People weren't too fond of a seemingly "unknown" Canadian band swooping in and snagging the American Grammy for Album of the Year. I absolutely supported this, being both a Canadian and a closeted revolutionary. I enjoy upsets. Of course the band went on to dominate at the Junos, but who really cares about that. (Ugh, I'm treading on some very thin hipster lines here, but I just don't want to jump into that post right now.)
Now, I must start off by saying I am quite a bit of a band wagon jumper on this one. I have had Neon Bible, their second album, on my Ipod for forever but never really cared to listen to it mostly because I thought it had to do with something sacrilegious. I have no idea where I originally got the album from... probably the OC soundtrack or something like that. That also being said, I'm still not a massive fan. Not because I don't enjoy them, I just haven't given them enough time to really settle a place in my heart. So, I'm not really promo-ing the band, just this one song.
But man, what a song. Ok, it's really not about the song at all, it's the whole experience that I love. I love it because this particular video got brought up in my postmodern class and my teacher praised it for its creativity and uniqueness. I'm so glad that it won a Webby (Internet awards for those of you who aren't geeky enough) and received at least some recognition. I give this music video double props because it went so far above other music videos. Not that that's saying much:
Typical Music Video:
- Start off with lead singer standing in some obscure place such as in the middle of a field or ocean (the more obscure the band name, the more obscure the standing place)
- Rapidly switch to group shot of the whole band during chorus
- Alternate between group shot of band playing in front of a crowd and band playing in obscure place. (Special added points if the instruments are somehow getting destroyed in the process)
- Flash back and forth between three or four different sets with the rhythm of the beat
- (Genre note: If this is a rap or hip hop video, don't forget to include scantily clad ladies during the first chorus. If this is a rock song, those instruments better be darn well near destroyed by the final chord. If this is a folk acoustic song, ensure that there are plenty of shots of big beards and sepia birds. Continue.)
- Cue bridge, which usually consists of a single moody shot of the lead singer, potentially with a zoom up on his face to ensure the solemnity of the moment.
- Flash into chorus, let those guitar chords ring out, and put particular emphasis on how happy everyone in the crowd looks as they celebrate this rad and hip band.
- End with camera panning away from band as they recklessly leave their instruments in a haphazard state.
- Scene
Original and Creative Music Video
- Anything other than that.
Now, back to the subject on hand. Granted, the actual scenes of this video aren't THAT far off from anything we've seen before, but it's all about the technique. It's about incorporating the viewer into the video, bringing it to life and recreating a different story built from past memories. Nostalgia fuels the song and encourages each viewer to take in the song with a different sensation. I relate with this because when I was younger, before anybody was allowed to read something that I had written, I had to ensure that the mood was set by playing the appropriate song beforehand. (Many of my emails began with "STOP. Read no further. Open up Itunes and Play [enter an inspirational or powerful song such as "You Raise Me Up" to set mood. Nothing adds power to angsty teenage poems like "You Raise Me Up"]." Perhaps this is why I feel the need to end every blog post with a music video; music just makes everything 1000x more awesome.
But I digress. Really you should just watch the video and enjoy it. (It does take a lot to run so I would definitely suggest shutting down most other tabs/programs to properly enjoy it). Tell me what you think.
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
7 comments:
Before I'd heard of the band, my friend David was playing an AF album in the car. It was alternately irritating and boring. I kept trying to switch to something half decent. He'd take the iPod back and say "ok, just listen to this one". Eventually, once I'd made him grumpy by pointing out every funny-bad lyric and hyper repetitive arrangement, he informed me that they were massively critically acclaimed and that basically everyone loves them. That's when my disinterested contempt turned into active hate.
The long and the short of it is that I don't believe Arcade Fire deserved to beat Justin Bieber. They didn't even deserve to beat a recording of all the teeth gnashing this comment will inspire.
Oh, but good points about stereotypical music videos. Some of the Arctic Monkey's music videos are, it seems to me, parodies of what you're describing.
Flourescent Adolescence mocks one vein of videos by having clowns fight each other with nothing whatsoever to do with the song.
Brianstorm is a replication of 80's and 90's flashy dancy videos, complete with bad clip art.
And, best for last, there's Cornerstone. I defy you to watch it all the way through and maintain eye contact with Turner.
See? My undying love of the Arctic Monkeys means I'm not just a hipster basher!
Did you mean you had Funeral? Cause I'm pretty sure that was their debut album. Either way, great points that I fully support.
Ben: Remind me to never show you bands that I am interested in while driving in a car together. My heart goes out to David (unless his self worth isn't invested into the bands he listens to like mine is, in which case, never mind). And I definitely don't doubt that you are not a "hipster basher" considering that actively hating a band because they are loved by everyone else is, in fact, an incredibly stereotypical hipster move. Did you at least enjoy the concept of the music video?
David: Wow, I even Wikipedia'd that to see if I was right. Good. Oh well, it has been properly edited now. Thanks!
The music video froze my incredibly old laptop before anything really happened.
And getting your back up against being told what to like is pretty normal. I formed an opinion that it was a terrible band and it was implied that because they were critically acclaimed, my opinion was invalid. It's hard to stay level headed about the subject after that.
Sad.
And valid. Very valid. We've all been there. I struggle with loving Radiohead just because so many people told me I would love Radiohead. One day I will probably love Radiohead, but for now I just don't.
Mike. I have an idea for a project we might both enjoy.
Pick a band from this list that you want to get into. I'll send you a representative sample of their songs along with lyrics and notes. You do the same for Arcade Fire.
Arctic Monkeys, Modest Mouse, Dr. Dog, Zeus, Pink Floyd, The Kinks, The Kooks, The Last Shadow Puppets, The Strokes.
(You might already like some of those bands more than me.)
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