An
occasional series musing over science fiction themed or influenced
videos.
“Wild
Boys” is very much a product of its time, a big haired 80s ruled
over by MTV and the utter neccessity of PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE above
all other considerations.
To be
fair, compared to modern pre-teen knicker wetter acts, Duran Duran
did actually have some sort of musical ability despite the hairspray.
But that wasn't really the point here. The point was “Let's spend a
million quid on a Mad Max style video and get it on Superheavy
Rotation in the States”.
The
promo director Russel Mulcahy, an Australian already well known for
his three minute epics “Vienna” and the Indiana Jones mining
“Love's Great Adventure” he shot for Ultravox, was brought in as
the go-to man and the objective was achieved.
And how
it was achieved! No mere band playing in a sea of pyro here, Mulcahy
took the apocalyptic twaddle of the lyrics and put them in a
veritable Thunderdome of Hot Gossip style dance choreographed by
Arlene Phillips, bald men who looked like Howard Jones' mental chains
dancer on bad amphetamine, oddly intercut clips of Rusty Lee, and a
crappy looking animatronic fire-breathing head not even as convincing
as Zaphod Beeblebrox's second one in the BBC version of Douglas
Adams' classic novel.
Whatever
plot seemed to involve the band – a tubby Le Bon with a Glenn
Hoddle haircut sadly not being drowned on a windmill, Nick Rhodes in
a cage, John Taylor strapped to a car roof being tortured with
pictures of himself, and the other two Taylors trapped in some kind
of aerial indignaties – as hostages of a group of pretentiously
dancing baldies with feathers stuck to their heads. In the meantime,
camp men with hair – one of them strutting around like a Ballet
Rambert trained chicken – are fomenting rebellion, probably
inspired by the Duran folk's nuclear powered Rock and Roll.
The
rebellion is eventually triggered by a man flying one of the Ewok
gliders from “return of the Jedi” to attack the baldies, as
eventually other rebels join in with other curiously Endor based
fighting tactics. The Duran chaps are released in the chaos after a
couple of meaty thwacks from their guitars across unsuspecting
skulls, and eventually take part in a victorious parade of victory
aboard their steampunk tank.
Glorious
stuff! Enjoy it all!
Copyright Bloody Mulberry 30.03.14
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