Sorry for Porky Rocking

Night Flight’s April 12, 1985 “New Film and Video” episode, devoted to movie soundtrack tie-in videos, featured Dave Edmunds’ “High School Nights” from Porky’s Revenge, which has just been released for the first time on Blu-ray. The prolific musician/producer assembled an all-star lineup of performers for the film’s soundtrack, including a then-inactive George Harrison. Watch it now on Night Flight Plus.

The late Bob Clark’s loosely autobiographical horny teenager romp Porky’s was a surprise hit, ranking #1 at the box office for eight weeks (bested only by E.T. which held the spot for sixteen weeks), and returning over $100 million during its healthy five-month theatrical run in 1982.

The film — shot in Florida and released by 20th Century Fox — was a Canadian-backed project, thus setting a record as the highest grossing Canuck film of all time, a title it held for twenty-four years.

A sequel, Porky’s II: The Next Day, was written, shot, and released in under fifteen months from the debut of the original, with almost all the original talent retained, the most notable absence being Chuck “Porky” Mitchell.

While it underperformed by comparison, it was still a good-enough hit that Fox wanted a third film. Clark declined to participate, though he would make two more unrelated films for the studio.

Comedian and TV producer James Komack — whose shows “Chico and the Man” and “Welcome Back, Kotter” launched the stardom of Freddie Prinze and John Travolta respectively — took the director’s chair for Porky’s Revenge; the screenplay was by another TV veteran, Ziggy Steinberg, who would go on to write the final Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor collaboration, Another You.

Chuck Mitchell returned as the duplicitous titular tit merchant.

In this promotional behind-the-scenes footage, Mitchell and fellow villain player Nancy Parsons were happy to be back for more:

With the rise of music video as a promotional tool, it was decided that an original song that could be released as a single should be commissioned. The previous two installments had used familiar original recordings of period hits for their song scores.

Dave Edmunds — the versatile Welsh artist who founded Rockpile with Nick Lowe — was particularly fond of ‘50s-style rock, and was asked to create a song for the movie.

While not a huge star in America, he had earlier chart hits with “I Hear You Knocking” and “Girls’ Talk,” recent popularity from his video for the Jeff Lynne-produced “Slipping Away,” and as a producer, he was in heavy demand, supervising the Everly Brothers’ reunion concert and follow-up albums, as well as similar tribute projects for Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison.

As Edmunds gathered talent to join him, he decided to go further than the studio requested, and deliver them a complete soundtrack album.

When Fox and Edmunds’ record label saw the names he brought with him to the project — Perkins, Jeff Beck, Clarence Clemons, Robert Plant, and Phil Collins for starters –- they were probably more turned on by that talented body than by any of the attractive actors in the movie itself.

To accompany the original songs “High School Nights” and the title instrumental theme Edmunds had composed, his friends covered many beloved standards.

Perkins re-recorded his own immortal “Blue Suede Shoes” backed by two-thirds of the Stray Cats, Clemons performed Henry Mancini’s “Peter Gunn Theme,” Beck performed Santo & Johnny’s “Sleepwalk,” Plant and Collins (as “The Crawling King Snakes”) joined Edmunds on Charlie Rich’s “Philadelphia Baby,” and The Fabulous Thunderbirds belted out Lloyd Price’s “Stagger Lee.”

The participation of the Fabulous Thunderbirds dovetailed with Edmunds’ biggest coup: luring George Harrison — who had not released any new music since his mostly-ignored album Gone Troppo in 1982 — to participate.

Session player Jimmie Vaughan describes an encounter that took place during the making of the album:

“[We] were in Los Angeles recording, and George Harrison was doing something, and he liked what the Fabulous Thunderbirds did on some record. He just asked if we wanted to come in and record, and we’re like, ‘Sure, sure!’… He was great. We were trying to be cool, like, I wanted to go ask him all these questions…we did ‘Stagger Lee,’ but we also had this other [Thunderbirds] song, ‘Look at That, Look at That,’ and George goes, ‘Yeah, that sounds like –‘ Well, he named a song he thought it sounded like. A Larry Williams song or something. He knew every Larry Williams song. He loved Larry Williams.”

For the soundtrack, Harrison recorded a previously unreleased 1968 Bob Dylan song, “I Don’t Want to Do It,” which he had originally made a demo for and pitched to Phil Spector during the making of All Things Must Pass, but did not finish for that album.

Two versions were produced, one used in the film and on the album, featuring an organ solo, and another that was issued as a single shortly after the film opened, replacing the organ with a guitar solo. The latter version has yet to be reissued in any medium since.

During this time, Harrison asked Edmunds to pass word to Jeff Lynne, who was producing Edmunds’ next album Riff Raff, that he wanted to meet up for a possible collaboration. He relayed the message to Lynne some time later.

Once the men met, they would subsequently go on to create Harrison’s hit comeback solo studio record, Cloud Nine, along with the two Traveling Wilburys records. In a way, we have Porky to thank for building the bridge between these wizards of rock!

A track not produced by Edmunds was Willie Nelson performing “Love Me Tender.” The song was prominently featured in a scene where Nancy Parsons as frequent nemesis Beulah Balbricker finally receives redemption through a reunion with a lost love.

Despite the game cast and the pedigreed soundtrack, Porky’s Revenge was a large disappointment upon its release in March 1985. The film was negatively reviewed, and only grossed slightly over $20 million, a tenth of the original’s return.

While the album got good notices, it too was met with poor sales, and the single “High School Nights” never got past #91 on the Billboard Top 100.

The soundtrack’s good reputation, however, has led to three subsequent CD reissues, which have offered bonus tracks, including Carl Perkins remaking his original “Blue Suede Shoes” single B-side, “Honey Don’t.”

Porky’s Revenge is now available on Blu-ray, paired with Porky’s II, and its soundtrack album is back in print, offering old fans and first-timers a new opportunity for raunchy fun and rocking tunes!

In another timely footnote, this vintage episode streaming now at Night Flight Plus also includes the unique promotional video for Milos Forman’s Amadeus introduced by David Lee Roth, where Mozart’s “Symphony No. 40 in G Minor” accompanies a mix of wild pop music moments interwoven with scenes from the film, to present the young composer as his century’s irreverent, convention-rocking, game-changing genius.

As Billboard recently declared Mozart to have the #1 CD sales of 2016, beating Beyoncé, Drake, and Adele (albeit through a clever technicality) that video’s message is still relevant.

Watch our 1985 “New Film and Video” — which also features videos by David Bowie, Glenn Frey, El Debarge, and more — right now on Night Flight Plus!

(This essay was originally written for Night Flight Plus. It has been recreated in the style it was presented in at the site, and matched to its original date of publication. Tremendous thanks to Stuart Shapiro and Bryan Thomas for the platform.)

Love is the Seventh Grade

 

David Wechter & Michael Nankin’s adorable 1978 short film Junior High School drew praise from critics, led to making a Disney cult classic, and it was also the first exposure for singer/choreographer Paula Abdul. It’s now available for streaming on Night Flight Plus!

Childhood friends David Wechter and Michael Nankin spent their tweens making Super 8 mini-epics with like-minded pals, adding extra excitement to the already rattling period of early adolescence.

Like many aspiring directors of the ’70s, they went to the burgeoning film schools of the day –- David to USC, Michael to UCLA -– and when they had an opportunity to make a dream project, they decided to revisit that innocent time.

Unlike most beginning directors of that era, however, they staged their reverie as a musical!

With college classmates Steve Jacobson and Briana London, they created Junior High School, a song-and-dance saga about the first day of school, and one boy’s fumbling attempts to navigate strict authority figures and mean older kids, while just maybe, getting the attention of the prettiest girl in class.

Directors Michael Nankin (far left) and David Wechter (holding clapboard); photo courtesy of Steve Jacobson

David’s application to make it during his USC classes was rejected due to its expansive scope, so Michael set it up as a senior project at UCLA, enrolling in an extra quarter of classes to get access to the film school’s lights to save production costs.

With seed money from selling a spec commercial to the L.A. Times, and donations from friends and family, they raised $35,000 to make the 40-minute low-budget short.

Wechter & Nankin auditioned upwards of 200 kids from greater L.A. and the San Fernando Valley, almost all non-professionals, to fill the prime roles.

The adults were played by the filmmakers’ family members and their friends, such as comedians Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall, who had opened for The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964, and Art Ginsburg, owner of popular power-lunch destination Art’s Deli in Studio City.

P. David Ebersole (far left) gets hazed by coaches and squad leaders; photo courtesy of Steve Jacobson

The young neophytes were incredibly well-cast. P. David Ebersole as Jerry embodied every kid who ever felt invisible, or worse, all too visible at the wrong time, but could sparkle like a gem when good fortune came around.

Karen Capelle as Lori was the kind-hearted blonde-tressed dream girl so many boys imagined their first crush to be.

Toni Mazarin

Toni Mazarin as Vicki inhabited her manipulative mean girl with relish; she’s a mistake any boy could make, and even look back upon with fondness. In a video recollection included on the Blu-Ray, Ebersole revealed that during filming, he was more attracted to Toni than Karen.

Even the supporting characters left an impression on audiences.

Who could forget Mikal Robert Taylor as nasty nerd Keith, wielding his brain and briefcase for evil, likely destined to grow up and become a GamerGater?

Or Jan Russell as the perpetually fuming, unnamed leader of “The Itty Bitty Titty Committee”?

Of course, the featured player with the most impact was Paula Abdul as Sherry, whose Friday night party puts the plot in motion.

She didn’t yet have the polished singing voice that took her to the Top 40 in the ’80s, but she was already doing leaps, landings, and twirls in five-inch platform wedgies, so her dance skills were already in effect.

Paula Abdul (left) and some of the girls in the studio, recording a track for Junior High School; photo courtesy of Steve Jacobson

David Wechter composed the libretto of songs himself, using some compositions he’d written during his own adolescence. The score and song arrangements were done by David’s father Julius Wechter, a frequent collaborator with Herb Alpert who founded the Baja Marimba band.

Julius enlisted top session musicians, including Tommy Tedesco of The Wrecking Crew, to perform on the soundtrack, as well as Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” technician Larry Levine to engineer the recordings.

Kirk Burnett and Kirk Howe recording vocals with David Wechter; photo courtesy of Steve Jacobson

While the musicianship was professional, the filmmakers wanted to make sure the kids sounded untrained.

Supporting player Kirk Howe (who played an oppressive Gym Squad member) supplied the sweet and innocent singing voice for Ebersole's character.

Junior High School hit the festival circuit in 1979, and drew rave reviews.

Roger Ebert saw it at the USA Festival in Dallas, and later programmed it into a curated block at the Toronto Film Festival that same year, proclaiming, “The movie remembers the funny and the painful aspects of [puberty]…a completely winning, sunny, and wickedly funny experience…”

Herb Alpert wrote a letter of congratulation to Wechter after seeing it.

(Image courtesy of Kritzerland Entertainment)

“Bravo! Lani [Hall] and I were totally swept off our feet (even though we were lying in bed). You made an incredible transition from amateur to professional in one film. Congratulations, and thanks for wanting to share it with me.”

The rave reviews drew the attention of the Walt Disney company, who agreed to produce a feature film debut for the duo, who were still not even old enough to rent a car. Their 1980 film, Midnight Madness, depicted a wild all-night scavenger hunt in Los Angeles.

While it did not feature any of the kids from Junior High School, it did provide an auspicious film debut for another talented kid, Michael J. Fox. It also involved another heelish nebbish character, played by dependable movie nerd Eddie Deezen.

Midnight Madness was the second Disney production to get a PG rating after The Black Hole, and the first time the studio removed their name from the credits, due to what was deemed racy material.

While it was not initially a hit film, inspired fans created their own versions of the sprawling hunt as yearly events, and it is now recognized as a cornerstone film of game and geek culture.

Wechter & Nankin would attempt to develop a feature-film version of Junior High School with Footloose producer Craig Zadan, but the project fell through, and the team went their separate ways.

After some initial airings on cable, their musical faded out of circulation, occasionally resurfacing in kids’ film series and school screenings.

The movie received a belated VHS release in 1990, with supporting player Paula Abdul given top billing on the cover to entice fans of hers unaware of this early performance.

Abdul’s management reacted with surprising hostility, which drew the attention of the tabloid press, including this segment from “A Current Affair.”

“A Current Affair” story on JHS tape release 1990

The foursome responsible for Junior High School are all still very active in entertainment today. David Wechter shared initial story credit with Bruce Kimmel on the 1998 Robert Rodriguez thriller The Faculty, and has been a producer and director on many reality TV programs, most notably “Penn & Teller: Bullshit.”

Michael Nankin wrote the 1987 teen horror classic The Gate, and is a producer and director on many fantasy and action TV shows, including the newly-revived “The Exorcist” series.

Briana London has edited episodes of “Sledge Hammer” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Steve Jacobson worked in on-air promotion for NBC and CBS, and more recently has been a story producer on one of David Wechter’s programs, “Cowboy U.”

P. David Ebersole

While most of the kids from Junior High School soon went back to civilian lives, star P. David Ebersole has been associated with a diverse body of projects.

With his husband and producing partner Todd Hughes, he directed Hit So Hard, a 2011 documentary on former Hole drummer Patty Schemel, and together they were executive producers on Room 237, Rodney Ascher’s speculative documentary on Kubrick’s The Shining.

In an odd convergence, Patty Schemel played a drummer in But I’m a Cheerleader director Jamie Babbit’s 2007 comedy Itty Bitty Titty Committee. However, despite the connection to Ebersole, this was not in homage to Junior High School.

In interviews during the film’s release, Babbit credited Guinevere Turner for coining the title, and Turner later expounded, “It’s just a thing that girls said in middle school to taunt those as yet unendowed!”

In a way, this proves that Junior High School recognized some catch phrases, as well as experiences, are inherently universal for all teens.

Nobody wants to relive the anxiety of homework, bullies, and bad choices that pepper many of our pre-teen years, but watching Junior High School will definitely bring back all the happier moments from those hormone-driven awkward middle-school days, and it will probably make you feel that same kind of guileless rush once again regardless of your age! Watch this short feature right now — and be sure to check out this candid conversation with David Wechter & Michael Nankin who give us a behind-the-scenes director’s commentary about the production and casting of this gem — on Night Flight Plus!

(This essay was originally written for Night Flight Plus. It has been recreated in the style it was presented in at the site, and matched to its original date of publication. Tremendous thanks to Stuart Shapiro and Bryan Thomas for the platform.)

There's Just a Song for All the Movies and the Rife

 

Night Flight’s video profile of Dire Straits — originally airing on August 15, 1986, and now available on Night Flight Plus — offers a look at both the UK and the US videos for “Walk of Life,” a song which was not only one of the band’s biggest hits, but which one nervy editor suggests can improve the ending of any movie!

Dire Straits had earned plenty of critical and commercial respect for their first four records, with songs like “Sultans of Swing” and “Industrial Disease” becoming album rock radio staples.

The release of Brothers in Arms in the spring of 1985, however, catapulted the band to their biggest level of success.

The album debuted at #1 on the UK charts, spent nine weeks at #1 on the US Billboard chart, and even set a Guinness World Record for being the first album in the nascent CD format to sell a million copies.

Its lead US single, “Money for Nothing,” was the band’s first #1 Top 40 hit, won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and its accompanying music video won Video of the Year at the third MTV Video Music Awards.

In this profile, broadcast after the band’s two Grammy wins, you will be treated to many unique videos created for the band’s songs, along with exclusive interview footage with Knopfler, where he addressed some of his feelings about the art form.

In one segment, he stated that he would leave directors alone to dramatize his music as they liked, since they should be accorded the same artistic freedom as filmmakers that he enjoyed as a musician.

The three videos from the Making Movies album directed by photographer and commercial artist Lester Bookbinder — “Romeo and Juliet,” “Tunnel of Love,” and “Skateaway” — are a prime example of this cooperative mindset. This trio was packaged into a twenty minute short that played in theaters and was an early home video success.

However, upon the release of Brothers in Arms, Knopfler had soured on the process.

Where he had been an active dramatic participant in clips for “Tunnel of Love” and “Private Investigations,” for the singles from Brothers, he chose only to appear in performance footage or occasional candid moments.

Steve Barron, who directed two videos for the album, said,

“The problem was that Mark Knopfler was very anti-videos. All he wanted to do was perform, and he thought that videos would destroy the purity of songwriters and performers.”

“Walk of Life” was the first video offered to American television outlets, though it was not the first single released from the album.

Filmed in the tunnel that runs under the Thames from London Docklands to Greenwich, it depicted a young busker portrayed by Tom Jennings, dressed as Knopfler often dressed in concert, playing the iconic 1937 silver steel guitar from the cover of the album, performing for change from London commuters, with some cutaways to a daylight concert by the band.

After the smash success of “Money for Nothing,” “Walk of Life” was earmarked as the followup single, but record executives requested another video to be made for the song, feeling the first version wasn’t clicking. A recent USC Film School graduate, Stephen R. Johnson, got the assignment.

The new clip featured another performance of the band, this time intercut with dozens of moments from American sporting events.

In the book I Want My MTV, Johnson described how the incongruous concept came from Knopfler himself:

“I went on tour with them to shoot live footage, and Mark Knopfler told me he wanted the video to have sports in it. So I wrangled all this funny sports footage, with bloopers and the like. Mark’s other edict was that he didn’t want to be photographed from the side, because he didn’t like the fact he had a prominent proboscis. Everyone in the crew was running into each other, trying to avoid that angle.”

The new video proved very effective. “Walk of Life” became the band’s biggest UK hit, reaching #2 on their singles chart, and peaking respectably at #7 on the US singles chart.

The original busker video for “Walk” was not included in the band’s home video anthology; Johnson’s sports-themed video has effectively become the default version.

This episode of “Night Flight” offers fans a rare opportunity to watch them back to back and decide for themselves which they prefer. The two videos are a study in contrasts.

The first narrative clip uses the song for poignance, as its hard-working protagonist is often ignored by travelers, barely gets any money, and ends up being forced by cops to pack up and leave.

The second clip uses the song for lighthearted buoyance, at first underscoring missed plays and embarrassing moments, then ending with moments of triumphant victories.

One curious detail both videos share in common though are prominent shots of replacement guitarist Jack Sonni’s bare feet.

Each video ultimately suits the song well, since its message is that Johnny’s struggle is our struggle.

As sports blogger “CJ” observed, “[While] Mark Knopfler’s lyrics are clearly about a street musician busking in subway stations, his working class platitudes are general enough that we can easily apply them to an athlete doggedly pursuing his dreams, on and off the field. Indeed, even the title hints at something greater…Listening to the song feels like receiving one giant ‘attaboy’ from your radio.”

It was that spirit of universality that drove freelance editor Peter Salamone this past March to create The Walk of Life Project, asserting that the song was perfect for the ending of any movie.

Through 52 different examples, running multiple decades and genres, all available to view at his website, Salamone demonstrated his point. His playful exercise received widespread media coverage, inspiring dozens of fans and imitators to continue the experiment.

Here is one of the recent fan-made responses we particularly enjoyed, with the maxim applied to Point Break:

Mark Knopfler dismantled Dire Straits and went his own way a long time ago, and newer generations may derisively refer to the band as “dad rock” today.

However, when those first few organ notes waft into your ears, whether you’re recalling those videos from before, or maybe living the movie of your life right now, we’re sure you’ll think the moment plays better with that great song underneath.

See both “Walk of Life” interpretations, along with other classic Dire Straits videos and exclusive interview footage with Mark Knopfler, right now on Night Flight Plus!

(This essay was originally written for Night Flight Plus. It has been recreated in the style it was presented in at the site, and matched to its original date of publication. Tremendous thanks to Stuart Shapiro and Bryan Thomas for the platform.)

"Let's get into trouble, baby!"

Now available for streaming on Night Flight Plus is a special behind-the-scenes episode — originally airing on October 15, 1988 — prepared by music video director and “Night Flight” contributor Bill Fishman to promote his feature film debut Tapeheads, a rock ‘n’ roll comedy which still delivers a lot of savvy laughs about the music business for any comedy fan looking to get into trouble.

Bill Fishman once summarized his motivation to direct music videos by quipping, “I couldn’t do much worse.”

In the mid 1980s, the self-deprecating director in fact delivered a streak of memorable videos for the Ramones, Hank Williams Jr., and George Clinton.

In the course of attempting to get more money to shoot his initial breakout hit — “Institutionalized” for thrash pioneers Suicidal Tendencies — he befriended producers Michael Nesmith and Peter McCarthy, whose recently-finished film Repo Man had featured the song.

McCarthy was drawn to an idea Fishman had been developing about the wild environment of making videos. Together, they scripted Tapeheads, about two friends, guileless Josh and conniving Ivan, who stumble into success and political intrigue through their scrappy productions.

Former Monkee Nesmith — who won a Grammy for his musical sketch video Elephant Parts — and NBC president Brandon Tartikoff — who had expanded into films after launching hit sitcoms and TV’s “Miami Vice” — loved the final script, and eagerly agreed to back the film. McCarthy said it was the fastest greenlight he ever received.

The script found its way to John Cusack and Tim Robbins, who were doing a play together at Robbins’ longtime L.A. theatre company The Actors’ Gang. The friends wrangled an audition, and improvised at length as the characters. The filmmakers were knocked out, and hired them in short order.

Cusack modeled his performance as sleazy but charming Ivan on snatches of Tony Curtis in Sweet Smell of Success and Robert DeNiro in The King of Comedy, using buzzwords from self-help books to flesh his character’s drive. Much film dialogue came from actual encounters Fishman had with industry folk, repurposed into different situations, including the movie’s catchphrase “Let’s get into trouble, baby.”

The diverse supporting cast featured Clu Gulager as smarmy Presidential hopeful Norman Mart, “Arrested Development” star Jessica Walter as his wife Kay, “Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius as a record executive, and Mary Crosby from “Dallas” as an opportunistic journalist.

The cameo appearances were even crazier: sprinkled in for flashes of screentime were Bobcat Goldthwait (using his normal speaking voice for the first time publicly), Courtney Love, Doug E. Fresh, Fishbone, Lords of the New Church singer Stiv Bators and his then-girlfriend, VJ Martha Quinn, Ted Nugent, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Jello Biafra, and producer Nesmith himself.

The bright and unmistakably eighties production design was by Catherine Hardwicke, who would move up to big-budget pictures like Tank Girl and Three Kings before directing the massive hit Twilight.

Musical aspects were treated very seriously, as the plot involved our heroes trying to revive a downtrodden R&B act, the Swanky Modes. Fishman traveled the country looking at many beloved soul artists trying to determine who should play them, before picking Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave) and Junior Walker. Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison was the film’s music supervisor, choosing tracks to feature among the original songs created for the Modes. In the press kit for the film, a complete fictional “history” for the band was helpfully provided.

In a commentary recorded for the 2001 DVD release, Nesmith and Fishman noted how well Moore and Walker clicked as the duo. During shooting for the climactic concert sequence, they saw the recruited audience, initially unfamiliar with either singer’s legacy, become legitimately enthusiastic for their performance of “Ordinary Man.”

Besides the antics of Cusack and Robbins, what most fans remember fondly from Tapeheads is the bizarre, hilarious arc of Clu Gulager’s would-be Commander-in-Chief. This press conference exchange is a favorite, scarily predicting the modern day obsession of media and candidates alike with genitalia size!

Though its creation went smoothly, the release of Tapeheads met with assorted problems.

DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group, who originally financed the film, was having severe money troubles; as the production went on, Fishman recalled seeing staff and office furniture disappear. DEG went under, and the film was tied up in bankruptcy proceedings for months.

Once freed from creditors, small arthouse distributor Avenue Pictures agreed to service the film in the fall of 1988, but even after a well-received screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, they failed to get it shown in New York or Los Angeles during the short-lived run.

Cusack and Robbins both did promotional interviews, but often behaved as if they were still their characters, giving irreverent answers and irritating the press. An interview they taped with Joan Lunden for “Good Morning America” was even shelved due to what ABC called their “unprofessional” behavior.

Fishman had a history with “Night Flight” — appearing on the program in 1986, as well as having many of his videos showcased — so to spread awareness of Tapeheads, Fishman created this custom episode, featuring farcical vignettes about him spending the day shopping for mansions and yachts, to celebrate his big time director status, interspersed with two of his music videos (“Institutionalized” and “I Wanna Be Sedated”) and exclusive outtakes of the cast goofing around, footage never made available on any subsequent home video release.

In one segment, Fishman shows how he staged the film’s infamous “Baby Doll” video, where a pretty-boy synth band is assaulted with paint, glitter, and feathers in a single take, decades before OK Go would pull a similar trick in their “This Too Shall Pass” video.

Fishman cautions the band actors to keep performing regardless of what happens, and their shocked reactions are very real.

Tapeheads got a second chance when, in early 1989, it finally opened in Boston, to coincide with its soundtrack release. Nesmith suggested to CNN that the city was a good luck charm.

Fishman still directs music videos for his Fallout production company, with The Decemberists and Shirazee among his recent subjects.

Watch Bill Fishman’s special “Night Flight” episode, featuring behind-the-scenes material from Tapeheads unavailable anywhere else, right now on Night Flight Plus!

(This essay was originally written for Night Flight Plus. It has been recreated in the style it was presented in at the site, and matched to its original date of publication. Tremendous thanks to Stuart Shapiro and Bryan Thomas for the platform.)