Remember music videos? If your reading a blog about the Dukes of Hazzard, you probably remember them, or at least know what they are. The music video was so important in the '80s and '90s. It's weird that they aren't as popular now since all everyone seems to do is watch short videos and listen to music on their phones. Sure there are some good modern music videos that make a splash now and then, but there haven't been any important music videos since the TRL days. In this post I'm going to look at a couple music videos that featured Dukes of Hazzard references. Sounds like fun.
Right at the beginning of the Silver Era of the Dukes of Hazzard, when TNN had only been showing the reruns for about a year and the reunion movie had just aired, before all the great Silver Era merchandise had become available, the Canadian rock band, Barenaked Ladies released the super catchy song One Week in 1998. At that time, every major pop song had a music video that came out with the song. MTV actually played music videos and so did a channel called the Box. The Box was unlike anything I had ever seen before or since. You could call the 1-800 number (or was it a 1-900 number?) and request a music video, for a few bucks. It would play basically immediately. You could even see the caller's choice being punched in. It was a big deal for this high school kid. The station was on 24/7 and I think it was nationwide. I remember hearing that MTV bought it when it went away but that was early internet days so who knows. I'm sure I could google it and find out more info, but let's get back to Barenaked Ladies. Their first hit, One Week, made all kind of pop culture references in the lyrics including X-Files, Sailor Moon, Leann Rimes, and Aquaman, none of which were featured in the video. What was featured in the video was the General Lee! Almost.
After the band escapes(?) a weird baroque party, they run outside, hood slide across the Starsky and Hutch Ford and jump in to an orange '68 Dodge Charger with an 07 on the doors.
Oh yeah, and they drive both cars around the Warner Bros Anytown backlot! Yup, that's Hazzard County! The album was released by WB Music and shot at WB Studio, so I'm not sure why they didn't use an actual General Lee. You can see it's a '68 Charger by the taillights. There is also no pushbar on the front.
And no flag on the roof. The video is directed by McG. McG was an executive producer on two of my other favorite TV shows, The O.C. and Chuck. I'll admit it might surprise people that I love The O.C. but the first two seasons were great. The third was horrible and I never watched the fourth, but I loved it in the beginning. Chuck is a top five show for me and there was even a General Lee in one episode. I can't find any info on the car used in the One Week video online. Does anyone out there know anything about it? Contact me if you do please.
If the song still isn't stuck in your head, click on the link below to check out the complete music video on youtube. It's guaranteed to get stuck in your head for at least a week (One Week) after you watch the video.
We all know Kid Rock loves the Dukes. He owns a General Lee and was in the news talking about the flag a few years ago. One of his biggest hits was a duet with Sheryl Crow called Picture. It's another song the gets stuck deep in your head, and won't get out. In the video for that song, there is a 1/18 diecast General Lee in the recording studio where Kid and Sheryl are singing. You can see it a few times in the video, but the above shot features all three stars.
Here's an odd one. The BloodHound Hang is a punk rock band from Pennsylvania. They released a song called Fire Water Burn in 1996. My buddy Brett was into the song when we were in high school and he would request it often on the Box while I was at his house in between watching wrestling, playing wrestling video games, and actually wrestling with each other. (We were really into wrestling.) It's hard to notice, but one of the band members is sporting a Rosco P. Coltrane t-shirt in the video. I remember being very excited when I spotted that shirt. 1996 was the tail end of the Dukes dark ages and I loved seeing anything Dukes on TV. The lead singer wore a JR from Dallas T-Shirt. I wonder if the band was making fun of old TV shows or were really fans. Who can tell. The song isn't as classic as One Week or Picture, but the remake of The Roof Is On Fire is sure to get stuck in you head. Follow the link below at your own risk.
A year after Picture was released, a country song by Mark Wills called 19 Something took Dukes love to the next level. The song is all about growing up the '70s and '80s. It mentions everything from Pac-Man to Stretch Armstrong to MTV. One line says "My first love was Daisy Duke, and those cut off jeans." A line in a song is great, a music video that is basically dedicated to the General Lee is awesome. Mark's video starts off with the General Lee driving in to a drive-in theater and blowing the Dixie horn.
He climbs out of the window and the Gen'ral is seen is nearly every shot of the video.
The song and the video are love letters to an era gone by. I was really excited when the song came out because so many people were singing about Daisy Duke. This video came out after The Box went away but TNN and CMT showed it quite often in between airings of the Dukes.
Smokey and the Bandit got a little love in the video, but not as much as the Dukes.
Of course there is the video that Jessica Simpson released for her version of These Boots Are Made For Walkin' that accompanied the release of the 2005 movie. The video features Jessica as her version of Daisy with the General Lee and in the Boar's Nest, but it ticks you off right at the start. She drives up in the Gen'ral and gets out by opening the door! Come on! Didn't anyone in the production staff of this video have at least a little bit of Dukes knowledge?!? The video ends with Jessica washing the General Lee in a bikini and I didn't include any screenshots because this is a family blog.
The Dukes of Hazzard has been intertwined with the music industry since the start thanks to Waylon Jennings. There are countless examples of Dukes related moments in music like John's and Tom's music career and well as Ben's albums and of course the Dukes of Hazzard Official Soundtrack. As far as Dukes in music videos, I can't really think of others. There are several songs and videos that reference the Dukes like the updated Good Ol' Boys music video that is an extra feature on the series DVDs but I'm thinking about mainstream videos that were played on MTV, the Box, CMT, or TNN. Can anyone else think of anything I'm missing? If you know of any I will update this post with the new info. And I would really like to know if anyone knows anything about the 07 General Lee wanna be in the One Week video by the Barenaked Ladies. That's a story that deserves to be told.
Update
Friend of the blog Jason Parmeter reminded me of an Eminem video that made fun of a lot of things. One of those things was Jessica Simpson. The video has a not so look a like dancing in front of a General Lee. I noticed the license plate says REALLEE and went to the knowledge base of all things screen used General Lee Justin Cornette and his great site realgenerallee.com. Justin confirmed that this is none other that WGL 76, a screen used Gen'ral that was also used as the close up car for the AutoTrader commercial. This car has been on the original show, in music videos, and on commercials! Very cool. Thanks for the help Jason and Justin. Can anyone think of any other music videos with Dukes references?
Update
Friend of the blog Jason Parmeter reminded me of an Eminem video that made fun of a lot of things. One of those things was Jessica Simpson. The video has a not so look a like dancing in front of a General Lee. I noticed the license plate says REALLEE and went to the knowledge base of all things screen used General Lee Justin Cornette and his great site realgenerallee.com. Justin confirmed that this is none other that WGL 76, a screen used Gen'ral that was also used as the close up car for the AutoTrader commercial. This car has been on the original show, in music videos, and on commercials! Very cool. Thanks for the help Jason and Justin. Can anyone think of any other music videos with Dukes references?
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