‘We Are Live’ N°8 – Vintage 90s Music Videos

1 . Jimmy Barnes – Good Times (w/ INXS)

“Good Times” throws listeners into a raucous session fueled by the energy of Jimmy Barnes and INXS, straddling anthemic rock and raw spontaneity.

Originally written by George Young and Harry Vanda for The Easybeats in 1968, the song finds a second wind here, steeped in 1980s bravado.

Recorded in a whirlwind 1.5 days, the track mirrors the chaotic, booze-soaked camaraderie of the session, oozing a gritty charm that feels unapologetically unpolished.

Barnes’ gravelly vocals grind against Michael Hutchence’s smooth delivery, creating a vocal dynamic that feels like a musical tug-of-war, while INXS lays down a groove that anchors the chaos.

Promoted through the *Australian Made* tour alongside icons like Chrissy Amphlett, it serves as more than just a song; it’s a snapshot of a brash, unapologetic era in Australian rock.

Featured on the soundtrack of *The Lost Boys*, its use alongside the vampire-infused drama amplifies its hedonistic undertones.

Its success—peaking at #2 in Australia and gracing international charts—cements it as a momentary burst of cultural wild energy, though it never quite lands as definitively in the US as in its homeland.

The accompanying video, splicing studio shots with *The Lost Boys* visuals, veers between performance grit and cinematic camp, a collision of worlds that somehow works.

Not merely a cover, Barnes and INXS inject the song with a frantic swagger that sidesteps reverence, aiming instead for pure sonic adrenaline.

More than a chart placement or a movie tie-in, “Good Times” embodies the kind of reckless fun that rock pretends to have left behind but can never fully shake.

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2 . The Saw Doctors – World Of Good

“World of Good” channels The Saw Doctors’ knack for storytelling, wrapping nostalgia in a blend of Irish rock tinged with Americana influences.

Released in January 1996, it sits firmly within the sonic framework of their third album, *Same Oul’ Town*, which itself neatly balances whimsy and working-class grit.

The song exudes an upbeat resilience, a melodic lifeline stitched with jangly guitars and unpretentious charm reminiscent of their heroes, Bruce Springsteen and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

But there’s no denying its roots lie in the everyday mundanity of small-town life—a recurring motif in the band’s discography, dealing less in sweeping epics and more in familiar, intimate snapshots.

Charting at number 10 in Ireland and a respectable number 15 in the UK, the track proves there’s still demand for their signature formula—heart-affirming tunes served without grandiosity.

The Saw Doctors round out the narrative with a video that seems to ask: What’s left when the world does you no favors but a song to lean on?

While the band is anything but groundbreaking, there’s beauty in their steadfast simplicity, a refusal to contort themselves into overambitious shapes.

*Same Oul’ Town* may have peaked at number six on the UK Albums Chart, but its success feels like a private victory rather than an industry conquest.

In a career littered with Irish chart-toppers, including the cheeky earworm “I Useta Lover,” *World of Good* finds its place as part of the honest, unadorned lineage that anchors their sound.

Featured on the 1996 album “Same Oul’ Town”.

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3 . James – Sit Down

“Sit Down,” by James, arrives at the intersection of indie rock sincerity and Madchester’s swaggering grooves.

The original 1989 release humbly charted at No. 77, only to morph into a cultural juggernaut with its 1991 re-recorded version, which planted its flag at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart.

James’ thank-you letter to iconoclasts Doris Lessing and Patti Smith, the song offers a meditation on loneliness and human connection, its lyrics cutting through with simplicity and emotional resonance.

Musically, the track revels in a blend of jangly guitars, an opulent keyboard riff, and a driving rhythm that pulls feet to the floor—all of it anchored by Tim Booth’s unmistakable voice, equal parts urgency and tenderness.

The track’s original incarnation clocks in as a sprawling seven-minute epic, while the reworked version feels like pop-radio compromise, all sparkle and polish but no shortage of heart.

Its music video, sprinkled with quirky irony, features Booth hugging a sheep, a visual choice as odd as it is memorable—though not without backstage theatrics, including the unceremonious indignity of said sheep urinating on him.

Through it all, the sheer collective energy of “Sit Down” makes it more ceremony than song, a staple of live performances where audiences dissolve into one joyous, singing mob.

For all its rollicking accessibility, it remains a pivotal work in James’ catalog, straddling the threshold between cult band charm and mainstream inevitability.

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4 . Big Bam Boo – Shooting From My Heart

Big Bam Boo’s “Shooting From My Heart” is a late-‘80s time capsule wrapped in jangle-heavy acoustic riffs and harmonized hooks.

Hailing from the UK, the duo—Simon Tedd (later rebranding as Simon Scardanelli) and Shark (aka Steven Birch)—crafted a sound that flirted with folk-pop but couldn’t quite commit, leaving it suspended somewhere between earnest sincerity and commercial ambition.

Released in 1989 on their debut album “Fun, Faith & Fairplay,” the track managed a respectable though not chart-topping presence, peaking at #61 on the UK Singles Chart, scraping into Canadian and U.S. rock territories with middling success.

The production, handled by Rhett Davies (responsible for polishing the works of Roxy Music and Dire Straits), underlines a clean, radio-friendly polish that fits neatly into the sonic wallpaper of the era—smooth but not exactly groundbreaking.

The accompanying music video, a vaguely heart-on-sleeve performance piece, leans into the duo’s acoustic-driven aesthetic, with both musicians earnestly strumming away as if on the cusp of a campfire singalong for the MTV era.

Clearly riding on the coattails of their more prominent single, “Waiting for a Miracle” (which outpaced this track by landing in Billboard’s Top 40), “Shooting From My Heart” doesn’t entirely capture the magic its title promises.

Its legacy, if one can call it that, survives on niche playlists and YouTube uploads, often rediscovered by fans nostalgic for the fleeting optimism of the late ‘80s pop-rock ethos.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect here isn’t the song itself but Big Bam Boo’s brief flicker of presence in a crowded acoustic-pop landscape; they disbanded shortly after, leaving behind little more than an album that quietly aged in obscurity rather than acclaim.

“Shooting From My Heart” might not hit the target of timelessness, but it remains a curious reflection of a genre moment trying to find itself amid shifting musical tides.

Featured on the 1989 album “Fun Faith & Fairplay”.

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5 . Rick Astley – Cry For Help

“Cry for Help,” a track from Rick Astley’s 1991 album “Free,” signals the artist’s pivot from his trademark dance-pop towards a more gospel-inflected maturity.

Co-written with Rob Fisher, it assembles a layered soundscape featuring the Andraé Crouch Choir, whose backing vocals cradle Astley’s velvety croon in a rich, contemplative arrangement.

Lyrically, it grapples with emotional vulnerability and the weight of asking for support, themes that feel personal yet universal, delivered with an earnestness that betrays none of the pop sheen Astley was known for in his earlier hits.

The song climbed to respectable chart positions, settling at number 7 in the UK and hitting number 5 in the US, managing to secure a foothold on Canadian, Irish, and Adult Contemporary charts as well.

A video featuring Astley in a minimalistic setup, framed by choir singers, added visual depth to the song’s introspection, though its poignancy may have been dulled slightly by its forced rotation on MTV Europe.

This single, undoubtedly a departure from his earlier work, is equal parts ambitious and restrained—a snapshot of Astley courting artistic evolution while retaining a knack for melody.

If the goal here was reinvention, “Cry for Help” lands somewhere between genuine emotional resonance and calculated radio-friendliness.

By trading synth-heavy beats for sweeping arrangements, it hints at a growing artist, albeit one still somewhat tethered to the formulas underpinning his career’s commercial highs.

Featured on the 1991 album “Free”.

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6 . Soundgarden – Fell On Black Days

Few tracks capture the bleakness of existential doubt quite like “Fell On Black Days” by Soundgarden, a standout from their 1994 album *Superunknown.*

Chris Cornell’s haunting vocals deliver an introspective narrative of unexpected emotional collapse, turning the ordinary struggles of being human into something almost cosmic in its weight.

The song’s 6/4 time signature, which guitarist Kim Thayil described as an “accident,” adds a disjointed, lurching rhythm that mirrors the unpredictability of life’s darker moments.

Produced by Michael Beinhorn and recorded in Seattle, it channels the grunge-psychedelic ethos that defined the band’s mid-’90s peak, achieving a rare balance of rawness and precision.

The accompanying video, directed by Jake Scott, strips things down to a brooding studio performance, filmed in stark shadows at Bad Animals Studio—a fitting visual metaphor for the song’s mood.

Despite its somber tone, it found surprising commercial success, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, proving that even songs about unraveling can resonate widely.

“Fell On Black Days” doesn’t just linger in despair; its power lies in acknowledging life’s fragility without attempting to tidy it up, making it a chillingly honest anthem for the disillusioned.

Featured on the 1994 album “Superunknown“.

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7 . Pop Will Eat Itself – Get The Girl! Kill The Baddies!

“Get The Girl! Kill The Baddies!” lands as an industrial punch wrapped in a layer of snarky pop culture references.

Released in 1993, the single is a peak moment for Pop Will Eat Itself’s genre-blending exploits, fusing electronic grit with punk energy and a touch of alternative hip-hop.

Its irreverently cinematic title nods to action film clichés, a fitting thematic match for a band enamored with media’s fragmented chaos.

The track’s dancier production leans on both live percussion from Fuzz Townshend and pre-programmed beats, forging a sound that feels both mechanized and organic.

While the music video channels a comic book aesthetic, emphasizing the group’s sharp-edged identity, the audio itself swerves between accessible hooks and jagged, industrial textures.

Charting at #9 on the UK Singles Chart, this was undoubtedly a commercial win, though its pop success juxtaposed against PWEI’s more abrasive tendencies added a layer of artistic tension.

Remixes, like the ‘Street Fighting Donkey Mix,’ amplified the song’s restless energy, building its legacy among club-goers and alternative music fans.

Despite RCA dropping the band before the single’s release, its performance on Top of the Pops without label backing cemented Pop Will Eat Itself’s reputation as stubbornly DIY provocateurs.

Featured on the 1992 album “The Looks or the Lifestyle?”.

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8 . The Stone Roses – Waterfall

“Waterfall” by The Stone Roses glides to the heart of their storied debut album, released in 1989—a year that saw the Madchester movement shimmer into view.

No single release? No problem.

The track still etches its place amongst the cornerstones of late-’80s alternative rock, bristling with jangly guitars and rhythmic grooves that nod toward both the carefree euphoria of ’60s psychedelia and the dancefloor sensibilities of its acid house contemporaries.

Written by Ian Brown and John Squire, “Waterfall” paints vivid imagery of escape and renewal, weaving its themes through lyrics of cascading waters and unfurled sails.

John Squire’s guitar riff has ascended into the pantheon of Brit-rock anthems, its shimmering tones a direct line to the band’s Byrds-inspired influences.

The backward spin into “Don’t Stop” on the same album deserves its own footnote—a tape-reversed experiment that turns echo into invention, proving their avant-pop instincts weren’t just accidental heroics.

Critics often slot the album next to the Beatles in spirited debates, and while that’s a big suit to tailor, the Art School-meets-Stonehenge ethos they embody earns a knowing nod.

But for all its nostalgia-laden charm, “Waterfall” isn’t just retro reverb; it’s a manifesto of a band on the cusp of crafting a genre’s lookbook and tearing up its rulebook simultaneously.

And let’s not overlook their cultural moment—any serious discussion of their Spike Island gig solidifies the song as more than a festival set piece but as a banner unfurled for their eclectic audience of 27,000 gathered by the River Mersey.

It’s both a time capsule and a warning shot, reminding us the Madchester wave wasn’t interested in small ponds.

Featured on the 1989 album “The Stone Roses“.

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9 . The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary

Released in 1985, “She Sells Sanctuary” from The Cult’s second album *Love* stands as an iconic artifact of the post-punk and gothic rock fusion dominating mid-’80s subculture.

The shimmering guitar riff, crafted with obsessive zeal by Billy Duffy wielding an EBow and a clutter of effects pedals, opens the track with a near-mystic allure, both polished and primal.

Ian Astbury’s vocals float somewhere between shamanic chanting and pure theatricality, perfectly complementing the track’s rolling rhythms and soaring energy.

Recorded at Olympic Studios in London under Steve Brown’s production, the song wasn’t just a commercial breakthrough—it was a cultural moment, carving its place on the UK Singles Chart at number 15 and reverberating globally in markets like New Zealand and Canada.

The video, with its fiery visuals and a touch of gothic drama, channels the track’s restless energy but doesn’t veer into unnecessary melodrama.

Its broader cultural penetration is undeniable; the song’s enduring legacy stretches across remixes, video game soundtracks like *Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s,* and countless compilations, reminding skeptics of its timeless appeal.

As the last piece featuring drummer Nigel Preston—fired not long after its release—it captures a moment of transition for the band, before they leaned into a harder rock edge in subsequent years.

By 2023, its longevity was validated with a platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry, acknowledging over 600,000 units sold and streamed.

“She Sells Sanctuary” lives in a distinctive twilight space—instantly evocative yet impossible to fully categorize within one genre, as influential now as it was unpredictable then.

Featured on the 1985 album “Love”.

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10 . Carter U.S.M. – Bloodsport For All

“Bloodsport For All” thrives on its confrontational energy, tackling systemic issues in the British military with unflinching candor.

Released in January 1991 as part of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine’s second album *30 Something,* the song arrived during a period fraught with political tension, namely the Gulf War.

The lyrics take direct aim at institutional racism and hazing culture within the armed forces, presenting a pointed critique that sidesteps ambiguity in favor of visceral impact.

Musically, the track is a collision of sequenced basslines, drum machines, and gritty guitar riffs, crafting an aggressive backdrop for the duo’s bold storytelling.

Its no-holds-barred approach resulted in a BBC ban, inadvertently amplifying its notoriety and aligning it with the band’s image as provocateurs of the early ’90s alternative scene.

Live performances of the song often brimmed with charged theatrics, from stage diving to crowd chants, embodying the raw spirit of their gigs.

The track’s visual counterpart, its music video, echoes its themes with stark imagery, further solidifying its place in Carter U.S.M.’s catalog as both a cultural critique and a raucous time capsule of early ’90s dissent.

Featured on the 1991 album “30 Something”.

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11 . Oasis – Whatever

Released in December 1994, “Whatever” by Oasis is an orchestral rock anthem that marked a significant departure for the band, blending Britpop grit with cinematic grandeur.

The song’s orchestration, arranged by Nick Ingman and performed by the London Session Orchestra, feels both expansive and uncharacteristically polished for the Gallagher brothers, showcasing a sophistication rare in their catalog at the time.

Noel Gallagher’s melody borrows from Neil Innes’ “How Sweet to Be an Idiot,” leading to an out-of-court settlement over songwriting credits, a peculiarity that adds a layer of irony to the song’s grandiose ambitions.

Its moderately complex structure, with key changes and instrumental layers, sets it apart from Oasis’ more straightforward fare, though these flourishes never overly complicate its mass appeal.

The accompanying black-and-white music video, directed by Mark Szaszy, walks a strange tightrope between abstract visuals and standard band shots, juxtaposing artistic ambition with a sense of mid-90s Britpop excess.

Its B-sides—”Half the World Away” and “(It’s Good) To Be Free”—arguably outshine the lead track in their raw intimacy, with the former finding a second life as the unmistakable theme to the sitcom “The Royle Family.”

Live versions of “Whatever” include playful interpolations of songs like The Beatles’ “Octopus’s Garden,” reinforcing the band’s knack for weaving cultural references into performances that feel spontaneous, yet self-consciously iconic.

The remastered 4K release of the video for the song’s 30th anniversary underscores its staying power within the Oasis oeuvre, despite its existence outside traditional album boundaries.

Though an outlier in their discography, “Whatever” captures a rare moment when the band dared to break its usual mold, offering fans a glimpse of what Oasis could achieve when venturing just beyond their usual confines.

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12 . Queen – Tie Your Mother Down

“Tie Your Mother Down,” the raucous opener from Queen’s 1976 album *A Day at the Races,* punches through the speakers with a riff-heavy bravado that feels both calculated and anarchic. Brian May supposedly conjured its iconic guitar line in the serene surroundings of Tenerife—a hilariously ironic birthplace for a song about teenage rebellion.

Not quite breaking the charts in its initial release (peaking modestly at No. 31 in the UK) yet refusing to vanish into obscurity, its re-release as a double A-side gave it a second lease on life—though one imagines it never demanded permission to live loudly in the first place. Its U.S. performance was comparatively muted, managing a respectable, if unremarkable, No. 49 on the Billboard chart.

Musically, this is Queen showing off their hard rock instincts, with May’s layered guitars grabbing you by the collar while Freddie Mercury delivers the lyrics with forceful swagger. Roger Taylor’s drumming doesn’t just keep time; it lunges forward with a youthful impulsiveness that matches the song’s confrontational energy. It’s the musical equivalent of throwing a tantrum, but with disciplined precision, which cleanly toes the line between rebellion and showmanship.

The music video, directed by Bruce Gowers, plays out as a symphony of concert imagery and mid-70s spectacle, though it’s marred slightly by an alternate video supposedly involving pyrotechnic bloopers—a detail too absurd to forget. Live renditions became legendary, with the song cementing its role as a show opener during tours. Collaborations with artists like Joe Elliott and Slash at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, or encores with the Foo Fighters, have since allowed the track to sidestep the boundaries of Queen’s catalog, migrating from setlists to moments of cross-genre communion.

Conceptually, it’s a tongue-in-cheek manifesto of youthful defiance—commanding parental interference to step aside in the pursuit of mischief. The lyric might lean unsubtly into trope territory, but it’s hard to accuse it of insincerity when the delivery is so charismatic. It isn’t reinventing the wheel, but with a riff that gnaws at the ear and Mercury’s belting charisma, you find yourself not caring about reinvention. Sometimes, rock’s job is just to swagger in, make noise, and leave tire marks on the floor. This track does exactly that.

Featured on the 1976 album “A Day at the Races “.

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