There are way too many songs about fire.
November 14, 2012 1:13 PM   Subscribe

Fire related song from the late 80s - help me find this lost music video. Song may be awful, but I've been trying to remember/find this for years.

What I remember:
Male singer. He had long straight hair, I think lighter colored. I don't think he wore a shirt. Singer was probably in his 20's. There was a lot of sexual posturing as he sang - strutting, long looks at the camera, etc. Video took place inside of a church, maybe, or at least in a room with a lot of stained glass windows. It was something to do with fire. Maybe a song about fire? I believe the church (or wherever he was) was on fire, too, but of course he was unscathed. The chorus was repetitive, there was a lot of guitar and drums, and I'd class it as rock, I guess. His voice was not scratchy, and up until several Google searches failed, I thought the chorus included him singing "FIRE" - not fire on something or fire in something, but just... fire.

This was seen in America, on MTV, in what I believe was late 80's. Song never made it big - I think it's the only song I ever heard of by the band/singer, but I can't say it's a one hit wonder since no one I knew ever liked it and I don't remember ever seeing it on countdowns. I was an obsessive MTV watcher for many years, and I don't recall ever seeing anything by them again.

It was not the Cult's Fire Woman (though that is a good song), nor was it Billy Idol or any of the other church/fire songs I have found so far (We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel, Fire by the Pointer Sisters, Burning down the house by Talking Heads, Fire by Bruce Springsteen).

I realize this may be a long shot, but if any of you can name this song I'd be thrilled. Not because I think it's a great song (I suspect it will sound terrible to me now) but because it's driving me crazy not being able to find it.
posted by routergirl to Grab Bag (19 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Long shot: 'Beds Are Burning by Midnight Oil.

Doesn't quite fulfil the burning church part, or, I guess the blond haired singer, or the mention of FIRE, but, hey, it's a good tune and it's definitely of that era (despite the 1997 Youtube copyright notice).
posted by metaxa at 1:21 PM on November 14, 2012 [1 favorite]


"Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown? It's from '68, actually, and very Doors-esque, but it therefore predates the music video-- that's not to say someone didn't make a video, or cover it?

Here's a video from BBC's "Top of the Pops,"-- please ignore the child-molesting host, and instead note the video is loaded with fire visual fx, and smoke.

The other song that came to mind was Electric Six's "Danger (High Voltage)" but that was from '03. "Fire in the Disco! Fire in the.... Taco Bell!"
posted by Sunburnt at 1:26 PM on November 14, 2012


Was there anyone else in the video, and were there settings other than the church/indoor space?
posted by Lyn Never at 1:26 PM on November 14, 2012


Fight Fire with Fire?
posted by zizzle at 1:29 PM on November 14, 2012


The Cult's Fire Woman?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:29 PM on November 14, 2012


Ack, sorry, I see you ruled that out.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:30 PM on November 14, 2012


Response by poster: I don't recall anyone else in the video (though to be fair I had a massive crush on the singer at the time so I may not have noticed anyone else), and I don't recall any other settings.

Not Midnight Oil's Beds Are Burning, and none of Sunburnt's or Zizzle's suggestions, although all interesting in their own right. And I have watched the Cult's Fire Woman so many times, trying to convince myself its it, but it just...isn't.
posted by routergirl at 1:32 PM on November 14, 2012


Wild guess, a different Cult song--She Sells Sanctuary

has flames, fire is mentioned in the lyrics.

no church though
posted by Ironmouth at 1:38 PM on November 14, 2012


Could it be St. Elmo's Fire?
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 1:43 PM on November 14, 2012


Hmm, maybe R.E.M.'s "The One I Love"? Lots of "Fi-ire!" in the lyrics.
posted by trillian at 1:56 PM on November 14, 2012


Love Kills by Vinnie Vincent Invasion (featuring Mark Slaughter?)


Love kills, the fire's gone, dying embers still
remain. Love kills, and now you're gone, girl
I'll never be the same again.
posted by Ostara at 2:02 PM on November 14, 2012


Into the Fire by Dokken?
posted by zizzle at 2:03 PM on November 14, 2012


George Michael's Freedom?
posted by fshgrl at 2:18 PM on November 14, 2012


The "church-y" concept + blondish straight hair lead made me think of this precious 80s gem. Likely not what you're looking for, but they do scream fire at some point in the song. Plus, it's easily the cheesiest video ever made. Warning: once you have seen this video, you can never unsee it: Thor, Anger.
posted by Milau at 2:31 PM on November 14, 2012 [1 favorite]


Is it the Autralian band called Icehouse. They had a soft rock song in the 1980's called Touch the Fire...
posted by MT at 3:50 PM on November 14, 2012


Was it The World is Fire by Corey Hart?
posted by marimeko at 5:04 PM on November 14, 2012


Response by poster: Wow, some really great and interesting videos so far. I wanted to chime in with more info to see if it helps narrow the pool.

For a moment I almost thought Touch the Fire was ringing bells, but nope. It was definitely rock, but it wasn't heavy metal, so no Dokken. Many bands can be ruled out if they didn't have a singer who had long hair. I'm starting to think it might have been in the early 90s - maybe '86 through '91? I am pretty sure it was not any of the bands who did well during that period, so no REM, etc.

I've been through pages and pages of lists of songs with Fire in the title, and launched so very many videos related to songs with fire in the name, and none of them are fitting.
posted by routergirl at 5:44 PM on November 14, 2012


Cheap trick,, the flame?
posted by forforf at 7:55 PM on November 14, 2012


Response by poster: Nope.
posted by routergirl at 2:11 PM on November 15, 2012


« Older "Whenever the wind whistles I shall think...   |   Goodbye to all that? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.