The music video man – Stephen Pitalo preps book on “Golden Age” of music videos

To Stephen Pitalo, there is no question—the golden age of the music video ended with Guns ‘N Roses’ trilogy of blockbuster short films for “Don’t Cry,” “November Rain” and “Estranged” from Use Your Illusion I and II.

“Those videos cost a whole lot of money, and they were strange,” Pitalo says over the phone from his New York office. “By the end [of ‘Estranged’], you have Axl Rose swimming with the dolphins. It’s a moment where we go so far away from where the music video started.”

Pitalo, an LSU graduate who moved to New York City in 1995, is a music video geek who has been compiling interviews with directors and artists for a two-book series, Inside The Golden Age of the Music Video. The first book is slated for release in early 2014.

For Pitalo, the book is an opportunity to dig into an unheralded era of creative freedom.

“I wanted to give insight into the creative process and challenges in making those iconic music videos and, due to the Internet, they are being viewed more than ever now,” he says. “There was no book that dug deep into the ideas about the images and how scenes were shown and how much creative freedom the directors had.”
In the writer’s opinion, the music video’s golden age started in 1976 when Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” aired on Top of the Pops.

“That was a bit of a revelation in what you could do in a music video,” he says. “Many English music video directors told me [seeing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’] was their moment when the light bulb went off and they realized that’s what they wanted to do.”

During this 17-year span, Pitalo says there were early pioneers who shot simple performance clips. After, experimental filmmakers started pushing the format into new territory.

“Record companies and talent management hadn’t figured out a tried and true formula for music videos in relation to selling records,” he says. “They didn’t interfere early in the process. Getting an assignment for a video and being a director where these powers don’t interfere, it’s a dream come true. These filmmakers had a blank canvas and a free hand to work. Then, the video was put on [MTV] that was watched by everyone, and it was repeated over and over. If that isn’t a golden age, I don’t know what it is.”

After 1993, creative freedom started to wane, according to Pitalo, who is a music video director himself with 12 videos under his belt, including “Beach Ball” for Becky Sharp—a Baton Rouge rock band—in 1995.

And while he’ll acknowledge a few good videos were released after that time, he’s more cynical about modern music videos.

“I look at it like this: MTV was our first wife,” he says. “We fell in love, but then 10-15 years later, she starts to change and look at other stuff. Then, she ends up leaving you for the money. As people get more inventive with music videos, we’ll see boundaries get pushed down even more. The tendency nowadays is trending towards a technological trick. That doesn’t appeal to me. Sometimes, people forget the best special effect you can have is a magnetic performer. The greatest videos are the ones where you put the camera on them and let them go.”

Stephen Pitalo’s music video picks
“Thriller” by Michael Jackson, directed by John Landis.
“I spoke to Landis and he said that the reason the video was and continues to be popular is because the dance is easy to do. Every Halloween, everybody wants to dress up like Michael again, and the way he shot Michael Jackson—it was the most beautiful he ever was.”

“Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran, directed by Russell Mulcahy
“This is a breathtaking, amazing video. I’ll watch this anytime. This became one of the standards by which people created music videos.”

“Twilight Zone” by Golden Earring, directed by Dick Maas.
“It’s a spy thriller, basically, with Nazi chicks dancing around during the guitar break, which is fantastic.”

“All of the Good Ones are Taken” by Ian Hunter, directed by Martin Kahane.
“This is great storytelling. A rich English musician falls in love with a waitress. He’s trying to woo her, and doesn’t get the girl in the end.”

“Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper, directed by Edd Griles.
“It’s one of the most touching things in music videos. Edd Griles told me [Lauper] cried on cue out of that eye that was facing the camera. That’s talent.”