Ongoing History Daily: A VERY risky video shoot
Back in the day when music videos held sell billions of CDs, artists were willing to do almost anything to grab our attention. In 1995, Matt Johnson and his band released an album called Hanky Panky, which featured a single entitled “I Saw the Light.” The video was shot at the Chrysler building in New York and it shows Matt sitting on the back of one of the gargoyles that decorate the exterior of the building.
What we see is Matt sitting on one of the actual gargoyles that jut out over the street from the 61st floor. There was no safety harness and no net, just special little suction cups on Matt’s boots. The building supervisor who okayed the video shoot was furious because he wasn’t told what the band planned to do.
As for Matt, he admitted the shot was very scary but he had prepared well with “brandy and tequila.”
Thursday’s post was on some very rare alt-rock records. And don’t forget to check out my podcast The Ongoing History of New Music where you listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, Stitcher, or wherever you get your on-demand audio.
