Glenn Frey Music Video Survivor

[AmarilloByMorning]

What woman could possibly vote off a video that has an image of Glenn Frey getting out of bed, getting soaked by a hose and holding a little baby chick?!!

Ding! The baby chick scene gets me every time! I couldn't believe I'd never seen the video before.

As for Blues v. City, I keep returning to the fact that anyone with something resembling a knack for storytelling could convey a decent drug-related tale and produce accompanying images. Is it a pretty cool video objectively speaking? Certainly; however, several others have or could duplicate its theme with equal success.

By contrast, not everyone could pen a track like “You Belong to the City” and employ such an artistically-arranged series of images and sequence of events to evoke the sense of a Midwestern urban environment. Blues tells a tale but does not pluck at emotions; City pushes the listener along an engaging beat that effectively blurs their surroundings into white noise and transports them to a sticky summer night between the blaring sirens and pinpricks of light glinting against the darkness of an uncaring world. It’s a love song for a city, one of his only tracks that flies directly in the face of the forty-year-old tenet that Henley’s the master songsmith and Frey’s the unabashed, straightforward one. The lyrics dovetail one person’s experience with a general sense of uneasiness regarding potentially deviant (or simply unremarkable) prior actions; it could be used, in metaphor, to relay an experience in rehab (touching on the same theme of “you can never leave,” this time it’s “you’ll always belong to the city”), or generally to comment on aging and the fact that some people never really do or that life’s journey never ends and you never really arrive anywhere (“still don’t know where you’re going, still just a face in the crowd”). In VH1’s ‘80s marathons it always pops out as one of the few videos that really could air today with very little tweaking - a small change of the girl’s dress/hair, and it could have resulted from any era, really. The Miami Vice integration is unobtrusive and does not require any prior knowledge of the song’s inclusion on the soundtrack. And Glenn’s outfit is unequivocally cool, even two-plus decades later.


I've hemorrhaged at the mouth again - sorry about that. Could just be me.

I’m apparently one of the few who prefer “River of Dreams.” Ahh, well. I vote for Smuggler’s Blues.

[Freypower]

I love the ROD video but in terms of the effectiveness of what is being shown, it doesn't work quite as well as the other two. However, what GEF said about it is true...

Another part of SB I love is the bathroom scene where you can see the Spanish word 'Aguilas' (Eagles) scrawled on the wall. The whole thing just rocks.

[sodascouts]

The tribe has spoken and the next video to be eliminated in the "Glenn Frey Music Videos” Survivor is River of Dreams. “River of Dreams”, get your things together, now. You have to leave the island immediately.

The remaining two videos, please step forward. The tribe will now determine who takes the grand prize by voting for the video they want to win.

Votes
River of Dreams – 8
Smuggler's Blues - 5
You Belong To the City – 3


Vote Breakdown
River of Dreams - Brooke
River of Dreams - RebeccaLovesEagles
River of Dreams - Freypower
River of Dreams - WildThyme
River of Dreams - Koala
River of Dreams - Ive always been a dreamer
River of Dreams - sodascouts
River of Dreams - TimothyBFan
Smuggler's Blues - EagleLady
Smuggler's Blues - glenneaglesfan
Smuggler's Blues - timfan
Smuggler's Blues - Prettymaid
Smuggler's Blues - AmarilloByMorning
You Belong to the City - eaglesfever
You Belong to the City - Glennsallnighter
You Belong to the City - GlennLover


Videos eliminated:
Love in the 21st Century 08/29
The Heat Is On 08/31
Some Kind of Blue 09/02
I've Got Mine 09/04
[Part of Me, Part of You 09/06
Livin' Right 09/08
I Found Somebody 09/10
True Love 09/12
Sexy Girl 09/14
Soul Searchin' 09/16
The One You Love 09/18
River of Dreams 09/20


Videos still remaining:
Smuggler's Blues
You Belong to the City

This is our last and final round. As a result, it’s special. We do NOT vote for the video we want to leave. We vote for the one WE WANT TO WIN. That’s the way they do it on the show, so that’s the way we do it here. Again,

VOTE FOR THE VIDEO YOU WANT TO WIN.

Voting for the final round begins now.

[sodascouts]

You Belong to the City is well-done with great visuals, that's for sure - but Smuggler's Blues excites me. It's absolutely riveting. I'm on the edge of my seat, breath held. YBBTC hits you aesthetically. Smuggler's Blues hits you VISCERALLY.

The visuals and lyrics work so well together that it's like a soundtrack for a movie. Heck, the thing inspired an episode of Miami Vice! How many times does that happen? It just shows you how effective this is.... and original in the sense that it takes a plot that could have been tired and overdone and makes it fresh. Yeah, anybody could do a run-of-the-mill smuggler's plot to the music... but how many could do it so effectively? How many could pack this much punch, time it this well, stuff so much suspense and drama into a 5 minute video? Not too many, as is evinced by its award and how memorable it is, sticking with you years after you've first seen it.

It boils down to the entertainment factor for me. I love You Belong to the City, but when it comes to holding my attention, making my heart pound, engaging me full-force - that's Smuggler's Blues all the way.

Put simply, it's the one that I most enjoy watching.

I cast my vote for Smuggler's Blues.

SMUGGLER'S BLUES FOR THE WIN!!!!

[Freypower]

Agreed. It has to be Smuggler's Blues.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

A strong case has been made for why Smuggler’s Blues should win this game. I agree that it is a great video. Now, I am going to make my final argument for You Belong To the City, although others have been very eloquent in describing it. As good as Smuggler’s Blues is, I still don’t think it is quite as unique, sophisticated, and artistic as You Belong To the City. I think what appeals to me more about YBTTC is what others mentioned earlier – the plot for Smuggler’s Blues almost writes itself whereas YBTTC’s story is so creative, yet fits with the song beautifully. The storyline, together with the incredible photography make this video about as cinematic as you can get, IMO.

There is another thing that I forgot to mention earlier about the YBTTC video that I am interested in getting people’s ideas about. Glenn seems interested in the girl because he even goes into the bar after spotting her through the window. So why does he leave the bar and not pursue the woman? I have two theories – maybe he thinks she is out of his league since she appears to be a rich, high class girl, or it may be that when she is, obviously, annoyed at the guy that tries to hit on her, Glenn figures she is not on the make. Either way, he doesn’t want to take the chance of rejection. Of course, once she pursues him, he’s not gonna turn down a sure thing.

Finally, I want to mention the shots of the twin towers in the video. Now, of course, at the time this video was made, the towers were photographed because they epitomized life in the city. However, now, I am very moved every time I see how beautifully these images were captured for eternity in this video. Those gorgeous shots just add an extra emotional dimension to the video that was never even intended.

So now may the best video win …

I cast my vote for You Belong To the City for the win.

[Prettymaid]

I need to place a couple of votes for Smugglers Blues to help even the score.

When I posted the above I forgot that we vote for which video we want to win in the final round. So needless to say, I am not going to be placing a second vote for SB. What more can I say about YBTTC that hasn't been said? Thank you ABM for your insight. I got excited about the video just reading your post! Good luck to both videos. As I said, this was difficult for me.

You Belong To The City to win!!!!!!!

[timfan]

well as much as I am dissapointed to see ROD gone I must vote for my second fav....

SMUGGLER'S BLUES FOR THE WIN!!!

[EagleLady]

Smuggler's Blues for the win

[Prettymaid]

There is another thing that I forgot to mention earlier about the YBTTC video that I am interested in getting people’s ideas about. Glenn seems interested in the girl because he even goes into the bar after spotting her through the window. So why does he leave the bar and not pursue the woman? I have two theories – maybe he thinks she is out of his league since she appears to be a rich, high class girl, or it may be that when she is, obviously, annoyed at the guy that tries to hit on her, Glenn figures she is not on the make. Either way, he doesn’t want to take the chance of rejection. Of course, once she pursues him, he’s not gonna turn down a sure thing.

Okay Dreamer, you asked for it!

I think the guy who tries to light her cigarette in the bar is the guy who stood her up at the beginning of the video. Perhaps Glenn can tell by what he hears that there is a "relationship" between the two of them, and that's the last thing he wants to get himself involved in! So he walks out. I think it was a smart move to have her pursue him, instead of vice versa. It makes him seem so much more appealing! JMO!