This version, which still plays at rep cinemas to this day, includes songs performed by Pat Benatar, Jon Anderson, Adam Ant, Cycle V, Loverboy, Billy Squier, Freddie Mercury, and Bonnie Tyler, the later of whom received a Grammy nomination for her rendition of “Here She Comes.” Mercury recorded “Love Kills,” his solo contribution to the soundtrack, in exchange for using footage from the film in Queen’s music video for “Radio Gaga,” which ultimately was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award.
Along with Moroder’s controversial rock update of “Metropolis,” Lang’s film has inspired countless other musicians, including Madonna’s David Fincher directed music video for “Express Yourself,” Janelle Monáe’s conceptual series of albums and visuals about android Cindi Mayweather, last year’s “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” and most recently “This Is Me… Now: A Love Story” by Jennifer Lopez.
Although silent film aesthetics in music may have peaked in the 1980s, they continued to be an inspiration for musicians over the next few decades. The life of the luminous Louise Brooks inspired the song “Pandora’s Box” by British band Orchestral Manoeuveres in the Dark, who also used footage of the actress in Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s iconic film of the same name for their accompanying music video. Brooks was also the subject of Natalie Merchant’s 2014 single “Lulu;” the music video leans heavily on footage from the Pabst film. Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright wrote a whole album, “All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu,” dedicated to Brooks, calling the songs “a sacrifice to her spirit.”
Cowboy William S. Hart, one of the most popular western stars of the 1910s and 1920s, is featured prominently in the music video for Kirsty MacColl’s “Don’t Come the Cowboy with Me Sonny Jim!” (along with some footage of Shirley Temple, taken from the pre-code sound shorts series “Baby Burlesks”). Evoking that same era, country guitarist and singer Junior Brown created his own slapstick Keystone Cops adventure for the “My Wife Thinks You’re Dead” music video.
Similarly, the music video for British musician White Town brings the love story in their song “Your Woman” to life with silent film techniques, including extensive use of iris shots and experimental match cuts. The video even includes a direct homage to Luis Buñuel’s 1928 surrealist film “Un chien andalou.” The video for the Stone Temple Pilots song “Interstate Love Song” uses an early cinema pantomime style for its love story, while also evoking the era through color tinting. Reaching even further back, Irish rock band U2 recalls the pre-cinema chronophotography of Eadweard Muybridge in their music video for “Lemon.”