'War Stories'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
'Cuz it's supposed to be about the music, man!
There's a strong bias that music shouldn't get over on visuals. That, in fact, most crap music and the most commercial pop, sell because Britney's belly is bare or like that. It's a very strongly held notion in punk/indie orthodoxy that videos are evil, 'mersh, cheezy, inauthentic, corporate.
Sulky and angry, yes, but undeniably pop music.
That album is pretty poppy, yeah, with all the deets and doots. The rest of his oeuvre, I don't see the pop so much. Of course, I don't really know what the hell "poppy" is supposed to mean.
Is "March of the Pigs" poppy? What about "Starfuckers, Inc."?
Whoa, if you look at the word "poppy" enough, it starts to look like "poopy."
It's a very strongly held notion in punk/indie orthodoxy that videos are evil, 'mersh, cheezy, inauthentic, corporate.
Hmmph. But don't they realize that videos are another way to get your complete artistic philosophy across? And that the rabidly-devoted fans want a way to see their musical heros even if they can't get to a show?
I suspect this is part of the reason a lot of punk & "indie" musicians sneer at goth bands. Just about every goth (or goth-ish) band likes the idea of videos. Which reminds me, I need to see if I can track down the video compilation released at the same time as the Cleopatra Records Goth Bible CD set.
I suspect this is part of the reason a lot of punk & "indie" musicians sneer at goth bands.
Oh, it's definitely a part of it. It's seen as an indicator of shallowness.
It's a very strongly held notion in punk/indie orthodoxy that videos are evil, 'mersh, chee
Oh, that reminds me. For the longest time The Replacements swore they'd never do a video. Then they did one (for "Bastards of Young", right?) that was just a single shot of a stereo speaker and a guy's leg. Cracked me the hell up when I first saw it. I didn't know who The Replacemetns were at the time, but I admired their balls....
For the longest time The Replacements swore they'd never do a video. Then they did one (for "Bastards of Young", right) that was just a single shot of a stereo speaker and a guy's leg. Cracked me the hell up when I first saw it. I didn't know who The Replacemetns were at the time, but I admired their balls....
This is, of course, the most famous example of this mindset. And while at the time, I admired it, now I think it's a bit precious. Because they sure as fuck did videos after that, so they didn't stay pure for too damn long. And it's not like Paul Westerberg didn't have a preening, dandyish side. He may have worn flannel shirts and chuck taylors, but he went through about a can of Aquanet a day in the early 80s.
It's seen as an indicator of shallowness.
Well hurrah for shallow goth bands! Give me fog machines, elaborate eye makeup, and some sort of ruined castle background, thankyouverymuch.
Oh, and as a tangent: I wish there was a more reliable way of finding digital copies of music videos online. I know there are videos by bands I adore that I've never seen, and I wish somthing like iTunes would start selling copies of them. I'd buy a copy of the video for "Coin-Operated Boy" or "Transylvanian Concubine" if they were easy to get.
The Replacements were just weird, as they intentionally shot themselves in the foot more than once. Mostly by getting really trashed and playing bad covers of '70s music whenever A&R guys went to see them perform. I suppose some of their "We don't wanna be rock stars!" attitude could have been a pose, but nowadays it seems like every indie band is calculating how to get a major label contract and a hit album.
Or so it seems to me. Although I don't follow this stuff as closely as I did in the '80s and '90s....
Oh, and as a tangent: I wish there was a more reliable way of finding digital copies of music videos online. I know there are videos by bands I adore that I've never seen, and I wish somthing like iTunes would start selling copies of them. I'd buy a copy of the video for "Coin-Operated Boy" or "Transylvanian Concubine" if they were easy to get.
I know what you mean. I think that'll get to be a bit more common. You can watch a bunch on Launch.com. Videos are still seen as occupying a kind of netherworld between tiny art film and television advertisement for the music. It's funny, because a lot of the 80s videos shown on The Altenative end with visual of the album the song came from. "You loved 'Dead Man's Party'? Buy the Oingo Boingo album today!"