I’ve been meaning to bring this up but have hesitated mostly because I assume that if anyone was interested they would have started a thread long ago. But, what the heck. . .
I know we’ve had threads about videos from the past but does anyone still watch the music channels? I don’t know if MTV ever resumed playing them, as I haven’t bothered to tune in since somewhere in the early '90s but I do put VH-1 on each morning while I’m getting ready for work. I never hear anyone discussing videos but then I don’t hang with a particularly hip crowd. Or maybe I’m the doofus caught in a time warp and my friends are too kind to tell me:p In any event, I’d like to hear your thoughts on any videos you’ve seen recently, or not so recently, as the case may be. I’m not too sure what more can be said about “Total Eclipse of the Heart” or “Rio”, but if that’s what you’d like to discuss, go for it.
The song / video that finally moved me to start this thread is this gem by ShineDown.
This one contains all the classic elements, ladies and gentlemen. From the misunderstood teen yearning to DANCE! to the heated argument with the unattractive and possibly abusive parents and the obligatory singer on the deserted beach. My favorite part is said singer who seems to be channeling Meatloaf. Won’t someone get him a handkerchief for his angsty, clenched hand?
I occasionally watch them in the morning on VH1 or my HD music channels. Most of them seem to kind of suck. Gone are the days of the classic Spike Jones videos like Sabatoge, Buddy Holly, Weapon of Choice and many others.
Every hip hop video is a Hype Williams joint consisting of the band partying in some dimly lit club.
Every R&B video is some overly cinematic story of some couple breaking up in their $2.4 million dollar appartment.
Every modern rock adult alternative singer songwriter video has the same “artistic” shots:
-dude playing a piano someplace a piano isn’t supposed to be
-band playing on a rooftop
-singer walking forlornly through a city
-a car accident
If you really want to make it relevant, turn it into a montage of current news clips of riots, war and starving children.
Or just composite the band playing in front of a green screen and some CGI-scape.
MTV does play videos in the morning. They mix a lot of classic videos with new stuff. Like this morning it went from Jackson’s “Bad” to Airborne Toxic Event’s “It Starts After Midnight” (i think that’s the name).
I actually really like the video for 88 Keys and Kanye West’s “Viagra”. It’s very low-tech. The two of them are done up in old man makeup and are carted around in a SUV-limo with two strippers going to all the sex shops on Hollywood Blvd. It looks like it was shot guerilla style and with a consumer grade camera from about 6 years ago. It’s delightfully UN-showy.
I’ve been watching a number of videos of late, some at dance clubs, some at my gym.
I’ve noticed a lot of videos currently have nearly identical scenes: a semicircle of folks half-assedly grooving to the music while individuals get in front of the semi-circle and breakdance or otherwise do wacky dances solo, and the director shows each dancer only for a few seconds. Natasha Bedingfield, Metro Station, a number of other unmemorable acts.
I’ve been amused by this video for “Bad Day” by Fuel, an older 1990s song which my gym inexplicably shows every day when I’m there. The lead singer seems to be channeling a demon as he contorts his face and over-emotes every single line.
I’m not a rap/hip hop fan, but think the two following videos are entertaining: http://www. you tube .com/watch?v=Pykww6S9pm4 (link broken, NSFW) the misogynistic and crude animated video for the misogynistic and crude (yet catchy and danceable) Eminem featuring Nate Dogg song, Shake that Ass for Me, and a purposefully low-fi video for Sensual Seduction/Sexual Eruption by Snoop Dogg which mimics 1970s and early 1980s video production techniques and funk band tropes.
I haven’t clicked on the link (I’m at work), but I know what it is, and it’s freaking awesome.
Your first post pretty much summed things up.
Where do they get these ideas, anyway? I can’t even tell you how many videos I’ve seen where someone is singing deliberately offkey while tickling the ivories at the beach/in a stair case/in a deli/upside down/next to a goose/on a crowded street corner. Enough already.
I’d forgotten what a great show Pop Up Videos was until I stumbled on it on VH1 recently - I’d gotten home early from work, saw it was on, and watched myself silly. That’s such a great show - they need to start it up again. (I can only watch so many videos period, but that threshold goes way down when they’re all 80s videos.)
That Shinedown video is awesome. The song on its own is stupid, but I sit through the video every time it comes on VH1 in the morning (about every twenty minutes).
I’m a big fan of the Lady Gaga videos. Just the right mix of camp, fun, and sex. Her latest video for Paparazzi is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time.
I like the Gives You Hell video from All-American Rejects. It reminds me of some of the goofy fun videos from the 90’s.
Oh, and Britney Spears’ videos from her latest album have all been really good. Womanizer, Circus, and If U Seek Amy are all appropriately fun and make up for the awful videos from Blackout.
I agree with all of this, except I haven’t seen that Lady Gaga video yet. It’s not in rotation anymore, but can anyone explain why Beance’s "All the single Ladies " video is so freakin’ hypnotic? It has a . . quality that mesmerizies me (and no, it’s not just her rockin’ bod, although that helps).
On MTV2 they usually play some good videos on the show Subterranean. I think it’s usually on Thursdays at midnight. It’s a one hour show where they mainly show videos by indie/lesser known bands. Two of my recent favorites I’ve seen there are No One Does It Like Youby the Department of Eagles, and Geek to the Beatby Zion I.
