Chicago wrote a love song, and then they gave it an ‘Indiana Jones’ adventure and a ‘Casablanca’ makeover
Chicago gave their love song ‘Along Comes A Woman’ an elaborate video inspired by adventure films and classic Hollywood, reflecting the pressure on established bands to adapt to MTV. The clip was a striking shift for a group whose identity had traditionally centred on its music and collective image.
Director Jay Dubin said he aimed to evoke *Casablanca* on a small budget, using a studio water pit filled with mud and water. The song offered a funkier take on a straightforward love-song lyric, but the video’s theatrical scenes sometimes felt overdone; its strongest moments showed the band performing together.
In short
- Chicago gave ‘Along Comes A Woman’ a cinematic MTV video.
- Director Jay Dubin drew on *Casablanca* and adventure films.
- The band’s group performance was the video’s strongest feature.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The elaborate video showed Chicago adapting to MTV’s visual storytelling and helped an established band reach audiences in a changing musical landscape. Its cinematic ambition also gave the love song a distinctive setting, while the scenes of the group performing together kept the band’s musical identity in view.
The case against
The theatrical adventure and Hollywood references risked overwhelming a relatively straightforward love song and making the clip feel overdone. For listeners who valued Chicago’s collective musical identity, the spectacle could seem like an unnecessary shift in emphasis from the band’s performance to a manufactured visual concept.
Explained simply
Chicago are an American band formed in the late 1960s, known for combining rock with brass instruments. By the 1980s, music videos had become an important way for bands to reach audiences through MTV, putting more emphasis on visual presentation.
“Along Comes A Woman” is a love song with a funkier sound than a simple ballad. Its video draws on adventure films and classic Hollywood cinema, including the romantic drama Casablanca, which is set during the Second World War.
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