Justin Bieber went to Iceland, Taylor Swift to Paris: music video locations around the world
- Coldplay were accused of cultural appropriation with their video for Hymn for the Weekend, which was shot in India
- A housing estate on the edge of Hangzhou provided a post-apocalyptic setting for Jamie XX’s Gosh
Pop videos were around long before August 1, 1981, but, with the launch of 24-hour music channel MTV, it was clear that visuals were about to become as important as songs. And when it came to eye-catching images, performers were (and still are, Covid-19 permitting) more than happy to pile onto a plane and head off somewhere exotic to film a mini movie.
Here are a few of the most notable music videos filmed around the globe.
In the early 1980s, Duran Duran were synonymous with stylish, cinematic productions filmed in faraway places. Shot in Sri Lanka, the promo for Hungry Like the Wolf (1982) has a swashbuckling Raiders of the Lost Ark feel, while visitors planning a grand tour of the Indian Ocean island could do worse than hire a car and driver and track down the locations featured in Save a Prayer (1982).
Beach scenes were filmed on the scenic south coast around Talpe and Koggala, where fishermen on stilts still catch their supper. Helicopter shots of the towering rock fortress of Sigiriya and the Buddhist temple at the ancient city of Polonnaruwa are spliced with footage taken at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage and Yala National Park.
Another classic of the glossy, glamorous genre is Wham!’s Club Tropicana (1983), which was filmed at Pikes Hotel, on the Spanish island of Ibiza. The former farmhouse, then owned by flamboyant playboy Tony Pike, was popular with celebrity guests including Elton John, Boy George, Freddie Mercury and Kate Moss.
In the video, George Michael and Andrew Ridgley are pilots on a layover, frolicking in the pool, enjoying cocktails and flirting with two girls who turn out to be flight attendants. Swapping sunshine for snow, Wham! released Last Christmas (1984) accompanied by a video partly filmed at the Walliserhof Grand Hotel, in the ski resort of Saas-Fee, Switzerland. External shots including a snowball fight were filmed at nearby Chalet Schliechte.
