"Dancing With Myself" version viewable from US domains:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8DT0aw9-Ks
"Don't Need A Gun" version viewable from US domains:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_0VNnIl3bA&NR=1
(Links given in parent don't work from the US...thanks a bunch EMI!)
"Dancing With Myself": the whole
Blade Runner-esque aspect has a lot to do with the fact that Billy Idol and Rutger Hauer have a similar look, particularly during that period of time. It owes a lot more to zombie horror movies (
Tobe Hooper directed!) and some classic German expressionist and surrealist movies from the '20s. And yeah, definite
Metal Hurlant influence too. According to Wikipedia the video was produced in 1983, when the song was re-released in the US after being picked up by a few influential radio stations, including LA's own KROQ. So the video is post-
Blade Runner. And an influencial movie director/cineaste like Tobe Hooper probably saw
BR before it was officially released.
"Don't Need A Gun" seems more self-consciously influenced by
BR. The LA environs, the police responding to crimes, the private detective in his anachronistic car...actually it's as influenced by
Miami Vice and other stylish, formalist cop procedural TV shows and movies of the time as it is from Our Favorite Movie. However, there's some very blatant
BR takeoffs, especially towards the end as Idol slinks around a rooftop of a Sunset Strip hotel with the spotlight of a helicopter shining in back of him.
Yes, I really live in Los Angeles. Srsly. And yeah, life really does imitate art here. Especially now we've got those video billboards. No spinners yet. But I suppose that's next.