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

When They Might Be Giants started as a band they would perform with the two members of the group plus a tape machine. They said that this approach led to a different sound than if they had a full band where they would figure out who would play what part. They could choose different instrumentation and different amounts of instrumentation as they pleased.

What if, though, you didn’t really care about your band mates’ feelings? You would have no qualms about excluding them entirely from a song you were recording. But what about the video?

More Than Words by Extreme:

In case it wasn’t immediately obvious from this video, Extreme is a heavy metal band. There are four members to the band: the singer, Nuno Bettencourt, and the two other guys. The only people who play on this song, Extreme’s biggest and only hit, are the singer and Nuno Bettencourt, though. Don’t worry, those other guys are really important so they don’t get left out.

The video opens with the sound of a humming amp.

We won’t be needing those! Turn it off!

The bass player takes off his bass and walks away.

The drummer sets down his drumsticks and walks off.

It’s like [The Replacements](/posts/minnesota-week-evolution-of- replacements/), but for serious.

Finally, someone actually plays his instrument.

That man is the excellently named Nuno Bettencourt. If you, like I did, spent your childhood obsessively reading Guitar, Guitar World, and Guitar One magazines you would know his name well. It is a great name.

The singer and Nuno Bettencourt play sensitively.

The drummer looks on. He pretends to read a magazine like he doesn’t care, but is seething with jealousy.

This shot is amazing. The director understands that the singer is sort of skeevy while Nuno Bettencourt is attractive and talented.

Look at that singer. He has three earrings in his left ear and none in his right. Is that because he’s worried someone will think he’s gay?

Seems like he’s overcompensating.

Nuno Bettencourt isn’t worried what anyone thinks. He’s even wearing paint on his fingernails.

Super confident.

The bass player holds up a lighter for some reason.

Also, what is on his arm? Maybe he is a heroin addict? Did they accidentally catch him melting drugs in a spoon and now his is covering for it by holding the lighter up?

The drummer does the same thing.

I don’t know why that annoys me so much, but it does. It’s sort of sad and desperate. Like, look at me! Also, what’s with his smile. Do they think it’s funny? It isn’t.

The song starts getting really emotional.

Just look at all the emotions on their faces!

Anger, loss, concern… boredom?

This guy is definitely feeling boredom.

Even a dog brings him no relief.

The drummer becomes engrossed in the magazine article.

It’s probably a story about Extreme and he appears, out of focus, in the background of a bunch of pictures of Nuno Bettencourt.

We get one more shot of Nuno and then we’re done.

I feel like the planning for this video had a bunch of uncomfortable conversations. The bass player and drummer were, like, where should we stand? And the director pleading looked at the singer and Nuno Bettencourt for guidance but they pretended not to notice. Finally he told them to just sit around and he’d try to get them into some shots. I feel sorry for those guys. All of them. I’m sure the bass player and drummer are very accomplished musicians. I’m sure the singer is fine. And I know Nuno Bettencourt is awesome. That’s the danger of putting a sensitive acoustic song on your metal album. You might end up with a cross-over hit.

And then your band will break up.

-PTD

Yesterday I talked about how terrible it is to be a woman. I continue the feminism theme today with a video by LMFAO. Is this a feminist video? Sort of. They acknowledge how sexist the portrayal of women in music videos is, which is great. At the same time, though, there is an element of, “Hey look at us! We’re like women and that is hilarious!” Instead of black-face, they are in woman-body. So I don’t know. Maybe it’s complex? I hesitate to call any of LMFAO’s work complex. I mean, look at it.

Sexy and I Know It by LMFAO:

I do think it is unfair to say that the video is just stupid, though. That some of the things which would be commonplace with a woman’s body are shocking with a man’s body makes me think. And thinking is what this is all about.

The video starts ordinarily enough with a group of men in animal print pants, one of whom may be a robot, strutting down a beachfront road.

The singer is filled with animal lust.

There’s another group of people on the beach, including a pointless cameo from the foreign kid on That 70’s Show, that seem to be the enemy of the first group.

Could they be evil?

Then something surprising and awesome happens. Note: This next scene may make you extremely hot with its red hot love.

The singer rips off his pants and gives us a close up of his jiggling genitals.

This is no different from all the normal boob shots you would get in a beach video featuring women, but is shocking when it features men.

The whole groups starts strutting and wiggling its stuff.

We also get an all-male version of the butts-on-the-beach shot. It’s almost as salacious as the coverage of Olympic women’s volleyball.

The singer begins to show how he works out.

Two disgusted men look on.

Look at those guys! They are veritable She-Hulks! Note: Did you know that She- Hulk (and to some degree Red She-Hulk) is the best Marvel super hero? It has been clinically proven. Legend has it that the Avengers movie was supposed to be mostly about She-Hulk but an eccentric German millionaire bought the movie rights to her character and has been using those rights to make 30 full-length movies a year. None are available to the public. What could they be about? I’m just waiting for the millionaire to die and those vaults to be opened to the public.

I mean, look at her.

The Jennnnnnnnnnnnnn.

Anyways, back to the action. The evil men decide to have a wiggle-off and remove their pants.

Look at how angrily he brandishes his junk!

The good group wiggles.

The evil group wiggles.

In the end, we all win.

The video ends with an amazing title card.

So what does this video do? Notice how many shots of the men’s bodies don’t even show their faces. It’s weird, right? Why isn’t it weird when we see women’s bodies and not their faces? That’s probably what we should be asking. And I’m glad that LMFAO are smart enough to bring it up.

-PTD