Dear Past Kelsy,
What a great selection of songs. You have great taste!
Love,
Future Kelsy
61. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” by Billy Joel (1977)
ack ACK ACK ACK!!!! Right?
This just looks fun.
62. “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” by The Smashing Pumpkins (1995)
The drums and bassline on this song--great.
Is there anything cooler than a female bassist?
63. “We Work the Black Seam” by Sting (1985)
This song is strangely addictive with its blend of social consciousness and inaccurate science.
A fun practice/live version.
64. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2 (1983)
Also known as the only U2 song I like. It's pretty powerful stuff, helped by the fact that Bono hadn't become the pretentious message-bearer he's become today.
The black and white style makes this even more timeless.
65. “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys (1966)
The Beach Boys not singing about surfing is my favorite. When they use their powers of sweet harmonies for a gorgeous singles like this, perfection.
Mmmm, lip synching.
Showing posts with label The Smashing Pumpkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Smashing Pumpkins. Show all posts
3/03/2010
4/15/2009
The Audacity of Rock: Part 6
Using early cinema stylings for music videos.
I'll admit I love this one. The more theatrical a band can get, the better. And what's more theatrical than silent film?
"Tonight Tonight" by The Smashing Pumpkins
This video takes the basic plot from Melies' "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) and makes it a love story. Who knew the Smashing Pumpkins could make something more adorable?
Here's the original cinemagician Georges Melies at work in part 2 of "A Trip to the Moon":
And here's the fantastic video from the Smashing Pumpkins:
"Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance
This video borrows a lot from German Expressionism from its heavy black eye make-up (not just emo-liner) to its bleak gas masks and skeletons, not to mention the lonely hero at the end. Post-WWI was not a fun time. Anyway, while a lot of this movement performed in theatre, quite a few early silent films used some of the same techniques that showed internal emotion and turned it into symbolic set design and props in addition to exaggerated body movements.
Here's a super creepy scene from Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) complete with black eye make-up and stylized sets:
And here's MCR's video:
Questions to ponder:
1. How much would you like to believe that rock bands actually research this stuff and knew a lot about early cinema and it wasn't just the people who work for them?
2. Would everything be better if it was done in an expressionist form? Why or why not?
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of The Audacity of Rock.
I'll admit I love this one. The more theatrical a band can get, the better. And what's more theatrical than silent film?
"Tonight Tonight" by The Smashing Pumpkins
This video takes the basic plot from Melies' "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) and makes it a love story. Who knew the Smashing Pumpkins could make something more adorable?
Here's the original cinemagician Georges Melies at work in part 2 of "A Trip to the Moon":
And here's the fantastic video from the Smashing Pumpkins:
"Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance
This video borrows a lot from German Expressionism from its heavy black eye make-up (not just emo-liner) to its bleak gas masks and skeletons, not to mention the lonely hero at the end. Post-WWI was not a fun time. Anyway, while a lot of this movement performed in theatre, quite a few early silent films used some of the same techniques that showed internal emotion and turned it into symbolic set design and props in addition to exaggerated body movements.
Here's a super creepy scene from Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) complete with black eye make-up and stylized sets:
And here's MCR's video:
Questions to ponder:
1. How much would you like to believe that rock bands actually research this stuff and knew a lot about early cinema and it wasn't just the people who work for them?
2. Would everything be better if it was done in an expressionist form? Why or why not?
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of The Audacity of Rock.
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