Tag Archives: music video

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!

Music Video of the Day: Water by Palmistry (2019, dir by Marcus Söderlund)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Finally!  A video that delivers exactly what it promises.

Speaking of water, I mentioned earlier that it rained all day Saturday.  Well, despite that, It didn’t rain at all on Sunday and I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed.  I really enjoyed that rain and the bad weather gave me the perfect excuse to spend an entire day doing nothing.  Fortunately, it does appear that it might rain over the upcoming week so keep me in your storm-filled thoughts!

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Water Music by Kelly Moran (2019, dir by Katharine Antoun)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On Saturday, it rained nonstop.  From the minute I woke up until I finally pretended to go to bed, it was raining.  As a result, the backyard looks like a swamp right now and I imagine it will probably be a few days before everything dries out.  The creek at the end of the street is overflowing with water so we’ll probably have a lot of confused ducks in the neighborhood tomorrow.  That’s what the rain usually seems to bring around here.

Anyway, all of that rain put me in the proper mood for this video.  It’s kind of a mood piece.  It involves a lot of water.

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: Icke’s Struggle by Blanck Mass (2015, dir by Alex Turvey)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Wow.  This video’s depressing.

Seriously, I love Blanck Mass.  Blanck Mass is responsible for some of my favorite writing music.  (And, by that, I mean that I often have Chernobyl playing in the background whenever I’m writing.)  Songs like this are all about creating and capturing a mood.  And really, I guess how you react to or interpret the song will probably depend on what’s going on in your life when you listen to it.  Right now, I’m giving a lot of thought to the circle of life so, when I hear this song, I think about the inevitably of death.

And then I watch this video, where is pretty much permeated with doom.  Everything is going to die, even the plants.  That’s just the cycle of life.  New things will ride to replace the old.  Sometimes, those new things aren’t going to be good things but, fortunately, they’ll eventually become old things and then die.  And they’ll be replaced by something else.  And I guess that’ll keep happening until the sun goes supernova or the Earth gets sucked into black hole or whatever it is that all the fatalists are predicting this week.  Myself, I think the world will end someday but it won’t be for at least a century or two so I’m not too worried about it.

(Of course, what would suck would be to discover that reincarnation is a real thing and, as a result, we’re all destined to continually be reborn until we all experience the end of the world firsthand.  That would be a really cruel joke on the part of the universe.  However, I do not believe in reincarnation.  I mean, I know at least half a dozen people who all claim that they were Cleopatra in a past life so they can’t all be right.  Can they?  If I did believe in reincarnation, I would say that I was probably once Edie Sedgwick.  Or maybe Clara Bow.)

Anyway, it’s all about cycle of life.  Don’t start singing that Lion King song at me, either.  I’m just stating a fact.

(Actually, it could just as well be taking a dig at the infamous David Icke.  At least, I hope it’s taking a dig.  If Benjamin Power is a follower of David Icke’s, I’m going to be depressed.)

Enjoy!