04/08/08
Text: Nik Mercer
Music videos were originally not much of an art form. In the pre-MTV era, they were mostly a way to connect a group's studio material to their live performance without much editing or creativity applied. They were purely functional and therefore rather bland.
In the late-1970s and early-1980s, though, bands and directors got smart, finding an art form unto itself in the music video. Bizarre narratives were applied, fictional realities incorporated, actors were used to interpret the music of a certain outfit in a more conceptualized manner, and the modern day music video was born.
Now that the YouTube epoch has finally hit, though, we're left with heaps of cruddy, boring, and useless music clips to accompany songs we could care less about. Save for a select few (i.e. those with bigger budgets than most, which still pale in comparison to what used to be offered to directors and producers), music videos are a terrible way to shine a spotlight on a musician. Can't people think of something a little more interesting already? If the form was original at its circa 1980 inception, then why can't we come up with something just as visually compelling thirty years later?
We leave this chore to amateur editors and cinematographers, apparently. This "Tecktonik" adaptation of Yelle's "A Cause des Garçons", for example, is stunning in its ingenuity and perplexing nature. (Just what the heck is "Tecktonik" anyway and why are these three mechanically jiving to the song?) We all love the fan edit of HEALTH's "Heaven," too. Ultra-slow-motion sky jump? Boy, does this fit perfectly with the L.A. quartet's aesthetic.
A few days back, U.K.'s reigning King of Grime, Wiley, got the novice treatment with his "Wearing My Rolex" video. The original is super boring. Sexy backup dancers dressed as wolves. Bah... seen it a million times before. Fortunately, Paul McCartney and Heather Mills got together for one last sha-bang (not!) to produce this stunning found- and stock-footage remix music video for the new single, and our socks are blown off.
While this writer contends that it's not cool to "crowdsource" the directing and producing reins to a bunch of A/V hacks (we're looking at you, Reznor), we do wholeheartedly support any effort on the fans' side of things to make something better than the original film. Feel empowered by YouTube... but don't take it too far, folks!
