Nathan in Videoland

[vovat]

lozenger8 made a post about her favorite music videos, and I wanted to follow suit. The truth is, I haven't really seen that many videos. I grew up in the time period when MTV actually showed videos, but I didn't have cable. So most of the ones I have seen have been on video collections, which I'll generally only get for musicians I really like. Hence, my field is pretty narrow, but that doesn't mean I haven't seen some really cool videos. A few of these are actually ones I just saw recently while doing YouTube searches, so I don't know that they'll go down as All-Time Favorites for me, but they're favorites at the time I'm making this post. I'm not sure how to embed videos, and while I could probably figure it out, I think I'll just link to them. Besides, that way, you can read the comments about how the Ditty Bops are an abomination unto the Lord because they're gay, and how Andy Partridge kept Colin Moulding from achieving his true potential. (Actually, that latter comment isn't for the XTC video I'm including in my favorites, but for the rather bizarre "Making Plans For Nigel" one.)


Belle and Sebastian - Is It Wicked Not To Care?
I actually just saw this one for the first time when I watched Fans Only on Friday. I think it's really cute, and you have to love Isobel Campbell's stuffed lion.

Frank Black - Headache
I love the imagery in this one. It's kind of a catalog of cheap special effects, but it works. I've used two different pictures from this one as LJ icons in the past.

Frank Black - Men In Black
Yeah, I know I already included a Frank song, and I don't think this video is that great overall when compared to some of Frank's other ones, but everyone has to see the part where Frank makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Camper Van Beethoven - Pictures Of Matchstick Men
If you like Slinkies, this is the video for you!

Ditty Bops - Wishful Thinking
This one is incredibly cute, and involves decapitation and an arrow shot through someone's heart. How often do you get to say all of those things about the same piece of visual art?

Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism
I love how totally manic both the song and the video are. bethje has said that Brian (the drummer) looks creepy, and I don't know that I can disagree, but he sure can play.

Ben Folds - Rockin' The Suburbs
I heard about this video, which was directed by none other than "Weird Al" Yankovic, back when it first came out, but I never got the chance to see it. When I was looking for videos to include in this post, I thought of this one, and finally watched it. Needless to say, it's pretty cool, and I like Al's cameo as a producer fixing the shitty tracks.

Mono Puff - The Devil Went Down To Newport (Totally Rockin')
Another one that I just saw recently. I have to wonder why this wasn't included on Direct From Brooklyn. Yeah, I know it's not technically They Might Be Giants, but they've included Mono Puff songs on Holidayland and TMBG Unlimited, so why not? Maybe there were licensing issues. Anyway, this is definitely worth watching, because where else do you get to see John Flansburgh in a goofy fake beard? Okay, there's that one Brave New World video, but I think that might be the only other place.

They Might Be Giants - The Guitar
No fake beards in this one, but you do get a rare appearance of John Linnell's with long hair. This video is worth watching just for the cute faces that Laura Cantrell makes into the camera, but the rest of it is pretty neat as well.

XTC - Dear God
I believe Andy Partridge has said that he didn't like any of XTC's videos, which I think was primarily bitterness on his part because he would always come up with ideas, and Virgin never even bothered considering them. Personally, I like this one. I'm not sure why the lyrics are on the screen, but it's not a big deal. There really needs to be an XTC video collection, doesn't there?

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Dare To Be Stupid
Yeah, I pretty much had to put a Weird Al one up here. His videos were some of the first I saw, which isn't a course of action I would recommend to anyone else, since a lot of the jokes rely on having seen what's being parodied. This video, like the song, is a style parody of DEVO, rather than a direct parody of something else. I haven't seen that many DEVO videos, but this one works pretty well anyway.

Young Fresh Fellows - Picture Book
If you like fried eggs on top of a drum, this is the video for you!

Comments

[colbyucb.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder why this wasn't included on Direct From Brooklyn

Because Flans is scary as all hell in it? Though Robin does make up for it by being super hot.

[onesto-hotel.livejournal.com]

There's actually other versions of "Dear God" up on YouTube sans lyrics. In fact, I remember being glad to come across that subtitled one, because I could never understand what he was saying at the end, and was too lazy to look it up. (I tend to mishear lyrics constantly without bothering to correct myself.)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't really look for the best-quality copies of every video. I guess other people can if they really want to. And there are some words at the end of "Dear God" that are kind of hard to understand, although I suppose I could always look at the lyric booklet, or find the lyrics online.