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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 30, 2009 17:26:33 GMT -5
It's countdown time, as if you didn't know. Well, you people probably didn't know since I post these at random times. Anyway, it's countdown time. And, we reach the halfway mark with number 50: 50. Björk—“It’s Oh So Quiet” www.dailymotion.com/video/x1jcto_bjork-its-oh-so-quiet_musicAlbum: Post Label: One Little Indian Director: Spike Jonze Björk’s genius gift for finding beauty, terror, and magic in the commonplace means she’s perfect for musicals, something Lars Von Trier would make into a masochistic display for 2000’s “Dancer in the Dark.” Five years earlier, however, Spike Jonze was the first to perceive Björk’s song-and-dance potential with the video for "It's Oh So Quiet," a joyous homage to Hollywood's Technicolor musicals. He gives the singer a drab canvas of auto mechanics, mailboxes, and deliverymen and letting her giddiness over newfound love transform them into perfectly choreographed props that move in tune to her heart’s demands. Björk's enthusiasm is incomparable but so is Jonze's remarkable use of color; it’s bright and vibrant, especially during the loud parts of the song. Now, this lark is noticeably weightless; but it's this very simplicity that makes it so delightful to watch. Jonze admits to being influenced by Jacques Demy's “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” the 1964 Cannes Palm d'Or winner starring Catherine Deneuve, who also starred in “Dancer In The Dark.” Also, the song’s message concerns the power of love to alter our psychic landscape, and Jonze nails it perfectly in making the backdrop so purposefully unglamorous and benign. In love, the mind can truly make a heaven of hell, and if Tires Plus ain’t the latter I don’t know what is.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 30, 2009 17:50:35 GMT -5
49. R.E.M.—“Imitation Of Life” vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=12980012Album: Reveal Label: Warner Bros. Records Director: Garth Jennings While it would certainly be well within our rights to forget the last decade or so of R.E.M., it shouldn’t be at the expense of this criminally overlooked, mind-bending 20-second pan-and-scan masterpiece for the first single for their album Reveal. Inspired by Zbigniew Rybczynski's short film “Tango,” director Garth Jennings created a faux lifescape with R.E.M.'s "Imitation of Life," a kaleidoscopic mural that dared to challenge an increasingly stagnant music video medium. Jennings presents a series of miniature dramas that transpire at an affluent suburban birthday party: a couple has a secret hilltop rendezvous; Mike Mills pouring champagne into neatly stacked glasses, which is then destroyed by a Frisbee; a girl throws a glass of water in a socialite's face; Peter Buck playing his mandolin with a chimp; man on fire falls into a pool; and Michael Stipe performs his signature shiny happy dance. As Jennings' camera pans repeatedly across the screen, actions begin to repeat themselves while random characters pick up lip-syncing where others left off. The truly groundbreaking clip challenges the viewer's perception of what's real and what "real" really looks like. With camera as grappling tool scanning the clip’s living mural of simultaneous disparate images, director Garth Jennings manages to perfectly capture all that Stipe evokes: misguided desires, unexpected disappointments, the party you’re not invited to that doesn’t even exist. But even a pale imitation of life can be better than the real thing.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 30, 2009 18:16:13 GMT -5
48. Dire Straits—“Money For Nothing” www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po1TsgvOoOYAlbum: Brothers In Arms Label: Vertigo Records/Warner Bros. Records Director: Steve Barron When it came time to make the video for “Money For Nothing,” director Steve Barron wanted to use computer animation to create a video that reflected the song’s lyrics: written from the point of view of a blue-collar worker watching music videos and commenting on what he sees. However, Mark Knopfler wasn’t enthusiastic about it. As Barron says: “The problem was that Mark Knopfler was very anti-videos. All he wanted to do was perform, and he thought that videos would destroy the purity of songwriters and performers. [MTV] said, ‘Can you convince him that this is the right thing to do, because we've played this song to MTV and they think it's fantastic but they won't play it if it's him standing there playing guitar. They need a concept.’” Barron then flew to Budapest to convince Knopfler of their concept. Meeting together after a gig, Knopfler was reportedly still unimpressed, but this time his girlfriend was present and took a hand. According to Barron: “Luckily, his girlfriend said, ‘He's absolutely right. There aren't enough interesting videos on MTV, and that sounds like a brilliant idea.’ Mark didn't say anything, but he didn't make the call to get me out of Budapest. We just went ahead and did it.” So, if it wasn’t for Mark Knopfler’s girlfriend we wouldn’t have this cool clip. The bright computer animation, neon rotoscoped shots of the band playing the song, the two fake videos in the actual video (A Hungarian pop band Első Emelet and their video "Állj Vagy Lövök" is displaying as "Baby, Baby" by "First Floor." The other is a fictional, supposed MTV video "Sally" by the Ian Pearson Band (Pearson was one of the animators of the video)). They all work in this iconic clip. Ironically, this video made Knopfler the very subject of the satire in his song. MTV frequently aired it, most likely because the channel is referenced in the song, and it’s popularity boosted sales for Dire Straits and made the band one of the top acts of the stadium rock era. Mark Knopfler may not look like that “little faggot with the earring and the makeup,” but he became a “millionaire” just like him.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 30, 2009 18:50:24 GMT -5
47. Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson—“Scream” www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNl2Pm9-7VkAlbum: HIStory: Past, Present, And Future, Book 1 Label: Epic Records Director: Mark Romanek The much-vaunted collaboration between Michael and sister Janet was viewed by some as a disappointment when it was unveiled in 1995, bolstered by what was, at the time, the most expensive music video ever shot, an astronomical $7 million price tag. But, the Mark Romanek-directed black and white clip seems to earn every penny of it. Michael and Janet are flying in a space ship in a dystopian space-age fantasia, packed with elaborate image of modish alienation; with the push of a button on a remote control, Michael and Janet cause works of art to morph into other works of art as if they’re changing a TV channel. However, the video also shows viewers a surprisingly sweet glimpse into the siblings’ relationship. They’re as playful as kids with each other, and their synchronized dance number has a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers quality to it. And, the video’s quality has improved over time with the changing opinions on the song. Now, it's viewed as a terrific bit of pop paranoia, the Jacksons bitterly lashing out against doubters and naysayers over a fierce electro backdrop, one periodically pierced by Jackson's pained yelps. Amazingly, you can see the pain in Michael’s face as he makes to yelps in the video. It’s almost like he had this one good song and video left in him, but he needed help in getting it out there, which his sister was happy to oblige. “Scream” is pretty much Michael Jackson’s last hoorah. He needed help from Janet to do it, but the fans get to benefit nevertheless.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 30, 2009 19:21:47 GMT -5
46. Red Hot Chili Peppers—“Californication” www.dailymotion.com/video/xa8sw_red-hot-chili-peppers-californicati_eventsAlbum: Californication Label: Warner Bros. Records Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris For a song that’s about the dark side of Hollywood, you wouldn’t think to make a music video that shows the Red Hot Chili Peppers in a faux video game running around various levels of California. Well, obviously you’re not Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The husband and wife directing team came up with an ingenious idea for this clip. In it, we see Dire Straits “Money For Nothing” concept taken to new heights thanks to the improved computer animation technology of the late 1990s and early 2000s. And, we get a fun clip that has the band members dodging lumberjacks, bears, sharks, cars, pornographers, sleazy filmmakers, falling buildings from earthquakes, and just about everything that makes California a seedy, disgusting, hypocritical, and greedy place. However, we also get the things that make California a wonderful place: the redwood forests, the Pacific Ocean, the sunny skies, and, funnily enough, the wonderful and entertaining images from movies, TV shows, and music videos that come out of L.A., much like this video. Obviously, Dayton and Faris knew that there were positive aspects to California as well as negative ones and decided to focus on them both. It’s not just a cool clip that looks like Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto, Crazy Taxi, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater; it’s 5 minutes of everything good and bad about California.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 30, 2009 19:26:51 GMT -5
Tomorrow, numbers 45-41, and a recap of all the previous videos. Here are the hints:
Buddhist law enforcement, the golden state, echoes, a container shaped like a vital organ, and neverending.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 31, 2009 15:46:46 GMT -5
Countdown time, as if you didn't know. Though, you probably didn't know since I do this at random intervals...like I said yesterday. I have bad memory. Anyway, here's number 45: 45. Radiohead—“Karma Police” www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBH97ma9YiIAlbum: OK Computer Label: Parlophone Director: Jonathan Glazer I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but a lot of the directors of the videos on this list are also film directors. Spike Jonze, David Fincher, and Russell Mulcahy are some of the directors who’ve made the successful transition from music videos to feature films. Jonathan Glazer is another one of those directors who made the transition; he was also directing commercials for Levi's, Volkswagen, and Nike before moving on to music videos, producing some of the more cinematic videos to hit the MTV airwaves. Though his clip for Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" won the 1997 Video Music Award for Video of the Year, it is his work for Radiohead and U.N.K.L.E. that remains his most daring. Glazer claims that his video for Radiohead's "Karma Police" was inspired by a bad dream. In this creepy revenge clip, Glazer shoves us into the driver’s seat for, forcing the viewer to be the merciless antagonist who hunts down a desperate, fleeing man, the metaphoric rabbit in literal headlights, running down a desolate road. Thom Yorke rides along as a willing accomplice, content to lazily mouth the chorus. When the man turns to face his potential killer, the car pulls back only to reveal a gas leakage in its wake. The hunted has turned the tables and seeks revenge on his tormentor, i.e. the viewer, and the ever-wily Yorke manages to escape, leaving us to burn in the flame-engulfed vehicle. The video is gorgeous to look at, too; the car’s luxurious red leather insulates us from the bleak country road outside, and the single shot that lasts for more than half the song drags us into the power struggle and subsequent revenge of the track’s latter half. However, it is Glazer's remarkable use of point of view that implicates the spectator in the clip's action and the spooky way with which he fashions a Möbius strip from karmic irony that makes "Karma Police" one of the more memorable clips of the last few years. It’s a typically warped Radiohead device, gleefully encouraging us to revel in the immorality, savoring the chase even as we recoil at the horror of it.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 31, 2009 15:58:30 GMT -5
44. Wax—“California”
Warning: it’s a little graphic.
Album: 13 Unlucky Numbers Label: Interscope Records Director: Spike Jonze
In one mesmerizing long take, Spike Jonze follows a man on fire running through a city street in California. Ignored by pedestrians and motorists alike, the man turns a corner as a bus pulls away from its designated stop. Jonze's use of slow-mo works like a terrifying drawl, so much so that it was banned from daytime play on MTV. Nevertheless, it emphasizes a culture's complete and utter self-involvement, not to mention its shoddy public transit. For anyone new to the Golden State or anyone without a car, the message is clear: keep out! It precedes and compliments the Dayton & Faris clip for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Californication." Only it’s focuses more on California’s negative parts and doesn’t really mention any of the positives. Can’t really blame Jonze though.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 31, 2009 16:21:57 GMT -5
43. Til Tuesday—“Voices Carry” www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz4pTMN3abwAlbum: Voices Carry Label: Epic Records Director: D.J. Webster Wall Street scumbag and East Village chick clash in D.J. Webster's legendary 80s clip for 'Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry." The band's lead singer, a pre-Magnolia Aimee Mann in all her spiked platinum blonde hair with braided rat-tailed glory, appears as a musician dating a violent Reaganite who demands that she change her outré look for his benefit. A stinging indictment of 80s greed culture, "Voices Carry" ends on a literal and figurative high note. At the opera, Mann defies cultured society and shakes off the shackles of her Barbie Doll enslavement with one liberating howl. This anti-yuppie antitheist to “American Psycho” also uses spoken dialogue to interrupt the video's musical groove when Mann's boyfriend demands, "Do something for me!" It’s a pretty progressive clip for its time, coming out at the height of the backlash to feminism. However, the video doesn’t show all the progress; the song was originally written a woman speaking to another woman, but the lyrics were changed due to pressure from the record label. Still, it’s a good video. And, I think it’s about time for a remake going back to the original woman vs woman lyrics. And, I say that from a purely progressive standpoint. It has nothing to do with my libido. Okay, maybe a little.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 31, 2009 16:38:57 GMT -5
42. Nirvana—“Heart Shaped Box” www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK7Ai9dWrRQAlbum: In Utero Label: DGC Director: Anton Corbijn The final video of Nirvana’s active career and certainly the most affecting, "Heart-Shaped Box" is as ripe with allusions as it is oversaturated with color (the video was shot in black and white and then computer-colorized). Directed by Anton Corbijn, the clip features surrealistic images that brazenly mix the tragic (crucifixes, dead fetuses, and an emaciated Jesus with a Victorian beard and Santa hat climbing onto a cross), comic (Cobain’s pratfall and the mimicking crows), and plainly bizarre (the KKK girl and the fat lady in the In Utero suit). There’s plenty here for art snobs and shrinks alike to chew on, thanks to director Anton Corbijn’s beautifully surrealistic vision, which added heaps of religious imagery to a song already highly charged by sex and gender. While the song makes vague references to cancer, umbilical cords, and meat-eating orchids, the video entangles faith and sickness with the clarity of a man who's damn close to giving up his eternal search. Say what you will about Nirvana’s legend being overvalued by death-obsessed boomer hacks, but how many popular rock bands today would bother to acknowledge high art and the avant-garde even exist? Answer: not many, if any.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 31, 2009 17:00:27 GMT -5
41. Foo Fighters—“Everlong” www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H0BMfqFP9cAlbum: The Colour And The Shape Label: Roswell Records/Capitol Records Director: Michel Gondry Hey! We go from Dave Grohl drumming to Dave Grohl singing and playing the guitar. As we all know, Grohl was the drummer for Nirvana and then went on to form Foo Fighters sometime after Kurt Cobain’s suicide. And, it’s fitting that we go from Nirvana’s last video to the video where Grohl burst from Cobain’s shadow and Foo Fighters stopped being a Nirvana spin-off and started being A-listers in their own right. Inside their happy suburban home, a husband (singer/guitarist Dave Grohl) and wife (drummer Taylor Hawkins in drag) communicate via dreams. Grohl is Sid Vicious at a lame costume party with guitarist Pat Smear and bassist Nate Mendel as bouncers hot on his tail. The thugs access the couple's shared consciousness, kidnapping the wife and hiding her inside a remote cabin in the woods in a scene reminiscent to “Evil Dead.” Water imagery and opening doorways heighten Grohl's penetration anxiety. A ringing phone figures prominently in and out of sleep and serves to clue Grohl in to the power of dreams over reality. Or is it the other way around? René Magritte meets David Lynch with a dash of Sam Raimi in this surprisingly intimate paean to lucid dreaming. However, what’s most surprising about “Everlong” is just how much of the video came from Michel Gondry just trying to get the Foo Fighters to stop bitching. Many of the video’s highlights were the results of the Foo Fighters’ expressed desire not to seem sexist or philanderous. But that’s why if you want a problem turned into a solution, Michel Gondry is your man, and he uses the images in the video to craft the persona the Foo Fighters are known by today, which, ironically enough, is that of a playful and extremely easygoing group of fun guys. And, in the end, we get a clip that’s just as much fun as it is surreal.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 31, 2009 17:03:54 GMT -5
Okay, here are videos 100 to 41:
100. Beastie Boys—“Fight For Your Right (To Party)” 99. ZZ Top—“Legs” 98. Daft Punk—“Around The World” 97. Godley And Creme—“Cry” 96. Lenny Kravitz—“Are You Gonna Go My Way” 95. OutKast—“Hey Ya” 94. Wyclef Jean—“Gone Till November” 93. Janet Jackson—“Rhythm Nation” 92. Fatboy Slim—“Praise You” 91. Guns N’ Roses—“November Rain” 90. Yeah Yeah Yeahs—“Maps” 89. New Order—“True Faith” 88. Robert Palmer—“Addicted To Love” 87. Peter Gabriel—“Shock The Monkey” 86. The Killers—“All These Things That I’ve Done” 85. Bonnie Tyler—“Total Eclipse Of The Heart” 84. Toni Basil—“Mickey” 83. Red Hot Chili Peppers—“Give It Away” 82. Human League—“Don’t You Want Me?” 81. U2—“Where The Streets Have No Name” 80. The Buggles—“Video Killed The Radio Star” 79. The Killers—“Mr. Brightside” 78. Faith No More—“Epic” 77. Queen And David Bowie—“Under Pressure” 76. Talking Heads—“Once In A Lifetime” 75. The Cars—“You Might Think” 74. Olivia Newton John—“Physical” 73. The Cardigans—“My Favorite Game” 72. The Cranberries—“Linger” 71. Radiohead—“Fake Plastic Trees” 70. Smashing Pumpkins—“1979” 69. Eminem—“My Name Is” 68. Soundgarden—“Black Hole Sun” 67. Depeche Mode – “Enjoy the Silence” 66. The White Stripes—“Fell In Love With A Girl” 65. Billy Joel—“We Didn’t Start The Fire” 64. Pat Benatar—“Love Is A Battlefield” 63. Blur—“Coffee And TV” 62. Sinead O’Connor—“Nothing Compares 2 U” 61. R.E.M.—“Everybody Hurts” 60. Smashing Pumpkins—“Tonight, Tonight” 59. Live—“Lightning Crashes” 58. Talking Heads—“Burning Down The House” 57. Fatboy Slim—“Weapon Of Choice” 56. Metallica—“One” 55. Annie Lennox—“Why” 54. Nine Inch Nails—“The Perfect Drug” 53. David Bowie—“Ashes To Ashes” 52. Madonna—“Material Girl” 51. Michael Jackson—“Black Or White” 50. Björk—“It’s Oh So Quiet” 49. R.E.M.—“Imitation Of Life” 48. Dire Straits—“Money For Nothing” 47. Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson—“Scream” 46. Red Hot Chili Peppers—“Californication” 45. Radiohead—“Karma Police” 44. Wax—“California” 43. Til Tuesday—“Voices Carry” 42. Nirvana—“Heart Shaped Box” 41. Foo Fighters—“Everlong”
Tomorrow, numbers 40-36. Here are the hints:
A father's invitation, a shoplifter in trouble, oxygen going into your lungs, an abused girl with a concealed weapon, and CGI madness.
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Post by The Maxx on Jul 31, 2009 19:16:12 GMT -5
"Been Caught Stealin'" (I think that's the title) by Jane's Addiction &, at a guess, "Janie's Got A Gun" by Aerosmith. Not sure of the others. Maybe "Air That I Breath" by Simply Red?
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Aug 1, 2009 14:08:52 GMT -5
Countdown time, people. So, let's do it. I mean, the countdown. Not sex. Here's number 40:
40. Aphex Twin—“Come To Daddy”
Warning: It’s scary as fuck!
Album: Come To Daddy Label: Warp Records, Sire/WEA Records Director: Chris Cunningham
Who knew that the world’s collective nightmares involved Richard D. James’ face grafted on to hoards of crazed schoolchildren? The video for “Come To Daddy” opens with an old woman walking a dog in a grimy, industrial setting. The dog urinates on an abandoned television lying on the sidewalk, causing it to sputter unexpectedly into life. This unleashes an evil spirit from the set, accompanied by a gang of small children, all of whom bear the face of Richard D. James, who appear to be the inhabitants of the abandoned buildings. The children go around wreaking havoc, trashing an alley, chasing a man into his car, and fighting with each other. At one point, the monster (played by Al Stokes) is birthed out of the television and screams in the old woman's face. After this, he gathers the children around him in a manner reminiscent of a scene in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” For nearly 6 minutes, the viewer is “treated” (some treat) to images that are scarier than most of the horror movies that come out these days. Just imagine waking up at 3 a.m. after falling asleep on the couch and being confronted by a run-down tenement echoing with the digital shrieks of a fiend emerging from a television set. Terrifying, huh? If Aphex Twin wanted your soul, Chris Cunningham’s video was surely the means of taking it.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Aug 1, 2009 14:28:12 GMT -5
39. Jane’s Addiction—“Been Caught Stealing” www.dailymotion.com/video/x11tjh_janes-addiction-been-caught-stealin_musicAlbum: Ritual De Lo Habitual Label: Warner Bros. Records Director: Casey Niccoli There is a common trait among music videos: a majority of them contain good looking people. Now, I know this isn’t the case with most of the videos on my list. Hell, just look at the last one. But, you gotta remember that music videos are part of the marketing for a band or artist’s album and song. Most executives in the music industry see videos as ads. Let’s face it: sex sells, and good looking people are great spokespeople. That was the case in 1991 (it’s still the case today), but director Casey Niccoli had something different in mind for the video for Jane’s Addiction’s “Been Caught Stealing.” "I personally don't get off on seeing beautiful people in videos. It bores me," said Niccoli about casting the extras that appeared in her now legendary clip for "Been Caught Stealing." The beautiful Niccoli, then-girlfriend of Perry Farrell, was looking for the bizarre and that's exactly what she got. The video extols the strange goings-on at a 50's-style supermarket in Venice, California; but it also strangely feels real, mostly due to use of average looking people. The video's unadulterated fun, celebration of free-floating libidos and general air of mischief makes it a delirious precursor to the then-burgeoning alt-rock movement. Though, videos today don’t celebrate that fun and homeliness of “Been Caught Stealing.” But, that doesn’t matter. Those are just ads. This has some substance to it.
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