But music videos were far less kind to artists who had already (long prior to the video age) cemented their iconic status.
There were really only 2 paths you could take.
You could be like Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger, and refuse to star in videos (except for actual concert footage), and live with the fact that you weren't a star of the video screen.
Or you could decide to roll with it, and find yourself helplessly trapped in a horrible flaming bag of dog doody.
I’m not really sure what could have possessed Bob Dylan to choose the latter.
But Good Lord & Taylor! This video is HORRIBLE.
And yet, you can’t take your eyes off it, for all the wonders it offers:
The site of Dylan, exerting just enough mouth effort to suggest he’s lip-mumbling the lyrics.
Shoulder pads!
That great moment at the 2:55 mark, where Dylan musters all his acting skills to “naturally” “turn” and “look at a building.”
Knife fights!
Repeated images of a purple wig being blown by the wind, tumbling down some stadium bleacher seats. I think we all know what this symbolizes . . . the death of the modern wig industry.
Dylan in a chest baring V-neck!
What I think we can all agree, is the sexiest image ever committed to film---a storyline denouement that promises a Dylan-orchestrated ménage e trois.
International Intrigue!
Finally, the sentence that no human being has ever dared type before . . . Bob Dylan shows of his "Jazz Hands"! (at the 5:10 mark)
The first time I watched this, I kept saying, “Poor Bob Dylan.”
You just feel so much empathy for him, being stuck in this joyless cheesefest.
I’m mean, the man has been largely insouciant toward fame throughout his career. I can’t imagine how he was convinced that this was a good idea.
Thankfully, for the most part he avoided making videos in later years, and the ones he did do, suggested that he was enjoying the cheesefest, not trapped in it.
See the video on Youtube.
