Ever since the dawn of MTV and Friday Night Videos, the music video has significantly impacted musical tastes and pop culture. It might not be as extreme as when the Buggles declared that "Video Killed the Radio Star", but there is no arguing that the music video certainly could make or break a song's popularity. So this regular Flashback Video feature will serve to remember some of the music videos from the great '80s decade that made an impact on me in one way or another.
This issue we will cover "Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue. It was released in September of 1985 as the second single from the band's Theatre of Pain album. The power ballad surprisingly only reached #89 on the Billboard Hot 100 when originally released (but it did make it to #37 when re-released in 1991). I say surprisingly because the music video for this song received heavy airplay on MTV and that usually coincides with chart success.
The music video for "Home Sweet Home" was directed by Wayne Isham who directed most of Motley Crue's videos including "Smokin' in the Boys Room", "Girls, Girls, Girls" and "Dr. Feelgood" among others. Isham also directed all of Bon Jovi's videos including "Wanted Dead or Alive" and was awarded (with Bon Jovi) the MTV Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 1991 Video Music Awards for that outstanding work. Isham also worked with Def Leppard, Whitney Houston, Bryan Adams, and more during the '80s and countless more since then.
The video starts with each band member in separate settings receiving a phone call home, and replying "I'm on my way!" The piano intro plays over a clip of a tour bus driving by at sunset. The rest of the video shows the band pre-concert and performing on stage. The concert footage was shot at The Summit in Houston, Texas (where they reportedly performed the song twice to get enough coverage) and exterior footage at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas. The end of the video shows the same tour bus with the words "Rockin 'N' Rollin" on the marquee heading off into another sunset or sunrise. Here is the music video for "Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue...
The video was so popular that it topped the Dial MTV daily request chart for over three months in 1986, until MTV temporarily invoked the (unwritten) "Crue Rule" for a couple yeaars, dropping videos from their request line 30 days after their MTV premiere. Pretty impressive accomplishment.
Hope you enjoyed another trip back to the '80s thanks to Flashback Video!