New Zealand has a small population but has so many great bands. It is like the Minnesota of countries. (Note to New Zealand tourism board: Yes, you can use that quote.) Most of the music from New Zealand, though, is of the underground/weird variety. Only once (that I’m aware of, anyway) has a New Zealand group had a huge international hit. That hit was How Bizarre by OMC.

Check it out:

Now, you might be thinking a few things. The first being, “Wait, this band is from New Zealand? I thought everyone from New Zealand was a sheep!” Fact: In addition to sheep, human beings live in New Zealand. Your second thought, “Why won’t the singer look at the damn camera?”

I have no clue about that. Frequently the singer starts a line looking at (or at least near [what is he looking at?]) the camera.

Only to look away at the end.

If he is so uncomfortable looking at a camera, how can he be the front-man for the band? He should have some confidence.

The other singer has no problem looking at the camera, even while he looks away.

She looks like she is ready for prime time.

He looks away while dancing.

And he doesn’t even look at the camera for the big finale.

It took me a couple times watching the video to figure out what is wrong. He constantly looks away like he doesn’t want to be filmed. Even when he looks at the camera he isn’t looking straight at it. Maybe no one explained to him where the lens is and what it does? Maybe he didn’t want to make a video in the first place. The way he constantly moves his head away reminds me of trying to give a cat medicine. You want to shout, “Stop squirming!”

OMC also has a phantom member who is even more elusive than the lead singer. The video opens with a shot of a sweet red car with a sweet band-themed license plate.

Then we get a shot of who is in the car.

There is a man sitting in the back of the car with a mustache and sunglasses. The two people sitting in the front appear in most of the video, but that guy only appears in the car. Who is he? What does he do? He is Sir Not-Appearing- In-This-Video. The phantom band member.

It seems that the director of the video was a firm believer in saving money. He green screens the singers in over everything! They start with the infamous green-screened-in-front-of-a-shot-of-yourself shot.

I see no need for the same person to appear twice in the same shot in any non- Parent-Trap-related situation.

The singers are green screened in front a shots of people dancing and having fun.

If you put your eyes out of focus a bit it almost looks like the non-phantom members of OMC are dancing and having fun. If only the male singer would look you in the eye.

They were also green screened in front of old circus posters.

The female singer is exasperated from all of the singing in front of a green wall.

Finally, there is the extreme literalness of the video. The story of the video is about some people in a car who don’t get a ticket from a cop, encounter some animals for some reason?, and become celebrities. We’ve already seen shots of the car. He sings about elephants and we see a picture of an elephant.

He says “funky” and does a funk-infused dance:

Important songwriting rule: Always rhyme “monkey” and “funky”. No other rhymes are acceptable.

He sings about cameras and we see the singers surrounded by fawning fans and cameras.

I like this video, though. It’s fun! Fun goes a long way, I’ve discovered. I think that was why the song was a hit. It was a little bit different and is a good time. The guy has a weird accent that is maybe New Zealand and maybe not. The lyrics are weird. They take the time in the video to throw a little party!

Not enough groups would do that. OMC would, though. How bizarre.

-PTD