In the film world, Alfred Hitchcock’s clever cameos became legendary; where and how would you spot the rotund director? The music industry has followed suit with artists surprising their fans by inviting celebrities to appear in their music videos.
Recently, Bruce Springsteen’s album Born in the USA celebrated its fortieth anniversary. One hit, “Dancing in the Dark,” featured a video with a young woman dancing onstage with The Boss. Unknown actress Courteney Cox was soon to become a star on Friends and in the Scream movie franchise.
Cox was 20 years old when director Brian De Palma selected her for the video, which was filmed during the opening night of Springsteen’s tour in Saint Paul, Minnesota. While she openly admitted that the video “got [her] in the door to so many places,” she later revealed that she didn’t want to be the one dancing in front of thirty thousand people.
Another celebrity who appeared in several videos is Pamela Anderson. The Baywatch star and former Playboy playmate appeared in Vince Neil’s music video for “Can’t Have Your Cake” to promote his debut album, Exposed. Six years later, she appeared as a man-eating giantess in Lit’s music video for “Miserable,” and later in Kanye West’s “Touch the Sky.” Anderson appeared in Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” along with stars including Patti Smith, Flea, Kris Kristofferson, Sheryl Crow, and Woody Harrelson.
British comedienne Tracy Ullman nabbed Paul McCartney for a cameo in her 1983 video for “They Don’t Know.” In 1984, the Bangles did a cover of “Going Down to Liverpool,” featuring Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy as a very bored chauffeur; in 2010, he returned to the small screen as a cantankerous neighbor in the video for Bruno Mars’ “The Lazy Song.”
In 1992, Michael Jackson’s lavish Egyptian-themed video for “Remember the Time” featured Eddie Murphy, Iman, and Magic Johnson.
One of the most famous star gatherings took place in the Beastie Boys’ 2011 video for the single “Make Some Noise,” featuring Seth Rogen, Elijah Wood, Danny McBride, Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Orlando Bloom, Steve Buscemi, Ted Danson, Jason Schwartzman, Chloë Sevigny, and David Cross.
Another remarkable moment in music videos was the gathering of stars for Madonna’s 2015 music video “Bitch, I’m Madonna.” Set in a luxurious hotel and with the pop star dressed in a leopard-print dress, Madonna is surrounded by A-listers including Beyoncé, Chris Rock, Miley Cyrus, Alexander Wang, and Kanye West.
Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund, who directed the video, commented on his collaboration for Entertainment Weekly: “It’s always a challenge. Madonna is a celebrity enough for any music video. But with the nature of the song and the playfulness of it, we thought, ‘Let’s have some friends and family and go crazy with it!’ Everyone was spread out and their time is tight, but the good news is we all love Madonna and everyone wants to be involved. That made it really fun and playful.”
In 2019, Taylor Swift included several celebrities in her video, “You Need to Calm Down,” supporting the LGBTQ+ community. The video features Ryan Reynolds, Ellen DeGeneres, RuPaul, Adam Lambert, Billy Porter, and Katy Perry.
Seems that even celebrities can’t turn down the chance to leave their mark on a fun video.
-Gabriel Karkovsky
Photo: Bruce Springsteen (Getty Images)
Cool piece. I had never seen that Bangles video before. Great tune, strange vid. Ah, the 80’s!