomo" ended up being an international smash.  It was featured on the soundtrack of the hit Tom Cruise/Elisabeth Shue film Cocktail, and it was nominated for a Grammy and a Golden Globe.  The song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 -- the band's fourth #1 hit in the U.S. and first since "Good Vibrations" in 1966.  It also topped the pop charts in Australia and Iceland, and it reached the Top 10 on seven other international pop charts.

Stamos aside, the video was ranked by NME as the 17th worst video of all-time in a 2011 list, and the song has been derided rather mercilessly over the years by stuck-up critics.  At it's base, it's a catch pop song that did what so many other Beach Boys songs did:  took you to a sunny locale and made you feel warm.  On top of that, it taught you more about Caribbean geography than you probably knew before you heard the song.

Hair Band Friday - 1/24/25

1.  "Bad Boys Running Wild" by Scorpions

2.  "Spanked" (live) by Van Halen

3.  "Hot Dog and a Shake" by David Lee Roth

4.  "Stranger" by Black 'N Blue

5.  "Bloodbath in Paradise" by Ozzy Osbourne

6.  "Bottle in Front of Me" by Faster Pussycat

7.  "I Wanna Be Somebody" (live) by W.A.S.P.

8.  "Why Trust You" by Alice Cooper

9.  "Line of Fire" by Trixter

10.  "Don't Make Me Wait" by Sammy Hagar

Retro Video of the Week: "I Drink Alone" by George Thorogood and The Destroyers

This Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of the release of blues rockers George Thorogood and The Destroyers' sixth studio album, Maverick.  The album reached #32 on the Billboard album chart -- the band's highest-charting album up to that time (1988's Born to Be Bad also hit #32).  The album was a mix of originals and blues covers, and the second single from the album was an original that became one of the band's signature songs, "I Drink Alone."

An ode to alcoholism, "I Drink Alone" tells the tale of a guy who gets up in the morning and has beer for breakfast -- by himself, mind you.  He then copes with everything in his life with whiskey, be it insomnia, avoiding social interactions, or dealing with the familial relationships he's ruined, presumably because of his alcholism.  The song helped teach a generation of youngsters like me all kinds of brands of whiskey:  Jack Daniel's, Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker (black and red), and Old Grand-Dad.

The video, shot entirely in black and white, features Thorogood -- guitar strapped to his back -- riding a motorcycle to a deserted bar in the middle of nowhere.  Upon his arrival, he proceeds to play the guitar, smoke a cigar, and drink alone.  Then a hot chick shows up and sits next to him, since that was a common occurrence in '80s videos, but Thorogood is having none of it.  He promptly gets up, grabs his guitar case, and walks out, turning back to the girl as he opens the bar door to leave to tell her "I drink alone."  We don't see what happens next, but I assume a sauced Thorogood was quickly pulled over by local law enforcement after being spotted swerving all over the two-lane highway on his chopper.

Hair Band Friday - 1/17/25

1.  "Don't Cry" by Guns N' Roses

2.  "Chippin' Away" by Night Ranger

3.  "The Meaning of Love" by FireHouse

4.  "Fire in the Sky" by Ozzy Osbourne

5.  "Layin' Rubber" by Kix

6.  "Fighting Against the World" by Vandenberg

7.  "Don't Talk to Strangers" by Dio

8.  "When Your Walls Come Down" by KISS

9.  "No On Like You" (live) by Scorpions

10.  "Give Me All Your Love" by Whitesnake

Retro Video of the Week: "Hero" by David Crosby

It's been awhile.  And no, that doesn't mean a Staind song is going to be the Retro Video of the Week.  After all, it's outside the parameters of the "MTV Era" that I have wholly concocted.  Anyway, due to the holidays, travel, kids' activities, work, cult obligations, and the like, I haven't posted anything in nearly a month -- and for that, I sincerely apologize.  I've missed you, even if I don't know who you are.

It was slim pickins for albums or songs released this week during the MTV Era that had videos.  But I'll be damned if Tuesday didn't mark the 25th anniversary of Rolling Stone magazine disclosing that David Crosby was the biological father of Melissa Ethridge and her partner Julie Cypher.  So that gives us something to go on.

Seven years prior, back in 1993, Crosby put out his third solo studio album, Thousand Roads.  The lead single from the album was "Hero," co-written by Crosby and Phil Collins, the latter of whom provides backing vocals, drums, and keyboards on the track.  The song just missed the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #44, but it did top the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart and went to #4 on the regular Canadian pop chart.

I have no recollection of this song or the video, but the video is ridiculous.  It features Crosby -- who was 52 at the time, mind you -- in prison, presumably for some drug-related offense, but we don't know for sure.  He is visited by his baby momma and their son, who appears to be 7 or 8 and objectively has one of the worst haircuts of all-time.  It's bad enough that everyone makes fun of you because your dad's behind bars, but your mom gives you a haircut that appears to be some sort of combination of Damien from The Omen and Slade guitarist Dave Hill?  This kid was literally the only person on the face of the Earth in 1993 with that haircut.  But don't worry, the video ends with the kid walking alone in the middle of some train tracks, obliviously picking up rocks and throwing them at nothing in particular, fading to black before his miserable existence is brought to a merciful end by the unforgiving fury of a 55-car freight train.

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: The Last Five Beers

Due to totally foreseen circumstances (social events, sloth, returning some videotapes, etc.), I got behind on my beer advent calendar and related postings, but fear not fair reader, I'm caught up now.  Here are the last five beers.

Beer #13 is one of my favorite winter beers:  St. Bernardus's Christmas Ale.  Belgians make fantastic beer.  St. Bernardus is a former Trappist brewery located in Watou, a small town in West Flanders on the French border.  I've enjoyed every one of their beers I've had, and their Christmas Ale is a top notch Belgian strong ale.

Name:  St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

Brewery:  Brouwerij St. Bernardus

Location:  Watou, Belgium

ABV:  9.8%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You're watching your fantasy football season come to a blinding end because the Bills defense can't keep Jamyr Gibbs out of the fucking endzone.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.5

Beer #14 was one that I've had before in beer advent calendars:  War on Xmas If You Want It White Peanut Brittle Stout from Illuminated Brew Works.  It's a great white stout that very much tastes like peanut brittle, which combines two things I quite enjoy.

Name:  War on Xmas If You Want It White Peanut Brittle Stout

Brewery:  Illuminated Brew Works

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  11.0%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You want to avoid sledding on a saucer sled primed with an untested nutrient varnish because of the metal plate in your head.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.25

Beer #15 was from exurban brewery Obscurity, who puts out an Island of Misfit Beers series each year, based on the characters from the Rankin and Bass 1964 made-for-TV stop animation classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  This one was Hermey, based on the misfit elf/wannabe dentist, and it was a "cherry golden ale."

Name:  Hermey

Brewery:  Obscurity Brewing

Location:  Elburn, IL

ABV:  5.5%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You decide to torture yourself by watching a 2024 Chicago Bears football game.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

Beer #16 was another one that has appeared in beer advent calendars of yore:  Hoppy Grinchmas from Riverlands Brewing.  It lived up to its hoppy name, much to my chagrin.

Name:  Hoppy Grinchmas

Brewery:  Riverlands Brewing Company

Location:  St. Charles, IL

ABV:  6.5%

IBU:  70

Good for drinking if:  You ever thought to yourself "man, I wish I had a reddish ale that tasted like a Christmas tree."

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.25

Beer #17 was back to the good stuff.  Snowbathe is a more traditional winter ale from suburban Pollyanna Brewing.  Brewed with mulling spices, it has a nice winter ale bite to it (but not in a nasty, hoppy way).

Name:  Snowbathe

Brewery:  Pollyanna Brewing Company

Location:  Lemont, IL

ABV:  6.2%

IBU:  30

Good for drinking if:  You could use something with cloves in it to take the edge off after a long winter's working day.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

Hair Band Friday - 12/13/24

1.  "Hide Your Heart" by KISS

2.  "Same Ol' Situation" by Mötley Crüe

3.  "Living in Sin" by Bon Jovi

4.  "Back in Your Arms Again" by Femme Fatale

5.  "Bitch is Back" by L.A. Guns

6.  "The Torture Never Stops" by W.A.S.P.

7.  "Speed Demon" by Keel

8.  "Great Guns of Fire" by Black 'N Blue

9.  "When the Smoke is Going Down" by Scorpions

10.  "Tattooed Dancer" by Ozzy Osbourne