Synopsis

Roddy Frame performs "How Men Are" against a series of stylized settings and portraits, while women of different ages and backgrounds appear throughout the clip. The presentation avoids a conventional storyline, instead pairing Frame's composed performance with imagery that reflects the song's examination of love, dishonesty, emotional damage, and masculine behavior. The result is a polished late-1980s pop video whose visual focus reinforces the song's central question about why women's suffering is often needed before men recognize their own failings.

Factoids & Trivia

• "How Men Are" appeared on Aztec Camera's third album, "Love", which was released on November 1, 1987. The single followed in 1988 and reached No. 25 on the UK Singles Chart.

• The video was filmed in London and runs for approximately four minutes.

• Roddy Frame wrote the song himself. Its polished soul-pop arrangement was produced by Tommy LiPuma and David Frank, and features American session musicians including bassist Marcus Miller and drummer Dave Weckl.

• The song was widely read as a critique of male emotional blindness and was later described in the British press as a "New Man" anthem ahead of its time.

• Frame's approach to the video was notably less interested in conventional pop glamour than many music videos of the period. The women featured are presented as a broader cross-section of people rather than simply as decorative models.

• In later solo performances, Frame sometimes inserted a section of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" into "How Men Are", giving the song an added gospel and soul connection.