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Weekend Video Vault for October 13, 2006

October 13, 2006 / Captain Capm

Chalk it up to being Friday the 13th! I tried posting my weekly dose of fave videos for all you who need a fix out there earlier today, but due to YouTube’s gigantic spaz attack of lag and some software troubles, I failed. My original post said that I would say something corny about today’s date and might have even culled together some “unlucky” themed videos, but I was too above that. Well, looks like the day got its revenge on me in the end. Or not. Here’s another 10 far-out rockin’ clips for your eyes and ears to love. Have a groovy weekend and find a new stranger to love, won’t you?

Scissor Sisters – “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” How do you go and top your already trippy groovetastic video for “Take Your Mama”? Well first you write a song that’s as equally catchy and then soak up a lot of acid trauma and good vibes and voila – you’ve done it! I enjoy the look of Ana Matronic in this clip. Now if only I could find a freak mama like that.

Mosquitos – “Boombox” This Brazilian-tinged group has been grooving the hell out of everyone who’s been in earshot of their lovely melodies over the course of a couple albums now. This tune was used in a couple commercials at the time (and it’s easy to hear why – those hooks) and is featured on the group’s self-titled debut disc. Now if only I could find a groovy chick like Juju.

White Town – “Your Woman” Well, at least White Town had one really good song. The rest of the album this cut was taken from was complete boredom caught on tape. The video’s just as good and is an homage to the silent film era. Nice lenses and effects implemented throughout. I have nothing to say in regards to finding either of the leading ladies in this one.

MC 900 Ft. Jesus – “If I Only Had A Brain” The Jesus mails himself to himself. What a way to travel. Now if only expedia.com offered such cheap rates.

Stone Temple Pilots – “Days of the Week” I have no idea why Shangri La Dee Da isn’t revered as the great STP album it really is. That’s OK, as I could never really get into the much more appreciated No. 4. This is the best STP song, period. A short blast of power pop that clocks in at under three minutes with funky visuals and Scott Weiland wishing he could be David Bowie. Now if only these guys could get back together.

Faith No More – “Everything’s Ruined” Yes, Faith No More make their second appearance in the Vault. Shoot me, they made some great clips. This one’s categorically even stranger than the one for “Easy.” It uhhhh…, well you just have to see it, I s’pose. Now if only I could boogie like Jim Martin in this one.

Pavement – “Cut Your Hair” Oh, that wacky Pavement. Although, I’ll never forgive that chick who told me to waste my money on the band’s Wowee Zowee disc. Ouch. Yet here we have the band in full-tilt catchy mode slipping in subtle music biz digs in various symbolism. Of course, they broke up and none of it mattered, but this song is still peachy. Now if only I could drink some of that blue stuff.

Taco – “Puttin’ On The Ritz” Here we have this video in its “Original Uncensored Version.” In this clip, there are people wearing blackface and dancing about. So be it. Nothing could really be more offensive than the look of Taco himself in this video. What’s with that weird head-shifting thing? I loved the After Eight album as a kid and recently re-purchased it on iTunes. I have no idea how I never noticed until listening to it again the other day how the album is almost completely devoid of electric guitars. Now if only Taco could make a huge comeback.

The Waitresses – “I Know What Boys Like” That’s my good pal Chris Butler playing that groovy green guitar (and the person whom also penned all the Waitresses tunes). Chris told me this song, along with the theme to “Square Pegs” and “Christmas Wrapping” all do well enough still to put enough coin in the bank to put his kid through college when that day rolls around. Since then, Butler’s had a heck of a solo career with many fine albums issued. Now if only I had a guitar like that.

Pink Floyd – “Arnold Layne” To close this week, we’ll journey back to the days when Pink Floyd sometimes had a “The” prefacing their name and overbloated epics like The Wall were not even an inkling of an idea. But if you must know, my fave Floyd albums are Atom Heart Mother and Animals. Something about cows and pigs. Now if only I could get a mannequin.

Lists, Videos

The Rise and Fall of the Hit

October 13, 2006 / John Paulsen

Wired ran a pretty good article entitled “The Rise and Fall of the Hit,” that discusses the change from the marketing-driven hits of the ’90s (in the movies, television and music) to the niche market we’re seeing today. The entire article is worth a read, but this passage was especially on the money.

If it’s not a hit, then it’s a miss. It has failed the economic test and, therefore, never should have been made. This Hollywood mindset is now how we allocate space on store shelves, fill time slots on television, and build radio playlists. It’s all about allocating scarce resources to the most “deserving,” which is to say, the most popular.

Ultimately, our response to hit culture is to reinforce hit culture. The world of shelf space is a zero-sum game: One product displaces another. Forced to choose, each link in the entertainment industry naturally selects the most popular products, giving them privileged placement. By putting our commercial weight behind the big winners, we amplify the gap between them and everything else. Economically, this is the same as saying, “If there can be only a few rich, let them at least be super-rich.”

But now the audience is turning to a distribution medium that doesn’t favor the hits alone. We are abandoning the tyranny of the top and becoming a niche nation again, defined not by our geography but by our interests. Instead of the weak connections of the office water cooler, we’re increasingly forming our own tribes, groups bound together more by affinity and shared interests than by broadcast schedules. These days our water coolers are increasingly virtual – there are many different ones, and the people who gather around them are self-selected.

The mass market is yielding to a million minimarkets. Hits will always be with us, but they have lost their monopoly. Blockbusters must now compete with an infinite number of niche offerings, which can be distributed just as easily. Justin Timberlake still makes albums, but today he has thousands of bands on MySpace as rivals. The hierarchy of attention has inverted – credibility now rises from below. MTV and Tower Records no longer decide who will win. You do.

This is not meant as a reply to The Chauffeur’s post, as I believe he’s mourning the loss of the face-to face camaraderie and the information gleaned from the workers at Tower Records, not the death of the huge marketing forces behind such brick & mortar chains. Instead, the “new” music industry (and to a lesser extent, television and film) takes the best from the old model (word of mouth from store employees/other customers) and uses the internet to make it easier than ever to spread the word about your favorite band, or to find a new one.

The truth is that this “new” market is actually a return to the niche market that existed before the advent of television, when hits would sweep the nation via the unstoppable word of mouth. But instead of bringing our records over to our friend’s house for a listen, we’re shooting them an MP3 or directing them to a MySpace page.

I love it.

External Music, News

Cover version I’d like to hear: Simply Red doing “I Won’t Let You Down”

October 12, 2006 / David Medsker

In 1989, I was listening to either the Psychedelic Furs or the Smiths, I don’t remember which. Out of nowhere, I had a random thought: I would love to hear the Furs cover “How Soon Is Now?” That vocal requires a unique vocalist, and they don’t come much more unique than Richard Butler.

Seven years later, Richard Butler, along with his band Love Spit Love, covered “How Soon Is Now?”, thus confirming that I have magical powers. Very, very slow working magical powers.

But I don’t want to wait seven years for this one. This song, which was a smash hit for synth-pop band PhD, is perfect for Mick Hucknall. Singer Jim Diamond even has the fiery shock of red hair and the odd facial structures (a nice way of saying that he’s funny looking). Simply Red could have some great fun with the reggae beat pulsating underneath the synthesizers, and the melody is right in Hucknall’s wheelhouse.

Come on, Mick. The song was a #1 smash in 1982. A cover of it is long, long overdue, and you’re just the guy to do it. Let’s make it happen.

Pop, Songs, Videos

This Christmas, they’re giving you their heart…

October 12, 2006 / Will Harris

…but it’s pretty likely that, on the very next day, they’ll take it away. Even so, many fans of ’80s British pop are giddy at the news that Wham! are set to reunite this Christmas, according to The Advocate.

No, I said THIS Christmas.

George Michael and Andrew Ridgley will perform as Wham! for a special concert this Christmas as part of Michael’s solo world tour. “George is thrilled that Andrew’s agreed to perform,” a source told Britain’s Sunday Mirror. “It was something George had thought about for a long time. He couldn’t be happier and can’t wait for the gig.” (Michael often squashed rumors of a potential reunion in the past due to Ridgley’s refusal to participate.) Michael and Ridgley have not performed together since Wham! staged its final concert at London’s Wembley Stadium in 1986.

I think the most surprising thing about this story is that Ridgley hasn’t been chomping at the bit for a reunion. If he’s getting back into music, fingers crossed that we’ll finally see that belated follow-up to Son of Albert…

Concerts, News, Pop

Deep Cuts: Duran Duran

October 11, 2006 / David Medsker

Duran Duran has a lot more to their musical résumé than “The Reflex” and “The Wild Boys.” Indeed, if those songs were wiped off the face of the earth, I would be perfectly okay with that. There is also a considerable breadth of style on these albums as well. They weren’t just a synth-pop band. There are experiments in art rock, house music, Latin music, atmospheric pop, and funk. One thing’s for sure, they were not afraid to fail. And on more than one occasion, that’s exactly what they did. But they came back wiser every time.

The following list – a two-disc set, no less – contains my favorite Duran Duran songs, or in some cases remixes, that you may not have heard before. They’re listed in chronological order, since that’s important in understanding how the band’s sound has evolved over the years. Purists will surely take me to town for my omissions – I was never a big fan of the early B-sides like “Late Bar” and “Faster than Light” – but I stand by my choices…at least for the next five minutes, at which point I will surely want to replace five songs with five others. Enjoy.

“Sound of Thunder” – Duran Duran
What better way to start a Deep Cuts piece on Duran Duran than with a song that opens with a flanged keyboard riff similar to “Planet Earth,” the song that started it all. “Sound of Thunder,” though, isn’t nearly as sunny as “Planet Earth.” It still has a badass groove, and John shows his chops as a bassist for the first time, but the song is one of the moodiest dance songs you’re likely to find. There was talk about what it meant that the words “Earth,” “Memories” and “Thunder” appeared in bold type in the album’s artwork. The answer: absolutely nothing.

“Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” – The Singles Box 1986-1995
This originally appeared on the import 12” single for “The Reflex” (and made its CD debut on the soundtrack for the 1994 movie “Threesome”), but it was recorded in 1983 while the band was still touring in support of Rio. This Cockney Rebel #1 smash (with that band’s singer Steve Harley singing backing vocals here) gets an extreme makeover, turning the first verse and chorus into a torch song. At that point, the song positively explodes into dance rock heaven. Listening to Andy’s blistering solo, you can practically hear him saying to himself, “You know, I’d love to form a band where I could rock out all the time. I wonder if John would be interested…”

“Breath after Breath” – Duran Duran (a.k.a. The Wedding Album)
Stunning. Still one of my favorite Duran songs to date, this duet with Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento was a radical departure into Latin music for the band (unless you count Mark Berry’s remixes of “Meet El Presidente”), and it came, conveniently enough, at a time when there were no expectations of how Duran Duran should sound. They had finally outlasted the whole new wave/romantic thing, and that clearly liberated them. This was also the first real guest performance on a Duran track, and the band was smart enough to know not to upstage Nascimento and his sweet, sweet tenor.

To read the read of our choices for Duran Duran Deep Cuts, click here, and come back to ESDMusic to share your comments.

Deep Cuts, Lists, Pop, Rock, Songs