BY MIKEY MIGO
Every few months I start to feel out of touch with music videos. Sure I keep track of what's popular, who's releasing what, and what's the next big thing but music videos are harder to keep up on. Back in the day when I was young, hip, and "down" I could tell you who it is, what song, and other random facts just by seeing a few seconds of any given video. Hell, I'm not too shy to admit that I even watched TRL back when the likes of Korn, Limp Bizkit, NSync, and the other pop stars were really hitting their stride. Some of those bands (mostly all but Korn) have either disbanded (see N Sync), fallen off COMPLETELY (see L. Bizkit), or went completely bat shit (see B. Spears). I'm not saying that I was a fan of all of these artists, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I was aware of their videos, singles, and Rolling Stone covers.
With the decline of music videos being shown on the music networks, it makes it that much harder. Really it comes down to being lucky and catching one of the few hours of music related programming or hitting up youtube or other online outlets. Just so I don't feel like an old man I'll occasionally use The Savage Animal to jump into the video pool face first. So I go online, do some research and find some of the more interesting and more popular videos of the day. Some of the videos are from bands that I've known and enjoyed for years, some I'd rather circumcise myself with a spork than listen to, and some are a whole new world for me.
Let's take a look at some of the more current music videos:¦
Band: Weezer
Video: "Pork And Beans"
I am a big fan of the four square openings. It then goes into a lot of random humorous clips. Oh no! It's YouTube and MySpace people. Oh no! It's K-Fed! The randomness is pretty entertaining and pretty well done. I normally HATE when bands do the whole "hey man! Lets have random people lip sync our lyrics and call it a video!", but this is more than that. People say this new album is a return to their creative roots, but I really don't think they've made a bad album. Whatever your thoughts are on that debate, this is a pretty entertaining video.
Rating: 8.5
Band: Kid Rock
Video: "All Summer Long"
We get Kid Rock driving around in his boat as he reminisces about himself 20 years ago partying during the summer. We finally cut to Rock and the band on a very cool looking light stage set up. About a minute and a half into the video there's a sample of "Sweet Home Alabama" that really has no place in this song. There's not much more to this song or video. I'm normally a fan of Kid Rock's work, but his videos are rarely ever that exciting. Not since "Devil Without a Cause" has his videos really been that entertaining to me. This video is pretty much the same stuff we've seen before. I'm disappointed, but I guess the days of "Bawitdaba" are behind us. It's not offensively bad or anything, just sorta bland. I'd much rather watch him punk out Tommy Lee some more.
Rating:6.0
Band: Coldplay
Video: "Violet Hill"
It starts with a hill and a cloud filled sky. The band marches in a single file line outside of a gothic looking stairway. The band cuts to different spots of 2:15 into the video the band starts to headbang in what sorta reminds me of the Monkees. The artistic direction and idea of this video is really fucking cool. I want to give Asa Mader much props on the visual direction. I'm not a huge Coldplay fan, but the video is so well done that I can't help but like this song now. It DOES show their undying homage to U2 and Radiohead in some aspects of it, but it's shot in a way to make Martin and the boys come off as less pandering and superficial. I'm seriously impressed. I didn't think they had it in them. STILL…I'm going to go on the record and say I still like girls.
Rating:9.0
Band: Natasha Bedingfield
Video: "Pocket Full of Sunshine"
I guess this is a popular song. I keep seeing her hyped on VH1 so I figure I'd give it a shot. The video is basically an office setting with people being upset and yelling. Oh no! She jumps out the window! Lucky for us she has a parachute and can finish the song on a rooftop. I get it. It's about escaping from drama and "breaking away". The video is nothing special at all. It's the same nonsense I always see on VH1 in the early morning. Too fluffy for my tastes.
Rating: 4.5
Band: Ashes Divide
Video: "The Stone"
For those who don't know, this is Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle's new project. It's not too far of a stretch from A Perfect Circle. It's pretty much just a more commercial approach to what he was doing with Maynard. The video reminds me of a Smashing Pumpkins video. I'm not sure which one specifically, but there's definitely the same style there. Musically its awesome shit, but the vocals come off as a broken Jared Leto covering Tool. Billy is much better than this clip is letting on.
Rating:6.0
Band: Fall Out Boy
Video: "Beat It"
I love this song and I hate this band. I've yet to really listen or watch this monstrosity so it'll be an interesting time. The vocalist has a Michael Jackson-ish costume on as the band performs infront of what seems to be a lot of toilet paper. They go somewhere as a band and run into Donald Faison("Turk" of Scrubs fame). He does some Michael moves and nothing else really comes of it. Then for no reason, Tony Hale ("Buster" from Arrested Development) trains people in a dojo. It comes down to the band fighting a sumo fighter, but the big finish is as cliché and typical as this band. Pete "Not even worth my time to think of a witty and insulting name" Wentz wakes up from this wet dream of his in a completely original and great idea. The execution of the song wasn't as good as Alien Ant Farm's "Smooth Criminal", nor was the video even half as entertaining. I will never understand the mass appeal of these lame fucks. I was open minded, I swear; but this was a waste of four minutes of my life.
Rating:2.0
Band: Foo Fighters
Video: "Low"
I guess this is from really early in the year and I've STILL not seen this one. I'm a fan of the Foos and actually own this album, but no luck on seeing the video. It's Dave doing his redneck character as we've seen before, but this time he's joined by Jack Black. We then go into some home video of Jack and Dave jumping around and partying in a dingy motel room. It gets weird like half way through when they start wearing wigs and getting dressed into women's clothing. As they apply their make up I start to think that this video was just an excuse for Dave Grohl to put on women's clothing while he still has the legs to do so. I become pretty creeped out when they start using night vision. It just gives a unsettling feeling. The video is mildly entertaining, but pretty boring compared to what both Black and Grohl have done before.
Rating:6.0
Band: RZA
Video: "You Can't Stop Me Now"
Bobby Digital hits up his kung-fu loving roots in what appears to be more of a short than a music video. I'm a fan of the blue coloring and "Batman" feel it sorta has. It then sorta morphs into what could be The Matrix meets Kill Bill. The tone to the song is laid back and the video doesn't stray from the mood of the video. A lot of hip hop videos are cut without the tone of the song in mind, this one is pretty well on pace. This is one of those videos that you watch with interest and sorta get caught up in the visuals. When it's over you're surprised it's already three and half minutes later. That's always a good sign that it's a good video.
Rating:7.5
Band: Ludo
Video: "Love Me Dead"
It's like Harvey Danger hung out with Voltaire and this guy overheard their conversation. The video is pretty much the singer (I'm assuming Ludo) enacting the description of the video to what's supposed to appear as a single shot. There are a few spots that I feel like they made a cut, but for the most part it's a single one camera shot with A LOT of randomness going on. This video is pretty damn elaborately made and if you can't at least appreciate that much then you're pretty lame. It's a catchy tune, elaborate, and artsy/creative like OK Go's treadmill video from last year(or was it the year before?). Hopefully any had potential won't be overshadowed by this awesome video. Ask me again in a few months and there's a chance my rating would be lower, but as of right now this is one of my favorite new videos.
Rating:8.0
Band: Snoop Dogg
Video: "My Medicine"
It's a Snoop country video. He starts by dedicating it to Johnny Cash. The video has footage of Snoop with a cowboy hat on. I hate country music, but this is a track I can support. He has Willie Nelson doing back up vocals in the clip, with Everlast really playing guitar on the track. The direction and visual style of the video is right up my alley and I'm a big fan. This may be a novelty at the moment, but it's pretty damn catchy and the most innovative thing Snoop has done in years.
Rating:9.0
Band: The Birthday Massacre
Video: "Looking Glass"
I became a casual fan of these guys (and girl) about two years ago when they played a Chicago show with Fashion Bomb. I could never really be more than a "casual fan" because their music songs a bit too much the same every song. This video is pretty decent though. Something about the weird masks is supposed to probably be a metaphor about being "faceless" and "on the outside looking in". It's like an 80's version of Avril and I DO mean that in a nice way. The music reminds me of an 80's work out montage. The video ends with what appears to be a bleeding apple. Ooooooooh! Sooooo edgy! It's a well done video. I like the direction and look to it, but it's just sorta there. They have way better songs than this. If you're casually into this, check out "Video Kid".
Rating:6.5
Like I said at the beginning of this piece, I can sometimes get "out of touch" with what's fresh and popular. If YOU know of any good CURRENT music videos then please drop a line in the comments and spread the knowledge and love.
So, what did I miss out on?
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