16 November 1985
Trivia nerdvana alert: Backing vocals by George Michael! Guitar by Nik Kershaw! Video directed by controversial auteur Ken Russell! Video starring the same model who was in Ridley Scott’s famous Apple 1984 TV commercial, and also featuring a future Bond villain henchman!
All this trivia can help distract us from the terrible schmaltziness of the track and video. ‘Nikita’ is not the absolute worst of the love songs that top the charts in the mid-’80s but, like the football club featured in the video, is certainly down around the relegation places. Another appropriate metaphor provided by the video is Elton in wintry East Berlin rolling up the window of his Bentley while the roof is still down: all rather silly and pointless, and guaranteed to leave you cold.
