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Rainbow video director passes away
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Edd Griles, director of Rainbow 1980s AOR videos Death Alley Driver, I Surrender, Stone Cold, and Can’t Happen Here, among other things, has passed away. The eulogy mentions that he has also directed unspecified Deep Purple videos, but our search for relevant credits didn’t return any matches.
On a side note, Roger’s lyrics for Can’t Happen Here sound just as relevant today, as they were some 40+ years ago.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Yes indeed Glover’s wonderful biting lyrics on Can’t Happen Here, a stonking song that is. A deep shame that it is even worse in todays time in regards to the insatiable filthy greed & selfishness of certain people (take what you want, but you can’t take mine). A very good Rainbow album is Difficult to Cure, by far the best album since the Dio years & anything else after DTC. Vale to Edd Griles & rest easy. Cheers.
October 26th, 2024 at 08:42Blackmore playing the Vincent Price of the situation in the Death Alley Driver video is brilliant. congratulations to the writer and director for convincing Ritchie to act!
October 26th, 2024 at 13:47Rest in cinematic splendor, Herr Griles, have chats with Orson Wells, Stanley Kubrick and Sergio Leone.
Truth be told, I thought the Rainbow vids already cheesy back then (with the exception of I Surrender which was just plain Jane unremarkable), but that probably wasn’t his fault. Not all bands adapted equally well to music video art, Rainbow, GILLAN and Purple (with the exception of the spoof vid to Call Of The Wild) were certainly among them (Whitesnake vids at least looked glamorous, gratuitous car hood buffing by Ms Kitaen with what I assume to be homegrown organic fluids included).
October 26th, 2024 at 15:05Indeed the Death Alley Driver video is a classic & the song too. The song would be in my top ten driving songs. That album started so well, then fell away & then finished brilliantly with Eyes of Fire. Not to worry, all the post Purple bands were hit & miss, some more miss than hit. Cheers. Musically & melodically Rainbow were the most interesting & had many better songs to my ears. Cheers.
October 26th, 2024 at 22:15Did he do Street of Dreams and Can’t Let You Go (with Joe in ‘Twilight’ heartthrob vampire mode 😂) too?
https://youtu.be/rQvu5Eo7rKI
https://youtu.be/IqUx84-ljPE
If so, then Edd perhaps also directed the two Mk V vids, because the cinematic language is similar:
https://youtu.be/e0LWL0Vc9p8
https://youtu.be/dC4SsfcOA_A
Of the Love Conquers All vid Herr Turner, always a fearless man of the people, said at the time: “The King of Dreams vid simply didn’t see any views on MTV because there was no tits & ass in it! I was adamant with the guys, we need more t & a to get viewed and that is exactly what we did for the second vid. And the Love Conquers All clip was much more successful, so there!”
Ah, Little Joe, never afraid to speak the plain, vibrant truth. And ain’t the Stratocaster hovering & swirling (drilling perhaps?) over the model’s pubic mound at 00:33 a particularly tasteful and nuanced detail in this lingerie-fest of a vid? 🤣 Also included: Injuns, naked hunk torsos, dead people and meaningful gazes by Roger who always takes these things very earnestly. 😆
But you know what? Soft porn vid or not, I liked that song at the time and still do. Jon Lord was reportedly distraught about Joe’s lyrics (“oh girl …”) which he deemed “cabaret”, ruining the song. I just ignored them.
October 26th, 2024 at 23:32Yo,
RIP Mr.Griles, & thanks for the video’s you made, that will live-on for as long as people keep watching them !
Also, RIP Mr.Phil Lesh, founding member & world-class leading Bassist of the Grateful Dead. Say g’day to Jerry !
Adonai vasu !
October 27th, 2024 at 01:01Very true, Uwe, those videos sure were not of the kind you proudly show to friends and family to promote your favourite artists…. At least there’s a tip of the hat to the likes of Murnau and Fritz Lang in one of the Rainbow clips (Can’t.let you go I think). Death Alley Driver is pure kitsch…and to us Krauts funny as well…for what is considered high speed there…Knocking at Your Back Door was another let down…such a great song, what a bad video…pathetic I think IG called it, he was ashamed of it too. The videos of Gillan the band sure weren’t much better – but funny at least. Or DC miming to Long Long Way from Home like he really means it… Yep Call ot the Wild and Nobody’s Home come in first on my list.
October 27th, 2024 at 06:26#5 Uwe:
the two MKV videos were made by director James Foley (he had made some clips for Madonna among others)….just think that I was always convinced that King of Dreams had been directed by David Lynch because at the time I was a teenager, and I had read this thing in the Italian fanzine Purple Glow where I was subscribed.
even in Can’t let you go Ritchie gives us an acting worthy of the Oscar statuette!!!
October 27th, 2024 at 11:29Big Ian writes a song about good old-fashioned sodomy and there they go ruin it by some cheapskate second-rate Mad Max set leftovers dystopian dust bowl imagery with filthy and unkempt children. Way to kill a positive, uplifting message.
Death Alley Driver was also hilariously bad, true. Nothing about it was right. Using a docile Harley-Davidson Sportster with its (even then) lame 60 hp engine as a “death-alley” racing bike with a garishly and not at all Harley-Davidson-leather-attired biker (the wind blowing up his impractical suit) crouched over the epitome of a non-racer handlebar as if he was riding a really sporty and powerful Kawasaki bike, all of it filmed at obviously very low speeds because they couldn’t afford a professional stuntman to really put the bike to test … priceless!!! 🤣
But then Ritchie knew all about motorbike riding.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d0/e3/4b/d0e34bbaee20c85adae4a14d1cdebcf0.jpg
After all the then non-holder of a driver’s license got a real thunderbike as a wedding present when he and Amy Rothman took their vows in 1983.
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/6b/17/44/6b17449468e22fca7aaa7a46c1e91183.jpg
https://img6.bdbphotos.com/images/orig/x/0/x0yrbyoo046jxjy0.jpg?skj2io4l
At least that marriage was kinda speedy: They married after four months of dating (did Ritchie need a Green Card?) and separated again in 1983, which might or might not have constituted an added impetus for the coming DP reunion … 😇
October 27th, 2024 at 14:45The song Spotlight Kid didn’t have a official video, for me it’s better from the JLT era, a song that was instrumentally closer to “NWOBHM” than AOR, a powerful solo by Ritchie, classic Ritchie (with a touch of J.S. Bach) supported by Don and Roger … melody by vocal measured by RJD
October 27th, 2024 at 14:45RIP Edd Griles
Spotlight Kid was another one of those trademark riffs played by Ritchie on the D and G string in fourths in the grand tradition of SOTW, Burn, MOTSM, LLRnR and All Night Long. It was his recipe for a long time.
October 27th, 2024 at 18:53Condolences to the family of Mr. Griles. His work will definitely live on.
October 28th, 2024 at 18:20Can’t Happen Here is a great song that will always be relevant. Greed, selfishness and the threat of nuclear annihilation are not going away. Child In Time is also still very relevant. Probably more so because of all the mass shootings going on.
At a Deep Purple show a few years ago they did Battle Rages on as an encore. After the song Ian Gillan says,” Some things will never change.” So true.
For all ye Street of Dreams fans …
https://youtu.be/XtoDerCus3o
It’s essentially a bit of an ABBAllad isn’t it? I certainly could envisage Agnetha and Frida singing it.
October 29th, 2024 at 15:58This has nothing to do with Rainbow, but a bit with ABBA and it is just too hilarious for you guys + Nino & Karin not to see … 🤣
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlM5b39QU_s
This is utterly brilliant and sums up Iron Maiden in slightly more than two minutes.
October 29th, 2024 at 17:13