Because I simply REFUSE TO BE OUTDONE by my comrade EV Grieve in our back'n'forth competition of who can cite the most music videos that prominently feature the great C of NY, herewith another clutch of them. It should be noted that some are better than others.
First up is a tragically grainy one by Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul. Little Steven Van Zandt is beloved of many a slackjawed mook for being both a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and a cast member on the slavishly overrated "Sopranos." Personally speaking, I've never given the slightest whiff of a damn about either of those hoarily oversung blights to popular culture. The only reason I ever gave a toss about The Disciples of Soul was simply because it was the band bassist Jean Beauvoir (he of the white mohawk -- or `frohawk, if you will) decamped to after he left the almighty Plasmatics. In any case, "Forever" is a nice little ditty which features the boys all over the town circa 1982. Sorry again about the video quality.
Next up comes "When I Get You Alone" by Robin Thicke, son of ersatz late-night icon Alan Thicke. There are precious few things I hate with more of a white hot vengeance than contemporary R'NB, but I immediately warmed to this clip upon its 2003 debut, not least for it's amazing footage of New York (the singer - then trading solely on his last name -- plays a bike messenger), but for its creative cribbing of Walter Murphy's classically discofied "A Fifth of Beethoven." Critics lambasted Thicke's lillywhite soul appropriations (think: Jamiroquai) and the album quietly went nowhere. A couple of years later, Thicke re-emerged with a second album (produced by Pharrell Williams), and he's now fully "reputable" in the Hip Hop/R'NB community. Who cares about any of that claptrap, though? I think this is a damn entertaining clip. When I worked over at MTV News, Thicke actually came through the offices, and he seemed like a perfectly decent dude. Good luck to'im.
Alright, enough of the crap, here's one of my all-time favorites. "All that I Wanted" by Belfegore was directed by maverick lensman Zbigniew Rybczynski. It's a gloriously nauseating four minutes and fifteen seconds of dizzying motion, following a horde of terrified citizens (among them punks, arab sheiks, toilet-brandishers and Vegas showgirls) repeatedly running down Pier 23 in TriBeCa (just opposite of N. Moore Street) from an unseen, unspeakable menace. The band plays on throughout, of course. This clip dates back to about 1984. Prescient of September 11th, 2001? You decide.
Lastly, arguably the greatest music video featuring NYC as a backdrop, "This Is Radio Clash" by -- wait for it -- The Clash!
Bravo, good sir!
And how did I get this far in my life without ever having seen that Belfegore video?
Posted by: EV Grieve | August 22, 2008 at 08:31 AM