Videos make music suck less?
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- xicast
A friend and I came to a realization long ago that music videos enhanced the user's experience of the song and improved the memorability of the tune.
Lousy videos only damaged what could have been a potentially great song (in theory) while less than spectacular tunes were significantly better performing when the video rocked.
OK GO!'s video of the 4 performers on treadmills stood as a good example. It was an adequate song with a truly compelling video. It stuck without sucking.
I was driving today when I heard a tune that stood out. I had heard it before though i couln
d't remember where. I didn't care for the song so much as I had a fond, albeit vague, memory of it visually. I knew I liked the song for a reason OTHER than its music component which was just downright strange for me.Tonight, while watching Wired Science on TV, I saw a rerun where they feature "Keepon Dancing", the dancing little dual-yellow tennis ball, a robot designed to help autistic children by dancing to ambient music. Neat.
Except the feature used a sound track by the Spoon's "Don't You Evah" which was exactly the song I heard on the radio today that brought back such vague memories of appreciation. I liked the song today by recalling loosely the video I had seen in the Wired segment.
The song isn't great, but the emotions the video inspired were positive and jovial. Not suck.
A far cry from any video montage of live concert footage rolled back in slow motion for a love ballad. Now _THAT_ killed the radio star....
Thoughts?
Here's the segment on Gootube:
Still not sure why there is a competing segment with "I turn my camera on".....
- xicast0
p.s. Robots rock.
- agentfour0
great without the video, but still always makes me think of the video.
- TheBlueOne0
See, I remember the time before MTV because I'm old and crumudgeonly. Videos made music suck. Than music TV made music videos suck. Now it all sucks. Still does. The only thing that made music better visually was a gorgeous LP cover.
That dancing yellow tennis ball thing is cool though. Love that lil' guy.
- Nathan_Adams0
Internet killed the video star
- 7340
isn't this the idea behind MTV? get pretty people to pose for outrageously expensive videos in order to sell cd's? its all marketing now. how can we sell your image rather than your talent. and thats why phones and ipods all support videos. no one cares about the songs anymore, because they are only half of the experience.
+2 for cynical rantings
but i agree some videos do really save songs. although i like ok go, so i cant agree with you there, i do submit that that is a fantastic video.
- detritus0
I haven't watched any music television in about 14 years the music just gets better and better.
- Jaline0
I have no experience with not watching any music videos, unfortunately. I know some people don't like bands anymore just because they look like idiots in the video (and not on purpose). But there are a million other reasons people would not like a band anymore, so....anyway...I like music videos.
They spawned shows like "Video On Trial", on Much Music (kind of the Canadian equivalent of MTV), in which comedians have a commentary and opinions about various videos. It's hilarious.
- TheBlueOne0
And the funny thing is that MTV doesn't even play music videos anymore...
- StratusGD0
The video makes the song completely and totally amazing.
- i_monk0
Video On Trail is the only Much show I watch now that they've committed themselves to following in MTV's footsteps and only show retarded reality shows about celebrities and the nobodies who admire them. I don't think they show videos on the weekend anymore...
Sigh. I miss R U Receiving?