It never hurts to “throw it back to the 1980’s,” especially when it’s for what will go down in history as one of the greatest music videos the world has ever seen.
On this date, 39 years ago to the day, Hank Williams Jr. shot the iconic music video for “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight.” And just like the song suggests, all of the rowdy friends of Bocephus were in attendance for the legendary video.
Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, George Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens, Porter Wagoner, and the famous comedy duo Cheech & Chong (among others) were in all attendance for the music video, which reenacted the party that the lyrics of the classic Hank Williams Jr. song laid out.
The lyrics of the tune align with what country fans come to expect from Williams Jr., with the chorus singing:
And its funny that he mentions an old Miss Mississippi, because the music video actually features a cameo in that very moment from a former Miss Mississippi. The attention to detail from the music video’s director John Goodhue was exceptional…
Fans might also notice another fun detail around the halfway mark, where George Jones is riding a lawnmower to the party, poking fun at the story of the country legend riding what he used to cut his grass to the liquor store after he had his keys taken away.
The cherry on top for the music video is the “Ghost Cadillac” that flies to the party through the night sky, with an actor with the likeness of Hank Williams driving around a car full of women, acting as a tribute to his late father who passed away while driving a Cadillac.
Would it surprise you if I said that the music video for “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” won the first ever CMA Music Video of the Year Award? Because it very much did, and in my opinion, should have won every year’s award since then as well.
You’ll see why if you haven’t already seen the famous music video:
Legendary stuff right there….
A reworked version of the song also acted as ABC’s Monday Night Football theme from 1989 to 2011, with its run ending because of some comments that Hank Williams Jr. made about President Barack Obama.
Still had a hell of a run though, and gets me pumped for the upcoming NFL season. Take a look:
