Springsteen Challenge Day 18: Favorite Bruce Music Video

This is an interesting topic.  Bruce Springsteen’s music videos are either feast or famine.  There’s no overriding artistic vision in his music videos.  He’s had some of the greats direct his videos, though.  Brian de Palma (Scarface) directed a few.  Sean Penn pieced one together from footage of “The Indian Runner” – a movie inspired by a Springsteen song (seems only fair, then….); Jonathan Demme made a few, including my favorite.  But, by and large, Bruce’s videos tend to be live videos overdubbed with the album version, or perhaps the production of the song itself in the studio, interspersed with some random videos of Bruce playing the guitar defiantly in a scenic vista.  Suffice to say, Bruce isn’t exactly holding music video launch specials like Michael Jackson did in his heyday for videos like “Black or White” and “Remember the Time” – really, no one is.  Those days are long gone.  As a side note, those videos were mini movies, really.  Black or White had MacCaulay Caulkin and George Wendt in it, and Remember the Time had Magic Johnson, Eddie Murphy, Tiny Lister, and Iman in it.  Nowadays, MTV doesn’t even play music videos.  But I digress…

There are three potential candidates for the “favorite Bruce music video” title, and I can tell you right off the bat, Dancing in the Dark isn’t it.  Yes, I realize that is one of the more parodied and memorable Bruce videos.  It’s horrible.  Clarence is a minstrel, Bruce is lip-synching poorly, and Courtney Cox being pulled up on stage is just bizarre.  She makes it seem like she is confused that it’s happening – the reason Bruce included it in the video is that he regularly pulled girls out of the crowd to dance with him. He wanted it to be a simulacrum of a concert experience.  However, while it WAS filmed at a concert, none of the attendees knew what was happening, and it didn’t matter anyway – they weren’t included in the video.  They also performed the song twice at the same concert, and back to back, further adding to the confusion in the audience. I think it’s goofy, but I’ll allow you to judge for yourself:

No, my third favorite Bruce video comes from a more recent album – the “Working on a Dream” album, although, it’s not really a part of the album.  The song is “The Wrestler,” and it should’ve been Bruce’s second Academy Award.  The song was written specifically for the movie, and as a favor to Bruce’s friend, Mickey Rourke, the star of “The Wrestler.”  The movie itself is stunningly, achingly beautiful. Rourke plays some version of himself, hurting himself, and hurting others, as a wrestler would.  It hurts to watch, and I still feel a profound sadness when I watch it.  Bruce’s song is the first thing one hears when the credits roll. The song doesn’t have a specific place in the film, but it perfectly encapsulates what we’ve just seen.  It won the Golden Globe for the Best Original Song, and then was snubbed of a nomination at the Oscars.  I know I’m biased, but the Oscars only nominated three songs, instead of the traditional five. There was more room.  This Oscars telecast is forever tainted, because Slumdog Millionaire picked up several wins, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Song.  Slumdog Millionaire sucks.  But, the music video for “The Wrestler” features Bruce walking into a dusty ring in New Brunswick, New Jersey, plenty of close ups of a weathered Boss, and some shots of the ring, with Bruce lifting weights and being generally alone.  For whatever reason, it’s simplicity is its’ saving grace.  And, the song is fantastic. See it here:

My second favorite Bruce music video is kind of a strange choice, but I like both the song, and the video, as a perfect encapsulation of the era in which it was written/filmed.  The official video for Bruce’s “57 Channels (and Nothin’ On).  The song is basically a bass line, filled with Bruce’s drone.  I love it.  I think it’s great.  The music video is Bruce surrounded by TVs of all kinds (all CRT sets… this IS 1992…) and singing about our droning addiction to the flickering image on TV.  Behind him, the TVs are flashing images, including one overtly political picture of George HW Bush looking like he is scolding Bruce.  The lyrics fit the video perfectly, and the whole thing smacks of the early 1990s – weird camera angles, lots of diamond plated steel, and the whole anti-corporate sense of fighting the power, like it’s Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” or even that bizarre video of Max Headroom interrupting a satellite video and getting spanked with a flyswatter.  Here is Bruce:

and here is Max Headroom:

legitimately freaky, and for whatever reason, it had that similar feel.

My favorite Bruce video of all time is quite simple.  I referenced it above, and anyone with a basic knowledge of film will know that Jonathan Demme and Bruce Springsteen are inextricably linked with the film “Philadelphia” – the Oscar winning film about the AIDs epidemic.  Bruce’s video and song “Streets of Philadelphia” is every bit deserving of the Academy Award it won.  The video is Bruce wandering around the titular streets of Philadelphia, dressed like a working class or lower class man, hoodie and flannel lined coat, a goatee on his face, his eyes cast downward in a bit of despair and defeat, singing lines about that same look.  What is incredible about this video is that it only briefly features Tom Hanks, and mostly is devoid of explicit references to the movie, in order to stand on its own.  The images of early 90s Philadelphia, contrasting the government buildings and history with the poverty and squalor is an important theme in both the song and the movie.  The last bit that makes it all the more impressive is that the vocal track is Bruce actually singing via a hidden microphone while he walks through Philadelphia.  So, the white noise, rustle, and footfalls are actually happening.  It lends a layer of authenticity to the video that would’ve been lost with the crisp clarity of the studio version of the song.  While I listed three, this video is head and shoulders above the other two – it was an easy choice. See it here: 

Tomorrow’s topic: Favorite Bruce Movie, TV Special, or Documentary