English filmmaker Ken Russell died this week. He was 84.
While not primarily known as a music video director in the US, he did direct several videos, and much of his output was clearly music specific, ranging from a film version of The Who's Tommy, Lizstomania starring The Who's Roger Daltry, plus visualluy creative work like Altered States that matched and/or inspired lots of music videos back in the day. As The NY Times puts it in his obituary, "The nascent music-video aesthetic of the 1980s can be traced to the slick surfaces, rapid montage and voracious pastiche of his films."
Check out this seemingly recap of Ken Russell's music video work at this tribute site, which includes background info on his videos for:
- Elton John "Nikita"
- Sarah Brightman "The Phantom Of The Opera" (plus a remembrance by Sarah was uploaded this week)
- Jim Steinem's Pandoras Box "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" (and yes, you remember the Celine Dion version)
Click through the jump for a couple movie/music Ken Russell embeds, the latter of which (the "Phallus Song" from Lisztomana) isn't safe for work (depending on where you work)...
