Category Archives: Music Review

Music Video of the Day: American Guilt by Unknown Mortal Orchestra (2018, dir by Greg Sharp)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

There’s a lot of flies and a lot of trash in this video.  There’s also some fireworks down at the bottom of the screen.  At first, I thought that maybe they were meant to indicate that this video was taking place during the 4th of July.  But then camera panned by that open briefcase and I saw all of that money.  That’s when I decided that the video was probably showing us the spot where D.B. Cooper set up camp after he jumped out of that plane.

(Don’t know the story of D.B. Cooper?  It’s an interesting one, check it out here!)

Then I went back and actually listened to the lyrics and I realized that probably wasn’t the case.  Here they are:

American Guilt

Tape over the camera
No more utopian videos
Eyes painted on eyelids
Viva la Mexico

Oh no
Here it comes
the American Guilt

Land of the expensive
Even the nazis are crying
History’s private property
Viva la Mexico

Oh no
Here it comes
the American Guilt

Anyway, American Guilt is off of the upcoming “Sex and Guilt,” which will be released on April 6th!  Here’s a link to stream/pre-order: https://unknownmortalorchestra.lnk.to/sexandfood

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: I Was A Fool by Sunflower Bean (2017, dir by Andy DeLuca)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

For today’s music video of the day, we have I Was A Fool by Sunflower Bean.

While I never attended a dance quite as bad as the one presented here, this video still brings back a lot of memories for me.  I’m sure I’m not alone in that.  When you’re in high school, even the smallest bit of nonconformity makes you feel as if you’re challenging and changing the world.  This video celebrates the intoxication of being young and rebellious.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Hungry by Winger (1988, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

What do we have here?

00:12 — Newlyweds speeding on a curvy mountain road?  What could go wrong?

00:23 — There go the brakes!

00:31 — That sharp turn will look familiar to anyone who has ever seen the Duke boys outrun old Roscoe.

00:36 — It’s true what they say.  Right before you die, you hear the opening of a bad 80s song.

00:50 — I’ve gotten worst cuts from bumping my head on a low doorway.

00:57 — Dude, did you just leave your wife behind in the car?

00:59– This is Winger.  Kip Winger got his start as a backup musician and was a member of Alice Cooper for two years.  Until Nirvana changed the face of music, Winger was responsible for some of the most generic hits of the 1980s.

01:21 — How long until we get a shot of the man sitting alone on that same swing?

01:32 — “Look, I’m spinning around with my guitar!  Just like we did in practice!”

01:50 — “I remember how much we loved this wall.”

01:59 — It took 37 seconds to go from swinging together to swinging alone.

02:08 — Nobody came to the wedding but she’s going to go ahead and throw the bouquet anyway.

02:20 — It might be easier for the first responders to do their job if Winger would get out of the way.

02:46 — GUITAR!

03:07 — “My wife’s dead.  Time to learn how to play an instrument!”

03:15 — Watch out, he’s driving again.

03:22 — Did he ever figure out why his brakes out went out in the first place?  This might be a case for Jim Rockford.

03:36 — They still haven’t put out the fire?  Is this what my tax dollars are paying for?

03:38 — I would be pissed off too.  Put out the damn fire!

03:58 — That dude cannot drive.

04:12 — How does he keep doing this shit without getting a scratch on him?

04:27 — “How am I going to get home?”

To call Winger a “hair metal” band is probably an insult to hair metal bands but they did have a few hits.  They also got on the nerves of Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and Mike Judge, the creator of Beavis and Butthead.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe (1994, directed by Mark Pellington)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Whale was a Swedish alternative band, made up for Gordon Cyrus, Henrik Schyffert, and Cia Berg.  During the mid-90s, they were big in Europe while, in America, they were best known for this video.

00:00 — When we first see Whale, they’re performing in the type of gravel pit that should be familiar to anyone who has ever watched any Tom Baker-era episodes of Doctor Who.

00:31 — What’s Cia Berg doing right here?

00:55 — Check out Henrik Schyffert walking like an Egyptian.

01:14 — YASSSSSS! ROCK!

01:17 — This moment here is the reason why Beavis and Butt-Head loved this video.

02:03 — WON’T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?

02:17 — ROCK!

2:35 — Cia looks dangerous.

3:00 — Henrik’s trying to save the children.

3:26 — YEAH!

When this video was first released, there was a lot of confusion as to what was meant by Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe.  Everyone knew what a hobo and a babe were.  Everyone understood humpin’.  But what did slobo mean?  According to the band, they misheard the British term “sloane.”  A sloane is a type of fashionable, upper class person.  I guess that means this song is about a rich girl who likes to hump hobos.

Mark Pellington won the inaugural MTV Europe Music Video Award for best video for Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe.  Whale broke up in 1999, though all three members remain active on the Swedish entertainment scene.

Enjoy!

Music Video of The Day: These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ (1966, dir by ????)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This song seems like a good one for Super Bowl Sunday.  One team is going to win.  The other team is going to have these boots walking all over them.  Actually, I guess football player don’t wear boots.  But maybe they’ll slip into some boots after the game is over.  Who knows?

This song was written be Lee Hazlewood, who was originally planning on singing the song himself.  Apparently, his version was meant to be even more aggressive than the version that was ultimately recorded by Nancy Sinatra.  From Songfacts:

Hazlewood often drew inspiration for his songs from regular people. In a Blender magazine interview, he said he was in a Texas bar when some patrons started razzing an older guy about his younger girlfriend and how she controlled him. The man responded by putting his feet on a barstool and saying, “I know what you think – that she might be the boss. But I am the boss of my house, and these boots will walk all over her the day that I’m not.”

Lee had written the song for himself: “It was a party song I had written two or three years before that. It was a joke to begin with. I had written a beautiful song for her, ‘The City Never Sleeps At Night,’ and she wondered if it would sell. I replied, ‘Three times more than ‘So Long Babe,’ and that did 60,000. We’re building up your career.’ I changed my mind and put it on the back of ‘Boots’ and that sold 6 million.”

Nancy Sinatra recalled in the documentary The Wrecking Crew that Lee Hazlewood was going to record the song himself, but she talked him out of it. Said Sinatra, “When a guy sings it, the song sounds harsh and abusive, but it’s perfect for a little girl.”

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Riot Rhythm by Sleigh Bells (2010, dir by Bo Mirosseni)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

With the Super Bowl coming up tomorrow and everyone in this country currently obsessed with competition and victory, today seems like a good time to share this music video for Sleigh Bells!

The world of computer chess?

It’s a brutal!

Enjoy!

Music Video of The Day: Musings Of The Tide by Pageants (2018, dir by Ryan Ford)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I have to admit that when this video started, I assumed that everyone would eventually turn out to be a vampire.  I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that vampires always dance in clubs where the lights are tinted red.

Well, regardless of whether the video directly confirmed my suspicions or not, I still believe everyone in this video is meant to be undead.  That’s my interpretation and when have I ever been willing to change my mind about anything?

On a serious note, I like this video.  It has a dream-like feel to it.  As far as I can tell, this is first video that Ryan Ford is credited with directing and visually, it’s very impressive.  I look forward to more work from this director.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: If The Car Beside You Moves Ahead by James Blake (2018, dir by Alexander Brown)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

There’s a lot of driving in this video, which is just fine with me.  I love to drive, though a lot of that is because I get car sick if I had to sit in the passenger’s seat while someone else gets to determine how fast the car’s going to go.  Usually, if the car beside me starts to move ahead, I’ll speed up.  It’s hard not to view something like that as being a challenge.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Thank You Hater! by Clever Pie and Isabel Fay (2012, dir by Chris Lincé)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s been nearly six years since this song and video first came out and it’s just as true as ever!

I’ve been writing for this site for a while now and, of course, I’m fairly active on twitter.  I’ve had to deal with my share of haters and trolls.  It just goes with the territory.  For a while there, I used to let trolls get under my skin.  I would snap back and tell them to fuck off and insult their parents and wish death upon them.  If you go back far enough, you’ll find a few of the less-than-polite responses that I used to leave people.

However, over the past year or so, I’ve gotten to the point where I no longer worry about the haters.  Some of it is because I’m more mature now than when I first started writing for this site.  Some of it is because I’ve finally dealt with a lot of the anger that I used to carry with me and, for whatever reason, my outlook is now a lot more positive in general.  A lot of it is just experience.  Quite frankly, I’ve seen a lot of people come and go, enough to know that most trolls only have a two-year shelf life before they give up and move on to something else.  As well, after you deal with enough trolls, you come to realize that 1) they’re pathetic human beings and 2) they’re going to attack no matter how you respond so it’s pointless to give them the satisfaction.  For the most part, people who attack others online are very unhappy people.  Once you realize that anytime a troll says, “LOL,” they’re actually saying, “God, I wish I was dead,” they become a lot easier to ignore.

Anyway, enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Destroyer by Saint Motel (2017, dir by Alan Smithee)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Much as I do with the video for their song My Type, I love the retro feel of this video for Saint Motel’s Destroyer.

The credited director is Alan Smithee.  Mr. Smithee has had quite a career in the world of music videos.  He has been credited with directing 73 videos and editing 19 more.  He also has 8 cinematography credits and 2 writing credits.  That’s quite prolific!

Of course, Alan Smithee doesn’t actually exist.  Historically, the Smithee named was used by film directors who felt that their creative vision had been fatally compromised by philistine producers.  Though it’s been a while since Alan Smithee directed a film, it appears that he’s found a second life in the music industry.

Good for him!

Enjoy!