Click below to see the single most amazingly bad video I have ever seen, for Michael Jackson’s older sister Rebbie’s 1984 hit single. Trust me, this is unreal - a woman that turns into a tiger, a Cobra that shoots 80’s laser beams from its eyes, a group of tuxedoed rejects from Madonna’s Material Girl video doing a strange line dance resembling the arms of the Centipede, it’s like the director saw Diana Ross’s video for Pieces of Ice, which I posted HERE some time ago - and decided, “You know what, I don’t think they went far enough into crazy town.” The lyrics are insane too - “When the centipede is hot, you’re bound to feel the fire.” It’s all too, too wonderful.
Be forewarned, this clip is more painful to watch than a clip reel of every cruel scene in the films of Todd Solondz, Ulrich Seidl, Michael Haenke, Catherine Breillat, Fassbinder, Gaspar Noe. I would rather watch the rape scene in Boys Don’t Cry on loop for 24 hours than have to watch this one more time. I would rather watch the eyeball snipping scene in Hostel for a week. I would rather watch every episode of American Idol, every Jack Black movie, the 700 club on a daily basis, and old episodes of the show Pinwheel a hundred times before I clicked play on this piece of depressing, what the fuck happened to the world, soul-crushing clip.
I knew that having Iggy Pop perform a handful of Madonna hits at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in lieu of her highness, who didn’t want to perform - was a completely horrible idea. But nothing could have compared me for how gut-wrenchingly painful this clip is.
I can’t describe what’s worse - seeing Madonna giving off-handed looks like “WTF?” as she stares at this messy, horrible cover? Seeing genius guitarist Mike Watt of the Minutemen staring at Iggy in pain, with a “Just two more minutes and it’ll all be over” expression on his face? How Chelsea Queen excited Iggy gets when he finally sees Madonna? The painful interaction where even Madge can’t think of a halfway decent compliment for the FUCKING STOOGES!!!!????? Though I can’t say I blame her for that. What do you say after that? Still…
Oh I’m just burning up over it - NO PUN INTENDED!!!
A lovely way to spend 40 minutes - listening to or watching (even better) Grizzly Bear’s live set on KCRW to promote their concert in Los Angeles. They premiered a beautiful new song and featured most of the material off their recent “Friend EP.” Since lead singer Droste is a friend, who I first met when I interviewed him for Butt Magazine Issue 15, I have to consider that the album’s title could have been inspired by me. They put on one of the most amazing live shows I’ve ever seen - so much so that it’s hard to really explain or capture on recording just what is so magical about the way their shows transfix the audience. They’re not just incredibly skilled, it’s the way that their strange manipulations of their own sounds, as they’re repeated, start to sound like strange ghosts of the past colliding with the future. Their sound is totally unique, beyond what almost any other band today is capable of.
Not sold yet? Just watch. Or press play and try to go about your daily work.
Although the sonofabitch better stop trying to bite my new moustache look like he did last night on Craig Ferguson!
(Though I think those are fakes since they didn’t have them the day before!)
Well I’m back. I’ve finally got internet that lets me blog at my temp job, so you’ll be seeing a lot more posts than you have for the past few months. I’m over my winter depression, and a lot of new and really exciting stuff is going on in my life. Writing, filmmaking, a very cute boy…you know the drill.
Anyway, here’s something I wanted to post for a while. It’s a pair of videos for Sweet Sensation’s 1986 Freestyle jam “Hooked on You.” I consider these two clips a before and after, and a sort of allegorical inspiration for Mariah Carey’s “Glitter” in 8 minutes.
Here’s the before:
B A N J E E G U R L! ! ! ! !
And here’s the after - the 1989, far weaker dance pop mix - sounding more like 90’s Expose than Lisa Lisa.
The girls are made over and look like phony pop princesses, with the standard video cliche of a photo shoot behind the scenes. The hair is a mess and nobody looks like their heart’s in it.
I miss Freestyle, and sometimes I miss New Jersey. My life has been a tapestry. I’m back!
Billy Beyond sent me this track - a cover of my favorite Madonna song by the premiere singing Diva of Italian pop music - Mina Mazzini. It’s the most woozy, strange, rendition of almost any song I’ve ever heard. I’ve played it for a number of people - and everyone of them says the same thing : “It sounds like you’re playing the original on the wrong speed.”
The strange vocal fluctuations and muddy accent (”I’m tired of dancing here…” becomes “Oym toired of dencin heeer”) makes the track a campy party track - the type that makes some people cringe and others run over to ask the DJ what it is and can they please please email you a copy!
I never heard of Mina, as she’s known by her first name primarily, just like Madonna, until Billy gave me a whole CD of her tracks. She’s pretty sensational, and kind of out there in her more recent years.
I love this song, but that is some MESSY shit right there. I like how her dancing almost goes into a mime-in-a-box routine. And I particularly like her Amy Madigan meets the son in Down and Out in Beverly Hills at the end look.
Check out Terry’s Musical Lifefor a bit more about this messy Italo Disco group, and to download songs.
Category music | admin | January 24, 2008 | 11:06 pm
