moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (09/24/84)
"Picture the following individual; a man who has listened to almost no music
since 1972. His entire musical tastes still lie in the areas of folk
music, classical, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkle, The Limeliters, and other
60s and 70s groups, with an occasional Bruce Springsteen or Billy Joel
Album thrown in."
"But tonight, he is about to enter a new dimension; he is going to be
thrown, like a Ford Crash-test car into a brick wall, into the 80's,
through the latest technological advances known to mankind. He will visit
a land beyond space, beyond time, beyond all the standards of good taste."
"In short, he will enter.... The MTV Zone"
------------------------------------------
Well, having just gotten cable, I realized it was out there; but the rumors
I'd heard about it had been pretty evenly divided. Some friends told me
that it contained videos that reached new heights of absurdity and visual
acumen. Others told me it was garbage, built for morons and lacking
anything to set it apart from the PEOPLE magazine age. So I spent a few
days watching MTV, and have found it... interesting. Not too surprising, but
interesting.
OVERVIEW:
If I had to give a percentage rating of the things I saw on MTV, I
would have to say that about 80% of it appears to be crap. However, this
was to be expected; when overviewing the type of fiction that is placed on
the printed page, or the music produced by any type of musical genre, most
of this is also crap (think of all the books on sale at the Safeway reading
section, for instance). Art forms, at least those with commercial basises,
produce a relatively small percentage of material that I find competent,
much less stimulating, interesting, or entertaining. So video seems to be
keeping up with other forms of artistic communication. Saying this means I
also found some work put on MTV to have been of interest to me, which is
true; there are, in fact, two or three cases I found to be of very great
interest, which I have watched and listened to several times. However, of
the "crap portion" of MTV-broadcast video, I also found a great deal of it
offensive, particularly in its portrayal of women; there really are some
disturbing images put on some videos. I noticed most (but not all) videos
which seemed to have the worst portrayal of women were the Heavy Metal bands;
I've always considered this image of women to be part and parcel of their
type of music (or at least the image the band tend to portray). But there
were some surprises: I particularly noted a Carly Simon video with Simon
being chased by a faceless man, in the dark (and eventually, the forest),
who finally grabs her and apparently forces her to make love; she then stops
struggling and begins to enjoy it. Much of this takes place with the camera
taking the point of view of the man chasing her (rather like the "Friday the
13th" series of movies); it surprised me that Simon, whose music I've always
liked, would do a video like this -- I guess I thought, after listening to
so many of her songs, that she thought differently than this.
On the technical side, I was VERY impressed by some of the work going on
here, especially with computer animation, stop animation, and video effects.
Much of the cinematography was excellent (ironically, much of it in jeans
ads), and the blend of music, camera work and editing could create really
effective images "on screen". There is obviously quite a bit of expansion
going on here in the way of computer graphics.
Below are some groups I found particularly good, followed by some I found
correspondingly bad; I've tried to rate them more on the quality of the
video (the images, matched with the audio portion of the video) than on my
prejudices about music.
GOODIES:
The Cars: I think I've watched "All I Want is You" about 20
times... fantastic special effects, wonderfully absurd (as you may have
noticed, rampant absurdity rates high in my book). Also, the video (the
name I have forgotten) with the Car's lead singer walking on water is
hilarious. Good stuff.
The Police: Every time I see "Every Step You Take" I stop everything
and watch. This, I think, is about the only thing I've seen on MTV that
could compete in a national film festival... but this could go head-to-head
with almost any other short I've seen this year. A work of great skill and
imagination: true excellence.
Cindy Laupner: Anyone this wacky deserves credit. I hope she really
is like this, and that it's not a put-on. "Shee Bop" is great (the blind
tap dance routine at the end made it for me -- black humor all the way!).
Huey Lewis and the News: Corny, but reminds me of the stuff Lester
& the Beatles used to do. "This is it" is so full of scene-jokes that it
tends to carry the video, as did "Airplane".
Bruce Springsteen: I've only seen the "This Gun for Hire" video,
which has no special effects, theme, or settings, just Springsteen on
stage... but it is fantastic, due 99% to Springsteen. Anyone who can carry
an audience like that....
BAD NEWS:
Carly Simon: Already mentioned.
Tina Turner: Her new image... it reminds me of an old Tom Leher
lyric: "Isn't it marvelous what they're doing with plastics nowadays..."
Billy Squiers, Sammy Hagar: If these two men were to suddenly
perish, I believe that the average I.Q. of living rock stars would jump 60
points.
Ratt: Hard to believe any video with Milton Berle could be bad. This
one is. I particularly dislike the deb's transformation to a sniveling
creature crawling at Ratt's feet. Blech.
-------
Comments? Other recommendations for good/bad videos? Flames (uh-oh)?
"...in an iron coffin, with spikes on the inside!"
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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ARPA:
fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPAlondon@oddjob.UChicago.UUCP (David London) (09/24/84)
<> Some other good videos: I love Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield". And I prefer the Police's "Wrapped Around Your Finger" to "Every Breath You Take". The Michael Jackson videos (although way overplayed) are quite good. But my favourite is Rodney Dangerfield's "Rappin' Rodney"! David London ...!ihnp4!oddjob!london
gregbo@houxm.UUCP (Greg Skinner) (09/26/84)
First off, I wish to add my appreciation of The Cars "You Might Think". I
think the part where Ric Ocasek flies around like a fly is hilarious, and also
where he runs over the girl in her bed in his car.
I never liked The Police "Every Breath You Take" video because it's boring, but
I still like the song.
Cyndi Lauper's videos are ok, I guess. If anyone remembers Toni Basil's
"Mickey" I think I would rate hers on that level -- cute.
Finally though, you must've missed the ZZ Top videos (Gimme All Your Lovin',
Legs and particularly Sharp Dressed Man) because those are the mobiest
videos around.
--
Hug me till you drug me, honey!
Greg Skinner (gregbo)
{allegra,cbosgd,harvard,ihnp4}!houxm!gregboboyajian@akov75.DEC (10/02/84)
You want other opinions on good videos? Well, let's see...
Warning: many of these are hits from bygone days, so they show up only occa-
sionally these days. Some are current, though. My preference is for the so-
called "concept" videos, ones that tell a story, as if they were short films
with a one-song soundtrack.
These are listed by group. Songs by each group are given in order of
preference. A "*" indicates one I would put in a "Top 10" list.
Asia "???" *
<My mind is drawing a total blank on the title of this song.
The video shows the group in a studio laying down a soundtrack
for a French film.>
Russ Ballard "Voices"
Pat Benatar "Get Nervous"*; "Precious Time"; "Love is a Battlefield"
Big Country "In a Big Country"
David Bowie "China Girl" *
Lindsay Buckingham "Go Insane"
The Cars "Magic"; "Drive"
Ronny James Dio "Last in Line"; "Holy Diver"
Thomas Dolby "She Blinded Me with Science" *; "Hyperactive"
The Eurythmics "Here Comes the Rain Again"; "Love is a Stranger"
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"
Fleetwood Mac "Gypsy" *
<This is my favorite video of all time. I could watch it again and again
forever. Visual poetry is what it is.>
Frankie Goes to Hollywood "Relax"; "Two Tribes"
Glenn Frey "Smuggler's Blues"
Golden Earring "Twilight Zone" *
Billy Idol "Dancin' with Myself"; "White Wedding"
Joe Jackson "Steppin' Out"
Michael Jackson "Thriller" *; "Billie Jean"; "Beat It"
Billy Joel "Pressure" *
Elton John "Sad Songs" <And I usually despise EJ>
The Kinks "Come Dancin'"; "Don't Forget to Dance"
Cindi Lauper "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
<It looks so happy and bouncy, though I don't care for the tune.>
<And no, I don't like "She Bop".>
Christine McVie "Love Will Show Us How"
John Cougar Mellencamp "Pink Houses"
Men At Work "Down Under"
Michael Nesmith "Cruisin'"; "Rio"
Stevie Nicks "Stand Back"
Aldo Nova "Monkey on Your Back"
Robert Plant "In the Mood"
The Police "Every Breath You Take" *; "Wrapped Around Your Finger"
Quiet Riot "Mama, Weer All Crazee Now"
Rainbow "Street of Dreams"
Rush "Distant Early Warning"
Bruce Springsteen "Dancin' in the Dark"
<Until this came along, I despised BS, but this song has a nice
rhythm, and the video (I normally don't like "concert" videos) has
a nice energy to it.>
George Thorogood "Bad to the Bone"
Twisted Sister "We're Not Going to Take It"; "I Wanna Rock"
<These are really of interest only if you're a fan of the movie
ANIMAL HOUSE, for reasons which become obvious when you see them.>
Van Halen "Hot for Teacher"
Stevie Ray Vaughan "Cold Shot"
ZZ Top "Sharp Dressed Man"; "Give Me All Your Lovin'";
"Legs"; "TV Dinners"
I'm sure that I've forgotten some.
--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA)
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ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPAmerchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) (10/03/84)
{ I'll do it in my own time... }
The Asia video that you're thinking of, I believe, is "The Smile Has Left Your
Eyes."
Which reminds me: Has anyone heard about what is going on with Asia? Last
rumours I heard were that Wetton had rejoined (NO! NO! GET HIM OUT!)
and that they had a new producer and were going for a "new sound".
Anyone have any further information?
--
Peter Merchant