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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 25, 2009 16:08:44 GMT -5
71. Radiohead—“Fake Plastic Trees” www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKd06s1LNikAlbum: The Bends Label: Parlophone, EMI Director: Jake Scott Believe it or not, there was a time when Radiohead weren’t afraid to be big and obvious. The Jake Scott-directed video for “Fake Plastic Trees” finds Thom Yorke not only singing directly into the camera but singing as if he were singing for all the inhabitants of the lonely aisle he’s being strolled down, from the old and fading cowboy to the girl price-tagging the thousands of anonymous cans. Like Allan Ginsberg and Perry Farrell before him, Scott knows that no location screams conformity and alienation more than the supermarket, and the video’s key image is Yorke arching his back off the shopping cart, seemingly in surrender, only to pop back up with one of the angriest scowls you’ve ever seen, just as the song kicks into high gear. For almost a decade, Radiohead were misclassified in the US as Britpop, and this video is why: it seems too anthemic to be anything else. In actuality, the director has said that the video "is actually an allegory for death and reincarnation but if you can read that into it you must be as weird as the people who made it."
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 25, 2009 16:18:50 GMT -5
Tomorrow, numbers 70-66. Here are the hints:
The last year of the decade that gave us disco, Jimmy Carter, Pop Rocks, and Star Wars; what you call yourself; how our solar system might end; liking it quiet; and falling for a female.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 26, 2009 14:06:18 GMT -5
Countdown time, mothersmorkers!!!! Here's number 70: 70. Smashing Pumpkins—“1979” www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrivjzw0RlIAlbum: Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness Label: Virgin Records Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris pay tribute to the tedium of suburban life in their video for the Smashing Pumpkins' "1979." Dayon and Faris's use of the fish-eye lens has an uncanny way of evoking the drunkenness and free-spiritedness of the video's subjects. (Speaking of which, I still want to know how they were able to get a camera to fly with a toilet paper roll.) Like a surrogate chaperon, Billy Corgan tails a group of angst-ridden middle-class teens as they experience the joys of house parties, skidding cars in circles, toilet-papering the neighborhood, pool-hopping and throwing patio furniture into swimming pools, bowling with liquor bottles and 2-liter sodas, and throwing extra-large slurpies wherever. Not only does the video fully capture the angst and boredom of it’s featured teens, but it also a nice little appeal to it. When I first saw this video, I was about like 11 or 12; and I fully expected it to be a forecast of what the next ten years of my life were going to be like. Or, at least, I hoped as much. And, I can imagine anybody else who first saw this video in their tweens expected the same. Those teens just looked like they were having a lot of fun. Unfortunately, that’s not for me; but it doesn’t matter. Today, it’s just a nice video to watch. Suburban teen boredom never tasted so sweet.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 26, 2009 14:32:05 GMT -5
69. Eminem—“My Name Is” Warning: Language www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmdRauWVbwgAlbum: The Slim Shady LP Label: Aftermath/Interscope Directors: Philip Atwell and Dr. Dre If you want a good example of a video making a star out of its artist, look at this one. Forget for a fact now, this song sounds like Eminem shooting catfish in a Nalgene bottle. Back when this first hit TRL (Shut up! That use to be THE SHOW back in the day! And, that’s where you saw it too!), it felt like someone needed to be making fun of the Spice Girls, peroxide-d buzzcuts weren’t yet a cliché, and damn, is Dr. Dre really backing a bratty white kid? Eminem went on to greater artistic heights, but the lasting image of his career is still this video: teasing his mom about drugs and tits, getting thrown out of a strip club, “The Shady Bunch,” and Dr. Dre in a doctor’s coat (which is amazing that he would put it on considering he began his career in shiny medical outfits when he was part of the World Class Wreckin’ Cru). However, the video that brought Eminem fame was a double-edge sword. Yes, the song and video has pigeonholed him into basically having to release songs and videos just like it in order for his career to continue. Yes, he has managed to get old white Republicans and homosexuals to unite in despising him. And, yes, his personal problems have become just as well known as his songs. But, none of that matters here. For four minutes, the ceiling on Eminem’s career was “a funnier Bloodhound Gang.” Okay, okay: a much funnier Bloodhound Gang. For four minutes, that seemed awesome. And, that is pretty much how most people want to see him.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 26, 2009 14:58:03 GMT -5
68. Soundgarden—“Black Hole Sun”
Album: Superunknown Label: A&M Records Director: Howard Greenhalgh
After viewing this video, you’ll probably have an expression on your face as blank and contorted as those of the suburbanites in the video. Thought, that’s what director Howard Greenhalgh wanted. Greenhalgh challenges American complacency in his apocalyptic video for Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun." It shows a group of doomsayers prophesizing the end of the world in a nice suburb, and every single person, except for that girl with the ice cream, has a creepy smile that’s made all the more creepier by special effects. The clip mocks and exaggerates our society's search for truth in television and its gratuitous exploitation of the earth. Soon nature turns itself on the unsuspecting suburb. A tall, thin blonde bakes in the sun as a Barbie doll is scorched on a barbeque. For torturing a cockroach under a magnifying glass, two young boys are burnt under the giant lens of the Black Hole Sun. In the end, the town people's distorted self-images and general arrogance becomes their end. And, all the while, the band looks on, unimpressed by the whole thing. Well, there is a reason for Soundgarden’s apathetic looks. In an online chat, the band stated that the video "was entirely the director's idea," and added, "Our take on it was that at that point in making videos, we just wanted to pretend to play and not look that excited about it." However, guitarist Kim Thayil said that the video was one of the few Soundgarden videos the band was satisfied with. Though, I doubt it gave him a smile on his face like those of the people in the video.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 26, 2009 15:14:17 GMT -5
67. Depeche Mode – “Enjoy the Silence”
Album: Violator Label: Mute Records Director: Anton Corbijn
On the surface, a guy walking around various terrains wearing a robe and crown, deckchair in hand, should be ridiculous or comic. In “Enjoy the Silence,” it’s neither. Never looking to camera, lead singer Dave Gahan brings an absolute pride and dignity to his role, tinged with just a little loneliness, and sells himself as owner of all that he surveys to an extent that lesser mortals would not likely have managed. Though, that almost never happened. When Corbijn presented the concept of the video to the band, which at the time was simply "Dave dressed up as a king, walking around with a deck chair", they initially rejected it. They changed their minds when Corbijn explained that the idea was that the King (Dave) was represented "a man with everything in the world, just looking for a quiet place to sit." Eventually, they agreed to Corbijn’s concept. Keyboardist Andy Fletcher later joked that he favored the video because "[he] only had to do about an hour's worth of work." Also, one thing that helps Corbijn’s concept was the interspersed band shots and flashes of the Violator album cover. These attempts at subliminal album advertising look cool and has become so iconic an image for Depeche Mode that even the barely animated cartoon version of it shown during their live set works wonders.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 26, 2009 15:28:46 GMT -5
66. The White Stripes—“Fell in Love with a Girl”
Album: White Blood Cells Label: XL Recordings Director: Michel Gondry
Quick: Name the last star-making video appearance not to feature the star in question. Parallel for comparison’s sake: In the late 90s, auto-makers tried a series a commercials that never actually showed you the car in question. The car ads were abject failures. Jack and Meg White did the same thing with the video for “Fell In Love With A Girl,” opting to let Lego versions of themselves to take their place. They went onto international superstardom. The difference? Well, for one, people appreciate hard work; and it’s obvious that this video was a task to make. It was shot frame by frame with each frame having the Lego bricks rebuilt, sometimes in a complex manner to seem as if it were an actual shot, and then formed together to give the illusion of motion. But, it wasn’t just hard work that made the video a hit. There was also the kick-ass punk rock song and a collective 20-something generation’s nostalgia for Legos and, the video’s great unsung reference point, 8-bit video games. A = Strum. B = Cymbal Crash. Thumb in A-B-A-B-Up-Down-Left-Right to unlock Buddy Holly lightning round. Dig the building blocks of rock ‘n’ roll.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 26, 2009 15:34:24 GMT -5
Tomorrow, numbers 65-61, and a recap. Here are the hints:
Pyromaniacs denial, a violent metaphor for affection, a caffeinated beverage and the telecommunication medium you can view these music videos on, a Prince song sung by a bald woman, and all the people in pain.
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Post by Shovelman on Jul 26, 2009 17:27:31 GMT -5
Hey, some of the shots in "Fell in Love with a Girl" were pixelated versions of the band, so they kinda did show up. I know I saw it on something like Pop-Up Video.
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thelesserevil
Super Trooper
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Splat
Posts: 1,449
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Post by thelesserevil on Jul 26, 2009 17:39:33 GMT -5
True, but still that had to take alot of work to make.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 27, 2009 14:43:04 GMT -5
It's time for the countdown. No witty intro, just countdown time. Here's number 65: 65. Billy Joel—“We Didn’t Start The Fire” www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKu2QaytmrMAlbum: Storm Front Label: Columbia Records Director: Chris Blum “We Didn’t Start The Fire” isn’t much of a song. Billy Joel wrote it because he has a strong interest in history: "I'm a history nut. I devour history books. At one time I wanted to be a history teacher." According to his mother, he has been avidly reading history books since he was seven years old. So, the song is pretty much a history lesson, just Joel listing people, places, and events from 1949 to 1989. And, he’s not that thorough, skipping around in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Plus, now, it’s outdated; I still think he should release an updated version. And, the melody is horrible. Joel himself has said, “It's one of the worst melodies I've ever written.” That’s because unlike most of Joel's songs, the lyrics were written before the melody, owing to the somewhat unusual style of the song. Hell, it appears that this song was just written to make this music video. Luckily, the video is top notch. Directed by Chris Blum, it chronicles a middle-class husband and wife and their goal of the American Dream: a home, careers, and children. This is juxtaposed with the tumultuous social times of the second half of the 20th century (e.g., bra burning, the children becoming hippies, etc.). Joel acts as an omnipotent observer throughout. The chorus shows Joel beating on a table while a backdrop of famous photographs (Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination and Nguyễn Văn Lém's execution, among others) are consumed in flames. It’s simple yet powerful. The whole video fully captures the fears and paranoias of The Cold War and the late 20th century. That was a time things just kept escalating to a point when it seemed like Armageddon is a shot away. Of course, that didn’t happen. Yet, the video also captures the uncertainty of what do now. The Cold War came and went, and no one died. People lived in fear of a nuclear holocaust killing us all. That didn’t happen. People were so certain that they would all die that no real plan for the future was created. And once the Cold War ended without destroying the world, people didn’t really know what to do with they’re lives. Though, now we have terrorism, computers, iPods, and Brittney Spears to keep us occupied. Like I said, not much of a song but one hell of a video.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 27, 2009 15:12:50 GMT -5
64. Pat Benatar—“Love Is A Battlefield”
Album: Live From Earth Label: Chrysalis Records Director: Bob Giraldi
One of the first music videos to include spoken dialogue ("If you leave this house, you can just forget about coming back!" Pat Benatar's father, played by Trey Wilson, shouts as the troubled teen storms out of the house in a gargantuan huff), "Love Is A Battlefield" was a youth-empowerment mini-musical of operatic proportions (fitting considering that Benatar’s mother was an opera singer and Benatar herself is a classically trained singer; that’s why her voice is so powerful). Benatar flees for the city to pursue her dream of sleeping with men for money. She writes home to her younger brother, who pines for his sister and struggles to hide his secret desire of becoming a hustler. Benatar's pimp mistreats her, inspiring her to form a troupe of angry, dancing hookers who take on the night like a bunch of Raggedy Annes with a suspicious amount of choreography experience under their torn belts. They dance off into the trashy sunset and Benatar hops on a Greyhound bus home. In short, a classic. Yeah, I know the plot is a little cliché. Yes, I know the story-based video, Michael Jackson-inspired choreographed dance number, and atmospheric pop song was aimed squarely at MTV. And, yes, Benatar does look a little silly dancing. But, none of that matters. This video been firmly etched onto pop culture like a tattoo. Hell, it’s been parodied on South Park! Like I said, a classic.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 27, 2009 15:31:56 GMT -5
63. Blur—“Coffee And TV” www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oqXVx3sBOkAlbum: 13 Label: Food/EMI Director: Garth Jennings The fact that the video is now more famous than the song means that the moment when a story about a missing Graham Coxon (oh, the irony) turns into one also about an anthropomorphic dancing milk carton no longer has the same unexpected delight. Blur's "Coffee & TV" tells the tale of one courageous little milk carton as he ventures out to find the missing boy printed on his side. Along the way, he encounters a weed-cutter-wielding neighbor, hitches a ride on a motorcycle and gets lost in a ghetto of crushed bottles and cans. Its adventures are still enormously funny and way beyond cute though, with a pleasing streak of cruelty to boot: the fate of his female counterpart is surely the most painfully amusing highlight of the whole thing. The clip is both touching and humorous, and it subtly incorporates Blur into its storyline. Eventually, the carton leads the missing boy back home, but not before it meets a violent end. But, it allows for the payoff happy ending, which even makes use of the song’s previously pointless coda, just one example of the perfect fit that makes “Coffee and TV” always seems sweeter and better when accompanied with its visuals.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 27, 2009 15:56:24 GMT -5
62. Sinead O’Connor—“Nothing Compares 2 U” www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUiTQvT0W_0Album: I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got Label: Chrysalis Records Director: John Maybury Okay, it was 1990. In the previous decade, the music video became a staple of the entertainment industry. Not only did fans watch them for viewing pleasure, but they also became essential to the marketing of an artist’s new album. And, one of the big selling points was spectacle. Madonna, Prince, and Michael Jackson were all about the spectacle, turning their videos into mini-movies and with high productions, effects, and dance numbers. Then, came some bald Irish chick who brought everyone and everything back down to Earth. In stark contrast to the often excessive videos of its time period, Sinead O'Connor and director John Maybury's minimalist video for "Nothing Compares 2 U" proclaimed O'Connor as an iconoclast to be reckoned with. Moody images of O'Connor walking through a paganistic, gargoyle-filled park were offset with close-ups of the singer's porcelain face against a black background. Today, it’s easy to forget the power of this video, mainly because of O’Connor’s numerous controversies (from ripping up a photo of the Pope on SNL to becoming a priest). But, just one viewing is enough to remind people that this video packed just as much of a punch as its big-budgeted peers by just focusing on a woman’s face until she cried. And yes, that's a real tear.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 27, 2009 16:11:25 GMT -5
61. R.E.M.—“Everybody Hurts”
Album: Automatic For The People Label: Warner Bros. Records Director: Jake Scott
Director Jake Scott and R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe lay it on thick in the video for the band's "Everybody Hurts," a cut from the hugely popular Automatic for the People. For the video, Scott prominently borrowed key themes and images from Joel Schumacher's underrated man-against-the-world flick “Falling Down” and Federico Fellini's “8 1/2,” the Italian auteur's epic chronicle of directorial self-indulgence. The clip's series of subtitles evokes the disaffection of people trapped in a Los Angeles traffic jam. Stipe emerges from his car, spiritually cleanses them with his song and ushers them into the next world like the Messianic high priest that we all know and love. I thought the faux news clip at the end was a little too much, but it’s just one little imperfection in an otherwise perfect. Besides, that works with the point of the song: nobody is perfect, everyone has pain, everyone suffers.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 27, 2009 16:16:47 GMT -5
Okay, here is a recap of numbers 100-61:
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”
Tomorrow, numbers 60-56. Here are the hints:
P.M. repeated, where thunder comes from, the roof is on fire, your prefered instrument of destruction, and the first number.
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Post by Shovelman on Jul 27, 2009 17:23:54 GMT -5
I find it funny that you mention Prince in your write-up of Nothing Compares 2 U cause Prince wrote that song....notice the 2 and U.
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 27, 2009 17:50:28 GMT -5
I find it funny that you mention Prince in your write-up of Nothing Compares 2 U cause Prince wrote that song....notice the 2 and U. I know. Hell, Prince was in my hint for that video.
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Post by Shovelman on Jul 27, 2009 19:17:32 GMT -5
Get better hints then
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Post by Kermit The Hulk on Jul 28, 2009 15:29:26 GMT -5
Countdown time, people! LET'S DO THIS!!!! Here's number 60: 60. Smashing Pumpkins—“Tonight, Tonight” www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsZYqaSc4cUAlbum: Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness Label: Virgin Records Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris Inspired by the novels of Jules Verne and early Lumiere films, illusionist George Méliès dazzled the world with the release of 1902's “A Trip to the Moon.” Though his mini-epics are less structurally and thematically groundbreaking than many of D.W. Griffith's early works, his ravishing tableaus forever changed the way audiences looked at and experienced cinema. More so than any other music video, "Tonight, Tonight" displays an unmistakable love for the possibilities of cinema. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris used period clothing (which they had a tough time getting due to “Titanic” having nearly all period costumes rented), theatre props, and old-school "special effects" to replicate the look and feel of “A Trip to the Moon.” This time, though, the journey is in color. The married directing team seamlessly incorporates the Smashing Pumpkins into the clip; the aesthetics turned out to be the perfect encapsulation of the Smashing Pumpkins’ sense of grandeur: heartfelt, fantastical, overly-ambitious yet just a bit clunky in all the right places, and, of course, Billy Corgan, sky high, in the heavens with his band playing like angels behind him. Like the smiling moon from Méliès's film, Billy Corgan & Co. become not unlike celestial bodies alive with the joys of creation. Amazingly, by going back to film’s beginnings, Dayton, Faris, and the Pumpkins ended up amazing a 1990s audience that had been use to high tech special effects. Corgan remarked that "I don't think we've ever had people react [like this]...it just seemed to touch a nerve."
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