My co-worker posed a question the other day. He asked, “If you had the opportunity to send
five music videos into the cosmos in the hopes that some alien civilization
would find and be able to watch them, what videos would they be?”
We spoke for a few minutes and set up some guidelines. The videos, in our opinion, would have to be ones that would give the alien race an overall sense of what music videos are, how they are and why MTV doesn't play them anymore. The popularity of the song or the artist(s) would not matter, just the video.
And somehow, it wasn't hard to pick. I had about ten and then just had to narrow it down.
I'll list mine first with a little commentary. If Jeffrey has any comments, I can add those later. Feel free to drop your top five in the comments and your reasons why they should be sent into space.
Worlds Apart – Journey
Worlds Apart is the quintessential music video. Full band playing invisible instruments. Lip syncing. Real emotion that is faked. Then real instruments. A girl who seems not to notice them. A wharf. This is the Rosetta Stone of music videos.
Wires - RED FANG
This video is very instructional as it gives a step by step course on how to make a video. And they break shit because that is what rock is all about.
Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel
Sledgehammer takes the Worlds Apart Rosetta Stone and smashes it in front of the Golden Calf of the music industry. This is the best video ever.
Psycho Killer (From the Film “Stop Making Sense) - The Talking Heads
David Byrne does not need to have his video shot into space, because he is God and can do it himself. He'll get to it once the Earth is destroyed and he finds himself seeking entertainment on another ethereal plane.
Jerk It – Thunderheist
I have my reasons for liking this video. You can read about them here.
Thriller-Michael Jackson
Hot for Teacher- Van Halen
Fat- Weird Al
OK, so to understand this one, the Aliens would need to know that this is a parody, so we are allowing a 4.5th video to go along and that would be:
Bad- Michael Jackson
2 comments:
The aliens need to see everything that is terrible about when music and movies combined. Here’s my five that everyone should see, not just the aliens.
Safety Dance - Men without hats - This one is an easy choice. A period piece with a bizarre front man and a dancing little person in costume.
Ratt - Round and Round - Classic hair band video full of metal clichés. Rats, prissy girl transforms into hot rock chick, working class vs. the rich sub plot and Milton Berle in drag.
Pat Benatar - Love is a battlefield - An example of the early "movie" videos. Girl kicked out of her house, leaves for the big city and becomes a prostitute. The whole thing culminates in the best video plot device ever... Dance Battle. The girls win over their pimp simply through the power of choreographed dance.
Tom Petty - Don't come around here no more - As if Tom Petty's looks and Alice and Wonderland weren't trippy enough on their own. Someone thought to combine them into a schlocky, awkward retelling through a music video. This video is an over the top, big budget homage to over indulgant video directors.
Damn Yankees - High Enough - Eighties are coming to a close and Grunge is around the corner waiting to kill hair bands. The last vestiges of two eighties metal super groups and solo hard rock icon combine to don the zebra print once more and squeeze the last breath out of a dying genre. They chose to do it with the awesomeness of a metal power ballad with a video that shows the destructive force of pure heavy metal. The opening lines don't get any cheesier either.
Honorable mention - Twisted Sister - We're not going to take it (Extended Version, of course). Pure teen angst video with the guy from Animal House.
Michael Jackson's Black or White:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2AitTPI5U0
It starts with a fly in from the clouds - good way to make the aliens feel welcome?
The aliens might think we could shape shift our faces which would be bad a$$.
Run DMC/Aerosmith - Walk This Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk
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