“Today is June 11th, it’s the Anniversary date of our first ever MTV video shoot back in 1991”
— Stevie Rachelle / Tuff

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY — Have you ever wondered how your favorite MTV video was created from scratch, or what kind of planning went into it?

Well, I will try to give you some insight as to how our video shoot came to life for our Tuff song “I Hate Kissing You Goodbye” back in 1991.

The interesting thing is that for years, we as the band have been asked repeatedly; “Why did you release a ballad first?”

Well, the truth is that was not the plan at all.

The band, management and yes the record label too, all agreed the first video and single would be for the song “The All New Generation.”

As to what would come 2nd or 3rd, well, that was up in the air, but it’s safe to say that “I Hate Kissing You Goodbye” was on the short list of choices.

Our Atlantic Records debut Tuff “What Comes Around Goes Around” was officially released on Tuesday May 14th 1991. And for those younger than say, 40… the release date for new music / records back in the day was always on Tuesday.

Just for texture here, let me note that we signed our official deal on October 26th 1990, and actually started recording exactly two months later on December 26th 1990.

But, we actually had a deal memo by the early summer of 1990, which for the most part, is a commitment on paper from the label saying they were going to sign us.

Soon after getting that confirmation, we booked a pair of nights at ‘The Roxy’ on Sunset Boulevard to celebrate the big announcement, the dates were July 12th & 13th 1990.

Much of this was covered in TUFF DIARIES #11 which can be read here.

As for the actual recording, the basic tracks (drums and bass) were pretty much done inside of a week and they were all recorded at Track Record Studios in North Hollywood California with Producer Howard Benson leading the way.

Countless artists have recorded at Track Record including; Aerosmith, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Black Label Society, The Offspring, Megadeth, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kid Rock, Bad Religion, Foreigner and Scorpions along with many more.

Just after New Year’s Eve in early January we headed over to Preferred Sound Studios in Woodland Hills and began overdubs which included; rhythm guitars, lead guitars, lead vocals, back-ground vocals, keyboards, percussion and the rest.

The recording part was pretty much done by the end of January, and the record was then mixed at Aire L.A. Studios in Glendale by Sir-Arthur Payson.

As noted above, the record was officially released on May 14th 1991.

So the month of May finally rolls around and on the day of its release, you know it, we were all driving around to record stores and checking out the compact-disc bins under the letter ‘T’.

I talked about all of this extensively in TUFF DIARIES #13 & #14 as well… and if you have not read these, I highly suggest it as the reviews have been awesome.

It’s now 1991 and Tuff had only played 1 live show since recording our record and now that it was out, it was time to get to work.

We were booked to appear at ‘Springfest‘ in Chandler Arizona which was a local festival sponsored by 98 KUPD the big rock radio station in Phoenix Arizona.

The 3-day event was held on Friday thru Sunday, May 17th, 18th & 19th with Tuff appearing on the first night along with Great White, Bang Tango, SouthGang and Eyes.

Now that we were signed, the big machine of the industry was starting to work in our favor, and our first video shoot was being sorted too.

Atlantic Records sent a full video crew to film Tuff at this festival, and that included cameras following us around all day… from our crew unloading road cases, to our sound-check and the band hanging out with fans in addition to our performance that night.

This was slated to be the ‘live footage’, or as they call it in the business the B-roll. There were multiple cameras, with the crew shooting both black & white, and color film of the group.

The show was awesome and we had a great weekend in Phoenix, our first week as a national recording artist with an album in stores… and for what its worth, we were all on cloud nine.

Now it’s a week or so later, we’re back home and the date was set for us to film a more detailed video on a sound-stage in a controlled setting back in Los Angeles.

At or around the exact time frame our song “I Hate Kissing You Goodbye” was getting traction and added into rotation at several radio stations.

The song was reacting at radio in major markets including; The Blaze in Chicago, WAAF in Boston, KBER in Salt Lake City, WIYY in Baltimore and several others.

The song was also getting as they call it, ‘great phones’… in other words it was a hot request and was starting to chart too.

Note, this was around the same time that other power-ballads were helping bands sell big… songs like; “Silent Lucidity” by Queensrÿche, “More Than Words” by Extreme and “To Be With You” by Mr. Big.

Not to mention, “Something To Believe In” by Poison, “I Saw Red” by Warrant and “Wasted Time” by Skid Row.

All of these softer songs at the time – since Mötley Crüe released “Home Sweet Home” in 1985 and “Is This Love” by Whitesnake in 1987 – it was evident that the love song was often the track that took a band to the next level in the way of popularity.

So, in the 11th hour, literally just days before we were to shoot our video for “The All New Generation”, Atlantic Records made the executive call and changed the song.

In a nutshell they told us, “The video shoot is going to be for the ballad“, and they basically scrapped the other footage and all plans for “The All New Generation.”

For those who might ask, or suggest, “Why didn’t you say no?“, or challenge their decision.

Well, that would be like the rookie football player asking the coach; “Why are you running those plays?”

You have to understand your place, and Tuff as a baby-band, was in no position to challenge anything the label was suggesting. It’s just not realistic to do this… and this is where the politics come into play.

Something similar happened when the label asked us to pick out a handful of images, to be considered for the official album release poster. Which is ironically, also on the cover of the cassette single in this article.

We submitted slides, and a few weeks later we got a response from the label which included that photo, and the entire band said; “No way”, but… after some back n’ forth with the label, their stance was something like; “If you want a poster, this is it.”

In the end, again, we’re the baby-band on the label, and didn’t have the clout to start arguing with them, so we caved and pretty much agreed.

That same image, ended up being our 24″ x 36″ wall poster, which was sent to every record store and event promoting the record. It also ended up on the cover of the cassingle as well.

Again… more politics, that we as the band didn’t really get to have a final say in, but… this is what happened.

Oddly, by this point the factory had already made a cassingle as well, but for the song “The All New Generation.”

So now that the label was changing the single, the manufacturing plant had to alter their plans as well, and change the audio track on Side A of the cassingle… which proved to be problematic.

The factory had already started this, so Side A was going to be “The All New Generation” and Side B was going to be “Forever Yours.” But since the last minute change, Side A was now supposed to be “I Hate Kissing You Goodbye.”

I don’t remember all of the details, but in short… someone at the plant, or the label dropped the ball big time, as the cassingles were edited in the way how the cardboard sleeve looked, but, not the audio. See images of the cover and back, and it’s clearly marked “I Hate Kissing You Goodbye.”

As crazy as it sounds, somehow some of this got lost in translation, as the audio on the actual cassette on Side A was still the music for “The All New Generation”, but the printed sleeve stated otherwise.

These were then shipped to all stores, and it was not discovered until fans actually bought it, took it home and when listening realized the song they wanted to buy, was not on the cassette.

This set in motion a pain-staking return process, and now the song was getting played on radio, but the correct cassingle was not in stores. Ugh!

This is just some of what happens, that ultimately is out of the band’s control, but oh well… we have to do our part and move forward.

So finally the day arrived, Tuesday June 11th 1991 and it was beyond epic… nothing less.

Our first official Atlantic Records video shoot, and the goal was, MTV or bust!

The set was built at the Burbank Water & Power Plant at 164 Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank California.

You read that correctly… they built a huge stage, roughly 80 feet wide, by 30 feet deep and several feet off the ground.

They also brought in purple paint, and painted a bunch of the actual W&P plant walls, railings, and stairways all purple. In addition, they brought in the cameras, dolly tracks for the camera men, lighting, trailers for production, a dressing-room, and a full video staff of a few dozen people.

We also had about 20 cabinets, both guitar and bass that all had their screens air-brushed with our Tuff logo, Michael‘s purple with black hardware drum-kit and the stage itself along with the drum-riser were all purple as well.

The budget for this video escapes me, but… I want to say it was a pretty penny for sure, possibly costing as much or more than our entire recording budget.

These are things that a young kid in his bedroom can only dream of – and as hokey as that may sound – I can attest to it being an awesome feeling seeing it all become a reality.

The shoot was scheduled to shoot at night, and while we arrived in the afternoon, it wasn’t until dark that it really got rolling.

By the time the band arrived late that day, the entire stage, the full set and all of our gear was already in place and camera crews on hand.

Our roadies Kenny ‘Ken Dog’ Carruth, Timmy Mercier and Dennis ‘Rat’ Dudek were all busting their asses and the day was just getting started.

We also had a few friends who stopped by to say hi.

In addition to our manager Brian Kushner of Power-Star Management who flew out from New Jersey, Martha Quinn from MTV came by, along with my English bad-ass brother from another Steevi Jaimz from TigerTailz was also on set that night in addition to my room-mate Todd ‘Toy Stacy‘ of The Zeros.

Of course everyone’s significant other were also there, including Michael‘s son Stephen who was just 4 years old at the time.

Some of this footage can actually be seen on our Tuff “What Comes Around Goes Around” Home Video, which was originally released on VHS, and eventually authored for the DVD release, found Here in our official RLS Records Store.

The shoot itself went very late, or shall I say… very early… as in, til early the next morning.

We had done several group takes with the full band on stage, and along the way they did individual takes as well, with each band member.

Of course they moved cameras up closer for this, especially for Michael‘s drum takes, and the cameras were right up on top of him at the front and side of the drum-riser.

I have to be honest, watching the others do their takes was a little emotional for me at times, and I clearly remember getting a lump in my throat as I watched Michael doing his parts.

Again, not to sound corny, but I along with Michael, Todd and Jorge were all realizing what really amounts to a dream that all young people have when striving to accomplish a goal.

Whether it’s musicians trying to get signed, or athletes wanting to be drafted or a College graduate getting their first real big corporate job.

Little did we know, that in roughly 2 months time, this very video would be added into Active Rotation getting spins in Prime Time and within a few short weeks we were officially climbing the Dial MTV Top 10 countdown.

But… let’s get back to the video shoot…

I also recall for my solo takes, they brought up these big lighting boards (lights/screens) that essentially encased me in bright lights, and the camera was zoomed in on my then 25 year old mug.

I have never had any form of stage-fright and by this point, we had already done a few hundred live shows, but in this setting it was a bit different and honestly, a little intimidating as the entire crew, band and all the guests were focused on each of us as we did our solo takes on stage.

The film crew also did solo takes of Todd and Jorge as well, and I recall Jorge‘s solo parts being filmed last with time winding down.

What I mean by this is, it was now somewhere between 4:00 and 4:30am the next day, and the director and crew were trying to finish up with the use of the night’s darkness, before the sun was about to rise up over the mountains to the East of Burbank and the 5 Freeway.

We had been on set for more than a dozen hours, and my guess is the film crew and our road warrior roadies, were there going on 20+ hours since early the day before.

By the time all was done, the sun was coming up as I drove home on the 170 Freeway to our North Hollywood apartment.

To be honest, I don’t know what I was thinking at that point, but everything that followed throughout the rest of 1991 was all pretty amazing for sure.

I am today, more grateful than ever for the opportunities I, and we as a band, were afforded.

Being signed to Atlantic Records, making our record, seeing it in every music store we entered and the subsequent magazine press, radio play and eventually, the crème de la crème… seeing this video on MTV was surreal for sure.

See the original documents below as forwarded to our management and record label from Renegade West Films back in May of 1991.

Also, below I have embedded the actual “I Hate Kissing You Goodbye” video in 720p HD which shows you the clarity described in the draft.

Thanks so much for reading… and for more reading on the history of our band, make sure to check out the TUFF DIARIES right here if you haven’t already done so.

Stay tuned to Metal Sludge for Breaking News, Updates and Features along with both new and classic interviews and articles.

Tuff @ Facebook –  eBay – Amazon– iTunes – Instagram – Twitter – Store – Discogs 

Stevie Rachelle @ Twitter –  Facebook – Facebook 2  – Intsagram –  Reverbnation – Metal Sludge –