Thursday, June 18, 2009

Music Video Thursday: "Where the Streets Have No Name", Before and After

Last week was a little crazy, so Music Video Thursday got an unscheduled break (oh, who am I kidding, nothing around here is "scheduled"). To try to make up for it, tonight's Music Video Thursday is a double-header "before and after" affair, with Where the Streets Have No Name from U2's classic 1987 album "The Joshua Tree". This video ended up winning the 1988 Grammy award for "Best Performance Music Video":



In 1991, the synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys took this song and mashed it up with an old 1960s Frankie Valli single called "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (which shared a similar melody line in the chorus). Allegedly, upon hearing this version, U2's Bono was heard to exclaim, "What have we done to deserve this?" Personally, I kind of like it, but to each their own I suppose:



To the best of my knowledge, there was no Grammy nomination for this video.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Music Video Thursday: "Shine On Me"

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Chris Dane Owens, an independent musician from Los Angeles who produced what is possibly one of the most awesome and/or cheesy (I'm still trying to decide) music videos of all time, complete with fireworks, explosions, dragons, a crocodile, sword fighting, magic, ghosts, tall ships, and a mustache reminiscent of Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride. View at your own risk, lest the levels of awe and/or cheese overwhelm you:



Apparently this video went viral back in December, but obviously I wasn't paying attention and didn't see this until Jeff Atwood posted a link to it on Twitter yesterday. Who does a guy have to know to stay in the loop with all this viral stuff anyhow?

Oh, and Mr. Owens is planning this as the first of a trilogy - some stills from the next video are available for your perusal. Looks like more of the same - whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is for you to decide.