Mary “Matt”

1999-mary-mattGirl band Mary have “Matt”, an ode to a troubled skater boy. The video feels like it’s had some money put behind it. Shot in both black and white and in colour, the video has lush footage of Auckland after dark, with Matt and his pals skating around an empty car park building. It looks good, but it feels a quite busy, a little too much going on.

We meet Matt (tall, handsome, shaved head, wallet chain; one of those guys) and his lady, a messy blonde skater chick. The video puts the girl on a train which magically manages to seem like a subway carriage, rather than Auckland’s crappy suburban trains of the ’90s. There are a lot of great shots of Auckland streets and urban areas being skated all over.

The girl and Matt seem to have a caring but troubled relationship. “When are you coming out of your hole,” the chorus asks. Matt seems like the kind of dude who’s got a lot going on in his head and while having a girlfriend is nice, other things keep distracting him. There’s a sense that his hoon along K Road isn’t so much skating as fleeing.

But it’s ok. The Mary godmothers are there for him. “Just let us in on your eternal goal,” they implore. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a girl band with sweet harmonies pop up to prod you along in times of trouble?

By the way, the YouTube uploaders wrote this: “we got paid in chocolate for our skating.but hey it was fun!”

Best bit: Matt’s carefree skate along the K Road overbridge.

Director: Matt Palmer
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

One thought on “Mary “Matt””

  1. At the time many a teenybopper (OK, me) got confused as there was also the American gospel band Mary Mary getting airplay with ‘Shackles (Praise You)’. Back to the song, when has the K-Road overbridge ever looked so good? Tight cropping makes it look darn hear aerial, rather than the dark (and at night, scary) shitter of a stretch that I used to hate.

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