Category Archives: music video

Music Video of the Day: Just Another Night by Icona Pop (2013, dir by Marc Klasfeld)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s music video of the day is the story of two Swedish woman, one Italian man, and the city of lights.  Just Another Night was filmed in Paris and it’s an enjoyable little 3-minute mini-film.  Love, sex, betrayal, cool cigarette smoking, and film noir homages are all present in this video and we’re all the better for it.

This was directed by Marc Klasfeld, who has directed videos for — deep breath: Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Britney Spears, Kid Rock, Michael Bublé, Nelly, Foo Fighters, Kelly Clarkson, Charli XCX, Little Mix, Nick Jonas, Twenty One Pilots, Avril Lavigne, Aerosmith, and Big Time Rush.  So, in short, if you need someone to direct your music video, Marc Klasfeld is one of the people that you call.  And if you can’t get him to do it, you can always go down to the local community college and get one of the aspiring film students to do it.  It all depends on how much money you have to spend, I suppose.

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: Hot Mess by Viktoria Liv (2019, dir by Michael Seidi and Viktoria Liv)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hey, we’ve all been there.

One minute, you’re sitting in a hotel room and drinking from a bottle cheap wine and looking at a bunch of old, black-and-white photographs on the wall.  You’re looking and you’re thinking, “When were these photos taken?  Why are they in my hotel room?  Is that what the hotel used to look like?  Are the people in these pictures going to haunt my dreams?  Is this like The Shining?  Is Jack Torrance celebrating New Year’s in 1921?”  And then you look at your bottle of wine and you ask yourself, “Why do I have this?  I don’t even drink.  Is my life a music video?  Am I part of your dream or are you a part of mine?  Forget it, Lisa Marie, it is what it is….”

And then, the next thing you know, you’re hanging from the ceiling and you’re singing a song that sounds like it should have been the theme song for an old WB show.  It’s happened to all of us.  We’ve all been a hot mess.  We’ve all been haunted by thoughts of ghosts.  And we’ve all held a bottle of wine and used it as a microphone while singing a tragic song.

(It’s kind of like that episode of Degrassi where Craig and Ashley got the hotel room before going to Ashley’s father’s wedding.  And then Craig asked Ashley to marry him and, when she said she thought they should wait until they had at least graduated high school, he went back and destroyed the hotel room.  It was kind of scary but, because it was taking place in Toronto, everyone was really polite about it.)

This video is universal.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Rage the Night Away by Steve Aoki, featuring Waka Flocka Flame (2014, dir by Gille Klabin)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

One thing that I’ve noticed about music videos is that the future is always a dystopia.  It’s always full of people scurrying around dark alleys and sneaking into hidden laboratories and clubs.  It appears that, in the future, people just decided to stop picking up after themselves.  I think that’s what really bothers me about the whole concept of dystopia.  I can handle a lot but I can’t stand the idea of being surrounded by garbage.  Clean up after yourself and others.  I guess that’s my way of looking at things.

Speaking of which, today is Earth Day.  On the one hand, that makes this a great day to actually go out and do some cleaning.  I mean, you’ve got a perfect excuse and everyone who sees you doing it will be like, “Go Earth Day!  Woo hoo!”  On the other hand, Earth Day seems to bring out the worst, most sanctimonious of impulses in some people.  Whenever anyone starts bragging about how proud they are of themselves for observing Earth Day, I always want to ask them if they’re aware that the holiday was founded by a hippie who subsequently murdered his girlfriend and kept her decomposing body in a trunk for two years before fleeing to France.  That’s a true story, by the way.  Someone should make it into a movie.

So, I guess my point is that we should all do our part to pick up litter but, at the same time, don’t act like a self-righteous ass about it, okay?  And don’t leave dead people in your closet or trunk.  That’s just gross.

The other thing that I’ve noticed about music videos is that, regardless of how dystopian the future gets, people still want to dance.  That’s understandable.  It’s our ability to dance that makes us human.

Oh!  And one more thing I’ve noticed about life in a music video dystopia: there’s a lot of neon around.  Regardless of how dark the world may be, everyone’s still got a enough neon to light up the night.

Anyway, enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: God’s Gonna Cut You Down (2006, dir by Tony Kaye)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This is a case where I like the song more than the music video.  This video was actually filmed three years after Johnny Cash’s death.  As far as “official” music videos are concerned, I always feel like a musician should have some sort of say into how their music is visually interpreted.  Obviously, Johnny Cash wasn’t around to have anything to say about the video for God’s Gonna Cut You Down.

Since Cash wasn’t available, director Tony Kaye filled the video with cameos from other actors and musicians, a few of whom (though not many) were previous Cash collaborators.  Among the celebs who make an appearance in this video: David Allan Coe, Patricia Arquette, Travis Barker, Peter Blake, Bono, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Depp, the Dixie Chicks, Flea, Billy Gibbons, Whoopi Goldberg, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Hopper, Terrence Howard, Jay-Z, Mick Jones, Kid Rock, Anthony Kiedis, Kris Kristofferson, Amy Lee, Adam Levine, Shelby Lynne, Chris Martin, Kate Moss, Graham Nash, Busy Philipps, Iggy Pop, Lisa Marie Presley, Q-Tip, Corinne Bailey Rae, Keith Richards, Chris Rock, Rick Rubin, Patti Smith, Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Brian Wilson, and Owen Wilson.  Some of the celebs — like Dennis Hopper and Kris Kristofferson — seem like they naturally belong there.  Others seem so out-of-place that you’ll want to throw something.  You know how that works,

God’s Gonna Cut You Down is a traditional folk song.  I’ve heard countless versions of it.  I prefer Cash’s version to the more traditional gospel arrangement but, then again, I tend to find gospel music to be dull in general.  Cash’s arrangement brought new life to an old song.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Marijuana by Kitty (2014, dir by Shomi Patwary and Kitty)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy 4-20!

That’s right, it’s April 20th!  Today, some people are getting ready for Easter and some people are celebrating the fact that it’s the 20th day of the 4th month of the year and a lot of people are probably going to be doing both.

(Did you know that if you go over to Mike Gravel’s presidential campaign page and if you click on the donate link, there’s a specific option for people who want to make a donation of exactly $4.20?  A lot of that, I assume, has to do with the fact that Mike Gavel’s campaign is being run by two teenagers.  Mike Gavel is like nearly a thousand years old so I doubt he knows the significance of it.)

Anyway, my initial plan for today was to share the video for Get Yourself High by The Chemical Brothers but then I searched the site and guess what?  I already shared that video!  So, instead, here’s the video of Kitty’s Marijuana, which is I guess a more obvious choice for 4-20 but still a valid one.

Enjoy!