Video roundup, 8-4
Muse – Knights of Cydonia
Muse is a decent English band who came out in 2000 with Showbiz, a decent album which was one of a slew of bands and albums that were either directly ripped off from or inspired by Radiohead. From that album, I still only listen to the opener, Sunburn, and have not paid much attention to the singles or albums since. Until I was listening to the radio and heard “Knights” on Indie, and had a hard time figuring out if this was a new or old track, which is one of the higher compliments I can give to a new single. It’s a long, dark, rocking track that feels like a 70’s prog song (in a good way), with a touch of Queen added in vocally to the end. One of the more fun singles thus far this year, and if you are so inclined, one might be able track it down on Hype Machine one of the better mp3 blog search sights out there, or on the band’s website.
As for the video.
Too blunt, over the top in goofiness and it’s tempering with dead seriousness. I find it absolutely miserable except when the blonde or robot is on-screen, then it’s friggin awesome.
There was an old Far Side that had cowboys vs. aliens. This is as close as we’ll ever get. How sad it didn’t get it right; all it would have taken was a little bit less silliness/throwback and some interesting sights outside of the blonde and the ray guns, if only there actually were aliens or the whole thing was serious, we might have a good video.
On the flip side of concept videos is the Raconteurs “Steady as she Goes” video, which is nothing more than a soap box derby with the band as racers, with the carts personalized with their instrument for each member of the band.
As far as the band, I can take it or leave it, I can’t think of any side project that has ever been that memorable, and that reluctantly includes UNKLE. It’s decent enough for me not to bitch at a party, but not nearly good enough for me to want to buy.
Any video that echoes Wacky Races will be shown here; any video where the Mustachioed duo (a la Muttely & Dastardly) wins gets a big thumbs up.
+++++
Not to go into pinkisthenewblog territory, but it seems that Europe is all the rage for artists.
Let’s start with the… (I’m guessing Monaco, even though it sounds like German is being spoken) based video for Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack video.
I’m sorry if the link takes a while to load, you have no idea how hard it is to find the real video on youtube. It’s been out maybe 3 weeks as a single and there are probably 950 versions of kids singing this in their living room. Sheesh, I know we say this about every generation, but kids these days are growing up way too fast, or I am getting old at the wrong time.
For a while, I thought about writing a post that put J-Tim at the top of a shortlist of people in music who could someday fill a Frank Sinatra type position. Not on a level of quality, but wide appeal in music and movies, and as he aged, was capable of winning over the guys in the long run if he started to make music for guys and girls instead of just music for 14-18, ahh who am I kidding, women ages 3 to 101. This was based on the fact that his role in Alpha Dog was coming up, and that he seemed to be picking his producers and biding his time in releasing another album. Factoring in as well was his notable absence from the spotlight; when every other member of a boy band tried to make it solo, revamp the band, went through rehab, came out of the closest, or starred in a reality TV series.
After seeing him pop up in the Nelly Furtado video for the briefest of moments, I was shocked to think to myself, “hey, this guy may not turn out to be that annoying” which is as hetero as I am willing to approach the guy’s music, I thought about the possible parallels. It still may happen, but after seeing this video and hearing the song dominate radio, I’ll consider writing that in 10 years, not now. I should also note that this was during the unraveling of Britney earlier this year; the lower she goes, the more golden Timberlake becomes.
Thoughts:
Ok, I’m finally convinced this is him singing. It took a while, but I guess it can’t be anyone else. I was at work at one of the girls was talking about how “hot” the song was. She couldn’t shut up about it in fact. My co-worker later asked me “one of those homo’s from N*sync is back?”
I got into a car later where the song was on, and called him over. I asked him if he recognized the voice. His response, “Cher?” That about sums it up.
The whole “take it to the chorus” “take it to the bridge” is way overused. Maybe for the first time it would work, but not as a part of the writing. With this, and Beyonce and Jigga’s Déjà vu opening “beat, high hat, 808” we are not far from “Drums, keyboard, Theremin, yo I said CUE THE THEREMIN!”
Why does this scare and bore me?
1. We don’t need any less of the magic taken away from musicianship, especially in pop when we know that most of the singers don’t have that good of voice and they can’t sing 45 vocal tracks all at once.
2. One of my favorite jokes:
A man crashes upon a distant island shore, lost in a terrible shipwreck. He walks into a small village. As he approaches the main hut, a thunderously loud drum starts to beat.
He walks over to a native: “What’s with the drums.”
The native responds: “Very bad when drums stop.”
He is then escorted to a hut for a meal and slumber. He wakes up the next morning; the drums are even louder and more intense. He begins to feel uneasy. He asks another native, “What’s with the, uh, drums.’
“Very bad when drums stop.”
The drums go on until the next sunset, becoming wilder and louder with each passing hour. He is slowly going mad. Finally, he can’t take it and grabs the nearest native, “WHAT’S WITH THE DRUMS. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY STOP!!!
The tribesman shakes his head and responds, “bass solo.”
Where was I…
Who buys J-Tim as a spy. Sure, he sneaked around his ex-girlfriends house and filmed a dirty video in “Cry me A river” but now he’s a world class spy? Not even the Simpsons of Season 1 to Season 4 is this big of a jump in skills.
I don’t know about Timberlake, but I am pretty sure that sexy never left.
That continual “YEAH!” in the background sounds really familiar, and it took me a while to figure out what it reminded me of. It may be Timberlake through the audio-scrub, but it really sounds like the Rabbit yelling “YEAH, OH YEAH” from the Bear scene in Super Troopers. I’m not convinced this is not a sample.
As for the song... I am going to go by the Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" rule here. It's different, and it's not bad. But it's also not good, and seeing as were are going to have this beat over our head via radio, ads, movies, TV shows, and ringtones oevr the next 6 months, I am going to come out and say, I hate this song. Absolutely hate it. But in 6 or 7 years, if J tim is gone or super famous, I am going to say, that song Sexy Back, wasn't that bad, you know, for it's time, and all, all things considered.
On that note, movie of the year?:
Europe is also getting props from Fergie with her new song, London Bridge, but since she looks like a troll, albeit with great abs, I am going to show this instead of the video.
And finally:
Jessica Simpson’s “A public affair.”
I can think of two things wrong with that title.
It’s not even remotely sexy. Even if the girls in the opening are pretending to be this shallow, not even Oliver could act over this level of self-aggrandizing.
Christian Milian: Still trying to get people to know her name.
Jessica Simspson: I am positive there are hours of lost footage of her flubbing the lines and falling on her ass trying to roller skate.
Eva Longoria: Just go away. If you were to get her drunk and alone and asked her: “Do you ever think you’ll be as famous an actress as Julia Roberts?” I’m sure her response would be “I’m already more famous and better than her… Jesus BE NICE. FUCK!” And since the post coital joke is there, I am going to counter with, "If I wanted to be with a 31 and aging, awfully fast...year-old doll who isn't taller than 5'2, I'll go with Hillary Duff."
But the biggest shame is Christina Appelgate, destroying all her good will from being a fantastic foil in Anchorman.
This is female comedy in a nutshell.
Amazon woman: “Humor here different. It not mean spirited. It come from character and situation.”
Fry: “In other words, not funny.”
Directed by Brett Ratner. It’d be so easy to place the blame on him for this sucking, but rather than get into a thing, I will.
Have a great weekend.
Muse is a decent English band who came out in 2000 with Showbiz, a decent album which was one of a slew of bands and albums that were either directly ripped off from or inspired by Radiohead. From that album, I still only listen to the opener, Sunburn, and have not paid much attention to the singles or albums since. Until I was listening to the radio and heard “Knights” on Indie, and had a hard time figuring out if this was a new or old track, which is one of the higher compliments I can give to a new single. It’s a long, dark, rocking track that feels like a 70’s prog song (in a good way), with a touch of Queen added in vocally to the end. One of the more fun singles thus far this year, and if you are so inclined, one might be able track it down on Hype Machine one of the better mp3 blog search sights out there, or on the band’s website.
As for the video.
Too blunt, over the top in goofiness and it’s tempering with dead seriousness. I find it absolutely miserable except when the blonde or robot is on-screen, then it’s friggin awesome.
There was an old Far Side that had cowboys vs. aliens. This is as close as we’ll ever get. How sad it didn’t get it right; all it would have taken was a little bit less silliness/throwback and some interesting sights outside of the blonde and the ray guns, if only there actually were aliens or the whole thing was serious, we might have a good video.
On the flip side of concept videos is the Raconteurs “Steady as she Goes” video, which is nothing more than a soap box derby with the band as racers, with the carts personalized with their instrument for each member of the band.
As far as the band, I can take it or leave it, I can’t think of any side project that has ever been that memorable, and that reluctantly includes UNKLE. It’s decent enough for me not to bitch at a party, but not nearly good enough for me to want to buy.
Any video that echoes Wacky Races will be shown here; any video where the Mustachioed duo (a la Muttely & Dastardly) wins gets a big thumbs up.
+++++
Not to go into pinkisthenewblog territory, but it seems that Europe is all the rage for artists.
Let’s start with the… (I’m guessing Monaco, even though it sounds like German is being spoken) based video for Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack video.
I’m sorry if the link takes a while to load, you have no idea how hard it is to find the real video on youtube. It’s been out maybe 3 weeks as a single and there are probably 950 versions of kids singing this in their living room. Sheesh, I know we say this about every generation, but kids these days are growing up way too fast, or I am getting old at the wrong time.
For a while, I thought about writing a post that put J-Tim at the top of a shortlist of people in music who could someday fill a Frank Sinatra type position. Not on a level of quality, but wide appeal in music and movies, and as he aged, was capable of winning over the guys in the long run if he started to make music for guys and girls instead of just music for 14-18, ahh who am I kidding, women ages 3 to 101. This was based on the fact that his role in Alpha Dog was coming up, and that he seemed to be picking his producers and biding his time in releasing another album. Factoring in as well was his notable absence from the spotlight; when every other member of a boy band tried to make it solo, revamp the band, went through rehab, came out of the closest, or starred in a reality TV series.
After seeing him pop up in the Nelly Furtado video for the briefest of moments, I was shocked to think to myself, “hey, this guy may not turn out to be that annoying” which is as hetero as I am willing to approach the guy’s music, I thought about the possible parallels. It still may happen, but after seeing this video and hearing the song dominate radio, I’ll consider writing that in 10 years, not now. I should also note that this was during the unraveling of Britney earlier this year; the lower she goes, the more golden Timberlake becomes.
Thoughts:
Ok, I’m finally convinced this is him singing. It took a while, but I guess it can’t be anyone else. I was at work at one of the girls was talking about how “hot” the song was. She couldn’t shut up about it in fact. My co-worker later asked me “one of those homo’s from N*sync is back?”
I got into a car later where the song was on, and called him over. I asked him if he recognized the voice. His response, “Cher?” That about sums it up.
The whole “take it to the chorus” “take it to the bridge” is way overused. Maybe for the first time it would work, but not as a part of the writing. With this, and Beyonce and Jigga’s Déjà vu opening “beat, high hat, 808” we are not far from “Drums, keyboard, Theremin, yo I said CUE THE THEREMIN!”
Why does this scare and bore me?
1. We don’t need any less of the magic taken away from musicianship, especially in pop when we know that most of the singers don’t have that good of voice and they can’t sing 45 vocal tracks all at once.
2. One of my favorite jokes:
A man crashes upon a distant island shore, lost in a terrible shipwreck. He walks into a small village. As he approaches the main hut, a thunderously loud drum starts to beat.
He walks over to a native: “What’s with the drums.”
The native responds: “Very bad when drums stop.”
He is then escorted to a hut for a meal and slumber. He wakes up the next morning; the drums are even louder and more intense. He begins to feel uneasy. He asks another native, “What’s with the, uh, drums.’
“Very bad when drums stop.”
The drums go on until the next sunset, becoming wilder and louder with each passing hour. He is slowly going mad. Finally, he can’t take it and grabs the nearest native, “WHAT’S WITH THE DRUMS. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY STOP!!!
The tribesman shakes his head and responds, “bass solo.”
Where was I…
Who buys J-Tim as a spy. Sure, he sneaked around his ex-girlfriends house and filmed a dirty video in “Cry me A river” but now he’s a world class spy? Not even the Simpsons of Season 1 to Season 4 is this big of a jump in skills.
I don’t know about Timberlake, but I am pretty sure that sexy never left.
That continual “YEAH!” in the background sounds really familiar, and it took me a while to figure out what it reminded me of. It may be Timberlake through the audio-scrub, but it really sounds like the Rabbit yelling “YEAH, OH YEAH” from the Bear scene in Super Troopers. I’m not convinced this is not a sample.
As for the song... I am going to go by the Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" rule here. It's different, and it's not bad. But it's also not good, and seeing as were are going to have this beat over our head via radio, ads, movies, TV shows, and ringtones oevr the next 6 months, I am going to come out and say, I hate this song. Absolutely hate it. But in 6 or 7 years, if J tim is gone or super famous, I am going to say, that song Sexy Back, wasn't that bad, you know, for it's time, and all, all things considered.
On that note, movie of the year?:
Europe is also getting props from Fergie with her new song, London Bridge, but since she looks like a troll, albeit with great abs, I am going to show this instead of the video.
And finally:
Jessica Simpson’s “A public affair.”
I can think of two things wrong with that title.
It’s not even remotely sexy. Even if the girls in the opening are pretending to be this shallow, not even Oliver could act over this level of self-aggrandizing.
Christian Milian: Still trying to get people to know her name.
Jessica Simspson: I am positive there are hours of lost footage of her flubbing the lines and falling on her ass trying to roller skate.
Eva Longoria: Just go away. If you were to get her drunk and alone and asked her: “Do you ever think you’ll be as famous an actress as Julia Roberts?” I’m sure her response would be “I’m already more famous and better than her… Jesus BE NICE. FUCK!” And since the post coital joke is there, I am going to counter with, "If I wanted to be with a 31 and aging, awfully fast...year-old doll who isn't taller than 5'2, I'll go with Hillary Duff."
But the biggest shame is Christina Appelgate, destroying all her good will from being a fantastic foil in Anchorman.
This is female comedy in a nutshell.
Amazon woman: “Humor here different. It not mean spirited. It come from character and situation.”
Fry: “In other words, not funny.”
Directed by Brett Ratner. It’d be so easy to place the blame on him for this sucking, but rather than get into a thing, I will.
Have a great weekend.
posted by Indiana at
10:25 AM
3 Comments:
Douche! Have you seen the original Raconteurs video for 'steady as she goes'? This new video sucks and reeks(sps?) of corporate meddling. Spelling be damned.
Your gay for J tim by the way. Nothing wrong with that, but just thought you should know before we have to have an intervention one day.
By
Anonymous, at August 04, 2006 8:39 PM
What tipped you off that this was the second video for the Racontuers, that the link said "version 2." Or do you pine for Jack White that bad.
On a side note, thank you for going the J-tim route instead of completing the "if you get Eva L drunk and in private..." sexual conlusion. I feel much better about myself now.
By
Indiana, at August 05, 2006 9:08 AM
"...it seems that Europe is all the rage for artists."
Gayer than the new york times.
By
Anonymous, at August 09, 2006 4:53 PM
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