Paula Abdul - Cold Hearted

it's almost the weekend.

hang and grind.

Music video

Paula Abdul in the "Cold Hearted" music video, directed by David Fincher.

The video for "Cold Hearted" was inspired from Bob Fosse's erotica dance sequence from the movie All That Jazz. In the video, Abdul dances for music executives with a group of semi-nude dancers. The dance floor includes scaffolding where Abdul and her dancers hang and grind. Abdul's choreography for this video was very sexual and intricate, showing her more naughty side. The video was directed by David Fincher (of Fight Club fame), and spent more than three weeks on top of MTV's video rotation list.

It is notable for featuring both female/male and male/male dancer combinations. In 1999, Christina Aguilera shot the video for her second single "What a Girl Wants" in the same place and with a similar plot to Abdul's video for "Cold Hearted".

Lou Bega - Mambo Number 5

constantly amid the white circle???

what could it mean? i kind of get it...the white circle is behind lou bega for a good portion of the video, but it is by no means a constant presence.

the white circle is this video's lamest piece of mise en scene.

but at least it's not this lame...






Music video

The music video features Lou Bega singing and dancing with flappers, possibly a homage to the music of the 1920s and 1930s. Constantly he can be seen amid a white circle in the background. Clips of movies and newsreels showing jazz-like themes such as trumpets big bands can be seen.

Poison - Nothin' But A Good Time

this must have been c.c. deville's favorite bedtime story.

sweet dreams little c.c.!!!!!!

[edit]

Music Video

The music video features as a person washing dishes while listening to the Kiss' hit single Rock and Roll All Nite performed by Poison. Then his manager turned off the radio as he told him to wash the dishes quickly, because he was moving in two speeds, "slow and stop". Frustrated, he stopped washing the dishes and left the washroom. As he left, a live stage occurred beside the washroom, and as he banged the door shut, the band performed the song live without any audience. At the end of the song, his manager returned, and surprisingly all the dishes are washed.

Len - If You Steal My Sunshine

in these last few weeks of blogging, i've learned A LOT about the art of the music video. and i've learned EVEN MORE about the art of wiki-ing about a music video.

but today is special.

The Burger Pimp and B-rad can teach you A LOT about DIRECTING a music video.

SPECIAL BONUS (also from wikipedia):

For The Village Voice, Richard Riegel described the song's beat as "McCoy Tyner playing the Kraftwerk^[10] songbook, outlined in aural neon".

i seriously can't believe how much i've always liked this song.

Music video

The song's music video was directed by Marc Costanzo and Bradley Walsh, under the stage names The Burger Pimp and B-Rad.^[15] When Len had signed to Work Records, one of its demands was to be able to direct its own videos.^[3] The group used a $100,000 budget to make the video. It flew to Daytona Beach, Florida with two dozen friends while the area was crowded with people on their spring vacations. They spent much of the budget on alcohol, buying enough that they broke their hotel's elevator trying to lift it. They shot the video in an afternoon so that they could recover from hangovers in the morning and drink in the evening. The scenes were shot without a script or storyboard. In the video, Len and its friends are shown relaxing together and riding on skis, scooters, and go-karts.^[16]

Motorrad, whose scooters were included in the music video, later held a promotion giving away scooters of the same model.^[17] At the 1999 MuchMusic Video Awards, "Steal My Sunshine" won awards for "Best Video", "Best Pop Video", and "Favourite Canadian Video".^[18]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcSyIClhk_c

Olivia Newton John - Physical

i'm a little late to it today, but only because monday is by far the most sensuous, lusty, and PHYSICAL day of the week.

p.s. thank you famous mortimer for the comments. keep 'em coming.

Music video

The video featured a lusty Olivia, dressed in a tight leotard, working out in a gym with several overweight men, who eventually transform into attractive muscular young men. The gym setting may have been partly an attempt to divert attention from the overt sexual connotations of the term "physical". This was further emphasised by the twist comedy ending of the video, when the transformed men who are now oblivious to Newton-John's advances are ultimately revealed to be gay (this was also a source of controversy; MTV frequently cut the ending when it aired the video, and the sometimes sensuous nature of the video also led to it being banned outright by some broadcasters in Canada and the United Kingdom). The video won a Grammy Award for Video Of The Year in 1983. The song was banned in South Africa for its suggestive lyrics.

Like her first number-one single, "Physical" sold over two million copies, being certified platinum.

The video was featured on Pop-Up Video on VH1.

embedding disabled by request.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQXECBdPgEA

New Radicals - You Get What You Give

i once went to the staten island mall. it was a rainy night in december and i was joyriding with a friend in his pickup truck. we saw a bad movie on a whim.

the events of that evening were nowhere near as exciting as the ones in this video. however, i did learn a lot from the experience. i gave nothing on that trip to staten save for the bridge toll, and and thus i got very little in return.

when i do eventually go back, things will be different. i plan to hijack a lambretta and do a little moshin' in the food court.

Music video

The music video for "You Get What You Give" was filmed in the Staten Island Mall, New York and directed by Evan Bernard. New Radicals' front man Gregg Alexander said he chose this setting because he sees the shopping mall as a metaphor for society - a fake, controlled environment engineered to encourage spending. The video showed a group of teenagers led by Alexander, going through the mall wreaking havoc -- tossing nets on security guards, placing businessmen in animal cages, knocking overmerchandise, hijacking Lambrettas, and moshing in the foodcourt.

embedding disabled by request.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdB5x8Jsgpw

Lionel Richie - Hello

between the ages of 2 and 4, lionel richie was my favorite recording artist without question. my favorite song was "dancing on the ceiling." i remember staying up until 2 AM to watch him perform it at the closing ceremonies for the 1984 summer olympics in los angeles. except instead he performed "all nite long." at least that was my second favorite song.

anyways, oh what a feeling.

summers in spaldeen, stickball lessons...

the greatest story never told / sold.

full of deception, inveiglement, and obfuscation.

there is more to say here than i could ever say.

Music video

Arguably the music video attracted more attention than the song, for its story of Richie's character (a music teacher) having a seemingly unrequited love for a blind arts student (played by Laura Carrington, an actress who is not really blind) until he discovers she shares the feeling as demonstrated by the discovery that she is sculpting a likeness of his head (which was actually created by a professional sculptor who never met Lionel). The video has been parodied a number of times including a Starburst commercial when the sculpture is made from Starburst candy. According to the video's appearance in VH1's Pop Up Video, the video was an adaptation of an unproduced screenplay called "Spaldeen Summers".

Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart

most of the time I TOO feel like an archetypal Everyman trying to make it through the day.

they sure don't make 'em like they used to.

Music Video

The song's music video, directed by Peter Christopherson, received a great deal of airplay on MTV, introducing the revamped Yes lineup and sound to a new generation of fans largely unfamiliar with the band's very different earlier work, which had helped to define the genre of progressive rock. The video begins in standard music video fashion with the band members performing in a studio all the way through the first chorus. Then, abruptly, Jon Anderson says, "Hang on, hang on! Maybe there's another way to do this." Then, each of the band members is shown transforming into a different type of animal before the song is re-started as the soundtrack of a black and white film. The film follows an archetypal Everyman as he tries to make it through a day whilst being shocked by pseudo-psychotic flashes of being menaced by the various animals. He is brought to court by government-looking toughs, summarily thrown out of court and into a boiler room where he fights a bruiser, then runs onto the roof of the building. There, he is confronted by the various band members, shifting back and forth between human and animal guises, which drives him to leap from the building. The video then ends with the same man in the same crowd as at the beginning of the video, but instead he turns back, presumably to go home and avoid the day.

The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Puff Daddy and Mase - Mo Money Mo Problems

is Mase...

a) a bad rapper

b) a bad dancer

c) a bad preacher

d) all of the above

biggie's spirit helps me win at bowling, scrabble, and magic the gathering all the time.

and pivotal moments in music video history need no citations.

Music video

The video directed by Hype Williams featured Mase and Combs in futuristic locations, including a tunnel lined with fluorescent lamps and a stark white chamber with pressurized air blowing out of the floor, allowing the two to float in midair. This video is also famous for the red shiny jackets that are worn by Combs and Mase and which are remembered to this day as a pivotal part in music video history.^{[citation needed]} The "air chamber" also had a video screen showing, at first, images of Kelly Price lip-synching to the sample of Diana Ross' voice and singing the song's chorus. During the final verse, which the Notorious B.I.G. performed, Mase and Puffy looked on as the video screen showed archival footage of B.I.G. performing, run at a speed so that the footage seemed to sync with B.I.G.'s vocals; since the rapper had died just prior to the release of Life After Death, and well before the filming of the video, this was the only way to have him appear in the video. Song produced by Steven "Stevie J." Jordan and Sean Combs The video also has a short story, which is about how Combs was competing in a golf tournament and gained help from the spirit of The Notorious B.I.G, who helps him win the tournament.

MuchMoreMusic ranked "Mo Money Mo Problems" #31 on Listed's "40 Most Memorable Videos Pt. 1 & 2" for its flashy wardrobe, and use of syncing old footage with the lyrics. VH1 ranked the song #63 as one of the "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s". The song was also partially influenced by the 1992 movie Mo' Money.

Matchbox 20 - Push

remember when rob thomas got fat...and they said it was "glandular?" and then a couple of years ago he claimed that the weight gain was a result of his cocaine addiction during that fat period? and remember how it seemed completely improbable that anyone in matchbox 20 could

A. become a cocaine addict and

B. then become FAT because of it?

you probably don't remember ANY of these things, but it really hurts me that i can remember details about the life and times of rob thomas so effortlessly. i didn't even have to look them up.

for me, he's a little like the electric fence in this video. i wanna leave it alone, but i keep coming back for more while my compatriots just stand there watching.

Music video

The video for "Push", directed by Nigel Dick, starts and ends with Rob Thomas playing with a puppet. Throughout the song, the band is seen playing in an alley. A couple of scenes feature Thomas chained to a wall. Another scene is of Thomas holding onto an electric wire fence while the band stands in the background. He gets zapped by the fence but keeps putting his hands back on it. Thomas is also seen in a room containing a clock and a bed, though no windows are shown.

EDIT 2/18/09 -- I changed the embedded "Push" video to a weblink because the player autostarted the music when wikimusicvideo loaded. Dearest readers, if there is one song on here that I REFUSE to subject you to hearing without making a conscious decision to listen, it is and will forever be Matchbox 20's "Push."

http://www.slack-time.com/music-video-2989-Matchbox-Twenty-Push

Bush - Swallowed

in 1996, i also spent most of my free time in a retro apartment filled with a myriad of alternative youths. it was above a friend's parent's garage.

these youths and i went to prep school together and were forced to keep our hair cut to above the collar of our uniform polo shirts.

believe it or not, we referred to this line that marked the division between an appropriate and inappropriate haircut as "the gavin line."

Music video

The music video, directed by Jamie Morgan and released in November 1996, is set in a retro apartment with a myriad of alternative youths.[1] A neon crucifix (which would later become the album cover for Deconstructed) is frequently interspersed amongst the antics of houseguests.

The video was nominated for several MTV Video Music Awards.

Blues Traveller - Run Around

fact: i had a fake i.d. one summer from the state of north carolina. i picked north carolina because it looked like the easiest driver's license to copy among the choices provided to me at the store (which included texas, idaho, and colorado.) i removed the words FOR NOVELTY USE ONLY with a cotton ball and some nail polish remover. later i learned that the easiest state driver's license to copy was new jersey. you could even duplicate the hologram, which was a crappy little gold key, with a stencil and some gold spraypaint applied very lightly. in college i knew somebody who very nearly made a living making fake new jersey driver's licenses.

see, commentator, i know lots of useless information about state i.d.'s just like you.

i shudder to think what ditties comprise numbers 77 - 100 of VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90's.

Video

The video for the song is loosely based on The Wizard of Oz, with the central character being "Dorothy Gale" and a Cairn Terrier pulling back a curtain.

Although the video for this song shows a Kansas driver's license, the license shown was not the current design but instead the design the state used in the mid to late 1980s.

The song reached #76 in VH1'S 100 Greatest Songs of the 90's.

Crash Test Dummies -- Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

i was once told via email that the amount of fun i would have on an upcoming outing directly corresponded to number of words i could remember (in order) from this song's lyrics.

i was surprised with how many i (reluctantly) remembered, and i did in fact have fun that day. the activities did not, however, involve any "shaking" or "lurching."

this is the worst idea for a children's play IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

Music video

The associated music video sets the song's lyrics as the script for a series of one-act plays performed by school children. Throughout, the scenes of the performance are intercut with scenes of the Crash Test Dummies performing the song at stage side.

The first act, set at a city intersection, tells the story of a young boy who was involved in a car crash. His hair turned white due to the force of the crash.

The second act tells the story of a girl that never used to "change with the girls in the change room", until one day the other girls (portrayed in the act as three inquisitive detectives) force her to change with them, only to discover that her body was covered in birthmarks.

The final act tells of a boy that lives under the strict discipline of his austere parents and how his family attends a church, where "shaking" and "lurching" happens during the services.

embedding disabled by request.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkTa9SpvJ9U

Candlebox - Far Behind

oh candlebox, i didn't mean to treat you oh so bad. but i did it anyway.

and you guys are still doing it! i see you rolling through town every now and again. you let no one keep you down. now THAT'S dedication.

perhaps proving that people have waaaaaaaaaaaaaay toooooooo muuuuuuuuuuuuch much time on their hands, commentary like this will preserve your memory through the ages.

your fans will never leave you FAR BEHIND (OH YES I DID!!!!!!)

p.s. the sneakers tell the story.













Music video

The "Far Behind" video was directed by Nick Egan. Perhaps representing the past friendships of frontman Kevin Martin, it revolves mainly around an old, battered house and its inhabitants. Early on, Martin sings with a corded microphone while walking through the neglected structure. A cheerful young woman is also seen sitting at the edge of a grimy, near-empty outdoor pool. The chorus then has a man splashing red paint across the white walls. Various people are seen lying around the house including a lone, weary looking man in a bathtub who at one point appears to be defending himself from a drowning attempt. Song lyrics are scribbled along parts of the walls, and an American flag serves as a backdrop to certain shots. "Far Behind" aired heavily on MTV and was one of the most requested videos of 1993.

Missy Elliot - Hit Em wit da Hee

when i read this commentary, i was pretty sure this video would be a winner. but it wound up being fairly boring.

however, i do hope that a graduate student somewhere out there is using the magical objects viewed herein as the final piece of the puzzle she needs to complete her dissertation and finally achieve that PhD in semiology.

Music video

The music video for this song takes place in a dark castle on a hill. Missy is seen in a suit dancing with other dancers. When the song changes to the Jóga beat, Missy is seen walking with a magic chalice and three objects floating beside her, mainly a teapot, a metal egg holder and a metal gauntlet. Cameo appearances are made by Magoo, Nicole Wray, Ginuwine, Playa, Mocha, and Timbaland. The song ends with the metal horse moving rapidly almost as if Missy had something to do with it. The remix of the song was used for the video. Instead of featuring Lil Kim, the remix features Mocha and Timbaland.

Missy Elliott feat. Timbaland - Hit'em Wit Da Hee VIDEO
Uploaded by SEECLOPE

Fugees - Killing Me Softly

sometimes it's what you don't say.

Music Video

A music video was released to promote the single.

Pearl Jam - Even Flow

stone gossard = stone cold genius. i'd give my right eye to see that original video.

eddie vedder damaged his dude-with-a-message cred significantly when he stood up on that stool and scrawled "PRO CHOICE" all over his left forearm with a sharpie during the jam "porch" on mtv unplugged.

turn the proselytizing off, eddie. this is fucking mtv unplugged.

Music video

[edit] Original video

Pearl Jam originally hired director Rocky Schenck to film a music video for "Even Flow". On January 31, 1992, on their way to England to begin a European tour, the band members came to Los Angeles to film the video. The concept for the video was based on an idea by Gossard.^[12] Schenck filmed Pearl Jam in a zoo setting. He had arranged a nighttime shoot at an old, closed facility, brought in different wildlife, and set up his lights among the cages and in the trees. Along with the animal footage, the members of Pearl Jam were filmed individually and as a band, standing on the side of a cliff and air jamming. The shoot took hours, and the band was not pleased with the end result. Schenck's shoot was considered a waste of time and money by the band; it also damaged Abbruzzese's wrists significantly. After shooting had finished, he was taken to the emergency room where he was advised not to put strain on his wrists. Abbruzzese would drum on the band's European tour with a splint attached to his hands.

[edit] Official video

The original music video for "Even Flow" was ultimately replaced by a performance clip directed by Josh Taft, who had previously directed the "Alive" music video for the band, and who would later direct the music video for "Oceans". The video consists of performance footage of the band filmed during a January 17, 1992 show at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington.^[13] Taft was filming that night not in his capacity as a director, but as a friend of Gossard's. (At one point during the show, Vedder had even stopped the proceedings, clearly of the opinion that Taft's presence was intrusive. "This is not a TV studio, Josh" he'd yelled indignantly, in an interlude that Taft left in his final cut but that MTV clipped out of most versions it aired. "Turn those lights out, it's a fucking rock concert!") The video shows Vedder climbing the theatre, and then jumping down between fans at the concert.

The footage used in the video is actually spliced from different songs: for instance Gossard and McCready each play two different guitars, Vedder wears a hat at some point and the theatre climb actually occurred during "Porch".^[14] Taft's presence at the Moore Theatre show, and the fact that he had filmed sufficient footage to compile into a music video, proved to be a break for the band. Otherwise with Epic ready to provide MTV with an "Even Flow" clip and Schenck's version already completed, Pearl Jam would have had little choice but to go with it, and the band members unanimously despised Schenck's version when they saw the final edit. The alternate studio recording of "Even Flow", which was recorded in 1992 with Abbruzzese, was used for the video as the band felt it synched up well with the live footage.^[5] The video was released in April 1992.^[15]

embedding was disabled by request.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9SPMfr38fCA

Blackstreet - No Diggity

Unfortunately the commentary fails to mention the eargasms that Dr. Dre provides here with his mellow accent.



I'm definitely incorporating Blackstreet's style into my "pimpin' " new look:



From now on, if someone happens to "step" to me, I will inform them that although my overalls are white, I am indeed about to go "BLACKstreet on their ass" and hopefully we can find a way to avoid "throwing down."

The music video

The video is directed by Hype Williams and features said artists in front of a beachhouse standing in the sand, dancers in a wet road surrounded by black limousines, and a marionette playing the piano sample in a club. It was nominated for Best R&B Video and Best Rap Video on 1997's MTV Video Music Awards. Video production and casting was handled in house by Future Recording Studios manager Tony Brown who also worked closely with puppeteers to develop marionettes of Teddy Riley and Chauncey Black.

On November 9, 1996, "No Diggity" overtook "Macarena" for the Billboard 100 Single's number one spot. Also, the term "I'll go BLACKstreet on your ass", which is credited to Chauncey "Black as the street" Black began to appear in American slang as an expression of one's desire to "throw down" or initiate a confrontation.

Oasis -- Don't Look Back In Anger

this is one of the more boring music videos i've ever sat through. i probably wouldn't remember filming it either.

Oasis has no recollection of ripping off The Beatles.

Music video

The video for the song, directed by Nigel Dick, features Patrick Macnee, the actor who played John Steed in the 1960s television series The Avengers, apparently a favourite of the band. While filming the video, drummer Alan White met future wife Liz Atkins. They married on August 13, 1997 at Studley Priory Hotel, Oxfordshire but later divorced (tmi). Macnee has no recollection of the filming of the video.