Going Insane Videos

[michelej1]

[Talking about Go Insane, I was thinking how the biggest thing Lindsey had to promote that album was the videos. Those videos were highly praised. We should definitely have them on DVD.]

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, September 13, 1985

Section: FRIDAY \

SORRY, BRUCE, BUT LOOK WHO`S IN THE LEAD
Tom Popson.

Which artist`s videos received the most nominations for tonight`s MTV awards? According to a tally made by the folks at MTV, Bruce Springsteen videos received three nominations, Don Henley and Eurythmics each received five nominations and David Lee Roth videos got six.

But the nominations leader is Lindsey Buckingham , member of Fleetwood Mac, whose videos for `` Go Insane `` and ``Slow Dancing,`` songs on Buckingham`s current solo album, received seven nominations, all in the ``professional`` categories. Both videos are nominated in the categories of Best Special Effects, Best Editing and Most Experimental Video, and `` Go Insane `` is among contenders in the Best Cinematography category.

Buckingham obviously owes a good deal to his editors, cameramen, effects people and director Danny Klineman, who worked on both videos. But it was Buckingham who came up with the initial ideas and moods for the videos, storyboarding in rough form `` Go Insane `` and collaborating closely with Klineman on both clips.

We talked to Buckingham recently about his clips, the MTV awards and
video in general:

Q--Is it a struggle to come up with ideas for a video?

A--It`s a lot like doing a song or coming up with parts for songs. I tend to
be an insomniac. You`ve got this project running through your head, and half
the time you`re lying in bed until 5 in the morning, and you can`t get to
sleep because you can`t turn the brain off.

These things tend to come late at night, for some reason. I try to keep
normal hours, but I have trouble sleeping. The idea for ``Go Insane`` just
started coming one night, and I was writing it down for a period of about two days. I can`t really take complete credit for storyboarding, but most of the
stronger images were presented to Danny in some form first.

Q--How would you describe that video to someone who hadn`t seen it?

A--I don`t know. I`d say it`s an atmospheric video. It has a rhythmic feel to it that goes along extremely well with what the music is doing. Doing it as video, as opposed to film, tended to lend a surreal quality to it. I mean, it is a surreal video all around. It has a lot of references to painters and
certain styles of modern art.

The ``Slow Dancing`` video was more of a quickie. There`s a scene in
``Citizen Kane`` where Orson Welles is standing with his wife in what is
supposed to be Hearst Castle. There`s a huge fireplace about as big as the
whole wall, and he`s actually standing inside the fireplace. I just had this
vision of someone sort of holed up in a house by himself, with a slightly
gothic feel to it. I was much more general in what I was thinking about, and
Danny just took it from there.

Q--Is winning an MTV award important to an artist?

A--In my case, being nominated meant a lot to me because I interpreted it as not only people appreciating the videos. I interpreted the number of nominations as indicating a number of people wanted to give something back, and that means a lot to me.

If you want to talk about awards in general....Having been with Fleetwood Mac through the Grammy trip and all, I think awards are basically a
promotional device and you have to look at them like that. The important thing is to be involved with your work and be dedicated to your work and try to remain fresh and grow--and not get caught up in all that other stuff. That`s just peripheral, as far as I`m concerned.

It`s hard to maintain that attitude all the time, though. In this
society, you don`t necessarily get a lot of pats on the back. Especially now. Radio is very constrictive, very formulized on just about all levels. It`s
difficult to be original and maintain originality and get the reinforcement a person needs to do that.

It may be a little easier for me in the sense I`m not hurting for money.
I don`t have to go out there and tour to sell records to make the money. Nor
do I really have to bow to any pressures that may or may not exist in a record company.

Q--Do you watch much music video?

A--I have a house in Bel-Air, and I have a recording studio in my garage. I have a 24-track (recording console) and a Fairlight (synthesizer) and all that stuff. I don`t work all the time there--it gets to be a little confining, and it has its limitations--but a lot of the way I work is sort of singular.

And when I`m working there, what I tend to do is tune the TV in the
bedroom, which is right across from the garage, to MTV. Then if I come out and take a 10-minute break, I`ll take a random sampling of it. If you do that, the odds are you`ll be pretty current on what`s going on. But I don`t do it only for that reason. It`s also like an alternate music reality. If I walk by, I
might just happen to pick something out of the air that`ll be useful to what
I`m doing.

Q--People often say the music-video field is in its infancy. But maybe it has grown as much as it`s going to, in the sense that the form we have now is pretty much what we`re going to have in the future. New directors, new songs, new styles of music, perhaps, but all in the same kind of format we see now.

A--I don`t see how it could change really, unless the song form changes. Obviously, you can argue that it`s being used in a somewhat moronic way. People jumping up and down in front of cameras, lip-synching to their songs. Which doesn`t reek of being art exactly.

Perhaps there are other things that could be done that haven`t been done
yet, still within a three-to-four-minute time limit. But it`s the same thing
with music in general. There are so many possibilities that could be explored that will never, ever see the light of day. Which is too bad.

As far as video being in its infancy, it`s possible it`s already in its
old age and it`s just a fad that`s not going to last. It`s quite possible that five years down the line people will just say, ``Enough already with this.``

[michelej1]

To me, the Slow Dancing video was just a little too silly and frivolous. I liked the song's sensual side and would have preferred a more somber video. Although, judging from the Big Love clinch, Lindsey would portray sensuality a little awkwardly on camera, so maybe it's just as well.

Also, I don't mind seeing Lindsey depicted as a sort of vampire. I like vampires.

Michele

[michelej1]

August 14, 1985, FEATURES PEOPLE HOME ENTERTAINMENT

NOTORIOUS BUCKINGHAM IS TOP MTV NOMINEE


Frank Spotnitz, United Press International

NEW YORK Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham picked up seven nominations yesterday for the second annual MTV Video Music Awards, besting video heavyweights David Lee Roth, Madonna and Eurythmics.

Roth, the former Van Halen singer, Bryan Adams and Don Henley each received six nominations. Roth took two spots in the best-video category for his "California Girls" and "Just a Gigolo - I Ain't Got Nobody" clips.

Henley's "The Boys of Summer," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Don't Come Around Here No More" and USA for Africa's "We Are the World" also were nominated for best video.

Madonna and Eurythmics picked up five nominations apiece, followed by Petty with four and USA for Africa, Bruce Springsteen and Sheila E. with three each.

The nominees were announced by MTV "veejays" and rock stars, including Eurythmics' Dave Stewart, at a news conference at the Hard Rock Cafe. The winners will be named in a ceremony at Radio City Music Hall on Sept. 13.

Henley's clip and Roth's two videos were nominated for best male video, along with Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" and Glenn Frey's "Smuggler's Blues."

For best female video, Cyndi Lauper was nominated for "She Bop," Madonna for "Material Girl," Sade for "Smooth Operator," Sheila E. for "The Glamorous Life" and Tina Turner for "What's Love Got to Do With It?"

"We Are the World," The Cars' "Drive," Eurythmics' "Would I Lie to You," "This Is It" by Huey Lewis and the News, and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" by U2 were nominated for best group video.

Although Buckingham's Go Insane solo album has yet to be certified gold, two of his surreal videos won nominations for special effects, editing, cinematography and experimental video.

In the best-concept video category, the nominees were Frey, Henley, Petty, Roth's "Gigolo-Nobody" and Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Two Tribes."

Nominated for best new artist were Frankie Goes to Hollywood for "Two Tribes"; Julian Lennon for "Too Late for Goodbyes"; Sade for "Smooth Operator"; Sheila E. for "The Glamorous Life," and 'til tuesday for "Voices Carry."

Other nominees, selected in balloting by 1,700 members of the music industry, were:

Best stage performance: David Bowie, "Blue Jean" (live version); Eurythmics, "Would I Lie to You"; Bruce Springsteen, "Dancing in the Dark"; Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime" (live version); Tina Turner, "Better Be Good to Me."

Overall performance: Philip Bailey and Phil Collins, "Easy Lover"; Eurythmics, "Would I Lie to You"; David Lee Roth, "Just A Gigolo-I Ain't Got Nobody"; Bruce Springsteen, "Dancing in the Dark"; USA for Africa, "We Are the World."

Special effects: Cinebuild for Bryan Adams' "Run to You"; David Yardley for Lindsey Buckingham's "Go Insane"; David Yardley for Lindsey Buckingham's "Slow Dancing"; David Yardley for Culture Club's "It's a Miracle"; Tony Mitchell, Kathy Dougherty and Peter Cohen for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Don't Come Around Here No More."

Art direction: Steven Barron for Bryan Adams' "Run to You"; John Jolly for Peter Brown's "Zie Zie Won't Dance"; Bruce Hill for Culture Club's "It's a Miracle"; Bryan Jones for Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer"; John Ebdon for Madonna's "Like a Virgin"; Mark Rimmell for Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)."

Editing: John Mister for Bryan Adams' "Run to You"; Zbigniew Rybczynski for Art of Noise's "Close to the Edit"; David Yardley for Lindsey Buckingham's "Go Insane"; David Yardley for Lindsey Buckingham's "Slow Dancing"; Glenn Morgan for Eurythmics' "Would I Lie to You."

Cinematography: Peter MacDonald for Bryan Adams' "Heaven"; Frank Gell for Bryan Adams' "Run To You"; Oliver Stapleton for Lindsey Buckingham's "Go Insane"; Pascal Lebegue for Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer"; Peter Sinclair for Madonna's "Like a Virgin."

Choreography: Eddie Baytos for Eurythmics' "Would I Lie to You"; David Atkins for Elton John's "Sad Songs (Say So Much)"; Madonna for Madonna's "Like a Virgin"; Kenny Ortega for Madonna's "Material Girl"; Prince for Prince's "When Doves Cry"; Lesli Glatter for Sheila E.'s "The Glamorous Life"; Arlene Phillips for Tina Turner's "Private Dancer."

Direction: Steven Barron for Bryan Adams' "Run to You"; Russell Mulcahy for Duran Duran's "The Wild Boys"; Jean Baptiste Mondino for Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer"; Mary Lambert for Chris Isaak's "Dancin' "; Jeff Stein for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Don't Come Around Here No More"; Daniel Kleinman for Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)"; Steven Barron for Toto's "Stranger in Town."

Experimental video: Zbigniew Rybczynski for Art of Noise's "Close to the Edit"; Daniel Kleinman for Lindsey Buckingham's "Go Insane"; Daniel Kleinman for Lindsey Buckingham's "Slow Dancing"; Mary Lambert and Chris Isaak for Isaak's "Dancin' "; Mary Lambert for Lone Justice's "Ways to Be Wicked."

[michelej1]

New York Times (NY), December 2, 1984

Section: 2

VETERANS OF LOS ANGELES ROCK STILL CHAMPION ITS JOYS

JOHN ROCKWELL

If any city and any sound dominated rock music during the 1970's, it was the folk-rock of Los Angeles. Bands like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac and solo artists like Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt shaped a style based firmly on folk music - country, 60's folk, even soul - but unified as a genre of its own by its shared concerns, musical signatures and social linkages.

But Los Angeles rock of this sort is almost a nostalgia item today. It has been supplanted in its own backyard by punk and pop-rock bands. Its key groups have either broken up formally (the Eagles) or practically (Fleetwood Mac). Or its practitioners have broadened their range to the point of abandoning their old image (Miss Ronstadt).

Still, many of these people persist, as recognizable practitioners of this sort of gently folksy, slightly self-centered but often affecting Los Angeles rock. They turn out solo records, extending their old poetic themes and musical idioms in more or less radical ways. And they still function as a social circle, helping one another in songwriting and in the recording of their albums. Five recent solo records by male veterans of the 70's Los Angeles rock scene suggest sometimes fruitful new avenues even as they reaffirm satisfying - for those who admired this school at its best in the first place - old values.

First we have three albums by former Eagles. Don Henley led the band along with Glenn Frey; Mr. Henley was the drummer, lead singer and co- chief songwriter, and he composed most of the best-known Eagles songs with Mr. Frey.

Mr. Henley's new album, "Building the Perfect Beast" (Geffen GHS 24026), is the closest in sound to an Eagles record among these five, and hence may well appeal to fans of that band. Mr. Henley has a distinctive, Texas-twanging baritone, plaintive and tough, something that would sound right at home on a record by the Band. Despite some slick-sounding synthesizer overlays, the basic idiom recalls the Eagles, and there are some nice cameo vocals by the likes of Belinda Carlisle and Patty Smyth.

The songs, too, most of them co- written with Danny Kortchmar, mine many of the same themes of romantic regret, desire and despair that we used to encounter from the Eagles. The trouble is that comfortable familiarity can quickly lapse into overfamiliarity: one reason the Los Angeles rock sound of the 70's didn't survive into the 80's was that people simply got tired of it. Mr. Henley, less successfully than the others under consideration here, hasn't found a way out of that dilemma.

Far more effective - indeed, the most pleasing album among these five - is "The Allnighter," the second solo disk by Mr. Frey (MCA- 5501). Always the carnivorous eclectic of the Eagles, Mr. Frey has produced an album of elegant, refined, soul-flavored songs that is both romantically sexy and a sophisticated extension of the familiar Los Angeles rock style. The songs are co- written with Jack Tempchin, a longtime Los Angeles singer-songwriter who has never achieved any great renown on his own. But the success of this album belongs to Mr. Frey, for the quality of the songs, the subtle skill of their singing and the sumptuousness of the arrangements.

The third solo Eagle, Timothy B. Schmit, was a latecomer to the band, having played bass, sung and written songs before that for Poco. The trouble with his "Playin' It Cool" (Asylum 9 60359-1) is that he seems to be trying too hard to escape the sense of folk-rock sameness that weighs down Mr. Henley. The songs are a potpourri of different writers, with Mr. Schmit involved in some but not all of them. The arrangements, too, seem to wander across the stylistic map: many of them work well on their own, but the album as a whole fails to cohere.

John David Souther, who crops up as a songwriter for Mr. Schmit and as a background vocalist for both Mr. Schmit and Mr. Henley, has long occupied a niche just below the top level of stardom in this scene. He is a close associate of nearly everyone involved, a well-respected songwriter and a sensitive and direct if vocally limited singer. But his solo albums have never quite caught on commercially.

Mr. Souther's latest, "Home by Dawn" (Warner Bros. 9 25081-1), finds this archetypically lovelorn balladeer in characteristically affecting form. He, too, tries to stretch his range with uptempo songs (not that he ever altogether eschewed them). But his forte, and this album's strength, remains the sad, slow songs. And although his idiom certainly is reminiscent of the Eagles', his very lack of dominant commercial success helps preserve his sense of freshness.

Finally, we have the latest solo album by Lindsey Buckingham, "Go Insane" (Elektra 60363-1). Mr. Buckingham, the loner-wild man of Fleetwood Mac, first emerged as a part of a duo with Stevie Nicks, now also of Fleetwood Mac. Their joining this former British blues-rock band transformed it into the epitome of the Southern California sound and the overwhelming popular success it became in the 70's.

It was Mr. Buckingham who provided most of the band's buoyant pop- rock flavoring, with its plaintive high harmonies. But it was also he who undercut the latent frothiness of that genre with fascinating, disturbing, off-balance feints and twists.

However, it was Mr. Buckingham's determination to pursue his own, idiosyncratic directions, and to work by himself in his home studio, that contributed mightily to the recent quiescence of Fleetwood Mac. This was a process that began with the band's two-disk album, "Tusk," which was largely a Buckingham project, and has continued with Mr. Buckingham's own solo activity.

"Go Insane" prolongs the image of the mad outsider, from its title to its crazed-looking jacket photos to its actual songs. This is, in many respects, a profoundly eccentric record, full of deliberately odd lyrics, abrupt song- structures and bizarre instrumentation.

And yet this disk has an undeniable charm, too, and it reminds us that beneath the fun-fun-fun surface and the stately folk-rock torch songs that define Los Angeles rock of the 60's and 70's, there has always been a defiantly oddball current, from Brian Wilson to Frank Zappa to the punks of today - and that undercurrent has lent the simpler platitudes life. "Go Insane" may not be the accomplished pop artifact that "The Allnighter" is. But it has its endearing qualities, all the same.

photo of John David Souther and Glenn Frey

A caption on the Recordings page last week misstated the professional background of the rock musician, John David Souther. Mr. Souther is not a former member of the Eagles.

[michelej1]

Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), August 19, 1984

Section: FEATURES ENTERTAINMENT ART

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM SOLOS

Ken Tucker, Inquirer Popular-Music Critic

Lindsey Buckingham , once and future member of Fleetwood Mac, has called his new solo album Go Insane (Elektra * * * * ), but it's a devilishly sane affair. Buckingham's mastery of the recording studio enables him to summon up the whole history of rock-and-roll, as he plays all the instruments and supplies all the odd sound effects. Buckingham is at his best when he combines his eccentric sounds in the service of wooing a woman or lamenting a lost love, but even his quiet tribute to the late Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, "D.W. Suite," is a remarkably controlled, unpretentious composition.

[strandinthewind]

I like this song and the video. It does sound FMish to me though and that chick looks like Stevie

[Maccafan5000]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I like this song and the video. It does sound FMish to me though and that chick looks like Stevie

When I was a kid and first saw this video (that even at a young age I loved immensely because of the castles and gothic qualities, my parents were worried), I was convinced that it was Stevie. It confused me greatly once I learned more about the Mac and that in fact, this was not Stevie at all, it was just a Mirage

[strandinthewind]

^^^

I know. And, the harmonies sound like Stevie. But, their voices can sound alike at times, esp. then.

[michelej1]

As the video was indeed seen and he can assume people know the song from MTV or VH1, there's no excuse for not performing it in concert.

I don't think the OOTC videos got heavy rotation, but I think Go Insane did.

Michele

[David]

Originally Posted by michelej1

New York Times (NY), December 2, 1984

VETERANS OF LOS ANGELES ROCK STILL CHAMPION ITS JOYS

JOHN ROCKWELL"Go Insane" may not be the accomplished pop artifact that "The Allnighter" is. But it has its endearing qualities, all the same.

This disappoints me -- not because Lindsey's album is found wanting relative to Glenn Frey's but because John Rockwell wrote this. Frey's album is mainstream commercial from opening note to closing & breaks no new ground for Frey (or pop-rock radio), whereas Lindsey's album breaks many pop-track rules, establishing a few new ones in the doing. I wouldn't be surprised if it had been the majority of the rock writers at the time to have praised the Frey over the Buckingham, but to hear it from Rockwell! Jeez. Maybe, as critic, he was the mooncalf that Steve Simels accused Stevie Nicks of being.

[Sanne2]

Did he even go the the MTV awards that year? Any pictures?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

So did Lindsey end up winning anything?

That happens all the time though, more interesting work is dismissed and the commercial offering is praised. It's only in hindsight that stuff like Go Insane gets reassessed and recognised.

Ha, good question. I'll have to look up the winners and post them. Michele

[#1LiddyBuckFan]

No, Lindsey didn't win anything. Here's a link to MTV.com...click on the "winners" tab. It shows all the winners and nominees from 1985.

http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/past-vmas/1985/index.jhtml

[gretchen]

Originally Posted by michelej1

To me, the Slow Dancing video was just a little too silly and frivolous. I liked the song's sensual side and would have preferred a more somber video. Although, judging from the Big Love clinch, Lindsey would portray sensuality a little awkwardly on camera, so maybe it's just as well.

Also, I don't mind seeing Lindsey depicted as a sort of vampire. I like vampires.
Michele

You are so preaching to the choir!!!!!

[Betsy]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I like this song and the video. It does sound FMish to me though and that chick looks like Stevie

Didn't Mick do a graveyard~horror movie themed video for The Zoo's
I WANT YOU BACK?