Music Video
By 1990 Michael had grown weary of publicity, declaring that "I would like to never step in front of a camera again." As a result, he decided not to personally appear in any music videos for his new album. Instead, the high-fashion video for "Freedom! '90" — which was directed by David Fincher and shot by Jeff Cronenweth — featured the lip-sync performance of ten fashion models: five female supermodels who had appeared together on a now-iconic cover of British Vogue in January 1990 (Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford), plus top male models John Pearson, Scott Benoit, Mario Sorrenti, Peter Formby, and Todo Segalla.
The video featured the fiery destruction of the three iconic items from Michael's 1987 music video "Faith" that had come to symbolize his public image: his leather jacket, Wurlitzer jukebox, and guitar. Each occurrence of the word "freedom" during the song's chorus is accompanied by a shot of one such item burning or exploding. Additionally, whereas "Faith" had opened with a jukebox phonograph needle touching a vinyl record, "Freedom! '90" opens with a compact disc player's laser beam reading a CD.
Read more about this topic: Freedom! '90
Famous quotes containing the words music and/or video:
“The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“We attempt to remember our collective American childhood, the way it was, but what we often remember is a combination of real past, pieces reshaped by bitterness and love, and, of course, the video past—the portrayals of family life on such television programs as “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” and all the rest.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)