Saturday, March 31, 2007
Reluctant to Find She's Stuck in the Nineties Again
Okay, I'm not really reluctant to post a bunch of 90s videos. It's a reference to this Moxy Fruvous song. I'm sitting here listening to Lithium 24 (on my TV) and feeling nostalgic for videos from the last decade of the entire twentieth century.
1. Spitz- Spider
Okay, this is the Ninetiesest video ever. It contains:
There's also the bad fashion, but that's a given, not really a cliché. It's still one of my favorite songs, though.
2. Our Lady Peace- Superman's Dead
The original, kind of disturbing Canadian version, not the stupid circusy American one. It's too bad they started sucking, because their first two albums were pretty good. And Raine Maida? Was foine back then. The kid in the video had his own crappy band called Serial Joe.
3. Foo Fighters- Big Me
It was funny then, and it's funny now, but will it be funny in twenty years when my kids see it? I'll have to tell them who the Foo Fighters were, then I'll have to tell them about Mentos commercials, and how this is a parody of those. Cultural context is a very important part of this video's humor. That reminds me of my Mentos commercial parody idea- warning, it's horrible: A window dresser for a clothing store runs out of mannequins. She gets a frustrated look on her face, then looks outside. The camera (her POV) pans across an older, homeless-looking guy, then a couple of good-looking fratboy types. Cut back to the window dresser, who nods to herself and pops a Mento. We then see her going up to the fratboys with a wad of bills. The next shot is the guys beating up the homeless guy and dragging him into the store, where he's propped up in the window with store clothes on. Cut to the window dresser thrusting her roll of Mentos at the camera with that smug look on her face, cue voiceover and graphics. "Mentos: The Freshmaker."
4. Tori Amos- Cornflake Girl
Something I didn't know, until about ten minutes ago, is that this song was inspired by an Alice Walker book that deals with female genital mutilation. Seriously. Really, I shouldn't be surprised when any of Tori's songs are about anything, because that's how she be. And this will never stop being funny. Ever. Nice hair, T.
5. The Tragically Hip- Ahead By a Century
And we've come full circle to a video that was very obviously made in the Nineties: the colors, the kids in the tree, the cubist/photograph stuff. And, like "Spider," it's one of my favorite songs.
I'd do more, but Tom Jones is going to be on BBC America in a few minutes. See? I don't just like 90s music.
1. Spitz- Spider
Okay, this is the Ninetiesest video ever. It contains:
- Color filters
- Out-of-focus shots of the band performing
- Empty chairs. I don't know why, but empty chairs showed up in a lot of rock videos in the early 90s.
- The band performing on the roof of a building. That might be The Beatles' fault, though.
- The band lying down, shot from above
- Nausea-inducing camera movement
- People sitting around looking contemplative
- The band in a circle "performing" with the camera inside the circle. Bonus points for the air drumming.
There's also the bad fashion, but that's a given, not really a cliché. It's still one of my favorite songs, though.
2. Our Lady Peace- Superman's Dead
The original, kind of disturbing Canadian version, not the stupid circusy American one. It's too bad they started sucking, because their first two albums were pretty good. And Raine Maida? Was foine back then. The kid in the video had his own crappy band called Serial Joe.
3. Foo Fighters- Big Me
It was funny then, and it's funny now, but will it be funny in twenty years when my kids see it? I'll have to tell them who the Foo Fighters were, then I'll have to tell them about Mentos commercials, and how this is a parody of those. Cultural context is a very important part of this video's humor. That reminds me of my Mentos commercial parody idea- warning, it's horrible: A window dresser for a clothing store runs out of mannequins. She gets a frustrated look on her face, then looks outside. The camera (her POV) pans across an older, homeless-looking guy, then a couple of good-looking fratboy types. Cut back to the window dresser, who nods to herself and pops a Mento. We then see her going up to the fratboys with a wad of bills. The next shot is the guys beating up the homeless guy and dragging him into the store, where he's propped up in the window with store clothes on. Cut to the window dresser thrusting her roll of Mentos at the camera with that smug look on her face, cue voiceover and graphics. "Mentos: The Freshmaker."
4. Tori Amos- Cornflake Girl
Something I didn't know, until about ten minutes ago, is that this song was inspired by an Alice Walker book that deals with female genital mutilation. Seriously. Really, I shouldn't be surprised when any of Tori's songs are about anything, because that's how she be. And this will never stop being funny. Ever. Nice hair, T.
5. The Tragically Hip- Ahead By a Century
And we've come full circle to a video that was very obviously made in the Nineties: the colors, the kids in the tree, the cubist/photograph stuff. And, like "Spider," it's one of my favorite songs.
I'd do more, but Tom Jones is going to be on BBC America in a few minutes. See? I don't just like 90s music.
