Let me set the stage. You’ve just released a weird song that consists mostly of Casio-generated sounds along with lyrics that hover somewhere between nonsense, offensive, and insensitive. And it becomes a hit. Now, you gotta ask yourself, what’s the video gonna be?

It’s definitely a tough nut to crack. If you lean to hard into the weird it’s likely to be even more nonsense than the song, but when your only other option is to lean really hard on the offensiveness you don’t have much choice.

Wall of Voodoo elected to go with option #3 - do both. Check it out, Mexican Radio by Wall of Voodoo:

The video opens with the singer hearing what can only be described as a combination of a Casio keyboard and a Mexican radio announcer.

He starts singing and making a face.

He spends most of the video making these faces for some reason, possibly to indicate that he is on a Mexican radio, if you know what I mean.

Now we get to what I love about this video. Just take a look at this:

They’re all packed in for no reason! This is the type of weirdness I’m really looking for in a music video. Having them all standing on top of each other for no reason also makes their method of creating music seem all the more magical. Without them being packed in, you might notice that the drummer is hardly playing and the guitar player has essentially nothing to do. It’s all Casio drums and Casio keyboards and face making.

It also shows humility on the part of the band, since I feel like we never get a shot of the guitar player’s face in the whole video because he’s always standing behind someone.. Most groups insist on giving each band member screen time no matter how ridiculous that is, so it’s refreshing to see the opposite happen.

After the first chorus, the singer starts furiously playing harmonica.

It’s quickly revealed that it’s all an act, and that music is still just Casio keyboarding.

Next, the video struggles desperately to convey the message “Mexico” in a way that makes me uncomfortable.

There’s a stop sign in Spanish.

And a man wearing a sombrero.

Don’t worry, though. The band is still packed in.

Later, the band themselves start doing things in Mexico.

Although there’s no way to tell what they’re doing. Maybe listening to the radio?

Also, there is a woman there with beans.

If I wasn’t already uncomfortable about the Mexican imagery, I would definitely be uncomfortable now.

Toward the end of the video, for no real reason, the video breaks the fourth meal, I mean fourth wall.

I think seeing the director and all these other people working on filming four men packed into a tiny area, making faces, and singing about Mexican radio really does it for me.

The video ends with a title card.

Have I mentioned that I [love title cards](/posts/normal-people-with-lorde- royals/) in music videos? Because I do.

I can’t say I love this music video, but I sure do love packing them in.

-PTD