On Sunday night, it was announced that Ric Ocasek, the co-lead singer and songwriter of the Cars, had died at the age of 75. First Daniel Johnston. Then Eddie Money. And now Ric Ocasek. We’ve lost some of the truly great ones this past week.
My Best Friend’s Girl is one of the many songs that Ocasek wrote and recorded as the lead singer of The Cars. Sung from the point of view of a man whose girl has left him for his best friend, it was one of the Cars’s biggest hits and it continues to endure as one of the signature songs of the 70s and 80s.
So, this video is kinda brilliant both visually and musically. In fact, this might be the first video that I’ve seen this year that I’ve enjoyed as much as I enjoyed the video for UPSAHL’s Drugs. This video is a riddle and an enigma. It’s like a dream of dark and disturbing things, with just enough wit to keep you watching.
The woman in the video is actually the mother of director Zia Anger, which adds a whole new layer to this video. This is a video that’s about …. well, everything. What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be a mother? What does it mean to be an accident or a quirk of fate?
So, this is from David Hasselhoff’s upcoming new album, Open Your Eyes. The entire album is going to be cover tunes. This song was originally recorded by a group called The Lords of the New Church, which had a line-up of four musicians who had previously made a name for themselves as members of punk bands in the 1970s, Stiv Bators (The Dead Boys), Brian James (The Damned), Dave Tregunna (Sham 69) and Nick Turner (The Barracudas).
(Why yes, I did copy and paste that from Wikipedia. Why do you ask?)
Anyway, I know that when I think of punk rock or even post-punk rock, David Hasselhoff is the first name that comes to mind. In this video, the Hoff’s voice actually sounds okay but he goes a bit overboard with the facial expressions. To be honest, the whole video has kind of a 90s feel to it but I get the feeling that might be intentional. Certainly, the wall of TVs feels a bit retro, as does the family watching in amazement. Families today are more likely to be gathered around twitter than gathered around the television. My favorite part of this video would have to be the politicians and the bankers throwing the money around. You can literally hear them yelling, “Look how evil we are!”
As always, the Hoff seems to be having fun and if you’ve ever wanted to see David Hasselhoff sing about income inequality …. well, here you go!
This video has a nice retro feel to it. Watching it, it feels like one of those music videos that would have been made in the late 70s or the early 80s in order to show what aspiring musicians could accomplish if they invested in a personal computer of their very own. You keep expecting someone to say, “Now that I’ve got a Next Generation Mojo Video Maker, I can really make my music come to life.”
I like this video because it kind of has this weird, dream-like feel to it. You watch it and you get the feeling that maybe it’s taking place in some section of New Mexico that was spared from the apocalypse. Life is going on, despite the end of the civilized world and everyone’s trying to enjoy themselves and continue doing what they were doing before the bombs fell but you still can’t help but notice that there’s less people around than before.
I know that some people will probably read that description and say that I tend to assume that every music video is, in some way, about the end of the world. Well, maybe that’s true but can you blame me? Seriously, if you don’t want me to assume that every music video is taking place in an apocalyptic future, stop shooting music videos in the desert.
To be honest, I initially assumed that this song was literally saying “Kill the Lonely” as in lonely people. Watching the video, I assumed that the idea was that Amanda Tenfjord had been kidnapped by some sort of extremely hyperactive cult and they were brainwashing her by forcing her to take part in calisthenics. From what I’ve read, it appears that’s how most cults get started. Myself, I could never join a cult because the whole communal living thing would get on my nerves and I don’t think I would be able to focus enough to make much money selling trinkets on a street corner. That may just be me.
I guess what I’m saying is that I wouldn’t want anyone to end up like Little Ice here:
However, it appears that my morbid interpretation of this song was, as usual, incorrect. Apparently, this song is all about killing the loneliness that might be lurking within you and one way to do that is to hang out in the desert with a bunch of happy looking friends.
And I guess that could be a solution. Personally, it wouldn’t work for me because I’m not a fan of the desert and I can only be around enthusiastic people for so long. In my case, I would never cheer myself up by taking part in a group hug. Instead, I’d curl up on the couch and read a true crime book while TCM played in the background. To me, that’s how you kill any and all sadness.
This was one of the first Britney Spears videos to feature what would become a oft-visited theme in her videography: the desire to escape the paparazzi, relax, and dance. This video finds Britney finding safety in an abandoned warehouse, which is the type of thing that’s kind of worrying to see. I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that it’s never a good idea to go inside an abandoned warehouse, especially when you’re young and alone.
For instance, in college, I was fascinated by this deserted building that was sitting in the middle of the campus. Apparently, the building used to be a dorm but, for whatever reason, it was closed down and then used to store furniture and what appeared to be damaged text books. There were big chain locks on the door and weeds growing up all around it. It was so strange, this creepy building sitting in the middle of our otherwise bland campus.
My friends and I would often go down to that abandoned building at 3 in the morning, just so we could look in through the windows and see if we could spot any zombies or serial killers. We never did, though we screamed at every shadow. Though we often talked about breaking into the building and exploring, we never did. I didn’t believe in ghosts but I knew they’d suddenly exist if I entered that building.
I mean, it’s just common sense!
Luckily, Britney’s dancers follow her into the warehouse and presumably scared off whatever ghosts may have been haunting the place. That, of course, allows this horror movie to turn into a dance party! Yay!
Through the Shattered Lens 