Monday 7 September 2015

A-Ha, Michael Jackson and the nature of ephemeral promotion

I caught a programme on the BBC last night, subtitled thank God, about the multiverse and I was going to write about the concept today, but in touting through the various folders on this machine in the station that I use, I came across a copy of iTunes which some newbie had loaded; presumably to fuel his iPod or iPhone to alleviate the tedium of watching us all day.

I have mentioned before that the staff around here don't go a bundle on security but I was thwarted in my attempt to 'crack' the password to access his account; I really must load a copy of the TorBrowser and get a handle on the 'Dark Net' and download a useful 'password cracker'. However, while the newbies insist on being so blasé about keeping their password secure, perhaps I don't need to bother. I found a spreadsheet, not even encrypted would you believe, which listed all of the sites which he, or she, is privy to, complete with usernames and passwords! I have just spent a few glorious hours downloading and watching the music videos which MG has long recommended that I should see; from a-ha to Z Z Top.  I also managed to delete the notifications from Apple concerning the payments made and I hope that he, or she, will not notice what I have done; give me a break here people. If I had money I would buy, but since I don't, needs must!

I decided to purchase, and play, them in alphabetical order. So, first on my list was a-ha's 'Take on me', which, while the music is too 'poppy' for my sensibilities, it is one of first 'pop' videos to feature 'rotoscoping'* and must rank in the top five of any list of the 'best of'. Blending live action with pencil drawings of the two primary characters, it is a masterpiece of plot and artistic interpretation; Morgen Harket (pronounced Mochten Hårctett, I think) is an added bonus for the ladies!

Next on my list was Billy Idol's 'White Wedding'. I'm afraid that wiggling bottoms on leather clad females and a curled lip, à la Rick Pilchard, do not really do it for me but Godley and Creme's directorial pièce de résistance, Duran Duran's 'Girls on film', deserves to be ranked alongside 'Thriller' in the global 'video stakes'. It's very naughty (read lotsa bare breasts on nubile young 'Page 3' models) but encapsulates the very essence of the song!

Sinead O'Connor's 'Nothing compares 2 U' and Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek' (which owes a great deal to former) are little gems of a minimalist approach to film-making; just a face for the most part singing the song but done in such a way as to mesmerise; you just can't look away!

A quadrilogy of Michael Jackson, back in the days when he was good, 'Billie Jean', 'Beat it', 'Thriller' and 'Bad', bear witness to just how good an ephemeral, throw-away piece of self-promotion can be. The seventeen minute version of 'Thriller' is still the standard by which all music videos will be, and should be, judged; and most come up very short indeed. Yes, a ludicrous, over-the-top budget does help but one cannot but marvel about what Landis and Jackson (and Rick Baker) came up with; who will ever forget the transformation sequence and the 'zombie' dance? MG is quite proud of the fact that he waited until midnight one evening, in high expectation, for the first showing on UK television, the video was released simultaneously around the globe, and how it was the talking point around the 'water-cooler' for days after; yes, it was, at the time, simply awesome! Nothing like it had ever been seen before in support of a 'silly' 'pop' song.

Strangely, perhaps, there was now a large gap in my alphabetical listing. No Led Zeppelin, I purchased the complete video recordings a long time ago; no Iron Maiden, the 'Powerslave' tour is all that you need; no Mike Oldfield, 'Incantations' should be all you could ever want; no Rainbow. Would you ever want anything else but the definitive band live in Munich?

So, I came to the end of the alphabet. U2 and 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'. Bono might be (now) a complete arsehole but 'Live at Red Rocks' is a band at the height of its power; it's a pity that they waited so long to release the full concert. (Concerns about the sound quality, I understand). Paul Young. With a voice like his, he doesn't need videos, although I noticed in one that the 'girl' is the same one as in the a-ha video; she obviously got around!  There was a little shot of the 'fabulously wealthy tarts', surely the most inept of backing singers, but SO perfect; their backing vocals to 'No Parlez' were SO off-key but so sublime. Paulo Paladino is surely the best bass player of his generation, isn't he? And, finally,  the trio of Z Z Top videos featuring 'the car' and the 'keyring'; 'Legs', 'Sharp dressed man' and 'Gimme all your lovin'. Masterpieces of misogynist, degrading eighties personifications of women but so true to the age. (Has it ever occurred to you that Frank Beard, the drummer, is the only one of the trio who doesn't have a beard?)

My only regret is that I was not able to find a decent video of Big Country at the time of their 'Without the aid of a safety net' tour.  I did find something on Amazon but it was a poor copy of a VHS tape and they wanted £90 (new) for the DVD!

*Rotoscoping: the process whereby a digital representation of the object, or person, is 'deleted' from the frame of film and can therefore be replaced, digitally, by another object or person. A highly skilled and valued job in the SFX industry. I certainly couldn't map the exact contours of a shape with a mouse, although, perhaps, they use graphics tablets; still tricky, nonetheless.

Has anyone else noticed how fucking good Paula Cole's first album is?

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