This one should really be titled Decent Song, Career Killing Video.
The video will speak for itself, but I'll offer a little history here.
Billy Squier was well on his way to becoming a hard rock/pop metal superstar in the early 80's. After two iconic albums, Don't Say No and Emotions In Motion Squier had hits that have become classic rock staples like "The Stroke", "Lonely is the Night", "Everybody Wants You" and "My Kind of Lover". His next album Signs of Life came out in 1984 and Squier was ready to take the rock world by storm. And then the video happened.
In Squier's own words, "I was playing to half-houses. I went from 15,000 and 20,000 people a night to 10,000 people. Everything I’d worked for my whole life was crumbling, and I couldn’t stop it. How can a four-minute video do that?"
How can a four-minute video do that? Oh it's bad. It's really, really bad. But career-killing bad? I'll let you be the judge.
Don't cry for Bill Squier, he's made millions from being the most sampled artist by the hip hop industry.
This, recorded in 2009, shows that Squier still rocks. And this is also more along the lines of the video Capitol Records should have released in 1984.
Just to show those moves in the horrible video for for "Rock Me Tonite" are not out of character, watch this live recording from 1983 for "Everybody Wants You". Much cooler with a guitar in hand.
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