Historical music videos

Cafe Society
1

I was watching Annie Lennox music videos on YouTube, and I realized that the two I liked the most featured the sort of setting you’d expect out of a costume drama. They were:

Walking on Broken Glass (18th century, featuring Hugh Laurie and John Malkovich)
Love Song for a Vampire (for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”; quality is iffy)

Can anyone think of any music videos that are set in a time during a time that could be called vintage or historical? As in, the video features a time that occurred an appreciable number of years before the music was released?

Another one is The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats. Obviously I’m not going for accuracy.

2

One off the top of my head is Paul McCartney’s “Pipes Of Peace”, which was shot very expensively, just like a movie, set in WWI. He plays two characters, one on each side. They shake hands at the end, which was a cool effect at the time.

3

Madonna’s Express Yourself and Vogue are re-imaginings of the classic silent film Metropolis and old Horst photographs, respectively.

Take A Bow and Material Girl are both heavy with vintage elements, but there are anachronisms that give them away.

4

Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus.” Sorta.

5

One of my favourite music videos ever. Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere. based on the poem The Highwayman

6

The Decemberists’ The Soldiering Life is set in the trenches of WWI.

7

Mozart’s Ein Kleine Nachtmusic was a hell of a video, surpassed only by the finale of Beethoven conducting the premiere of his Ninth Symphony.

But the cannons in the 1812 Overture were a bit over the top.

8

Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love” is set in the 1940’s.

Her “Cloudbusting” is set in the 1950’s.

Links are to screen shots, not to the videos themselves.

9

Christ, that video is badass.

10

Here are a few…

No More I Love You’s - Annie Lennox (19th century Paris)

Karma Chameleon - Culture Club (1870 Mississippi riverboat)

Strip - Adam Ant (19th century England)

Come Dancing - The Kinks (Late 1940s to mid 1950s England)

Puttin’ on the Ritz - Taco (1930s)

Buddy Holly - Weezer (1950s)

11

Not entirely, but many parts of Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait” are shot with scenes like that. The video should be on YouTube…

12

In Bloom - Nirvana (early-to-mid 1960s)

New Frontier - Donald Fagen (early 1960s)

13

I didn’t make it all the way through this one earlier, because the make-up on the ballerinas was kind of freaking me out. And then Annie Lennox made a face that I cannot describe and I had to stop.

I’m going to include Losing My Religion by REM because it has some “re-enactments” of fairly famous paintings in it.

14

Technically, a '70s version of the '50s, since the video is supposed to be an episode of Happy Days.

15

-spoke’s post has led me to search out more Adam Ant, who seems to be a good source for this stuff.

Stand & Deliver – 18th-20th centuries (Making of video here)

Kings of the Wild Frontier – Native Americans after meeting the French . . . I think. “Ant people are warriors. Ant music is our banner.”

Prince Charming – lots of early 19th century stuff, with special guest appearance by Lawrence of Arabia.

. . . and then I started giggling a little too maniacally for my own liking.

Lithium by Evanescence. Amy Lee is wearing Victorian undies, fersure. Early 1850s-ish silhouette.
Lady Marmalade (2001) is pseudo 19th-centuy bordello, with an emphasis on the bordello part.

I feel the urgent need to be Adam Ant for Halloween.

16

Maid of Orleans (Joan of Arc) by OMD is partly historical.
(And the woman playing Joan is tres belle.)

17

Remember the Time is set (loosely, considering the lyrics mention telephone conversations) in ancient Egypt, with Eddie Murphy’s character addressed as “Rameses”, which could place the events as just about anywhere between 1295 and 1069 BCE, in any event the furthest back thus far.

18

This isn’t technically within the OP’s request, as the music is contemporaneous with the shooting, but I thought I’d share:

1930: Jimmie Rodgers sings “T for Texas”

I’ve heard that The Singing Brakeman (which included performances of this and two other songs) is considered the first “music video.” Don’t have a cite on that, though.

19

Tonight, Tonight - The Smashing Pumpkins (filmed in the style of the 1902 film Le voyage dans la lune by Georges Méliès)

1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins (I think it’s supposed to be set in 1979. They’re driving around in a 70s car, anyway. Lot of anachronistic hairstyles, though.)

Speaking of the 70s, there’s:

Sabotage - The Beastie Boys (In the style of a 70s cop show.)

The Look of Love - ABC (Maybe. Some heavily stylized 1910s-1920s garb.)

20

Nitpick: the name of the song is “Blue Yodel No. 1”