Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / MTV Played The Videos That Nigel Dick Made Now The Book Music Video Mischief

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MTV Played The Videos That Nigel Dick Made Now The Book Music Video Mischief · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: Have you checked it out yet? Arrow.net. A-R-R-O-E.net. Net as
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  Speaker 1: in network. It's 21 different podcasts. A podcast network. One
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  Speaker 1: of the biggest shows is Vocal Defrag. We've stopped asking
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  Speaker 1: ourselves the questions. And we put so much pressure on
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  Speaker 1: those around us that they have no answers. And yet
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  Speaker 1: we keep trying to march forward. Vocal defrank. Ask yourself
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  Speaker 1: the questions and then question the answers. You're the only
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  Speaker 1: one that's wearing your pair of tennis shoes. It's only
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  Speaker 1: on arrow.net. A-R-R-O-E dot net. Enjoy your exploration. Nigel, I
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  Speaker 1: love books like this because you and I know what
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  Speaker 1: it's like to be behind the scenes, and we see
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  Speaker 1: so many different truths that we laugh about, we smile about.
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  Speaker 1: You wrote about it, and you are my new hero
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  Speaker 1: because I felt like that I know somebody now because
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  Speaker 1: you've experienced so much like the rest of us behind
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  Speaker 1: the scenes.
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  Speaker 2: Did you say new hero or nude hero?
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  Speaker 1: Well, either or, whichever one you want to pick. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: I'm fully dressed. They wouldn't allow me to appear naked
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  Speaker 2: on your show.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you love it, though, that when they turn into
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  Speaker 1: real people, because my wife came from the world of
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  Speaker 1: rock and roll, and she used to tell me all
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  Speaker 1: the time in the beginning days, she'd say, they put
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  Speaker 1: their pants on the same way you do. Dude, don't
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  Speaker 1: think of them as superstars. Just think of them as
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  Speaker 1: the luckiest people on the planet.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yes, they are lucky, but mostly they're very talented, too.
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  Speaker 1: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: And you want to endorse that talent by... helping them
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  Speaker 2: through the process.
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  Speaker 1: What was it like for you to be able to
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  Speaker 1: tap into that imagination though? Because I mean, they came
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  Speaker 1: to you for the vision and you've got to bring
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  Speaker 1: that forward for us who were watching it on MTV or,
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  Speaker 1: and then later on into the YouTube years. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: for you to be in that moment of now, because
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  Speaker 1: they say it takes a miracle to make a movie. Well,
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  Speaker 1: what about a video? Isn't that also a miracle?
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, especially usually you only have one day, which
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  Speaker 2: probably is about eight or nine hours. Um, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: the thing is, luckily I'm a big fan. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I'm even a big fan of people whose music I
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't listen to because I have, luckily I spent 10
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  Speaker 2: years working for record labels. I've been in a couple
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  Speaker 2: of bands and you realize how hard it is to
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  Speaker 2: be an artist. You know, the, the illusion of the glamor,
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  Speaker 2: when you go back to some of the, the dressing
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  Speaker 2: rooms of these people have to hang out in, you
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  Speaker 2: realize that, um, You know, it's a tough job. And
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  Speaker 2: I've taken very seriously the concept of I'm making a
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  Speaker 2: commercial for their song and for them for their next
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  Speaker 2: stage of the career. And if you can be part
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  Speaker 2: of that, you know, it's a wonderful thing to be
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  Speaker 2: able to do.
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  Speaker 1: I love the way that you just said that you
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  Speaker 1: make a commercial because I come from the commercial world
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  Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio and I'm so totally in tune with what
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  Speaker 1: you just shared. It is about that commercial. It is
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  Speaker 1: a story. It is something that people buy into. I
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  Speaker 1: love where your imagination is.
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  Speaker 2: My real imagination is a very sick and dark place. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you have to change from, you know, one
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  Speaker 2: week you're doing Guns N' Roses, the next week it's
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  Speaker 2: Celine Dion, the next week it's some unknown band who
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  Speaker 2: are very excited in front of the camera. And you
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  Speaker 2: have to sort of twist your approach and it's a
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  Speaker 2: it's a constant surprise um I mean I've never played
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  Speaker 2: a Celine Dion record in my life oh my god
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  Speaker 2: but she's a lovely person and you go you know
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  Speaker 2: this is a gift spending a day or two in
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  Speaker 2: their in their presence so I mean I I feel
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  Speaker 2: like a the luckiest kid with who keeps getting into
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  Speaker 2: toy set train set every week you.
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  Speaker 1: Know But don't you love how humble someone like Steve
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  Speaker 1: Lukather is? I mean, I love the idea that you
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  Speaker 1: wrote about that. They admitted they're not dancers. They're not actors.
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  Speaker 1: They're studio musicians. And I just love how down to
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  Speaker 1: earth he's always been. And then to share that with
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  Speaker 1: you just made me love him even more.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, well, I was a huge fan of Toto and Lukather.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, his playing is extraordinary and so heartfelt. And
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  Speaker 2: he's the funniest guy in the world. He's got such
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  Speaker 2: a raunchy sense of humour as well. And I first
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  Speaker 2: met him, I don't know, 38 years ago or something.
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  Speaker 2: And I remember going to have lunch with him and
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  Speaker 2: his two kids who were very young at the time.
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  Speaker 2: Fantastic dad. I mean, you think he's going to be
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  Speaker 2: crazy and letting them throw food everywhere. Not a bit
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  Speaker 2: of it. And I just had so much respect for
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  Speaker 2: him and all the kinds of music he's played. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm jealous as hell because he's such a great guitar
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  Speaker 2: player and I can't even get close. So, yeah, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it's a gift to be able to spend time with
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  Speaker 2: people like that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, yeah. And you're the gift that gets to be
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  Speaker 1: that close to him because, I mean, to be there
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  Speaker 1: with even Daryl Hall and John Oates, like you said,
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  Speaker 1: Celine Dion. Now we're back up to Toto. Now I
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  Speaker 1: want to talk about Daryl Hall and John Oates. That's
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  Speaker 1: what I love about your presence is that you walk
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  Speaker 1: a path here that is wide open and you get
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  Speaker 1: to see and experience things that are just between you
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  Speaker 1: and that moment.
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  Speaker 2: I hate to tell you this, Arrow. I've never worked
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  Speaker 2: with Daryl.
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  Speaker 1: You're kidding me. You're kidding me because there's a quote
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  Speaker 1: here that I picked up along the way that says,
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  Speaker 1: do what you want. What are you going to be doing?
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  Speaker 1: And I just thought that that was so inspiring.
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  Speaker 2: They changed my life because I was going to settle
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  Speaker 2: down and get a regular job. And I was thinking
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  Speaker 2: of going to Paris to play my guitar on the Metro.
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  Speaker 2: And I played that album. And the line from the
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  Speaker 2: song came out of the ether. Do what you want
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  Speaker 2: to do. Be what you are. And I thought, that's
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  Speaker 2: the sign from the heavens. I'm going to go to Paris.
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  Speaker 2: So I went and spent three months on the Metro
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  Speaker 2: playing my guitar and not making very much money.
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  Speaker 1: Well, is it really all about that? I mean, as
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  Speaker 1: an artist, because I have more people ask me that
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  Speaker 1: question all the time. And I look at them deep
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  Speaker 1: in the eyes, every one of these people, and I say,
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  Speaker 1: can you put a price on creativity? I mean, seriously.
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  Speaker 1: And they look at me like I'm some weird guy.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm going, seriously, I mean, until you understand what
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  Speaker 1: it is that you're holding, why are you putting a
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  Speaker 1: price on it?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I've done a load of crazy jobs. I worked
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  Speaker 2: in a German metalwork factory for three months. And you go,
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  Speaker 2: you know what, this is better. Even if it's a
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  Speaker 2: starving artist and you're doing what you love, you're doing
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  Speaker 2: what you love. And that's the most important thing that
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  Speaker 2: we can do in life. I mean, I think if
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  Speaker 2: you get married and you have kids and you have
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  Speaker 2: a family and whatnot, then I understand there's a determination
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  Speaker 2: to keep the cash rolling in. But yeah, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: the last thing you want to do is be on
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  Speaker 2: your deathbed and say, If only I'd played my guitar
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  Speaker 2: for another day.
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  Speaker 1: Please don't move. There's more with Nigel Dick coming up next.
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  Speaker 1: The name of the book, Music Video Mischief, A Lifetime
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  Speaker 1: of Rock and Chaos. Why do I laugh and smile
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  Speaker 1: when musicians act up? We are back with Nigel Dick.
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  Speaker 1: So now, do you feel like that you're part of
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  Speaker 1: this legacy that it seems like, I mean, John Mellencamp
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  Speaker 1: was the one that came out and said he's made
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  Speaker 1: more money with Jack and Diane now than he ever
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  Speaker 1: did when it was a hit. So when you've got
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  Speaker 1: a video that you've attached your name to with Tears
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  Speaker 1: for Fears and it's still going on today and they're
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  Speaker 1: still touring today, don't you feel like that you're part
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  Speaker 1: of that legacy or do you have to let go?
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  Speaker 2: I let go because otherwise you spiral down into a, hey,
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  Speaker 2: don't you know who I think I am? But occasionally, well,
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  Speaker 2: not so occasionally, quite often I bump into somebody and
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  Speaker 2: they'll grab my hand and they'll say that video changed
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  Speaker 2: my life. And you, you go, Oh my God. And, um, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's making me dewy. I just to talk
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  Speaker 2: about it. The number of times I appear to have
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  Speaker 2: done something which has hopefully improved people's lives. And you
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  Speaker 2: can't set out to do that in the morning. You
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  Speaker 2: can't wake up and go on set and say to yourself,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to change somebody's life today. That just doesn't work.
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  Speaker 2: You just have to do your best and practice. it
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  Speaker 2: affects people and that's extraordinary experience to have.
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  Speaker 1: Well, here's how you changed a lot of people's lives.
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  Speaker 1: Here's this song Believe from Cher. It was huge in
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  Speaker 1: the adult contemporary world. We weren't really getting any MTV space.
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  Speaker 1: Your video comes out on MTV. All of a sudden
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  Speaker 1: now everybody's coming to our FM radio station and we're going, okay,
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  Speaker 1: that connection was that video and we now have a superstar.
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  Speaker 1: Her name is Cher and it's called Believe.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they said to me, the label said to me,
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  Speaker 2: because we were having trouble coming up with an idea,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you don't have to do this. It's only
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  Speaker 2: going to be released in England, in Britain, signed to
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  Speaker 2: the Warner Brothers in the UK. And I'm like, you
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  Speaker 2: guys are joking. This is a hit. And it got
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  Speaker 2: to number one in 20 countries. And she's the oldest
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  Speaker 2: person ever to have a number one single in the
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  Speaker 2: United States. So, I mean, and Cher... made a big
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  Speaker 2: difference on my life when i was about 12 years
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  Speaker 2: old and i wanted to repay the favor and it
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  Speaker 2: was a blessing to be able to.
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  Speaker 1: Work with her this book cover are you going to
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  Speaker 1: market it in the way to where we can have
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  Speaker 1: a poster to put in our studios because it really
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  Speaker 1: does speak to every one of us that are inside
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  Speaker 1: the background of the creative spirit.
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  Speaker 2: Well i was blessed in inverted commas with a name
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  Speaker 2: which some people find offensive. It's a traditional Scottish name
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  Speaker 2: and I've decided to use it. You know, why be
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  Speaker 2: nice when you porn addict? Once a dick, always a dick,
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  Speaker 2: and so on and so forth. So it's been a
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  Speaker 2: stream of 50 years of Christmas cards, and if I
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  Speaker 2: have to bear this name, then I am going to
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  Speaker 2: make the most of it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to add something to that list then, sir,
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  Speaker 1: because they always tell me you can't have a successful
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  Speaker 1: morning show unless you have a dick, a dork, and
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  Speaker 1: a deer. So I'm still waiting for the dork and
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  Speaker 1: the deer now that I've met a dick.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we have some deer in my front yard. I'll
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  Speaker 2: send one of them over.
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  Speaker 1: So, wait, wait, wait. So, now, I have deer in
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  Speaker 1: my forest right now. What are your bucks and stuff doing?
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  Speaker 1: My bucks are all, they're not doing anything that they
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  Speaker 1: normally would do in the latter part of the winter months.
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  Speaker 1: My bucks are actually becoming very friendly right now. What
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  Speaker 1: about yours?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we have elk as well.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, my God.
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  Speaker 2: And we went, we drove past an elk coming back
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  Speaker 2: to the house yesterday, and this elk was the size
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  Speaker 2: of a train. Yeah. So, So you be careful around elk.
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  Speaker 2: That's my lesson for the day. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: When you are brought into a project, how do you
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  Speaker 1: prep your team for that project? Because I am a
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  Speaker 1: preparation whore. I've got to have everything laid out and
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  Speaker 1: I know that there's always going to be changes, but
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  Speaker 1: you still have to look like you know what you're doing.
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  Speaker 2: Well, what I do is now is I storyboard the
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  Speaker 2: entire shoot.
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  Speaker 1: Nice.
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  Speaker 2: So I can go to the, camera person and say
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  Speaker 2: all right this is the shot here put this kind
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  Speaker 2: of lens on it the wardrobe department know what the
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: artist is going to be wearing the props department know
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: what needs to be in the background so we can
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: all do our job and get out of there in
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  Speaker 2: time and go home and have a nice dinner without
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: staying up all night freaking.
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  Speaker 1: Out I love what you wrote about Paul McCartney because
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  Speaker 1: we all breathe in that air and it's almost like
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  Speaker 1: the air was sucked right out of you when this
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  Speaker 1: process was growing. But the thing about it is the
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  Speaker 1: way you handled it serves as an inspiration to those
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  Speaker 1: of us who dream of getting an opportunity just to say, hi, dude.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think that. If you have any success,
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  Speaker 2: every day people come up and say, oh man, that album,
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  Speaker 2: it changed my life, blah, blah, blah, blah. And eventually
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  Speaker 2: they get tired of it and they're like, yeah, good,
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  Speaker 2: thank you very much. And if you can have just
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  Speaker 2: a regular chat with somebody about something, I think it's
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  Speaker 2: a big relief for them. Of course, some people just
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  Speaker 2: don't want to engage, period, and that's okay too. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, to spend a day working with somebody who had,
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  Speaker 2: basically changed my life was a blessing. I've been blessed.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm very grateful for opportunities like that.
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  Speaker 1: Would you mind if I planted this book in the
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  Speaker 1: hands of all of these people who are using AI
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  Speaker 1: technology to make videos and I want them to know
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  Speaker 1: the roots and to really get into the dirt of
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  Speaker 1: how you really properly make a video or should I
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  Speaker 1: just step back and just let them do their own discovery?
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  Speaker 2: If they want something with personality that is really reflects
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  Speaker 2: them rather than the idea of a machine, I would
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  Speaker 2: beg them that they ring up somebody at their local
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  Speaker 2: art college and ask them to make a video for them.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that you really touched me by
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  Speaker 1: is basically, you know, it deals with the past. You know,
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  Speaker 1: it's not necessarily about the remembrance. It's about how things
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  Speaker 1: really were. And I love that because you're willing to
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  Speaker 1: share that where a lot of people want to clam
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  Speaker 1: up and stuff it in a box and put it
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  Speaker 1: in the attic.
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  Speaker 2: Well, as you get older, you have to deal with
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  Speaker 2: certain things in your life. I don't know how well
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  Speaker 2: I've dealt with certain things in my life, but I
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  Speaker 2: found myself on a path and it's been an amazing
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  Speaker 2: journey to go down it with lots of crazy things
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  Speaker 2: going on, which is what I put in the book,
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  Speaker 2: which is one of the reasons why I wanted to
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  Speaker 2: write it.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you know there's going to be people like me.
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  Speaker 1: We were darting all over that book. We didn't do
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  Speaker 1: it in chronological order. You okay with that as the
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  Speaker 1: one who brings us that book?
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  Speaker 2: Of course, yeah. It's not a linear story from A
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  Speaker 2: to Z. It's a collection of crazy things that went down, so... Yeah,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: pick and choose as you go.
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  Speaker 1: Do you find yourself at any time wondering why the
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  Speaker 1: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame hasn't put you in
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  Speaker 1: there yet? Because don't you think that that music videos
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  Speaker 1: really did save music back in 1980?
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  Speaker 2: Of course, it would be nice to go up on
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  Speaker 2: stage and get something to put on the shelf. But
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  Speaker 2: I've already got quite a few things on the shelf.
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  Speaker 2: And in many ways... You know, going on YouTube and saying, oh,
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  Speaker 2: my God, this video has had a billion views, an
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  Speaker 2: eighth of the world's population equivalent has watched this video.
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  Speaker 2: You just walk away and you go, oh, my God,
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  Speaker 2: I can't believe that. Especially when sometimes the video people say, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's all right, Nigel, but it's not special.
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  Speaker 1: You would have to have Chad Kroger somehow in that
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to the induction. Because here was this
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  Speaker 1: band that really everybody loves, but at the same time
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  Speaker 1: they wanted to argue with you. But I always go
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  Speaker 1: to the video because I just know that I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to have that reoccurrence of my love for Nickelback.
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  Speaker 2: I just worked with them for the 21st time last week.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my God. And they are the loveliest guys. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: at the end of the day, you wish you hadn't
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  Speaker 2: hugged them so many times because they're way bigger than
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  Speaker 2: I am and much stronger. So, no, they're fantastic people.
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  Speaker 2: And it's a gas working with them.
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  Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you, Nigel?
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  Speaker 1: Because I want them to understand the entire you.
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  Speaker 2: Well, obviously, I would love it if they bought the
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  Speaker 2: book or read the book, you know, read the book,
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  Speaker 2: however you get to it. And you can also go
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  Speaker 2: to NigelDick.com if you want.
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  Speaker 1: Please come back to the show anytime in the future.
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  Speaker 1: The door is always going to be open. I love
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  Speaker 1: where your heart is when it comes to music, and
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  Speaker 1: there are still a lot of stories in there to share.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Arrow, and have a great day.
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  Speaker 1: You be brilliant today, sir.
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  Speaker 2: And yourself as well. Thank you.