Music Video Thursday: 80's Mix Tape: "Goody Two-Shoes"

And here's one more piece of evidence in the case against my good taste in music in the 80's - Adam Ant:



I'm so ashamed...

Music Video Thursday: 80's Mix Tape: "I Wanna Rock"

A lot of the video's for my mix tape have been cheesy. This is cheese that has gone bad. Ladies and gentlemen, in an unprecedented three-peat appearance on Music Video Thursday, I present to you: Twisted Sister!

And for those of you who may have found this blog by following my "author" link on the Bethlehem Lutheran Church blog - I promise that you won't hear these songs on the Sundays that I'm playing... although you have to admit, "O Come All Ye Faithful" sounds an awful lot like "We're Not Gonna Take It", even if Twisted Sister isn't playing it. :-)

Music Video Thursday: 80's Mix Tape: "Magic"

Finding videos for all the songs on my 80's mix tape has proven to be a challenge. Some of the songs have appeared here already (here and here). Some of the songs simply can't be found on YouTube (in particular, anything by Loverboy, aside from crappy cell-cam footage from recent concerts, and Kim Carnes' "Crazy In The Night"). Some are just too... for lack of a better word, "yucky", to post here (Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax" and The Cars "Hello Again" directed by Andy Warhol - search for them on YouTube at your own risk). And, in a most frustrating find, one video that was actually posted to YouTube by the record label... but with embedding disabled, so I can't put it on my blog - a big "boo hiss" to Universal for keeping me from sharing Men Without Hats' "Pop Goes The World" from my vast audience. It's an impediment to true culture, it is.

So, there's just a few more songs that I can give you, and quite frankly, I'm not entirely sure about this next video. I think I can sum up this video from The Cars in five words - Ric Ocasek freaks me out:

On a related note, according to Wikipedia (the Internet's most trusted news source, dontcha know), Ric Ocasek appeared on the Boston Phoenix's "The 100 unsexiest men in the world" list. Not that I'm a particularly good judge of manly sexiness (except my own, of course), but I'm not terribly surprised.

Music Video Thursday: 80's Mix Tape: "Subdivisions"

As I've been going through the list of songs on that mix tape, I began to wonder just how bad my taste was in the 80's - cheese, cheese, and more cheese - but then, redemption in the form of Rush. Yes, they've got big hair, they're wearing weird clothes, but they actually look like they're making music, not just prancing in front of the cameras with instruments:

I genuinely like this song - not only is the music complex and interesting, but the lyrics really spoke to me back in high school, and still ring true today. *sigh* I suppose there won't be any other songs like this on the tape, so next week - back to the cheese... I can't wait.

Music Video Thursday: 80's Mix Tape: "Here I Go Again"

I'm beginning to have second thoughts about doing a whole series of videos based on an old 80's mix tape. I mean, I know that it's cheesy, but I didn't really realize just how cheesy it actually is, and I'm not sure I can handle that much cheese, you know, like a kind of a musical lactose intolerance or something...

But until better judgement overtakes me, we'll keep going on this fantastic voyage de fromage - tonight's "guys with long hair pouting earnestly" is brought to you by Whitesnake!

Ohhh, my stomach...

Music Video Thursday: 80's Mix Tape: "The Final Countdown"

A few months ago I stumbled across a mix tape I had made back in the 80's while in high school, and I can't stop listening to it. So, I've decided that I'll inflict it on all of you here - misery loves company, right?

The mix tape kicks off with a perfect song for Music Video Thursday - it's from the 80's, it's Scandinavian, the lyrics are wonderfully awful in the way that only non-native English speakers can write them. Here's Europe:

More 80's goodness to come over the next weeks - you bring the wine, I've got all the cheese you need!

Music Video Thursday: "Sogno ad Occhi Aperti (Daydream)"

Lasse Gjertsen is back, only this time he's staying behind the camera. He's directed a music video for Italian cellist Giovanni Sollima. It's beautiful music, and fascinating video:

Click through each part to YouTube, where Lasse has included some behind-the-scenes notes on the creation of the video, including hand-editing over 4000 frames...

Music Video Thursday: "Tears In Heaven"

It's been a hard week, so I'm going to keep it simple tonight. This one is for Dag, Eric, all those who have left too soon, and those of us left behind to remember:

Music Video Thursday: "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

A little something to flush the Eurovision out of our system - here's Nirvana, with the now-classic "Smells Like Teen Spirit":



And here's Weird Al, with the not-quite-classic-but-still-good "Smells Like Nirvana":



And here's Tori Amos, with her heartbreaking down-tempo piano version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit":



And here's... ummm... Paul Anka...



And... what the heck?



Ummm....



Okay, I think that's enough of that. Next week: something completely different. I hope.

Music Video Thursday: Eurovision 2007: "Molitva"

Well, that was disappointing. The crazy Ukrainian cross-dresser placed second (WTF!?), Bulgaria placed 5th, Hungary 9th, Georgia 12th, and Switzerland and Israel didn't survive the semi-final. As for the winner - imagine the voice of Celine Dion, trapped in the body of Saturday Night Live's Pat, and you've got Serbia's Marija Serifovic, winner of the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest:



That's it for Eurovision 2007 for me - I've got an idea for another theme for Music Video Thursday, but I'll put in a few weeks of more-or-less random stuff.

Music Video Thursday: Eurovision 2007: "Visionary Dream"

The semi-final is complete, and 10 countries have qualified to join the 14 automatic qualifiers on Saturday's final. A lot of strong entries, including some previously profiled here, but one that I especially liked was the Georgian entry. Note that this is the "promo" video - I guess it's still too early for the semi-final performance to show up on YouTube:

Next week - the winner!

Music Video Thursday: Eurovision 2007: "Unsubstantial Blues"

There's an old joke that goes something like this:

What do you get when you play a country song backwards?

You get your wife back, you get your truck back, you get your dog back...

Tonight's video, Hungary's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, makes me think of this joke, only it's not meant to be funny - Magdi Rúzsa's powerful voice underscores the moody video, run in reverse, for a very moving effect:

Looks like happy endings are only for backwards country songs, though...

Next Thursday (May 10) is the semi-finals in the Eurovision Song Contest, followed by the finals on Saturday (May 12). Catch all the action at eurovision.tv!

Music Video Thursday: Eurovision 2007: "Dancing Lasha Tumbai"

Tonight has been a manly night. I have been in the garage. I have fixed the rear wiper on my minivan using a socket set. I have replaced the front wiper blades. I have fixed a headlight mount using a wrench and styrofoam. I have topped up my washer fluid. I have grease on my hands. I am man. Hear me grunt. [insert Tim Allen grunt here]

And now for tonight's featured Eurovision entry. Here's Verka Serduchka, from the Ukraine:

Truly, a glorious, manly night.

Music Video Thursday: Eurovision 2007: "Vampires Are Alive"

Eurovision 2007 coverage continues this week with a look at the Swiss entry. Ah, Switzerland, stately home of diplomacy, banking, Toblerone chocolate, and horror-themed dance music. DJ BoBo was chosen to represent Switzerland for the 2007 song contest, and was allowed to write his own song. In February, DJ BoBo unveiled his creation to the world - a dance number called "Vampires Are Alive", with a music video that appeared to be a cross between Thriller and Underworld. As with Lordi's entry in the 2006 contest, controversy sprung up, with one political party collecting a petition to withdraw the song from the competition, but the entry has prevailed, and will compete in the semi-final in early May:

At least they didn't send Celine Dion again - that would have been truly scary.

Music Video Thursday: Eurovision 2007: "Push The Button"

Our coverage of Eurovision 2007 continues tonight with the Israeli entry.

While many of the countries participating in Eurovision Song Contest choose their representative artists via popular vote, the Teapacks (warning: MySpace) were chosen to represent Israel by a committee of the Israeli Broadcasting Authority - the only thing up for vote was which song they would perform. The winning song, "Push The Button", immediately caused controversy, with it's direct references to nuclear war and apparent indirect references to Iran and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Some said it was too political, and called for a ban on the song, but it was eventually approved.

As for the song itself? It's a great mix of folk/polka/rock/rap, with lyrics in English, French, and Hebrew, including some truly funny lines like "And I don't want to die / I want to see the flowers bloom / Don't wanna go kaput, kaboom" - sit back and enjoy the melodic musical madness that is the Teapacks:

Eurovision 2007 coverage continues next week - we've got lots of weirdness to come yet, so stay tuned!

Music Video Thursday: Eurovision 2007: "Voda"

It's that most wonderful time of year - the Eurovision song contest is underway again! Last year's contest provided some wonderfully weird musical moments for Music Video Thursday last year (see Lordi and Silvia Night), and while there are a number of bizarre entries this year, I'm going to start off our 2007 Eurovision coverage with a fantastic video from Bulgaria.

Folklore singer Elitsa Todorova and percussionist Stoyan Yankoulov combine their talents in the song song "Voda" (water), which won the national vote in Bulgaria. It takes Stoyan's wild percussion, Elitsa's incredible vocal style, and a driving beat, resulting in a powerful musical experience:

Out of all the Eurovision entries I've seen so far (admittedly only a small portion), Bulgaria is the best. Here's hoping that their live performance is up to the task of matching the energy of the video.

Music Video Thursday: "Hurt"

I'm in a dark mood tonight. It's been a rough day - I'm angry, I'm depressed, I'm worn out. I'm just going to let this song speak for itself:

Music Video Thursday: "Peaches"

Well, I had full intentions of setting up tonight's video with a "proof" that The Presidents Of The United States are in favor of copyright infringement, going into the whole "pirates and ninjas are natural enemies" silliness, and then pointing out that in the "Peaches" video, the Presidents kick some ninja butt, so therefore (by the "enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend" way of thinking) they must be pro-pirate, and therefore have no problem with their video being posted to YouTube:

...but in the end, it seemed like so much work, with little payoff, and I'm tired, and so instead I just threw this together, which actually isn't too bad, except that I'm not entirely sure how to end it without it being awkward. Like this.

Music Video Thursday: "Vehicle"

I'm late, I'm late!

Thursday was the Ides of March (March 15th), and someone on Metafilter posted a link to this video. I'd never heard of the band The Ides of March before, but the song is great, the video is a beautiful mix of funky 70s fashion and space-race NASA footage, and it was the perfect day for it. Pity that I couldn't quite make it in time, but here it is, better late than never:

The vocalist, Jim Peterik, later went on to form the group Survivor, and wrote "Eye Of The Tiger" for Rocky III.

Music Video Thursday: "Institutionalized"

So I missed last week's Music Video Thursday, even though I managed to get one in while traveling even though I didn't think I was going to, because I had such a hard time getting back into my weekly routine, and was forgetting things all the time, and then tonight I was going to start early on my blog posting, but then my son threw up while I was putting the kids to bed, and I had to clean up, and then when they were all in bed and asleep, I wanted to put a Loverboy video from the '80s on for the Music Video Thursday tonight, but when I found it there was a big "Viacom has requested that this video be removed for copyright infringement", and it just seems like sometimes I try to do things, and it just don't turn out the way I wanted to and I get real frustrated, it's like, I take my time and I try real hard, but no matter what I do and no matter what I try it never works out, it's like I concentrate on it real hard, but it never works out...

...and all I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi... (lyrics, on the off chance that you couldn't make out every single clearly enunciated syllable)