While the music itself doesn’t really appeal to me, this is a really amazing concept for a music video. The music sounds like a studio-fabricated attempt at imitating some 80s pop rock (maybe Cheap Trick or the Cars?) The entire concept of the video with the treadmills is really interesting though, and the band must have put some serious work and rehearsal into coordinating it. I also imagine lots of fuck-ups and bruises were also involved.
King Crimson is a classic English progressive rock band that gained momentum in the late 60s and early 70s, with a similar sound to their contemporaries Pink Floyd. It’s a wonder that King Crimson did not experience the same kind of mainstream success as Pink Floyd and I attribute it to a couple of different possibilities:
-The mid 70’s, after Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ came out was really the big boom for progressive rock; King Crimson was broken up in between 1972 and 1981 so they could not capitalize on this period when their style of music became very popular.
-King Crimson’s music is a lot more expiremental and complex than Pink Floyd’s; this makes them less accessible.
Whatever the reasons may be, I think King Crimson are often overlooked and are, in my opinion, one of the most interesting rock bands of all time. They are extremely prolific, with 13 studio albums and literally dozens of live albums released over the years. They are probably most well-known for their live performances; they are a very performance-oriented band and never play a song the same way twice.
This live video, shot in Belgium in 1972, shows their talent for improvisation. Performing the instrumental ‘Lark’s Tongues in Aspic pt. 1′ which would later be released on their 1973 album ‘Lark’s Tonges in Aspic’, this line-up features guitar legend Robert Fripp, John Wetton on bass, David Cross on violin, Jamie Muir on percussion and Bill Bruford, quite possibly the best rock drummer of all time. I think having two percussionists definitely adds a lot of depth to this performance.
Although They Might Be Giants only achieved mainstream success with their 1990 album ‘Flood’ with songs like ‘Birdhouse In Your Soul’ and ‘Particle Man’, they have actually been around since the mid-80s and continue to make records today. ‘Don’t Let’s Start’ is from their first self-titled record as a two-piece, comprised of John Flansburgh and John Linnell.
I like this video a lot, I think it really shows the strange and goofy sense of humor and approach to music that has made this duo a cult legend. In more recent years they have hit commercial success again making children’s music.
Pink Floyd did not become world famous as a progressive rock band until 1974’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, but they were experimenting with new sounds long before then, and ‘One of These Days’ from the 1971 album ‘Meddle’ is a great example.
The focus of the video, and arguable the focus of the song, is Nick Mason’s drumming. The track is an instrumental, with the only vocals being a modified recording of Nick Mason stating ‘One of These days I’m Going to Chop You Into Little Pieces.’
David Gilmour and Roger Waters both played the bass on this song and Richard Wright’s keyboards really create a unique atmosphere of sound.
Weird Al Yankovic is a name I think most of us have heard but tend to forget until every few years he releases another album of comedy songs and then we all say, ‘yeah, I remember that guy.’ Amazingly, unlike most comedy musicians, he is still prolific and popular almost 30 years after he mad a name for himself parodying the Knack’s ‘My Sharona’ with ‘My Bologna’ and Queen’s ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ with ‘Another One Rides the Bus.’
He seems to still have a firm grasp on pop culture and know how to parody it. Here he is parodying R. Kelly’s ‘Trapped in the Closet’ with ‘Trapped in the Drive-Thru’ and at 11 minutes it is almost as epic as the original. This was taken from his latest album, ‘Straight Outta Lynwood.’
Jay Reatard has been an underground figure for ten years or so playing with bands like The Reatards and the Lost Sounds and most recently he has gained a good deal of mainstream success with his solo efforts. Going back to his earliest roots when he had recorded songs alone to escape from his home life, his solo records feature him playing every instrument and singing. When he plays live, of course, he has a backing band as can be seen here.
This video where they play ‘Oh It’s Such A Shame’ from his debut LP ‘Blood Visions’ captures the intensity of their live show. Jay Retard has become infamous for punching, kicking and spitting on his audience members during his shows. I guess it’s common knowledge that he was raised in some shitty circumstances and not surprising that he has some socialization issues, but he still puts on a great show.
Royksopp is an electronic duo from Norway started in the late 90s by Torbjorn Brundtland and Svien Berge. They have experienced moderate success and their music has been used for commercials by companies such as Apple and the BBC.
This video is for their song ‘Remind Me’ from their first album, ‘Melody A.M.’ and it features some really cool animation. The video seems to represent the general absurdity, over complication and detachment that goes on every day in modern city life.
This is a music video collaboration put together by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. The concept is basically just putting music to Barack Obama’s famous ‘Yes We Can’ speech and having various celebrity guests do voice-over. It sounds like kind of a lame idea but the video/song actually came out pretty good.
Familiar faces you might spot in here include: Scarlett Johansson, Jesse Dylan, common, Tatyana Ali, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriguez, Kelly Hu, Amber Valetta, Eric Balfour, Aisha Tyler, Nicole Scherzinger and Nick Cannon.
This is a classic Wu-Tang Clan video from their 1997 ‘Wu-Tang Forever’ album. The Wu-Tang Clan is a New York based hip-hop collective featuring RZA (aka Bobby Digital), GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Gostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa and U-God. Since the release of their first album, ‘36 Chambers: Enter the Wu-Tang’, most of the members of the Wu-Tang clan have gone on to release successful solo albums. Their latest album, ‘8 Diagrams’ is also worth checking out.
Genghis Tron are a three piece band from Philadelphia that do an impressive job of combining two very different styles of music: extreme metal and electronica. It doesn’t sound good on paper, but after hearing this song, Board Up The House (from their album of the same name) I was sold.
The video just captures their elaborate live show. To compensate for the fact that their live performance is more or less just three dudes playing with computers, they play with a bunch of visual/light effects sequenced to their music. Pretty neat.
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