Buses on Screen - Music Videos A-L

Dating from 1993, "this is partially filmed in what is probably best described as a tour bus depot, which is mainly full of London Transport liveried Bristol Lodekkas (FLFs or FSFs in the main)" (thanks Adrian Clarke)

Aswad - 54-46 That's My Number

The band are seen getting off a London Transport DMS-type Daimler Fleetline, and are passed by a Clarke's of London Plaxton coach:

Geoff Cook suggests the Fleetline is DMS2573 (THX573S), a Leyland B20/Park Royal.

Atomic Kitten

Right Now
Has footage aboard an open top double decker, which may be difficult to identify!

(screen capture provided by Steve Dave)

Whole Again
Assorted transit buses in the background.

Aurora - Dreaming

Lots of footage of a US crosscountry journey on motorcoach 112, white with two blue stripes.

[B]

Badly Drawn Boy - All Possibilities

The man is seen busking outside Waterloo station, with a number of different London buses passing.

Baha Men - Who Let the Dogs Out?

Briefly features a multicoloured school bus type vehicle.

The Beatles

Free As A Bird
Features a glimpse of a Liverpool Corporation Leyland Atlantean/MCW, possibly L835. (thanks Jim Gorman)

Penny Lane
Ken Lansdowne confirms Pete Weatherby's sighting of a Liverpool Corporation bus with 'Penny Lane' as the destination.
Dave Karr adds "I drove one of the buses in the film. There were four vehicles used in total and all came from the old Prince Alfred Road Depot (called PAR South Div). All the vehicles used were in service at the time for different routes and asked to change their number and route plate on the front to read Penny Lane 46 or 99. We drove out of Heath Rd into what is known as Penny Lane but in reality is Smithdown Place, and the filming took approx 2 hours in total. The vehicles used were AEC Regent Vs and NOT the London Routemasters used in the models which sell as the Beatles Penny Lane Bus."

Pat Benatar - Love is a Battlefield

Ken Lansdowne found this: a GM New Look 'Fishbowl' appears at the beginning and end of the video: Pat Benatar

Bjork - Big Time Sensuality

The Icelandic songstress performs on the back of a moving truck in New York, against a background of traffic which includes several RTS transit buses and an MCI motorcoach from Academy Tours.

Black Eyed Peas - Where is the Love

Los Angeles-set music video has a man running down the street past bus 7742 - when he emerges from behind it, it's bus 5397! Several other glimpses of LA Metro transit buses.

Black Lace - Do the Conga

Much interior and exterior footage of preserved 1955 Leeds City Transport Leyland Titan PD2/11/Roe 207 (UUA207) Also seen in the video is the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. (thanks Chris Hough)

Blink 182 - All the Small Things

A brief shot of a silver American touring coach.

Blondie - Heart of Glass

Opening shot shows a New York transit bus at night.

Blur

For Tomorrow
In the video for this 1992 single, singer Damon Albarn hangs off the platform of a London Transport AEC Routemaster/Park Royal on service 12 while going round Trafalgar Square. "Don't know which one but it's heavily featured- they cut back to it throughout the video" (thanks Seb). Ken Lansdowne notes the Routemaster carries registration OYM374A, which makes it RM9, which carried this registration between 1987 and 1995. A few other buses are seen in the background, including an M-class MCW Metrobus:

Coffee and TV
Dark blue Bedford YRT/Plaxton coach 492DTT is featured, fitted with seats and tables. Previously registered LAA301N, owned in January 2001 by Translux, Notting Hill (thanks Dave Farrier, Martin Ingle and Stephen Parker, screencap by Daniel Dey)

Parklife
Features a London AEC Routemaster/Park Royal displaying route 700 - Parklife. (thanks Carlos Wallberg - screencaps provided by Daniel Dey)

Brandy - Who Is She 2 U?

Features the interior of Regional Transit Service, California, 5034, an impressive-looking Canadian GM TA60102N articulated coach - an album of photographs from the shoot can be viewed on the Regional Transit Service website:

The exterior views are of more conventional GM Fishbowls, however!

Alicia Bridges - I Love the Nightlife

Includes scenes from the movie 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'.

British Sea Power - Remember Me

Shot in London - passing unidentified AEC Routemasters and a Metroline Dennis Trident/Plaxton President.

Bronski Beat - Small Town Boy

Mark Evans reports: "The video for Bronski Beat's 1984 single, Smalltown Boy, tells the tale of the singer/hero Jimi Somerville escaping his oppressive home town in the forlorn hope of seeking a better life in London.
From the windows of the Class 210 DEMU (thanks Geoff Cook) on which he is travelling, the closed AEC factory at Southall can be recognised. At the time, it was used for the storage of withdrawn London Transport DMS-class Fleetlines, which can be seen - albeit as a blur - from the train."

[C]

Cast

Walk Away
Brief glimpses of the side of a London AEC Routemaster, and a T-class Leyland Titan from behind on route 8.

Beat Mama
Two buses carry people to a party in the desert; one is a green/cream GM Old Look with fleet number 251, the other may be a Silversides, but the lighting is poor.

Catatonia - Mulder and Scully

Several shots of the band's bus on tour - the registration number is visible but I missed it!

Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy Hey Girl

Opens with a young girl on board an unidentified coach.

Cher - Walking in Memphis

Much of the video sees Cher sitting on the steps of an American motorcoach, but we don't see much of it - in a brief scene she is seen boarding it.

Jimmy Cliff - Higher and Higher

Has a glimpse of a bus in Kenya, taken from the 1994 Kevin Bacon movie 'The Air Up There'

Phil Collins - Take Me Home

Released 1985; features several scenes of Collins standing by his Ford Prefect against a backdrop of London traffic. A close up of London traffic features three RMs and a DMS (no Metrobuses) and an unidentifiable white and blue single-decker appears in the background of the next scene. Also seen is a white blue and red Duple Dominant II coach (possibly lettered for 'Nuneaton Coaches'). Another features the rear end of a parked white Jonckheere Jubilee-bodied coach parked alongside Big Ben. In front of it is a grey/blue double-decker with a white stripe (looks like a DMS). The video involves Phil visiting various tourist attractions around the world, but the London segments are the only ones with buses; however, Collins is also seen riding on San Francisco cable car 49. (thanks Adam Floyd)

Counting Crows - Hanging Around

Features Southern California Transit 7728, a Grumman Flxible 870 supplied by Regional Transit Service .

Creed - My Sacrifice

A scene from this video has the band sitting on school bus 506, which is decorated with (lit) candles. Daniel Dey provided this screencap and believes it's an International Harvester S-Series built between 1978 and 1990:

Miley Cyrus - Start All Over

The alter ego of Disney Channel 'star' Hannah Montana is seen walking through an International S-1800 school bus with Thomas body;

(screen capture by Daniel Dey)

[D]

Darude - Sandstorm

Chase sequence includes a blue/white articulated bus, also a green/cream tram. PJ confirms it was shot in Finland, probably Helsinki.

A Day Full of Songs (Music video tape)

Made in 1993, I've included this jolly tape (my children enjoyed it) of chidren's songs because it features preserved London Transport AEC Routemaster RM2198 (CUV198C) blinded for 19 to Highbury Barn. It arrives to pick up a group of children who then sing a song on the upper deck, although it's clearly not actually moving during the interior seqence. It's also notable because one of the singers providing the dubbed on soundtrack is the now-famous Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who also doubled as Unit Runner.

Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffany's

One hit wonders filmed in New York amid RTS transit buses. In one shot two Grayline tour buses are parked in the background: a Bristol VRTSL/Eastern Coachworks and a Bristol Lodekka/Eastern Coachworks. It may be the same VRTSl that is then seen from behind.

Deftones - Back to School

Opens with a blue and white transit bus dropping students at school.

Destiny's Child - Get On The Bus

More girls than buses, though:

Dexy's Midnight Runners - Geno

Early in the video there is a brief flash of the front of a West Midlands PTE Daimler Fleetline/MCW, one would speculate shot in Wolverhampton.

Dire Straits

Heavy Fuel
"Features what appears to be a Volvo B12 possibly with Jonckheere double deck bodywork running the band from show to show."

Skateaway
Has a girl skating past London Transport RTL525 (KYY521) (thanks Bryce Pender) The driver's position is a little odd.

DJ Otzi - Hey Baby (World Cup Mix)

Depicts a group of England football fans on a trip on green/cream Thomas of West Ewell Leyland Tiger/Plaxton HIL4017 (previously UPE755X). Unusually for a Leyland Tiger, this coach converts to rocket power and flies into the sky at the end of the video. (thanks Ken Lansdowne for the ID)

Dream Academy - Life in a Northern Town

Geoff Cook reports "Apart from footage of Tyne and Wear Metro trams, a Tyne and Wear double decker (looked like a Metropolitan) passes across shot."

Jermaine Dupri featuring Ludacris - Welcome To Atlanta

Features 1973 Leyland Atlantean AN68/Alexander open topper HGD865L complete with fancy upholstery and gold hubcaps. This was new to Glasgow Corporation as LA659.

[E]

Eels - Mr E's Beautiful Blues

The song features in the film 'Road Trip'; the video co-stars 'Road Trip' star Tom Green and a bus.

Missy Elliott - Gossip Folks

Last minute of the video is filmed mostly aboard a Crown Coach school bus. Daniel Dey provided this screenshot:

Eminem - Just Don't Give a ****

A disused bus used as a caravan.

Everything But the Girl - Missing

At least two London Buses Dennis Darts - one is shown twice!

[F]

Feeder - Seven Days in the Sun

A group of girls get off an airliner at an unidentified airport while a white articulated bus passes.

Flying Pickets - I Feel for You

Featured Manchester Corporation all-Crossley DD42/8S 2150 (JND791), supplied by the Museum of Transport, Manchester (thanks Bob Wingrove).

Foreigner - I Want to Know What Love Is

" Has scenes filmed on a blue/white alloy rib sided American bus. " (thanks Bryce Pender) - Mick Overton photographed the Flxible used in the video on Queensland's Gold Coast, although it carried a Victoria registration plate.

Funkstar Deluxe vs Bob Marley - Sun is Shining

Several local Jamaican buses, but also unexpectedly several Leyland-Nationals in green livery, also a BET Federation-type Marshall or Willowbrook bodied bus. These are poor captures, but can anyone shed some light?.

Fun Lovin' Criminals - Loco

At the beginning of the clip the rear of a green/cream transit bus can be seen

[G]

Gorillaz - Tomorrow Comes Today

Ken Lansdowne notes a number of buses seen during a speeded up sequences driving through London at night.

Macy Gray - Try

Macy takes a trip on a New York transit bus.

Groove Armada - My Friend

Ends with a woman wiping away a tear sitting on a London bus.

[H]

Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing)

Has a New York RTS and New Look parked in the background.

Human League

Life on Your Own
Post-apocalyptic scenes of streets empty of life include an abandoned London Transport MD1 (KJD201P), a Scania Metropolitan/MCW.

Louise
London Transport AEC Routemaster/Park Royal RM1780 (780DYE) skids to a halt sideways in skidpan style. The bus has advertising for 'Louise' and also features Venetian blinds upstairs. As it drives away the rear destination shows 'Waterloo'.

[I]

Idlewild - You Held the World in Your Arms

Has a number of shots of the interior of a London singledecker, also a bus driver, a brief flash of a Routemaster and a Dennis Dart/Marshall.

[J]

Elton John - I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues

Geoff Cooke notes an appearance by Bedford OB/Duple LRL660:

[K]

K's Choice - Not an Addict

Shot mostly aboard white coach 741, but the band also perform in front of a red/white/silver GM Old Look (fleetname 'The Transport Company' seen through the windscreen of the coach.

Keane - This is the Last Time

Features former Bournemouth Corporation 261 (NLJ271), a 1954 Burlingham-bodied Leyland Royal Tiger, by then owned by Rexquote.

Alicia Keys - Fallin'

Preserved two-tone green GM TDM-4515 suburban bus (thanks Bruce Korusek), fleet number 108 with New York destination, also a prison bus.

[L]

Avril Lavigne - I'm With You

"There is a bus visible in one of the street shots in this music video. (Incidentally, there is also a subway train visible in another scene - it looks like a Toronto subway car. Avril Lavigne is Canadian, after all.)" (thanks Andrew MacKinnon)

Lemonheads - Mrs Robinson

No great surprise that this Simon and Garfunkel cover version features clips from The Graduate, including the bus......

The Lightning Seeds - Three Lions '98

"Has shots of two coaches, LAG Panoramic G484 KBD and Jonckheere L949 NWW (Ralphs Coaches), the latter also being used for internal shots." (thanks Ken Lansdowne)

Limp Bizkit

Rollin'
Shot in New York, this video opens with a charter bus with fleetname Suburban, either an MCI-9 or an MCI-12 (thanks Daniel dey, who provided the screencap)

Home Sweet Home
Lee notes a couple of large grey buses - identified by Geoff Cook as Prevost tour buses.

Back to the top of this page - updated 7 October 2009