Long before Paul McCartney and Wings put out an album of the same name, the idea of a band on the run ties into rock’s rebel spirit as well as the earlier tradition of the bluesman with hellhounds on his trail. Although rock artists often sing of being on the run – from The Man, hellhounds, adoring fans, what have you – they rarely agree to be filmed running. Lately I’ve been scouring YouTube to find videos showing actual rock musicians in the act of running. It’s been tough finding all but a handful of clips that my fading memory could remember from the days when MTV and VH1 actually played music videos. Even that wildly popular OK Go video, although choreographed for treadmill, includes no running. The results are mixed, but I think the results of my survey will satisfy any lingering questions you might have over the marriage of rock music and running. Take your time with this one; we may need all weekend.
Let’s start this examination of bands on the run with arguably the greatest of rock running videos.
NEXT: Arguably the greatest of rock running videos!
