Kim Wilde - Chequered Love

JUL 01 1981 · 12:00

Kim Wilde - Chequered Love (1981) Director: Brian Grant Era: Early New Wave / Post-Punk Breakthrough (1981) - The year MTV launched in the US; UK artists were pioneering the promo clip format as a commercial art form, with minimalist studio-bound sets defining the nascent music video aesthetic. A historically significant artifact from the opening year of the music video era as mass medium, directed by one of the form's key pioneers before the founding of MGMM. The shared-set connection with Olivia Newton-John's Grammy-winning 'Physical' provides unique documentary value for production history research. Wilde's performance, the stark black-tile aesthetic, and Grant's kinetic editing make this a textbook example of how constrained budgets and creative ingenuity defined the early UK promo clip. Essential viewing for any study of the 1981–1983 new wave video canon. Context: Released 27 April 1981 as Kim Wilde's second single on RAK Records, 'Chequered Love' arrived during the critical window between punk's commercial exhaustion and synth-pop's full dominance. The UK was in recession, youth culture was politically charged, and the music video was rapidly emerging as the primary promotional vehicle, MTV would launch in the US just four months later in August 1981. Wilde, backed by a family production unit (written by father Marty Wilde, produced by brother Ricky Wilde), represented a new archetype: the self-possessed female rock-pop artist indebted to Blondie but distinctly British. The video's stark bathroom aesthetic and Grant's fast editorial style reflect the DIY-meets-professional tension of the early promo era, when budgets were tight but ambition was high. Director notes: Directed at Shepperton Studios, London, on the same physical set constructed for Olivia Newton-John's 'Physical' video, shot the same year (1981). The video is set entirely within a black-tiled bathroom environment. Kim Wilde wanders the space while her band performs in the background. A key scene features Wilde standing under a cold shower during the chorus, she reportedly had to maintain a 'sultry' expression while being drenched in freezing water (per wilde-life.com, citing Wilde's own 1986 TV account). The video opens with a close-up of Wilde's hand sliding down a mirror; a later moment shows her smashing the mirror with her fist. The minimalist, single-set approach was consistent with low-to-mid budgets of early UK promo clips and kept production lean while maximising visual impact through lighting and editing pace. Released 26 April 1981.