Under a fluorescent sky Group: BUSTED!
Joined: Oct 26, 2007
We're in the middle of the resurgence of the music video. Though the music television channel somehow is still wheezing out the last gasps of its drawn out death rattle, it hasn't exactly been relevant for many a year. But with the recent (say 4ish years) blow up of sites like YouTube, in terms of people using them for free streaming of music, the music video is back at the forefront of promoting new music. It makes sense really: the longer I'm looking at the tab/window with the music coming out of it, the longer, by proxy, I'm looking at the ads on the page. Therefore it pays to make creative content! Everybody wins!
Sure, most videos are just jazzed up clips of the artist or and performing the song in a multitude of cookie cutter locations (e.g. street corner, rooftop, nightclub, artsy apartment) but you do get some real gems. They might make you think, have a powerful message or simply look like the bee's proverbials. It's always a great bonus when I find out there's a good video for a song I like, I often end up appreciating the video more than the song itself.
Here's some of my favourites off the top of my head:
M.I.A - Born Free:
Directed by Romain Garvas, it has a message about the ridiculousness of oppressing a group because of one specific characteristic by taking it to an absurd premise: government death squads rounding up ginger people. There's a lot of allusions to oppression struggles around the world that really hammer it home: nods to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, apartheid South Africa, the Troubles in N Ireland and the Tamil/Sri Lanka conflict. It's a bit heavy handed with the politics, but it's well made and, most importantly, visually interesting. That shot with the jeep driving alongside the minefield is particularly striking.
Jay Z + Kanye West - No Church in the Wild:
Oh look it's Romain Gavras again. Alright, so this one probably won't go down as one of my all time favourites, but I'm pretty into it right now. A bit of a departure from the theme of the rest of the album, No Church in the Wild's a lot less about the positives of opulence and wealth and a lot more about how wealth functions in society and what happens when the traditional structure is broken. Pretty obviously influenced by global events over the past year and a half, lots of protest and anti-establishment methods come through. I also love the elephant at the end. I like to think a producer came up to Kanye saying "So that video dealing with the roles of power and wealth in a traditional society and the possible breakdown between that relationship is about to come in under budget by a few grand, do you have anything else you'd like to add?" met with "... Elephants!" only to result in a defeated sigh of acceptance in the producer.
Jay Z + Kanye West - Niggas in Paris:
Yeah, my taste isn't exactly broad, but holy sh*t look at that editing. Never before have I seen such extensive use of mirroring a video down the middle and not wanted to tear my eyes out. The frenetic and ultra-hyped style of editing and lighting suits the song to a tee. A bonus is you get to find out if you're epileptic or not too!
You guys got any particular favourite music videos? I was talking about recent years at the start, but by all means show off anything you love from any time period.
This post has been edited by Robinski on Friday, Jun 29 2012, 15:34
Great topic, I'm surprised that nobody had thought to make it sooner. I'm not really the type to pay much attention to music videos, I find that they can distract from the music itself in some cases, but there have been some that have caught my eye over the years.
The first video that I'm going to list is Renegades by Feeder. I'm not really too sure of what to say about it other than that the nature of the video took quite a few by surprise as it was a complete and utter contrast to what fans had come to expect from the band. Apart from one or two (Shatter and Miss You to name examples) had been fairly simple, run of the mill stuff that mainly featured the band playing in some form (Renegades still does).
A Youtube account is needed to view the video as its been rated mature.
It's nice that my favorite song has a fantastic music video (and story) to go with it, too.
And here's the short version, for people who just want to hear the song (personally, I abhor when music videos have anything but music in them, but I think the story behind the whole American Idiot album, really, is quite interesting so it's worth the interruption of the actual song):
The whole story is basically about this mentally unstable kid called Jimmy, or as he likes to call himself, St. Jimmy. He has an alter ego called Jesus of Suburbia. Basically every song in the American Idiot album is all connected to his story. For example, American Idiot is when he "breaks away" from society, Whatsername is when he meets a girl, Homecoming is when he "dies", etc. Anyways, Jesus of Suburbia is about Jimmy running away from home. Of course, that's really just the end (Tales of Another Broken Home). See, the song itself is divided into 5 different "parts": Jesus of Suburbia, City of the Damned, I Don't Care, Dearly Beloved, then Tales of a Broken Home. Each one is about something different. For example, the first part is him basically introducing the Jesus of Suburbia. TL;DR: mental kid named Jimmy introduces his alter ego (Jesus of Suburbia) then runs away from home Deep sh*t.
Needless to say, my whole description may not be completely accurate. That's just the extent of my knowledge on the song/album. If you want to hear it from the band itself, check out Heart Like a Hand Grenade.
Oddly enough, this is actually the only music video that includes the St. Jimmy character (Lou Taylor Pucci). The rest (Holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, etc.) just have the rest of the band. Personally, I think it'd be more interesting if they just included him and the rest of the gang (i.e. Whatsername) in all of them.
This post has been edited by King Mystery on Monday, Jul 2 2012, 15:41
5deep3u Group: The Connection
Joined: Jan 26, 2005
Aside from being a fan-f*cking-tastic band, The Hundred In The Hands never seem to disappoint when it comes to music videos.
Not to mention Peter Fox who's a favorite of our local, lovable, Sea Mammal.
Also, I'm a huge fan of The Japanese Popstar's video for Song For Lisa, which, honestly, puts a completely different perspective on the song compared to my initial interpretations. Especially since the song holds so many memories on my part and has a really strong personal significance.
I guess my favorite music video would have to be this one:
It is kind of a messed up video but still quite awesome.
This one is also a good one, I love the dreamy atmosphere of the video and the color effects.
This one's great as well. Uplifting song and video.
OK, this video is quite simple but most videos in the 90's were. However, I still find it enjoyable to watch and the version of the song used in this video is different\better than the album one.
Godawful-Disturbed-Earl Root Group: BUSTED!
Joined: Nov 29, 2003
Hey, Vevo's on Xbox... IIRC, not PS3. Anyway, I'm sure they're not the real reason your videos are blocked, it's Copyright and how the owners wish to address it, The reports are that Google's been lax, and not making a harsh stand on what's acceptable or not, I have warnings about some of my content and it's restricted and limited as such, in the old days, it would be removed for me, and then my account... don't you know this if you use YouTube?? Anyway, we discussed this topic in the past, I was here, I remember, back then I posted CHICAGO's Stay the Night, which is classic still, and unsurpassed for it's offering of humor in a car chase Hollywood style. I believe, it's old school with out digital FX
Def Leppard also took a parody from The Young Ones BBC sitcom, with their song Me and My Wine
Remember this Hill Street Blues take off? Better then the actual TV show;
Can't leave off Beasties...
This post has been edited by Slamman on Monday, Jul 2 2012, 20:57
When I saw Chemical Brothers I was thinking of asking what was the name of that video shot in a train where the scenery syncs to the beat of the song. Then I thought that it might be this video and it is. I completely forgot about this one, I love it. Great music plus (train) traveling = awesome!
I also saw this one on the telly today for the second time I think:
Good music and evolution. Awesome!
Edit: Forgot about this one as well:
This video makes me feel better too.
This post has been edited by _____ on Thursday, Jul 12 2012, 13:47
