Jump to content
IGNORED

RIP Stephen Johnson


eh Speedy

Recommended Posts

Stephen R. Johnson, Director of some of my most personal musical revelation moments in video, passed away on 1/26. He directed the music videos for Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer, Big Time and Steam. Also did videos for Talking Heads (Road To Nowhere) and shitload of others. He directed and was a huge creative force of the the first season of Pee-Wees Playhouse (Paul Rubens, who Stephen Referred to as "a dick")

 

Not just that, but he was a personal friend of mine who I was honored to have gotten to talk to on the phone a number of times and have some good email conversations. So respect to Stephen. He was one of my greatest inspirations.

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=174043763

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Stephen came on board for the TV show, because the producer liked his animation style or something. The opening to Pee-Wee's play house is pure Stephen signature creativity as were a number of the characters he was uncredited for creating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry for your loss SPD²

 

This is yet another one of those cases where I find about a talented person upon their death. I was a huge Pee-Wee's Playhouse fan growing up, I remember the visuals of that show fondly, as they fit in with other films and shows I love back then, like Tim Burton's films of that era. Those Peter Gabriel videos were ones I probably only saw once or twice as a child but vividly remember.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also interesting:

 

 

This is from a VHS I recorded as a 14 year old. Years later when I started talking to him, I made him a YouTube channel and handed it off so that's how this ended up on there.

 

There's actually another part too this in the middle that I cut out about the Digging In The Dirt video but Stephen direct that one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.