If we’re including the forties, I’ll add The Motels’ video for Only the Lonely. I don’t know what happened to them afterwards, but that video was pretty cool.
For the record, “Material Girl” is a tribute to Marylin Monroe’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blonds.”
Does Green Day’s “Jesus of Suburbia” count as historical? It’s obviously set in late 80’s/early 90’s… a tribute to the kids who “died for others’ sins” on account of their narcissistic parents.
…which is the only thing that makes it “vintage”, since the rest of the storyline clearly set in 1985. That hair!
Veronica- Elvis Costello (Not strictly a vintage video, but features flashbacks to the early decades of the 20th century.)
NIN’s The Perfect Drug
Meat Loaf’s I’d Do Anything For Love
Neither really historical- more like Costume Dramas, tho The Perfect Drug is kinda set in the drugged imagination of a 1880-1910 Decadent.
“My Doorbell” by the White Stripes, set in what looks like 1930s Louisiana.
The Killers, “All These Things I’ve Done,” American Civil War; “Mr. Brightside,” set in the same pseudo 1890s as Moulin Rouge and “Lady Marmalade.”
How about a video set in a dystopian, Mad Max sort of future? OK, it doesn’t fit the OP, but it gives me an excuse to link one of my favorite videos:
You Got Lucky - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
It wasn’t set in the past. The 1950s “werewolf” segment is being watched by the characters in a 1980s theatre, who then leave and suffer a zombie attack, though that turns out to be just a dream of the female character.
It looks dated now, but that’s true of any film project after a few decades.
Wow. Hugh Laurie AND John Malkovich? I agree.
Yeah. It’s All Coming Back To Me Now by Celine Dion is kinda like that. It’s like a psudohistorical video.
I love that Malkovich is the only guy not wearing a wig.
That’s a very unique song because the main melodic hook is played by the strings only. The historical context therefore is very fitting for the video.
Cool, that’s a car from the Logan’s Run TV series.
I actually like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers a lot, and I hadn’t seen this video, so thank you for posting it.
Another video by the same group is Don’t Come Around Here No More. Alice in Wonderland – let’s call it Victorian.
Wow, the costuming is actually really good in that one. The woman actually has one of those ridiculously large hats. The only thing that’s really off is the artsy, brooding dishevelment. I can’t imagine a 19th-century soldier rebelling while taking off his clothes. </costume geek>
Thank you, everybody!
I notice one of my links above doesn’t work. So here it is again (another of my favorite old-school videos):
New Frontier - Donald Fagen (Set in 1960 or so.)