Savage (video)
Savage is a video album by the British pop duo Eurythmics released in 1988 on VHS and LaserDisc. It is a companion video to their 1987 music album of the same name.
Savage
1988
1987–88
Music Video Album
52 mins
Sophie Muller, except
Track 4:
Steve Graham & Eric Scott
Track 7:
Chester Dent & John Stewart
Billy Poveda, John Stewart
Oil Factory Ltd.
The Savage video album was nominated for Best Music Film at the 1989 Grammy Awards.
Background[edit]
The decision to create a video album to accompany the record was based upon the fact that the band did not want to embark on another full length tour that year (having completed the worldwide "Revenge Tour" some months earlier). Another factor influencing the project may have been the band Blondie (of whom Lennox was a huge fan), who made a similar video album for their 1979 LP Eat to the Beat, which also featured a combination of straight performance as well as more conceptual clips.
Dave Stewart's only prominent appearances on the video album are limited to three tracks (and some archive concert footage in a fourth) though these particular clips do not appear to be directly related to the recurring theme. The running order of the tracks on the video album differ from that of the original album, making for a more cohesive concept piece.
The video album was promoted at a launch party at The Novello Room in London on 4 July 1988, at which the duo performed several tracks live on stage. The event was featured in an edition of the UK's Channel 4 series Wired later that month.[1]
Concept[edit]
The majority of the video album was directed by Sophie Muller, and the individual video clips largely (but not exclusively) focus upon Annie Lennox interpreting the Madonna–whore complex in the form of a neurotic mousey housewife and an extroverted blonde vamp, and are steeped in metaphorical imagery and subtext. The only tracks not directed by Muller were "Shame" which was directed by Steve Graham (with animation directed by artist Eric Scott and animator Emma Calder), and "I've Got a Lover (Back in Japan)" which was directed by Chester Dent and John Stewart. Lennox would go on to make another thematic video album for her 1992 solo album Diva, again directed by Muller.