I had a much more serious post planned for tonight, but I just spent a long time working on a cover letter for a job I was applying for and now I don't really want to write it. Sometime soon though, I'll get serious on you about some things that have gotten under my skin about how we talk to and treat expecting fathers and people with kids.
Instead tonight, I bring you a compare and contrast of two music videos that I was thinking about during the long drive home from Idaho on Monday. The video is from Alien Ant Farm. You know, the guys that did the "Smooth Criminal" cover in 2001? Kind of a one hit wonder?
Well, the first song that I ever heard by Alien Ant Farm was "Movies". This original video was on heavy rotation on MTV2 when MTV2 was still a great place to watch videos...
First of all, I love the song. I still sing it aloud whenever it comes up on my iPod. And while the video is a little goofy, it's simple but interesting and shows a lot of energy and personality by the band. It's still a video that I really like to watch every once in a while.
Then, Smooth Criminal's video made a big splash on MTV. Alien Ant Farm blew up, if only for a moment. Because "Movies" turned out to be the only other really good song on ANThology and they needed a followup video, the band reshot "Movies" with a much larger budget and ended up with this TRL friendly video...
When I see that video, I feel embarrassed for Alien Ant Farm. It's such an unbelievably BAD video that was willed into existence by the horribleness that was TRL at the time. I'm sure the label forced them to make it without much of their input and they, riding a wave of popularity, just had to hold on and go with it. You can see a marked difference in energy from all the members of the band. They know what they have to do and they do it, they just don't seem to do it the same way.
That's what MTV did to a lot of bands and in many ways, the case of Alien Ant Farm makes me so glad that MTV barely shows any videos anymore.
Instead tonight, I bring you a compare and contrast of two music videos that I was thinking about during the long drive home from Idaho on Monday. The video is from Alien Ant Farm. You know, the guys that did the "Smooth Criminal" cover in 2001? Kind of a one hit wonder?
Well, the first song that I ever heard by Alien Ant Farm was "Movies". This original video was on heavy rotation on MTV2 when MTV2 was still a great place to watch videos...
First of all, I love the song. I still sing it aloud whenever it comes up on my iPod. And while the video is a little goofy, it's simple but interesting and shows a lot of energy and personality by the band. It's still a video that I really like to watch every once in a while.
Then, Smooth Criminal's video made a big splash on MTV. Alien Ant Farm blew up, if only for a moment. Because "Movies" turned out to be the only other really good song on ANThology and they needed a followup video, the band reshot "Movies" with a much larger budget and ended up with this TRL friendly video...
When I see that video, I feel embarrassed for Alien Ant Farm. It's such an unbelievably BAD video that was willed into existence by the horribleness that was TRL at the time. I'm sure the label forced them to make it without much of their input and they, riding a wave of popularity, just had to hold on and go with it. You can see a marked difference in energy from all the members of the band. They know what they have to do and they do it, they just don't seem to do it the same way.
That's what MTV did to a lot of bands and in many ways, the case of Alien Ant Farm makes me so glad that MTV barely shows any videos anymore.
4 comments:
Actually, you can still see videos on MTV... if a character on one of their hundreds of reality shows happens to be watching a television where one is playing.
Poor Alien Ant Farm, I had totally forgotten about them. I even saw them in concert in 2000 or 2001 (I can't remember) when they opened for Bush
I am surprised it did not annoy me when I first heard this song but the way he sings is really annoying. He puts an "uh" at the end of almost every line. "Way-uh", "space-uh", "you-uh", "me-uh". Ugh-uh.
The second one is amazingly terrible. AAF as the Ghostbusters shoot a guy with their proton guns and he ends up slimed? Huh? It even had the obligatory interlude (Mr. Miyagi healing an injured faux Danielsan). Just wow.
I still think this a great song. Although their "Smooth Criminal" was a good cover, I've always liked this one better out of their two hits.
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