The real reason the first Stand Back video was nixed?

Macfan4life · #1 06-13-2015, 06:30 AM

Back in 1983 I used to buy and collect every rock or music magazine that had any reference to Stevie Nicks or Fleetwood Mac. There was a tiny article in one of those magazines in the summer of 1983 that wrote something like this:

Stevie nixes video because she thought she looked too fat.
Stevie Nicks nixed the first video for Stand Back because she looked too fat. The second video cost a whopping $75,000 (that was a lot of money for a video in 1983).

In 1983 no one ever saw the Civil War video. It was not until many years later when the civil war video surfaced that I remembered reading the first video was axed.

Anyone remember reading this too? I don't think she looks fat in the civil war video. But the dress she wore for the civil war era would put pounds on anyone.

johnnystorms · #2 06-13-2015, 06:53 AM

i read the exact same thing!
I think it was just so odd for such a contemporary sounding song, the record co. decided to re-shoot it.. the Civil War vid sucks, if we're being honest.

**SisterNightroad** · #3 06-13-2015, 07:13 AM

I've read it too.
I think mainly she reshoot it simply because it was fugly.
Have you heard the version with the commentary?

johnnystorms · #4 06-13-2015, 08:42 AM

AND, the CW video was the expensive one , if you recall from that article.. I thin it cost 250.000$
the re-shoot was a bargain

Danigirl · #5 06-13-2015, 10:14 AM

My goodness Stevie, indecisve as ever. In her defense, she does look fat. I think this vid could have worked if she had been a sexy rock and roll woman instead of this Halloween costume Stevie with 80's hair and a frumpy dress.

Danigirl · #6 06-13-2015, 10:19 AM

Thanks for posting this! Just when I think I know it all... Stevie never fails to surprise me.

michelej1 · #7 06-13-2015, 12:52 PM

Ha ha. Just like Silver Springs had to be delayed to make a big splash 20 years later, the Civil War video had to be delayed so we could get so much pleasure from Stevie's audio commentary on Crystal Visions so many years later.

All of those chickens!

It makes me wish Fleetwood Mac would do audio commentary on the Little Lies barn video.

Michele

Richard B · #8 06-14-2015, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danigirl

My goodness Stevie, indecisve as ever. In her defense, she does look fat. I think this vid could have worked if she had been a sexy rock and roll woman instead of this Halloween costume Stevie with 80's hair and a frumpy dress.

I agree. Plus her height in that kind of frumpy dress is not doing her any favors. Her backup singers looked much, much better in the video. The whole video is just kinda lame. I do like the horseback riding along to the thumping beat of the song.

He's So Unusual · #9 06-15-2015, 12:59 PM

Both videos are crap. The dancers in the other Stand Back video are so cheesy I can't even watch it. The 1980s are great in a lot of ways, but most music videos from the early 1980s are (understandably) dire. At least Stevie never resorted to twerking and stripping off.

UndoingTheLaces · #10 06-15-2015, 09:01 PM

The Rolling Stone Book of Rock Video has an entire chapter dedicated to the making of the original Stand Back video. I read it in the late 80's and thought I'd never get to see the video. Sometime in the mid 90's I was at a record fair and found a bootleg VHS full of Stevie Rarities, it had the now infamous Wild Heart dressing room video, the bitchy purple velvet interview, and the original Stand Back video. I was in Stevie heaven! It think I still have the tape somewhere, but everything on it is now on YouTube.

Anyway, I don't have the book anymore, but you can get it used on Amazon pretty cheap (see the link below). I recall that the chapter on Stand Back was written by the director and he was really pissed that she yanked it. He did say that he showed her the rough cut and she yanked it because she looked to fat in a couple of scenes. So the version we've seen may have not been what the finished product would have looked like. It might have had a little more polish to it. But for a song that was so electronic I think the neon lights and dancers probably did wonders for making the song such a hit and the Civil War video wouldn't have helped it nearly as much. On the other hand, the video for No More Words by Berlin was a Bonnie & Clyde thing that was also a period piece and it did pretty well. I wonder if that was the same guys. Maybe if Stevie had kept the video we would have had a whole series of period piece 80's music videos.

The book also has a really nice chapter on the making of Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want To Have Fun video.

Here's the link to the book. http://www.amazon.com/Rolling-stone-.../dp/0688039162

I always thought the real reason she pulled the video is because she looks really stoned in many of the scenes. Like in the bar where she saunters up to him and tries to put her arms around him. She kind of galumphs over and her eyes are half shut.