For this edition of the Twisted Music Video of the Week series, I’m going with something that isn’t actually all that creepy or violent. Rather, I’m going with something where the backstory has its own splash of horror, which is why I’m going with Kate Bush and her video for “Hammer Horror”, the third single from her album Lionheart.
And while the song is not a tribute to the British horror film company, it does have a dark story behind it:
It is about an actor and his friend. His friend is playing the lead in a production of ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’, a part he’s been reading all his [life], waiting for the chance to play it. He’s finally got the big break he’s always wanted, and he is the star.
After many rehearsals he dies accidentally, and the friend is asked to take the role over, which, because his own career is at stake, he does. The dead man comes back to haunt him because he doesn’t want him to have the part, believing he’s taken away the only chance he ever wanted in life. And the actor is saying, “Leave me alone, because it wasn’t my fault – I have to take this part, but I’m wondering if it’s the right thing to do because the ghost is not going to leave me alone and is really freaking me out. Every time I look round a corner he’s there, he never disappears.”The song was inspired by seeing James Cagney playing the part of Lon Chaney playing the hunchback – he was an actor in an actor in an actor, rather like Chinese boxes, and that’s what I was trying to create.[Source]
Head on down to enjoy the majesty of Kate Bush!