On this day in 1984, Hank Williams Jr. filmed the video for “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight”. The whole thing was directed by John Goodhue, and the video is quite a star-studded venture. Fellow country artists and pop culture contemporaries like Willie Nelson, Cheech and Chong, Kris Kristofferson, and many others appear in the video at a get-together thrown by Hank Williams, Jr.
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There’s also a bit of a sad but creative reference to Hank Williams Sr., Hank Williams Jr.’s father. At the end of the music video, a ghostly Cadillac soars into the sky. That was likely a reference to Williams Sr.’s death, which happened in a Cadillac.
The video is a legendary one and an important little piece of country music history. The video for “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” was the very first video to win the CMA Music Video of the Year Award.
“All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” by Hank Williams Jr. Was a Pretty Big Hit
“All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” by Hank Williams Jr. was released on October 1, 1984. The song was the second single from his album Major Moves, and it was quite a hit. The tune peaked at No. 10 on the country charts, and the song later gained infamy for a reworked version that became a Monday Night Football theme. You might know it: the title was reworked into “All My Rowdy Friends Are Here On Monday Night”.
But, back to that music video. It wasn’t exactly shocking that Hank Williams Jr. was able to convince so many famous country stars to appear in the video for “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight”. If anything, it was a fine use of nepotism.
The whole thing takes place at a party deep in the woods, hosted by Hank Williams Jr. The video features country stars like George Jones, who was featured driving a lawnmower. Cheech and Chong waddle out of a smoked-out limo. William Lee Golden of The Oak Ridge Boys can be seen hitchhiking. Duane Allen, also of The Oak Ridge Boys, is the chauffeur of the shindig. Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings are seated at a table playing poker. Little Jimmy Dickens and Paul Williams lug a keg of beer into the party. George Thorogood (boogie-blues icon) entertains a few other celebrities who are enjoying themselves with some whisky, including Kris Kristofferson, Porter Wagoner, Grandpa Jones, Jim Varney, and others. And, of course, the ghost of Hank Williams at the very end.
Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage
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