CRUSTY CLIP OF THE WEEK: BLACK SABBATH - 'NO STRANGER TO LOVE'

Every single Wednesday without fail (fuck it, Thursdays too), your hosts post a suitably stale video clip that we think needs to be revisited. Click here for more Crusty Clips. Got a clip you think we should post? Send it to crustcake@gmail.com.

by Andrew Wilhelm (TX)

Hey 'cakers, the Crusty Clip got neglected due to SXSW hoopla, but it's back!

Earlier today, our bros at Invisible Oranges posted the videos from Black Sabbath's Born Again, their sole album with Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillian. We're going to top them by showing you Black Sabbath's video for "No Stranger to Love" back in 1986. Yes, Black Sabbath were still a band in 1986, contrary to revisionist ignorance.

While the Born Again videos were bad, at least they were for good songs. "Stranger" does not have that luxury.

There are a lot of issues with this song and video.

1. Notice the artist is "Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi." That's like saying "Megadeth and Dave Mustaine" or "The Melvins and Buzz Osbourne," so what gives? Seventh Star, the album on which this song appears, was originally intended to be released as a Tony Iommi solo album. Warner Bros., not quite realizing that the Black Sabbath name wasn't as great of currency as it was in the 70s (or now), pressured Iommi into releasing the album under the Black Sabbath name. Somewhere along the way, it was released as "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi." The dynamic shifts of power in the music industry are starting to make a lot of sense now, aren't they?

2. Tony Iommi's fringe jacket. If you've watched Metal Mania on VH1 Classic at 2 AM as much as I've had, you recognize that fringe jackets are never cool. If a metal god like Iommi can't pull it off, can you? Funny I mentioned Mustaine earlier - he must have borrowed Iommi's jacket for Megadeth's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" video.

3. The lyrics. I could get all literary critic on your ass, but the video has subtitles. You can make your own interpretations.

4. What is going on in the video? Iommi gets rejected by a lady and proceeds to walk around a nearly deserted urban area while said lady follows him around. There's a dog running around for NO reason. Iommi gets in a car in the end and is whisked away into whatever he was doing in the 80s. I've seen exhibits at contemporary art galleries that make more sense than this video. Really, what the hell does the dog symbolize? Is the lady supposed to be the music audience in 1986 that leaves Iommi without direction? Is this whole thing a really roundabout way of Iommi saying "Fuck, I wish I could have some of Ozzy's coke stash?" Like many videos in the 80s, it raises more questions than it answers.

5. Iommi is clearly a fan of the synth + slow, sad minor key solo intro. In "Die Young," it sounds awesome, but here, it's just sappy. He's also used the strategy in "Dying for Love" and "Feels Good to Me," two other songs that are also not prime Sabbath.

6. If Black Sabbath is going to do a ballad, it can't be a pop tune. It has to go epic, like the magnificent "Sign of the Southern Cross" or the gloomy "Born Again."

7. A minor quibble, but Iommi just isn't Iommi without a black Gibson SG with cross inlays.

Watch the video below and tell me if I'm right or wrong in the comments.