Before They Were Stars: Bill Paxton Directs and Stars in the Music Video for “Fish Heads”

Since my last “Robin’s Underrated Gems” column covered Bill Paxton’s terrific performance in One False Move, I figured I’d do a “Before They Were Stars” feature on him. The most obvious choice would be to feature his brief role as a punk at the beginning of The Terminator, but I always prefer to dig even deeper. In 1980, while he was still trying to get his acting career going, Paxton directed and appeared in the music video for a very bizarre novelty song entitled “Fish Heads” from the comedy rock duo, Barnes and Barnes. Apparently, this video was actually featured on Saturday Night Live and the song has built up a bit of a cult following.

Now, if you REALLY want to delve back far into Bill Paxton’s life, look for 8-year old Bill in the background of the following photograph which was taken on November 22, 1963. He was there to see none other than John F. Kennedy speak in the parking lot of a hotel in Fort Worth, Texas that morning and… well, I’m sure you know what happened later! Here’s the full back story behind Bill’s experience and I apologize to Mr. Paxton in advance if this leads to conspiracy theorists camping out on his doorstep.

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