VHS Archives

VHS Archives #89: Doug! Ty! Jerry! It’s King’s X with some Faith Hope Love! (1991)

The late, amicable Dan Gallagher was always enthusiastic about every band he interviewed.  He drew a good interview out of King’s X, and asked some deeper questions that got the band thinking.  You’ll also see some live footage from the Faith Hope Love tour.

Subjects covered:

  • What is King’s X?
  • What does Faith Hope Love mean?
  • How much does Ty hate making music videos?
  • Spirituality in music — does it belong?

I really love Jerry’s answer on that question.

 

 

 

Thanks for hanging this week for a whole lot of old VHS clips.  Winter is the perfect time to work on projects like this!

VHS Archives #88: Motley Crue’s Vince Neil – Back in Vancouver again with TDM (1990)

It’s a clean, sober and healthy looking Vince Neil!  Once again, MuchMusic had Terry David Mulligan with all the hot questions.  This chat includes a surprise announcement of Motley’s next album Decade of Decadence.

TDM raises the following subjects:

  • What does Bob Rock bring to the Crue?
  • How will the Crue celebrate its 10th anniversary?
  • Thoughts on the next 10 years
  • Music of the 80s
  • “In 18 months there won’t be 20 teenagers left in America that would be caught dead listening to Motley Crue.” – Creem magazine
  • French women

Check it out!

VHS Archives #87: Damn Yankees! Tommy Shaw & Jack Blades (1990)

“If you coulda gotten a camera up in a tree, you mighta been able to talk to Ted.” – Tommy Shaw

Who doesn’t love a bromance?  Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades formed a lasting one with Damn Yankees and it’s obvious in this summer 1990 interview.  They finish each others’ sentences and talk over each other like excited kids.   MuchMusic’s Michael Williams hosts this excellent interview as they discuss:

  • Getting signed to a label
  • Working with Ron Nevison
  • Terrible Ted and the “wimp police”
  • Tommy’s “critically acclaimed” solo career.  Haha!

You’ll even see Michael’s Ted impression.  Check out why live Much interviews were always best.

VHS Archives #86: Kim Mitchell asks fans for video footage of their “Wild Party” (1990)

In the summer of 1990, Kim Mitchell and video director Don Allan stopped to visit with MuchMusic’s Dan Gallagher to ask fans for help. Kim’s first solo live album, I Am A Wild Party, was burning up the charts and tape decks nation wide!  All he needed was a music video.

Mitchell is always a card and this segment is no exception.

Kim and Don Allan wanted footage of your “wild party” or your “air bands”; anything really to go with that “Rah! Rah! Olé!” chorus.  I also included a few snips of my own footage that I filmed specifically with a rented camera for the video!  Ultimately though, Mitchell and Allan abandoned the fan video concept, and made a straight live/studio clip for “I Am A Wild Party”.

This is historically interesting to Kim fans since the video as originally conceived never came to be.*

Enjoy some goofy Kim on Much!

*EDIT:  Mike from Facebook was the winner chosen for the “I Am A Wild Party” video and says this!

I was the one that won that contest, and in MM’s defence they made a “limited edition play version” with about 10 seconds from our submission video that was cut off in the final version. But thanks for finding this… Rah Rah Ole!

VHS Archives #85: Steve Vai’s passion for Whitesnake, Warfare & Wanking (1990)

MuchMusic’s Terry David Mulligan was always one of their best interviewers, and here he has a nice informal chat with (then) Whitesnake’s Steve Vai!  TDM asks a loaded question about leaving Whitesnake and going solo.

Vai is always forthcoming and in this entertaining interview you’ll hear about the Passion & Warfare concept, lucid dreaming, the tuba, David Lee Roth, and of course wanking.

 

Check out a second Much interview with Vai by Denise Donlon by clicking here.

VHS Archives #84: Neil Peart on lyrics (1990)

I enjoy this interview with Neil Peart, because it touches on something that I love about music:  A good lyric is open to vast interpretation by the listener.  Inevitably, we are going to derive our own meaning from the lyrics regardless of what the writer intended.  Take this review by my buddy Aaron Lebold.  “Distant Early Warning” had a meaning completely unique to him.  Meanwhile, it had a very different meaning to me.

In this clip from the Presto tour, Neil Peart discusses crafting lyrics with MuchMusic. It’s a brilliant lesson from The Professor so pay attention!

VHS Archives #83: David Lee Roth in Paradise (1988)

Due to popular vote here’s David Lee Roth in the first VHS Archive of 2020!  This interview — jeez louise! — goes back 32 years.  DLR was promoting Skyscraper and was lobbed a few softball questions by rookie Steve Anthony of MuchMusic (at least in comparison to his 1991 interview with Denise Donlon, link below).

Enjoy a little live footage from the Skyscraper tour and Roth’s thoughts on success and his history.

More DAVID LEE ROTH in the VHS Archives:

#23: David Lee Roth grilled by MuchMusic (1991)
#76: David Lee Roth discusses change and disses Ozzy (1994)

VHS Archives #82: Tony Iommi & Cozy Powell talk Headless Cross on the Power Hour (1989)

Michael Williams asks some tough questions of Tony Iommi including “Why carry on as Black Sabbath?”  You have to remember that in 1989, Black Sabbath was considered irrelevant.  Ozzy was all the rage, leaving Sabbath in the dust far behind.

Other topics discussed:

  • The Live Aid reunion with Ozzy
  • Satanism in Sabbath music or lack thereof
  • “Heavy metal”
  • Rap artists (Sir Mix-A-Lot) sampling and covering Black Sabbath
  • Tony’s favourite version of Black Sabbath

What do you think of Tony and Cozy’s answers?

Then, stay tuned for another separate bonus interview taken from a CNN report!

 

VHS Archives #81: Paul Stanley interviewed in his office by MTV (1990)

A rare example of MTV content in my video collection! The girl I liked sent me a copy of the Moscow Music Peace Festival, which MTV broadcast in 1990, and she added some videos and interviews at the end. I was thrilled to get this black & white chat with Paul Stanley.

Hot in the Shade was new and Kiss were planning a tour. Paul’s office isn’t as big as you’d think!  He talks about the forthcoming video for “Rise To It” featuring Kiss in makeup, and more.

VHS Archives #80: Accept interview (1989)

When Udo left Accept, it was was hard to imagine the German metal pioneers without him.  After a false start (including a photo session) with a singer named Rob Armitage, Accept finally settled on American David Reece.

Here Wolf and David tell MuchMusic why Reece was the guy after more than 200 applicants for the job. The album was called Eat the Heat, with lead single “Generation Clash”.  It’s an interesting interview considering the hindsight that the lineup ultimately did not work and Accept broke up, before reuniting with Udo in 1993.