Friday, August 07, 2009

My all-time favorite music video

I have no idea what the song means. I have no idea what the name of the group means. A-ha. What the hell is that? But I love this video.



And here's my favorite parody of it. Sheer brilliance from FAMILY GUY.


via videosift.com

What's your favorite music video?

32 comments :

MrEd said...

Sorry, but the greatest video ever is Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice". Second would have to be Talking Heads "Once in a Lifetime". Still weird after all these years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Ky5R-vxns&feature=fvst

Chuck said...

Ken, I trust you've already seen the literal version of this video?

If not, a trip to your favorite video search engine is in order. Just look for "take on me literal."

danrydell said...

I'm gonna have to object to the use of "sheer brilliance" for that Family Guy clip. It's clever, perhaps, but let's not get carried away.

John Rosenfelder said...

that's pretty excellent but has anyone seen the new willie nelson video "shoeshine man"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDtaJmrVfx8

Jason said...

I second Chuck's rec for the literal version: http://www.dustfilms.com/literalvideos

Rob said...

I always liked Steam by Peter Gabriel and pretty much any cut off of the Talking Heads movie Stop Making Sense.

Here are two of my favorite literal videos. I think the first is brilliant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgEHOM21j3s

WV -- ingasin -- What a guy who is running late for work says while standing waiting for a fill-up.

Unknown said...

The previously mentioned "Weapon of Choice" and "Steam" are both excellent videos... but there's something about Julie Brown's "Girl Fight Tonight" that makes it my all-time favorite. More honorable mentions: Yankovic's brand-new "CNR" video, Bubbles and Cheesecake's "It's a Woman Thang," and the moldy but marvelous Harvey Leeds version of "State of Shock."

The Milner Coupe said...

I always thought the Gap commercial with Louis Prima's Jump Jive An' Wail was about as good as it gets.
The 'Thriller' dance sequence was huge.
Gotta second Fatboy Slim and 'Weapon of Choice' as well.

Isn't this like talking about our favorite 45s though. Do they still make videos?

Anonymous said...

I agree, this is what Family Guy does well, mix homages - the rat pack / musical era song and dance routine with the 80s disposable music video quick reference (and after all, FG's short attention span and "clips are what counts" philosophy stems right out the worst of the 80s)

Joey said...

Wow. Just wow. I knew that, for myself, the Fatboy Slim video was No. 1. I had no idea so many people agreed.

I'd also give a nod to Everclear's AM Radio. (The song, if not the video, starts with the KHJ jingle.)

Matt said...

Ken,

Did you just think of this, or were you being nostalgic with the loss of another 80's icon, John Hughes?

Or do you just like line drawings? I say that because 500 Days of Summer finally opened here. Line drawings figure in that movie, too. Thanks for the heads up on an excellent movie.

Roger Owen Green said...

First thing that came to mind, without looking at others' responses: Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel.
Second: Smells Like Nirvana by Weird Al Yankovic. I actually own a VCR tape of Weird Al videos. But MrEd's choices are excellent.

WV: tockles. Television cockles, such as "Frasier warmed the tockles of my heart."

estiv said...

That bit at the end, with the character slamming himself into the wall on each side of the hallway while transforming from an altered state back to his real self several times, was lifted straight out of the movie Altered States. Not to veer too far off-subject, but Altered States showed that if you combined the considerable talents of Paddy Chayefsky, Ken Russell, and William Hurt, what you got was a huge mess.

Anonymous said...

Music is my life. OK, maybe not music, but music video. OK maybe not music videos, but video, well not so much video as comic books…as long as the pictures move like with a flipbook…OK, I don’t mean actually move, they just seem to move. That’s it, flipbooks are my life. The thinking goes sort of like this. “Hey, do you realize how much money we can save on this sucker by just going with the animatics? OK, throw in some live action, but no more than 2 or 3 people.” I agree this was a great 80’s video. As has already been pointed out, the meaning, obvious All you have to do is break it down into its basic elements .
Now where can I get my hands on Turner Ent.’s release of the complete storyboard edition of GWTW?

Anonymous said...

Sorry, didn't mean to be anonymous. Was just testing to see if the hyperlink worked. It's the Saturday morning version of accidentally hitting "Send all."
And then the boxes where you type name/URL wouldn't open (and obviously still won't). Is it them Twitterhackers gone wild again? Hey music is my life, not cybercommunication.

A. Buck Short

Ed D. in Nashville said...

I've always loved these vids... they get me up and dancin' and that's it's all about.

Crush on You by The Jets

How Will I Know by Whitney Houston

Jump by Van Halen.

Unknown said...

Cheesiest Video:
Aldo Nova - "Fantasy"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GylirgHFqeQ

Chemical Brothers - "Let Forever Be"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmpxsk3dHaA

Wax - "California"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPT7q825gwI

J S Swanson said...

I nominate the Pet Shop Boys/ Jennifer Saunders/Joanna Lumley Comic Relief Absolutely Fabulous video for one of my faves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YjDMmjgKec

Chamillionaire's song Drivin' Dirty gets a fun parody in White & Nerdy by Weird Al - with Donny Osmond, to boot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp6eswhgOKk

Not really a video but I love this TV performance of Franzl Lang. Nobody yodels like Franzl & nobody shakes his booty like Franzl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67rc96joOz8

Pamela Jaye said...

I've never seen the original! only the literal version. I'm better that those are funnier if you *have* seen the original. I'm so out of it now, I know Weird Al parodies of songs I've never heard!

But back to music videos. Never had MTV till it no longer mattered. I've seen very few music videos in my life.
However, music videos - official ones - are now on Youtube! Found that out the other night googling a song from the promo of The Time Traveler's Wife. A fellow Grey's Anatomy fan on Twitter let me know I'd heard it on Grey's (and what ep) and gave me the name and "band" (no more "group"s?) Broken by LifeHouse.
Googled, and there is a fullscale musicvideo by $RecordLabel. On Youtube!
When did this start?
Anyway, thanks for the original.

Pamela Jaye said...

Smells Like Nirvana is one of those that I actually know the words to - bargle nawdle zouss - and was surprised to see how much the origan was like the parody, not vice versa.

What is that James Blunt song by Al? (who is James Blunt? I hear new music only on tv shows now.)

Kevin M. Hagerman said...

Hmmm, probably "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel. It aged very well.

JKChicago said...

I show that video to my middle school students when teaching them about MTV's humble beginnings. They always love it, and more than a few female students have drooled over the lead singer.

VW - thalsi: Nickname for the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

Kirk said...

"We're Not Going To Take It" by Twisted Sister.

Karen from Mentor said...

Ken,
this video is one I love for a bunch of reasons, not least of which it's called the night I punched Russell Crowe in the Head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xtVipOjTEE


You could change the title to the night I ALMOST punched Thomas Hayden Church in the head.

Andy said...

I was just wondering when you were going to write an article on Kesley Gramer being ungrateful for complaining about working long hours at the TCA press tour today?

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/08/08/press-tour-diary-abcs-the-middle-and-hank/

Or do you only do that to actresses who actually joke about it on chat shows, and not if you have say written for the cast member in a previous comedy.

Just curious if you will display double standards.

impwork said...

I'm with you on the A-ha video : it was great when it was new in 1985 and its not suffered with the years like a lot of videos.

Santos said...

Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher". It's everything I wanted my school experience to be, so I'm sure you can see how reality has left me cynical.

Paul Duca said...

Ken, I do NOT understand your adoration of "Family Guy",,,you are not some 20-something living by the same philosophy underpinning the how....parents are dolts, siblings are fools, the rest of the world is idiotic. and all that matters is being oh so cool raxxing on the pop culture that (not all that long before) you adored...or as you now smugly think were TOLD to adore.

Chris L said...

Where's Kojak?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8CtWUY7nvg

VDOVault said...

a-ha is from Norway, they've been together since 1982 & they're still recording together

From the All Music Guide online

allmusicguide.com

Pal Waaktaar and Magne Furuholmen, formerly of Bridges formed a-ha in the early '80s. Morten Harket [a-ha's lead singer] joined the duo, and they left for the now "legendary London flat" (so called because of its state of disrepair) to make it. By late 1983 they had achieved part of that goal by signing to WEA. "Take on Me" took three times to become a hit in the U.K., eventually hitting number two in November 1985. Going one better in the U.S. mainly due to the wide exposure of its stunning video on MTV, which fused animation with real-life action, their only further hit there was "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." which became a U.K. number one in early 1986 helping take the album Hunting High and Low to the Top Ten. Mostly an album of synth pop, the press were quick to dismiss them as a teeny bop sensation; however, there was more to a-ha than met the ear in Waaktaar's writing, and a more mature effort, Scoundrel Days, was released in October, 1986. More focused, it had a stronger band feel thanks to its live drumming, displayed to great lengths on "The Swing of Things and lead single "I've Been Losing You" — a shock to critics at the time. Further striking imagery accompanied "Cry Wolf." After a world tour, a-ha supplied the soundtrack to the James Bond flick The Living Daylights. A remix appeared on their third album, Stay on These Roads, in 1988. Considered lackluster, Stay on These Roads did feature some interesting lyrics in "Blood That Moves the Body," regarding the over-intense affection the Japanese had for popular icons in their kamikaze-like suicides. On a lighter note, one of the famous quotes of this period came from Waaktaar: commenting on Def Leppard's success with Hysteria, he scoffed that a-ha were more rock & roll! In 1990, a-ha were commended by the Everly Brothers for their rendition of "Crying in the Rain" from their fourth album, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, which was largely ignored in the U.K. due to a shift in interests towards dance and the Manchester scene. 1993 heralded some much needed new blood in the U2 terrain of "Dark Is the Night" from the Memorial Beach album. Following the unfortunate lack of success following Memorial Beach, Furuholmen retreated into the art world while Waaktaar released the album Mary Is Coming with his new band Savoy. Seven years after the release of Memorial Beach, a-ha issued Minor Earth Major Sky in summer 2000. 2002's Lifelines sold well in Europe and was followed by a lengthy tour, documented on the live album How Can I Sleep with Your Voice in My Head, which was released in 2003. A year later the band celebrated their 20th anniversary by releasing Singles 1984-2004, a collection that would put them back on the U.K. Top 20 Albums chart. In July of 2005 the band performed in Berlin as part of the massive worldwide event Live8. In November they released the new album Analogue. It was supported by a world-wide tour that included gigs in Russia and a festival in Chile. The group's ninth studio album, Foot of the Mountain, was released in 2009.

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Download Free Mp3 Songs said...

ur choice and my choice are very similar >< they are also my favourite music video><