Music Video of the Day: All Time High, performed by Rita Coolidge (1983, dir by ????)


Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today’s music video of the day is for the song that was, of course, the theme song for the 1983 James Bond film, Octopussy.  Apparently, the producers realized that there weren’t many words that comfortably rhymed with the movie’s title so they tasked John Barry and Tim Rice with coming up with a theme song that would still be radio friendly.  They came up with All Time High.

And I know that some people will tell you that this is a lesser Bond theme song and apparently, Rita Coolidge used to refuse to perform it in concert because she felt that it was an “unfinished” song but I don’t care.  I absolutely love this song.  Seriously, there are two Bond song that I simply cannot stop myself from singing along with and that’s Nobody Does It Better and All Time High.

Seriously, All Time High is a hundred times better than that song they ended up using for SPECTRE.

And it’s the perfect Valentine’s Day song!  I’ll be singing this song later tonight.  Actually, I’ll be singing a medly of James Bond theme songs tonight.  It’s kind of a Valentine’s Day tradition….

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: Friends by TWIN XL (2019, dir by ????)


Look, it’s good to have friends.

And if your friend is just someone dressed up like a big teddy bear …. well, to quote Degrassi’s Jay Hogart: “At least there’s a party.”

This video won me over.  When it started, the whole dancing teddy bear thing kind of scared me because I still have bad memories of Ted 2 and I was worried the bear was going to start speaking in Seth McFarlane’s voice.  Then, when the bear was in bed, I found myself worried that we were going to enter Shining territory.  (Remember the scene with the two ghosts, one of whom is dressed up like a dog?)  But, no, this video is actually very cute.  The members of the band are all adorable and the big teddy bear actually reminded me of this big bunny that I used to have when I was little.

To be honest, this video feels like it could be a companion piece to Saint Motel’s video for My Type.  Maybe it’s because they both take place in what appears to be a rather cheap hotel room.  Plus, there’s a lot of dancing in My Type as well.

As a final note, as far as Friends is concerned, I binged the whole thing last year and Rachel totally should have picked Joey.

Anyway, enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Stop This Train by Adi Ulmansky (2013, dir by Yonathan Weitzman)


Today, we have another music video from our queen, the amazing Adi Ulmansky.

As for what it’s all about …. well, I don’t know.  That’s the main reason I responded to the video.  The more surreal and dream-like the better has always been my philosophy and this video leaves me wondering if I should go to work tomorrow or if I should hide for a few days.  The sight of someone smiling while wearing clown make-up will do that to you.

Of course, it’s possible that J.W. Dunne was correct when he theorized that there is no such thing as “now” and all time may be happening all at once.  In which case, I’ve either already gone to work or I’m currently hiding in my house.  Of course, I may have misunderstood Dunne’s point.  To be honest, for the longest time, I thought John Gregory Dunne was the one with all the theories about how time worked but then I realized that I was confusing my Dunnes.  However, John Gregory Dunne did write a book called The Studio, which is the definitive portrait of Hollywood at the end of the studio system.  Dunne wrote a later book about Hollywood called Monster which is interesting just because it gives you all the details about went on behind the scenes during the production of one of the most forgettable films ever made.

Anyway, enjoy the video!

Music Video Of The Day: Cool Zombie by Adam Ant (2012, dir by Adam Ant and Adam Ross)


So, what’s going on here?

I have to admit that my initial response to this video was to make a joke about how it was a look at a typical Thursday night at Johnny Depp’s place but I actually like this video too much to be snarky about it.  It may be an odd video but it’s a good kind of odd, I think  You have to earn the right to indulge in the surreal but I think this song and the video have done just that.

Watching this video, I get the feeling that I’m not so much looking at the end of the world as I’m looking at the day after the end of the world.  Society’s gone.  All the good clothes are gone.  You just have to wear whatever you can find.  But the music is still playing and the boats are still drifting and that’s a good thing.  It’s interesting that one thing that every post-apocalyptic vision seems to share in common is that people still desire entertainment.

Myself, I’ve already made my plans in case society collapses.  It mostly involves watching movies until the Earth plunges into the sun.  I’m thinking I’ll probably want to watch comedies.  I mean, if you know the world’s about to end, I think you would want to laugh as much as possible before the end comes.  Then again, I imagine some people would want to spend the end of the world watching movies about the end of the world just so they can brag about the irony of it all on twitter right before bursting into flame.

While the song is bluesy number about Tennessee, the title is a reference to how Adam Ant felt under the influence of his bipolar medication.  Speaking as someone who shares the struggle, Cool Zombie is the perfect way to put it.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Drugs by UPSAHL (2019, dir by ????)


I just came here to the party for the drugs….

Truer words have never been heard.

I always appreciate a song that’s about exactly what it says it is.  Even more so, I always like it when a video is about exactly what you think the song is about.  The song is called Drugs.  The song is about drugs.  There’s a lot of drugs to be found in the video.

(And honestly, who has never gone to a party just for the drugs?

Seriously, watching this video made me feel like it was 2007 all over again.)

Of course, neither the song nor the video are just about drugs.  They’re also about the empty banalities that most people use to get through life.  It’s about being so bored with our society and our culture that you turn to something that offers up an easy escape from all the bullshit of people at parties, dropping names and searching for fame.  It’s a song and a video about alienation and I absolutely love it and I’ll probably be singing it for the next few days.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Got To Keep On by The Chemical Brothers (2019, dir by Michel Gondry and Olivier Gondry)


A new music video from The Chemical Brothers?

One that’s directed by Michel Gondry?

One that features a lot of dancing?

Of course, I love it!

That said, the video starts out so exuberantly but then it takes a bit off a strange turn about halfway through, which really shouldn’t be a shock considering that we’re talking about Gondry and The Chemical Brothers here.  While I wouldn’t go as far as to call it body horror (because no one appears to be particularly horrified), it still definitely feels as if our dancers taken a trip into the world of David Cronenberg.  Fortunately, things work out in the end.  They always do.

As I stated above, this video was directed by Michel Gondry, who will always have a place in the hearts of most cineastes for directing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Swallow My Gum by Lorena B (2011, dir by Ido Shor)


Before Adi Ulmansky went solo, she was a member of the Israeli experiment electronic group, Lorena B.  Along with creating a dream-like soundscape, Lorena B were known for their visceral and challenging music videos, the best of which were like surreal visual poems.

Take Swallow My Gum, for instance.  Swallow My Gum was both Lorena B’s first single and their first video.  (It was also the first track on their debut album, the self-produced Siblings.)  The video starts out as just another drive through the Israeli desert, just to get progressively stranger and stranger.  Is Adi just along for the ride or is she being held prisoner in the back of that car?  Is she traveling or is she being taken somewhere?  Are the answers even present in the video or is it more important that we decide for ourselves?  What are we to make of the child who continually flickers in out and existence?  Whenever I see her atop the power lines, I’m reminded of the scene in Twin Peaks: The Return, where Harry Dean Stanton watched a dead child’s soul disappear into a traffic light.

It’s a video that plays out like a dream of dark and disturbing things.

As for the song itself …. well, gum could be taken all sorts of way, couldn’t it?

Anyway, enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Work It by Adi Ulmansky (2013, dir by Diana Grace Windsor)


It’s Adi Ulmansky in space!

I should probably say some more about this video.  Adi Ulmansky is an Israeli rapper and producer and a former member of Lorena B.  I was introduced to her music by my best friend, Evelyn and what can I say other than we absolutely love Adi Ulmansky.  In this video, we get both Adi in space and some appropriately metaphorical animation.  What does it all mean?  I don’t know and it doesn’t really matter.  It’s a good song.  It’s a good video.  In the end, that’s the most important analysis that’s needed.

(I’ve seen Adi described as being “the Israeli Drake,” which is not a totally off description.  Of course, ultimately, Adi is uniquely Adi.)

Enjoy!