Thursday, June 30, 2011

Top 30 All Time Video Countdown - Number 23 "High Hopes" by Pink Floyd


This is probably the only video on this list where none of the band appears. It's a good thing though as it would completely ruin the mood of the song itself. Pink Floyd was one of those bands that became famous before the dawn of music videos so when they reunited (minus Roger Waters of course) in the late 80's and 90's their videos were either a concert type video or this one..."High Hopes".

"High Hopes" is a perfect song. You have church bells, thick sounding acoustic guitars, a drumline rhythm pattern, and one of the best slide guitar solos ever.

I'm not going to comment on this video as it goes along...this is a video you just let breath. The best natural scenery and images made for a video (guitars floating down stream, rolling fruit, men on stilts, glowing balls being thrown around a circle, balloons rolling down a dirt road, and giant head statues)....it makes want to visit the English countryside.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Top 30 All Time Video Countdown - Number 24 "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by The Police


I have a soft spot for number 24. I am a HUGE fan of the Police, can play a few of their songs on bass, and am a big fan of Sting's ego. Yes, Sting had one of the largest egos of just about anybody back in the early 80's. It's the main reason why the Police broke up in the first place. Anyway, after becoming more and more popular album by album, the Police were the biggest band in the world when their Synchronicity album dropped in 1983.

Just about every song on the record (except for one of their worst songs, "Mother") is a classic. Of course there's "Every Breath You Take" but you also have "King Of Pain", "Synchronicity II", "O My God", and my favorite Police song, "Wrapped Around Your Finger".

The video for "Every Breath You Take" is probably the most famous Police video due to its cool look and being in black and white. I just love the mood and atmosphere of "Wrapped Around Your Finger" better. Its shot in half speed and I'm a sucker for super slow motion. The candles add a unique look and Sting rocks the sunglasses as well as probably some kind of cocaine ingestion as his dancing gets more frantic as the video progresses.

Let's take a look.



0:00 What starts as a single candle being lit shows you a huge room of candles. Love the beginning of this song too. I think its just some synthesizers but the sounds and mood they set are amazing.

0:17 - Sting was a bit of a ham on stage but instead of making poses and guitar faces, he loved to jump around. Hence, the first time you see him here he's just doing that....in fact he never stops moving the entire video.

0:34 - Once of the best drummers ever, Stuart Copeland. What makes this video even more special is that when they shot it, the band had to play and lip sync to it double time so when they slow it down, it looks normal. That's hard to pull off on the drums here.

0:41 - Andy Summers...he was 10 years older than Sting and Stuart but fit in perfectly. Love his little jumping move here too.

1:19 - Another move I will attempt at the next wedding I go to. I will look completely stupid.

1:40 - Love the face Stuart makes when he hits the cymbals.

1:42 - I'm not sure what Sting is waving around in his hand but its probably not a good idea with all of those candles around.

1:58 - Love the slight stumble when he comes out of his jump here. That would be a 5.6 if it was a gymnastics competition landing. "Good technique but you HAVE to stick that landing!".

2:03 - Sting's dancing gets more spastic as the video progresses.

3:06 - Just a neat shot to show how big the room is. Chances are they used mirrors but I didn't care about this when I was 7 years old.

3:14 - The cocaine must be kicking in as Sting starts getting more hyped up running around.

3:39 - The famous "whacking the candles" shot. Notice how Sting knocks one over with his backswing.

3:55 - If only I could dance around playing the guitar in half time...

4:18 - One last look of the room....

4:37 - ...before Sting starts running around and dismantling the place.

4:43 - More of a music thing than anything else...I love that little bass slap Sting throws in here.

This is definitely a video where the song matches the mood of it perfectly.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Top 30 All Time Video Countdown - Number 25 "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" by Air Supply


A questionable choice for number 25 today, I agree. In fact, I had never seen the video for this song growing up until recently when I purchased "Air Supply - A Video History" on Amazon.com for $2.99 a few months ago...I love buying things used. Sure they had some of the corniest songs ever created and yes some of those same songs were the background to many conceptions...but to say Air Supply has a surprisingly decent video? The answer is a resounding YES.

To preface this video you need to know who Air Supply is. It's basically a two man band. There's the tall blond haired guy who wrote most of the songs and plays the guitar. The other guy is short and has an awesome afro. Not so awesome is his voice which is unique but not in the best way. Also keep in mind that this video was filmed in 1983 when cocaine use was peaking and its okay for your boyfriend to shag groupies on a regular basis as long as he plays a good guitar solo.

Let's take a look...



0:05- The video starts with one of those awesome extended intros with the blond haired guitar player saying goodbye to his girlfriend. "Time for another tour babe!", he says though it seems he wants to get her to go with him and she wants him to stay...isn't that the basis for 90% of all arguments in a relationship? Love the prop plane by the way.

0:22 - There he is...the VOICE.

0:27 - Love the jarring cut here. This guy is a natural for waking up suddenly in the middle of the night after shagging another groupie.

0:37 - Love how the groupie sleeps with her legs and arms spread apart. Even better is the guitar player's reaction to waking up to her. What's most disturbing is that he keeps a picture of his girlfriend on the nightstand next to him.

0:49 - 1983 special effects alert! The "picture" comes to life to show you a "memory" the guitar player is having. Somewhere Peter Gabriel was watching this and it he began writing the video for "Sledgehammer".

1:03 - That's a man's man right there. The girlfriend won't kiss you so you just turn, walk away, and not look back to get into your personal private plane. That's friggin awesome.

1:12 - Another great special effect. The "airplane window" opens up into another video showing the band "performing"...on a barren sound stage.

1:21 - He must have been taking off from JFK because it was broad daylight when he got in the plane and now its nearly pitch black by the time the plane takes off.

1:29 - My second favorite part of the video. What is the rest of the band jamming to in the background? More syrupy love songs? Even better is when the lead singer starts to serenade the guitar player while he takes out a picture which turns into another Stan Winston Oscar winning effect.

1:52 - Love the dirty old street vendor ruining a tender moment by giving them a disease infested flower. Even better, he kisses the old lady. You can see the moment when her lady parts start to moisten up.

2:06 - Time to hit the stage and HEY, its the backup singers in the song getting crammed into a quick cameo. The one on the left makes the most of it.

2:19 - Another 1983ish special effect. Director: "Alright, let's put the girl on a merry go round and just hold the camera on her". I will take a moment to admit this girl is smoking hot for 1983....probably for 2011 as well.

2:40 - For a guy who seems to have no problem cheating on his girlfriend, he sure lives a boring life on the road and doesn't seem much fun to be around. He stares out the seat of the window on the airplane, doesn't interact muchwith the band, and now he just sits in a darkened room looking at a picture of his girlfriend that's about 30 feet away from him.

2:52 - The shot her smiling into a scowl was the basis of many nightmares for me as a kid. I hated those dreams where the happy looking picture got angry and came to life and started stalking me...yes, I might need therapy.

2:58 - Classic bad 80's video rock star posing.

3:09 - That is how I would pack my bags if I wasn't married...thankfully I am.

3:36 - Notice the fact that she's driving in a car while the boyfriend has left in an airplane. Also notice we're nearing the end of the song.

3:45 - Love the terrible acting. "Sure my boyfriend sleeps with other women on the road but gosh darn it his guitar sounds great on my AM radio. All is forgiven."

4:11 - After a completely illegal turn she's off to the airport.

4:19 - For the first time in the video, the guitar player is SMILING. He just realized "Hey now, I don't need this girl, I got my band, endless drugs, booze, and women, AND I just co-wrote a future number one song...F' her"

4:28 - Not so fast! I love his reaction when he sees her. He sort of makes a weird guitar face. Oh and by the way...HOW THE HELL DID SHE GET THERE SO FAST?!?!?

4:38 - One of the cheesiest shots in music video history. The guitar player mouthing "I love you"...over the singer's shoulder.

4:44 - My favorite part of the video. The reunited couple dance under the same strobe lighting that Michael Jackson used for his "Rock With You" video.

4:48 - That open mouthed kiss is awesome for 1983.

4:52 - Did he just stroke her breast? Is she wearing a bra? Where is her left hand? Damn!!!

There you have it folks...not a completely great video but very underrated storyline for 1983 and therefore a welcome edition to this countdown.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Completely Biased List of The Top 30 Music Videos Of All Time - Number 26- "Step By Step" by The New Kids On The Block



Number 26 is definitely a odd choice, I'll give you that...but wait until the end before you pass judgment.

The New Kids On The Block were THE boy band of the late 80's and early 90's. While African-Americans had New Edition, white people had NKTOB. I'll admit I liked a few of their more up tempo songs like "Step By Step" and "The Right Stuff" but I also despised their ballads like "Please Don't Go Girl" and "I'll Be Loving You Forever". In the middle you had pretty bad 80's songs like "Hanging Tough" and "Cover Girl". Anyway, "Step By Step" seems to have (baaaarely) stood the test of time and is the one song that could come out today and maybe crack the top 100.

"Step By Step" tells the story about a guy trying to gain the attention of a girl (just about the plot of 90% of all songs). In the middle of it though, there is one of the greatest breakdowns in music history where the New Kids tell the girl there are five steps to fall in love. They seem pretty straight forward.

Step 1.) Indicate to her that they can have some fun.
Step 2.) Reinforce that there is much they can do together
Step 3.) Remind her that its just the guy and the girl together...no annoying parents to interefere.
Step 4.) The guy can give her more than any other guy
Step 5.) The time is now for them to fall in love

That seems pretty simple.... However, I came up with five step to kill yourself after hearing this song for the first time. Match it up to the music...its perfect.

Step ONE....you can take a gun.
Step TWO....point it at you
Step THREE...scream out "I HATE MEEEEE!!!!"
Step FOUR...blow your brains out on the floor
Step FIVE...don't you know you're no longer aliiiiive
"Huuuuh"

Anyway, let's take a look at this video...



0:00 - 0:16 Ah yes, the old "behind the scenes at the video shoot" and "tour video diary" type video. You know, the one where there are quick cuts, the band is laughing, and everybody is yukking it up for the camera. We begin with some acapella and slow motion shots of the band. My favorite is the one Donnie Wahlberg jumping over the drum set...not sure what he's trying to prove there.

0:17 - 0:24 I like the stairwell shot because dancing on a stairwell is very practical.

0:25 - 0:33 The dance move that swelled a million teenage girls hearts. Yes, its terrible, but if I could whip those moves out at a wedding, I'd be the star of the night.

0:34- 0:47 - A little bit of freestyling dance moves and some slight posing take us to...

0:48 - 1:03 - The first verse. Again, more behind the scenes shots (Donnie Wahlberg on a motorcycle...Ooooo dangerous!) and more quick shots of the band on a sound stage.

1:03-1:04 - Did the New Kids originate the "Running Man" dance move? I can't remember how that started. With the entire band doing it, they should call it the "Running Men" or "Running Kids".

1:05-1:34 - More quick shots of Danny Wood pumping iron and does Jordan Knight imitate Michael Jackson at every opportunity in this video?

1:36 - Joey McIntyre did not just do the sprinkler head did he?

1:42 - The "I'm trying to jog forward but its so windy out" dance move.

2:22 - "And the Grammy for best special effect goes to...." Love how one New Kid is in color and the other is in black and white. Cutting edge.

2:29 - Alright Donnie, now you're just showing off. The drum set and the random guitar player?

2:39 - Not sure what kind of workout move this is. This what I do with my 3 Wood on the first tee to stretch my back out to play golf.

2:46 - The greatest voice in rock history...Danny Wood! Listen to the vibrato, the silky smoothness, the way he enunciates "fun". Yes Danny, we CAN have lots of fun...

2:52 - You can hear Donnie's vocal range max out on the word "much" when his voice gets a little raspy.

2:55 - Oh boy...

2:59 - You sure gave them more Joey...you sure did.

3:03 - Yes! The shy, quiet, gay New Kid gets involved.

3:07 - Overalls and violins in the same shot. Other than "Come On Eileen", you will never see this in a music video again.

3:12 - 3:18 Dance solo?

3:28 - More stairwell dancing...love it.

3:39 - Now multiple New Kids are black and white and Donnie is in color. What was the budget for this video?

4:11 - The classic being serious and then breaking out laughing shot. Janet Jackson mastered these.

4:19 - How many times can Joe just spin around in a tuxedo in the entire video. You see a quick shot of him almost looking pissed at the camera at the end of that last spin. "YOUR SOUL IS MINE JOEY MCINTYRE!!!" laughs Satan.

4:26 - The most random shot to end a boy band video. Donnie eating an apple...

I'm off tomorrow...more to come next week. Enjoy the weekend.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Completely Biased List of The Top 30 Music Videos Of All Time - Number 27 - "I Stay Away" by Alice In Chains



In my best Kasey Kasem voice "and now let's get to the countdown"...

I'm a big fan of video gimmicks and one that isn't used enough anymore is claymation...well, I guess it really wasn't used a lot to begin with. The only claymation I can remember was mainly done by Peter Gabriel and Green Jelly.

Anyway, "I Stay Away" was off the EP Jar Of Flies. I remember buying this and wondering what an EP is. An LP is a "long playing" record so an EP is an "extended play" record. Anyway, Jar Of Flies and U2's Zooropa were probably the biggest EP's in the last 25 years...but I digress.

The song itself is one of my favorites featured a little of the old "light and shade"...love the string arrangement mixed in with the crunchy guitars. "I Stay Away" featured claymation versions of the band working in and around a travelling circus. I always thought the claymation version of Layne Stanley was pretty cool. Let's take a deeper look.



0:00 -0:49 The video opens with a little travelling bus with a kid holding, pausing for irony...a jar of flies. It looks like Alice In Chains is also on the bus sleeping off another bender.

0:50 - 0:52 For some reason the band finds themselves hanging out in a circus in the middle of nowhere. The band must be dying of heat exhaustion wearing those grunge era outfits.

0:53 - 1:01 Here are some of the circus characters. I love the lion tamer. With his one good eye, you'd think he would have bad depth perception when he whips the lions...then again, you'll see what ultimately happens to him at the end of the video.

1:02 - 1:11 I have no idea what this person is supposed to be. Is it a man or a lady? Are those real breasts? Is that seal sitting next to him/her...and doesn't the seal need to be in water to survive?

1:12-1:25 - Love the out of control clown car.

1:25 - 1:44 Now things start to go wrong...the lion is getting fired up. I love the bulging eye. Nice shadowing claymation showing the lion ripping the trainer apart.

1:45 - 1:53 An homage to Genesis' "Land Of Confusion" with the extreme closeups of the band members' faces?

2:00 - 2:21 - Say goodbye to motorcycle guy.

2:42 - 2:46 Though the flies have nothing to do with it, these three clowns just lay into each other.

2:57 - Love the elephant getting fiesty

3:10- A knife to the face is never good.

3:15 - 3:56 - Now the clown car started a fire....at least the clowns show remorse

3:56 - end - There's the trouble maker the started it all.

So looking back, we saw a lion tamer mauled by a lion, a knife thrower murder his wife, a trapeze artist fall and break her neck, a clown get knocked unconscious, and the motorcycle stunt man probably die....plus the seal now no longer has any water source so he probably died too.

Grunge music at its bleak best...

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Clarence Clemons



I preface this by saying I'm not a big Bruce Springsteen fan. I love the Born In The USA album but like very little else (though "Hungry Heart" is one of the best summer BBQ songs ever made).

Anyway, I was sad to hear the passing of E Street Band member Clarence Clemons. The first thing that surprised me was that he was 69 years old. That means he was in his early 40's when Born In The USA came out. I never noticed that. Anyway, here are the three things I'll always remember him by in descending order.

3.) The "you better be good for goodness sake" line in Bruce Springsteen's version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town".

2.) His cheesy video he did for his hit with Jackson Browne "You're A Friend Of Mine". Don't say I didn't warn you...I surprised he and Jackson Browne didn't start making out at some point. See below.



1.) The above two might be his most mainstream success but I will forever remember him as the sax playing teacher who tries to help Arnold Jackson get affection from a girl he likes in the classic show Diff'rent Strokes. Sadly this episode aired during the final season of Diff'rent Strokes when it was in its death throes. By now, Willis and Kimberly were hard to find in any episodes...they brought in that annoying Sam character. And even Dixie Carter knew well enough to jump off a sinking ship. God bless Conrad Bain for hanging in there.

Anyway, here's the majority of the episode. Through the beauty of You Tube, some die hard fan posted nearly the entire episode.





Some strange things to note here.

1.) Arnold is looking old.
2.) Clarence is bad ass with his flat top haircut.
3.) The band seen around the 2:45 mark, features Wayne, the older brother in The Wonder Years.
4.) Around the 3:15 mark, Arnold is probably a foot shorter (and probably in real life 10 years older) than the girl he likes.
5.) The Sam character needed to be severly injured at some point.
6.) At the 9:04 mark, you witness the 80's in all its glory. If Wayne is really playing the guitar and dancing like that at the same time, I'm very impressed.
7.) The 9:35 mark shows that yes, you can really get girls by finding a world famous sax player to mime a part for you at a junior high dance by standing just out of site behind the curtain.

I'll admit, I just scanned through the clip...you get the gist of it. I was more excited to find the clip than actually watch it.

Irony reels its ugly head again...A man on the show Diff'rent Strokes dies due to complications from suffering...a stroke.

Anyway, R.I.P. Big Man...

Friday, June 17, 2011

Completely Biased List of The Top 30 Music Videos Of All Time - Number 28 - Tell Her About It by Billy Joel



It's Friday and if you're Rebecca Black then you know what that means..."fun fun fun".

Anyway, Friday's tend to be more of an upbeat day so to fit that theme I give you the top 28 music video of all time, Billy Joel's immortal classic "Tell Her About It".

Billy's career can be broken up into two parts...1.) the serious songwriter piano based songs of the 1970's and 2.) the more poppy upbeat music of the 1980's and early 90's. I'm sort of split down the middle in terms of which I like more but his most "pop" 80's album has to be his "Innocent Man" album, where this song originates from. This album had a lot of great corny 80's videos like "Uptown Girl", "The Longest Time", and "Keeping The Faith" but I'm going to go with this one here. I love the look of early television so to see an homage of this puts it over the top for me. Let's take a look...



0:00-0:18 - We begin during the summer of 1963. I guess Beatlemania hadn't broken out yet here in the States so perhaps Billy was trying to imagine what it would it be like if he started some kind of Long Island Revolution? Anyway, we get a look at a terrible Ed Sullivan impersonator who all he does to look like him is purse his lips together.

0:20 - 0:42 Ah yes, there's the pride of Long Island Billy Joel in all his glory. It's funny, he had a terrible haircut in the 70's with his hair blown out but it took until his 30's to realize that the shorter hair look was the way to go. I also dig the sunglasses and goofy hand gestures while dancing in place.

0:43 - 0:46 - Looks like these two are having an affair.
0:54 - 0:55 - Yes these two will be banging shortly.

0:57 - 0:58 - It's Rodney Dangerfield!

1:00 - 1:04 - Ed impersonator rocking it out...in a terrible acting sort of way.

1:05 - 1:11 - More Billy and I'm thinking he's the only white guy who can pull off the white jacket, black shirt, and red tie look.

1:33 - This is just a cool looking shot. It looks like it was filmed at a real concert because they're the only people in the video that look like they're dressed from the early 80's.

1:50 - Is this the bar from Animal House?

2:00 - Little kids might look cool dancing in front of the TV...grown adults look stupid.

2:01-2:14 Strange sequence here. The guy who just got dissed by the girl seems to come up with an idea to get her back. Meanwhile Billy strut dances into the screen along with a mixed bag of people dressed from the 50's.

2:28 - 2:37 Billy's fantasy...that women in their 20's dress up in their nighties and watch him on TV. Then again, his last wife and most recent girlfriend were in their twenties so maybe this Billy is from 30 years into the future?

2:48 - Billy shows up at the party delivering pizza's. Smooth move. Future porn directors come up with ideas for future movies.

2:57 - Some of the WORST acting you'll ever see in a video. I catch this part every time...first the awkward slightly out of sync head bobbing...then Billy appears to "surprise everybody"...then more slightly awkward head bobbing..and finally a terrible cut to a guy who has the worst "stunned acting" look on his face.

3:19-3:23 - The guy in the blue sweater dances like I used to in college. I never could get my feet off the ground. I haven't improved much since then.

3:26 - Pillow fight!

3:49 - 4:20 - I remember Rodney Dangerfield's "get no respect" act as a kid but I'm not sure when it was at his peak. Caddyshack was 1980-81 and Back To School was 1986 so this falls right in the middle. Rodney was flying high here at this point in is career...if you can call being in a Billy Joel video as high point. I love the bear by the way.

Have a great weekend...

---------
The countdown so far (see sidebar for links)...

Number 30: Winonna's Big Brown Beaver - Primus
Number 29: Drive - The Cars

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Completely Biased List of The Top 30 Music Videos Of All Time - Number 29 - Drive by The Cars


Onto Number 29...

First all of all, I'd like to say congratulations to city of Vancouver who was amazingly able to destroy the reputation that had of being a very underrated city to take a vacation in a matter of a few hours and 100 injuries. I thought all Canadians had gentle souls who enjoyed ice fishing and a good wood burning stove. Apparently they can riot with the best of them as well.

Congrats to the Boston Bruins on winning the Stanley Cup. It figures that since I've met my New England born and bred wife, she has won 3 Super Bowls, 2 World Series, an NBA Championship, and now a Stanley Cup. That slightly overshadows the one NLCS the Mets have and the 2 AFC Championship games the Jets made. Did I mention I also root for the Knicks (scandal ridden decade with Isiah Thomas driving the team into ground) and the Islanders (one playoff appearance and I dare you to name five players that played for them the past ten years)?

If I sound depressed its because of my number 29 choice for the best video of all time..."Drive" by the Cars.

"Drive" makes me sad for the main reason that the person singing this song passed away from pancreatic cancer back in 2000. He's Ben Orr, bassist for the Cars, and one of the first songs I ever learned to play on bass was another song he sang, "Just What I Needed". I always liked his voice and of course the Cars were an underrated band.

Anyway, this video appears to take place in an insane asylum. Ben seems to be just chilling out in a large lounge area singing about who's going to help out his loved one during her time of need. During the video you meet Paulina Porizkova who I only know through three things...

1.) She married the other lead singer of the Cars Ric Okasek
2.) She was on Dancing with The Stars a couple of years ago.
3.) She was in the immortal classic 80's movie "Her Alibi" with Tom Selleck.

Anyway, let's take a look...



0:15 - 0:48 Ahhh yes, the legendary Ben Orr. I like the black and white style of this video. I do not like Ben's perm.

0:49 - 1:00 Hello Paulina...her right leg looks longer than the rest of her body...yummy. By the way, that's pretty impressive abstract art she is putting together there.

1:00 - 1:10 Ben looks uncomfortable in his chair.

1:11 -1:25 Ah yes, Ric Okasek. He wrote every Cars song even though he doesn't sing on all of them. I love the angry look he gives here. I'm not sure what he's accomplishing by yelling at her and giving her dirty looks throughout the video. She's already certifiably insane I guess as this point.

1:26-1:35 I really have no idea what's going on here. That is some good miming though. Was the asylum a converted diner?

1:52 - 1:55 - If I gave my wife this look, I'd be sleeping outside.

1:55 - 2:15 - One last look at Ben and strangely enough he disappears for the rest of the video...oh well.

2:15 - 2:35 My 2nd favorite part of the video. I was away last weekend with some friends of mine and one of them got into a HUGE argument with his girlfriend on the phone...but the funny thing was he dominated her. She was the one all upset and he stayed cool as a cucumber. I couldn't help but think of this scene here had they been in the same room together.

2:35-3:05 Paulina shows off her acting skills. I can hear the director barking out orders ("Do happy! Now do sad! Now do crazy!") Was this segment what landed her the costarring role in "Her Alibi"?

3:05-3:25 - My favorite part of the video...wax figures of the band...I'm not sure why I love this so much but I do. Actually I'm not sure if those are wax figures our not. I think they are. I wonder what a wax figure of me would look like...probably scary.

3:27 - end : One last long closing shot of Paulina....and fade to black.

BONUS PAULINA

Amazingly, there are many scenes from "Her Alibi" on YouTube. Here's one of my favorites.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Top 30 Videos Of All Time - Number 30 - "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver"



I'm back...for now.

Growing up in the 1980's and 1990's, I watched a lot of MTV and then a lot of VH1. Whether it was just a mish mash of videos or in VH1's case, Sex Symbols, I think I've seen nearly every video made between 1981 and 1995 at least once. When I went away to college, MTV became a lot more teeny bopperish and VH1 became reality TV central though they did have those juicy "Behind The Music" specials on just about every relevant band from the 70's and 80's.

Anyway, I have started a ritual where I escape into the past every couple weeks or so by watching old videos on Youtube or even ordering video collections on Amazon.com. Each video takes me back to a time in my youth where either the song or the video brings back memories. This top 30 is going to be made up on the fly. Though I already know what my top 3 will be, the other 27 pretty much fall into a tie. Each video has something special, whether its over the top acting, a group dancing sequence, or just bizarre occurrences.

The first video is definitely one of the more bizarre ones...Primus's Wynona's Big Brown Beaver. This came out my senior year of high school and it pretty much blew my mind. Based on those weird Duracell battery commercials around the same time, it shows Primus dressed up in oversized plastic(?) cowboy outfits. The song is a good song made better by the video...



Some of my favorite personal highlights...

0:17 - had I been 7 years old and not 17 at the time this video came out, this part would have given my nightmares.

0:24 - Something about them walking makes me laugh everytime.

0:45- If not for the cue cards, I'd have no idea what this song is about. I still really don't know what this song is about and yes, I'm aware of the sexual connotations of a "beaver".

1:20-1:23 - One of my all time famous bass fills

2:24 - I will learn this dance move to use at a wedding at some point.

After going through the video, there are a lot of highlights. Les Claypool is one hell of a bass player...love the riffing at the end. The rest of the video is mainly full of a lot of absurdity but then again absudity is in my DNA.