Video Kill the Radio Star...

Last time I mentioned that 1980s gave birth to the music video, increasing the creative license of the artists and in some cases adding a new dimension to the song. As most things go, the 1980s music videos were slightly over the top. New technologies were being developed and used in everyday life, and people were just getting the hang of digitally adding in images for whatever purposes.

Truth be told, the 1980s videos were as over the top as their songs were. Most of the videos that are remembered today include zany battle scenes with over obvious digital add ins. Now-a-days musicians still add the awkward out of the ordinary digital images, however, the graphic designers have learned how to scale down the "cut out" effect, or even blend the colors into the live action shots a little better.

Still, though there are the songs that are more remembered for their music videos than their songs, or even their entire album or career. What songs of today are outlived by the music video?

My first thought goes straight to OK Go's "Here We Go Again," where the band does an elaborate and very well practiced rutine on a bunch of treadmills. The band won a Grammy for the video, as well as being voted the most creative video on YouTube. A few of my friends cannot even remember the band name, the song title, or anything else outside of the treadmills.



One of my favorite music videos is the Red Hot Chili Pepper's video for "Can't Stop," the video goes through various montages of crazy arts, crazy antics; the standard Chili Pepper style. At the end of the video there is a sign recognizing the video as being made in honor of Erwin Wurm, and his "One Minute Statues."



What I find so refreshing about these kinds of music videos is how simplistic, yet complicated they are. Additionally, the musicians seem to be having the time of their life--which is one of the main factors of music.

On the other spectrum we have music videos that speak with a message, a clear cut example of what the musician finds wrong in the world, possible ways to fix it--or even just explicitly stating that their are issues in the world.

I'll continue on that note tomorrow, or the next day. Seriously, though, yell at me when I don't post frequently. Sometimes throwing your anger in my face is the only thing that gets me working.