Introduction:
Some of the Bee Gees’ most iconic tracks have forgotten original music videos.
The Bee Gees’ songs are known across the world, and to many, the band’s music videos are just as famous as their tracks.
But did you know some of the music videos for their most well-known songs are not actually the ones the band originally intended to release?
Due to a matter as simple as Barry Gibb’s beard, the group’s original videos for ‘Stayin’ Alive’, ‘Night Fever’ and ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ were either shelved or reshot, and replaced with the videos most of us know today.
Here’s a breakdown of their complex music video history…
Stayin’ Alive
The Bee Gees’ ‘Stayin’ Alive’ music video is one of their most famous, and understandably so considering the track is one of the band’s most successful and most loved singles.
Like the rest of the tracks in this list, ‘Stayin’ Alive’ was composed by the Bee Gees for the soundtrack of the film Saturday Night Fever, which was released in 1977.
As the Bee Gees’ official website explains, the band’s original music video for ‘Stayin’ Alive’ was recorded alongside videos for their other Saturday Night Fever singles: ‘Night Fever’ and ‘How Deep Is Your Love’.
In all three of the videos (recorded on soundstages in Miami, Florida) Barry was beardless, but by the time it came for the group to release Saturday Night Fever, he had regrown his iconic look.
As a result, the group decided to reshoot the original music videos, and shot the ‘Stayin’ Alive’ video most of us remember today at the MGM backlot in California.
The original ‘Stayin’ Alive’ music video was released in Europe, however, and is still available to watch on the Bee Gees’ YouTube channel (see above).
The video is called ‘Version Two’, even though in reality it was the first music video the group filmed for their famous track.
How Deep Is Your Love
Unlike with ‘Stayin’ Alive’, when the Bee Gees reshot ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, the group stuck far more to the original vision for the music video.
Both videos feature the trio singing in a dark room with minimal stage lighting and lots of very 1970s-era music video editing!
But in the group’s original idea, a mysterious woman features as the subject of the song – she is not present in the group’s reshot video, however.
The Bee Gees’ original video for ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ was eventually released, although it is not currently available on the band’s official YouTube channel.
Night Fever
The third and final Bee Gees music video from the band’s original Saturday Night Fever video shoot was for ‘Night Fever’.
Much like the band’s other Miami-shot videos, the video was shelved, but the song seemingly did not get a music video reshoot either.
‘Night Fever’’s original music video was reportedly only released in 2004, likely to coincide with the release of the Bee Gees’ Number Ones compilation album.
The video again sees the group singing in a backlit studio, interspersed with footage of the bright lights of a Floridian motel strip.
Barry’s beard is missing, just as it is in the original ‘Stayin’ Alive’ and ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ videos, denoting that the video released in 2004 is the one that was shot in Miami, and not from a reshoot filmed at another time.