Bryan Adams - Heat Of The Night

What this video is

Released in March 1987, 'Heat of the Night' marked Bryan Adams' pivot from the buoyant pop-rock of 'Reckless' (1984) toward a moodier, noir-tinged rock identity on 'Into the Fire.' The song and video arrived at the apex of MTV's cultural power, when hard rock and AOR acts competed for rotation alongside hair metal. The film noir visual influence — partly inspired by Orson Welles' 'The Third Man' — gave Adams a…

Why it matters

Represents a critical AOR and mainstream hard rock crossroads moment: the black-and-white performance video as artistic legitimizer, differentiating Adams from the hair metal spectacle dominant in 1987. The noir aesthetic anticipated the stripped-back, monochrome rock video vocabulary that would…

The director

Wayne Isham (born December 2, 1958, Vinita, Oklahoma) is an American music video and film director. A University of California, Santa Barbara alumnus, he was inspired by David Bowie's 'Ashes to Ashes' video. He helmed over 150 music videos across four…