In 1988, Jonas Åkerlund, directed his first music video. The video was for the song, Bewitched, by Swedish doom metal band Candlemass. The video is delightfully campy. It starts off with singer, Messiah Marcolin, interrupting his own funeral by bursting out of his coffin like some possessed minstrel. The rest of the video follows Marcolin enchanting 80’s metal heads across a quaint little scandinavian town before returning to his crypt. Despite its low budget the video is incredibly successful and Åkerlund’s talent for accompanying images to music is apparent and he would go on to direct music videos for pretty much every top act in the music biz. Jonas’ first break came from making a series of videos for Swedish pop act Roxette, before blasting thru internationally with hit music videos like the controversial, “Smack My Bitch Up” by The Prodigy,  and the grammy winning, “Ray of Light” for Madonna. Since then he’s worked with literally every big name around, Beyoncé, U2, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Pharrell, Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez, P!nk, Pussy Riot, Metallica… you get the point. In addition to music videos, Åkerlund has directed several feature length films including Spun, Small Apartments and most recently Lords of Chaos. Interestingly he started his career in the music/film business by being an early drummer for seminal black-metal band Bathory. An unlikely start for perhaps the most influential music video director of all time.