Fish Heads
Fish Heads
| 01 January 1980 (USA)
Fish Heads Trailers

A short, surreal movie which becomes a music video, starring a young Bill Paxton and Bill Mumy of Lost in Space fame. Was shown somewhat frequently in the early days of MTV.

Reviews
Horst in Translation ([email protected])

"Fish Heads" is a music video from 1980, so it is already over 35 years old. The band you hear are "Barnes and Barnes". This is a mix of black-and-white and color scenes and occasionally there is even some animation in here. The writer (one of them), director and lead actor is Bill Paxton quite a while before his Golden Globe nominated acting. So well.. what can you say about this one here. It certainly lives through its oddity. The first 120 seconds are completely boring and forgettable, but then it just becomes extremely absurd and what we see fits together nicely with what we hear. Still, in terms of story-telling and maybe also the music (catchy, but no depth) this is not really a creative achievement. But I am not surprised this song is better known today than music from the 1980s that may have an actual great singing performance attached to it. This one just stays in the mind, regardless if you like it or not. I was tempted to give it a better rating, but because of the sleep-inducing beginning I just cant. Thumbs down from me and I do not recommend the watch. Also this is nothing that may get you interested in the singers' other works at all which is always bad for a music video.

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tavm

I remember first seeing and hearing this song video when it was presented on "Saturday Night Live" during that show's absolute worst season ever-the only one produced by Jean Domanian which introduced Eddie Murphy. Now I rewatched it on YouTube with an intro by Dr. Demento (he appeared in it, by the way) who declared it No. 1 on "Demented Top 20 Video Countdown" on MTV from 1988. Watching it again after all these years, the images didn't bring back memories but the song certainly did as it's been running on my mind since that first time viewing some now 35 years ago! Anyway, this was quite a strangely amusing video so on that note, I say Fish Heads is worth a look for anyone looking for the offbeat...

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craigjclark

I remember seeing this video many, many times on Nickelodeon when I was a kid. I thought it was a laugh riot then and it's still funny to me now. Incidentally, that's Dr. Demento himself as the homeless guy admiring Bill Paxton's fish head. Barnes & Barnes are geniuses."Fish heads are never seen drinking cappuccinos in Italian restaurants with Oriental women / Yeah."

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Paul Curtis

It's a mild surprise to see "Fish Heads" listed as a short film, but I suppose it is.The song is odd, as is the film. Most people watch it for the first time with their mouth open. I think this is the highest recommendation possible for a music video (surpassed possibly only by The Residents' "Hello Skinny.")This short film is available on the Barnes & Barnes music video compilation, "Voobaha" (or something like that.) Their other videos aren't as startling as "Fish Heads" but they are a lot of fun.

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