This past year has been quite a ride. Through all the craziness though, a couple good things have been able to happen. For example, with all the time and working from home, I’ve been able to delve back into albums I haven’t listened to in a while. And within that, I’ve been able to show my young daughter some really great tunes and videos. One of which is this great video from How To Destroy Angels for the song “The Space In Between.” The video, directed by Rupert Sanders (who is primarily known for creating video game advertisements) is a very dark and interesting video that harks back to the days when videos were great. This is one hell of a great video and should be viewed a lot more!!
The Smashing Pumpkins double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness celebrates it’s 25 birthday this year (actually October 24th is the official date). This album, was a huge game changer and has gone on to influence and inspire countless bands and artists throughout the years. I still remember buying the album when it came out, and the countless hours I’d sit in my room and listen to it. One of the memorable moments I have about this album is when I first saw the video for “Tonight, Tonight.” I was absolutely blown away by how visceral the video was along with how interesting it was. The video was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (who would go on to make other pretty awesome videos for Korn and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to name a couple). The video won multiple MTV Video Music Awards as well as being a Grammy nominated clip. Another interesting tidbit about the video is that it stars Tom Kenny and Jill Talley who you might recognize from their work on Spongebob Squarepants and Mr. Show. This video is one of the all time greats and it deserves to get its acclaim and be celebrated along with the masterpiece of the album it belongs to.
Over the past few years, I’ve really come to enjoy Chelsea Wolfe more and more. I remember seeing her open for Russian Circles way back and at the time, I wasn’t too into it. Perhaps it was because of the band before her and their energy on stage was so electric that by the time it was her set, the drop in energy just dropped. That’s not to say she and her band weren’t awesome. Anyways, a couple years back, Chelsea released the album Hiss Spun, and it all finally made sense to me. One of the songs that instantly caught my attention was “16 Psyche.” This track and video are stunningly superb. This track and album are also the perfect introduction to getting into the greatness that is Chelsea Wolfe.
Back in 2003, after their successful debut album ANTthology, Alien Ant Farm returned with a new album called Truant. This album was produced by the Robert and Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots and it really is quite an underrated and good album. The first single from the album “These Days” features a really awesome video. The video was filmed and performed on the rooftop of the Hollywood Masonic Temple, across the street from the Kodak Theater, in Los Angeles. The surprise performance was shot during the 2003 BET Awards while numerous hip hop artists and rappers were arriving on the red carpet before the awards show. The video catches the reaction from many artists, including Pharrell, Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Killer Mike, and Lil’ Kim among others. The band was arrested at the site and later dismissed by local authorities. It’s a really fun video and on of those that will guarantee you’ll smile throughout it.
Metallica have long had an interesting history with music videos. Their first “real” video was made for “One” back in 1988, and that really started the train moving. Then as “The Black Album” was released and was making history (and still is to this day), they band really stepped up their game with their videos. In 1996, as the band was beginning to release their very underrated album Load, they stepped a little out of their comfort zone and released one of their best music videos. The Samuel Bayer directed video for “Until It Sleeps” made and left quite an impact on the band and its fans. Not only did the song show a different direction musically but, the visual aspect that accompanied the song was right along with that. Lyrically, the song is about James Hetfield’s mother’s battle with cancer and the ensuing anger that he felt as she was going through it and losing her battle with it. The video is quite intriguing as a lot of it deals with the “Fall Of Man.” A lot of the imagery was also taken from various paintings by Hieronymus Bosch, as well as other surrealist art pieces. The video would go on to win Best Rock Video at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. This video is truly one of the best the band has put out.
Yesterday while I was at work, I had a song pop into my head and it sent me on a dive back to an album I hadn’t listened to in a minute. The song was “Stand Inside Your Love” by The Smashing Pumpkins from their highly underrated album Machina. It’s always been one of those songs in the bands catalog that has given me chills. I was sort of daydreaming while listening to the song and letting it take me away. It’s truly a beautiful song and one of Billy Corgan’s best too. It’s been said that the song was written about a then girlfriend. Billy once said in an interview about the track “‘Stand Inside Your Love’ is one of those rare songs that seems to write itself really quickly… As far as the song goes, it’s sort of a love song that rocks, which is pretty rare, even for me. And I even got my girlfriend dancing in the video, so it’s all a tribute to my girlfriend, I guess.”
The video itself is pretty stunning. It’s a tribute to the play Salome by Oscar Wilde. The look of the video is heavily influenced by the original Salome illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley. You might recognize Ken Davitian (from Borat) in the video. Billy’s then girlfriend also appears in the video.
Something else that I find interesting is that “Stand Inside Your Love” was originally supposed to be the first single from Machina but, at the last minute it was changed to “The Everlasting Gaze.” Either way, “Stand Inside Your Love” is one hell of a great song and the video is interesting, intriguing and artful.
In 2016, there was an album released that was devastatingly beautiful as well as fast becoming one of my all time favorites. I’m referring to the album Rheia by Oathbreaker. If you’ve never heard this album, you are surely missing out on an album that will forever change you. I could seriously (and I probably will) write a whole long article about why that album is so meaningful to me and important to the heavy music landscape. Right now though, I want to focus on the fascinating music video Oathbreaker released for the song(s) “10:56/Second Son Of R.” These two songs kick off the album and are absolutely astounding. The visual aspects of what the video brings takes it to another level. The video is a demonstration of catharsis and poetry in motion. It’s stunning and beautiful and evokes a slew of feeling that will cause chills.
Today, I got a notification about a new video for Liam Gallagher’s “One Of Us.” I’ve already heard the song a couple weeks back and loved it. This video though, takes it to a whole other level. It’s been a long time since a video has moved me but, this one got me. Liam’s new video was written and directed by Peaky Blinders creative duo Steven Knight and Anthony Byrne, so you know there is some depth behind this. And oh boy, does it have that. If you are unaware of the long going feud between Liam and his brother Noel, you should definitely look into that before watching this video. What a poignant and powerful video and statement. Enjoy this song and video.
Liam Gallagher- One Of Us:
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been delving into certain bands catalogs and listening to the albums that I glossed over. While on a Marilyn Manson rabbit hole, I started to really find that there are quite a few stellar songs from the albums I over looked. One of the things that I had to do while traveling this rabbit hole was to check out the videos. So, with that in mind, here’s the top ten Marilyn Manson videos throughout the years.
10) Sweet Dreams:
09) Man That You Fear:
08) Kill4Me:
07) Say 10:
06) Disposable Teens:
05) I Don’t Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me):
On the unsung masterpiece that is Razorblade Suitcase by Bush, there was one single released that had a video that was absolutely badass. The song and video I’m talking about is “Greedy Fly.” The song was the second single from the album and the accompanying video really inhabited the song. The video was directed by Marcus Nispel, who directed videos for bands like Faith No More and No Doubt. The video has this sort of Seven meets The Crow vibe. In fact the video was shot in one of the same buildings in Downtown Los Angeles as Seven was. The videos dark and eerie cinematography is the perfect mood setter for the song. Plus this song just rocks.
AUDIOECLECTICA 