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Double-take that: Arnie gives Angus Young a lift;

a cash-rich Chuck Berry at the Rainbow, ’73;

Shutterstock (2), Getty

Let us solve your rock conundrums and answer music-related queries.

I was watching some ’80s music videos and in quick succession saw comedian Chevy Chase on Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al, Ian McKellen on Pet Shop Boys’ Heart and Labi Siffre on Madness’s It Must Be Love. There was clearly an epidemic of guest stars back then, so what were the other zany cameos in the peak years of the music video?

John Wood, via e-mail

MOJO says: Where to start with the promo clip double-take? While some guest spots are simply about recognisable faces – see how Michael Jackson’s Remember The Time starred 1992 hot properties Eddie Murphy and basketball player Magic Johnson, or Ray Parker Jr’s stars-of-’84 Ghostbusters video – elsewhere it’s arguable that different artistic motivations were at work. Some notable examples of pleasing bafflement include Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy chauffeuring The Bangles in Going Down To Liverpool (1984), Johnny Depp smoking moodily in The Lemonheads’ It’s A Shame About Ray (1992), and Arnold Schwarzenegger awkwardly imitating Angus Young in AC/DC’s ’93 movie tie-in Big Gun (Arnie also reprised his Terminator persona for Guns N’ Roses’ You Could Be Mine in ’91). Musician cameos, meanwhile, number ’50s ‘Cry Guy’ Johnnie Ray driving a taxi in Billy Idol’s Don’t Need A Gun (1986), Johnny Rotten and Clash men Strummer and Simonon showing up for Medicine Show by Mick Jones’s Big Audio Dynamite (1985) and – perplexingly – Queen’s John Deacon in a blue wig for Morris Minor And The Majors’ 1988 novelty hit Stutter Rap (No Sleep Til Bedtime). Examples from this millennium include Eric Cantona playing a monarch for Liam Gallagher’s 2019 solo single Once, Robert Downey Jr lip syncing Elton John’s I Want Love in 2001, and the controversial 2013 video for David Bowie’s The Next Day which features actors Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard. We could go on – TV scientist Magnus Pyke in Thomas Dolby’s She Blinded Me With Science (1982); comic Rodney Dangerfield in Lionel Richie’s Dancing On The Ceiling (1986); Monty Python’s Graham Chapman in Iron Maiden’s Can I Play With Madness? (1988). Until then, over to you!