Posted by Emily Exton on 08/03/2011 at 1:18 PM Videos

The Popdust Files: bruce springsteen, videos

Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 video for “Dancing In The Dark” is a fun performance clip which gained more attention in the mid to late ’90s when we realized it featured Friends star Courteney Cox shaking it in the front row. But aside from Bruce’s stage presence and Cox’s unfortunate haircut, the video is fairly conventional, even by ’80s standards. Yet only now do we know how much things changed from the initial takes. Early footage from the “Dancing In The Dark” video shoot has recently emerged, featuring a solo Springsteen taking his lyrics quite seriously and supporting so very suspicious wardrobe choices, while Clarence Clemons eventually boasts a fire engine red suit. Bruce is a good sport for actually filming the track in its entirety and holding nothing back when it comes to his dance moves. Luckily someone clued him into the fact that such a literal interpretation of the song—where he’s moving around in the…darkness—resembled more of a Richard Simmons video rather than a visualization of a Top 40 hit, causing him to scrap director Jeff Stein’s earlier version all together, opting instead for acclaimed film director Brian De Palma. It happens to the best of them, Stein! Even someone as ruggedly handsome as The Boss suffers from sporadic bouts of insecurity. The version we’ve come to know and love also has a much clearer shot of Springsteen gyrating, and for that, we’re eternally grateful. But it doesn’t mean we don’t want to learn Bruce’s original moves—just think of the workout you could get from all those pirouettes. Sweatin’ to the oldies, indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9iejG-kgSE&feature=player_embedded

[Billboard]