A fluffy bra, nightclub, a prison, a derelict swimming pool, three lifts and an escalator.
Continue reading Found videos from 1997
Tag: Steve Morrison
Found videos from 1996
Loads of found videos from 1996, featuring cameo appearances from three bright young actors, Stella as a grunge band, double Annie Crummer and Strawpeople, and some political pop.
Dam Native “The Son”
Che Fu teams up with Dam Native and they all look good in sharp menswear. The song combines Dam Native’s beats and rhymes with Che’s smooth vocals, and the video directed by Steve Morrison picks up on this.
But there’s another aspect to the video – it’s proudly Maori. Che and the longer-haired Dam Native guys have their haired pulled back in a traditional topknot, adorned with feathers.
It’s a more modern version of the similar style used in the group’s earlier video for “Behold My Kool Style”. Both take their inspiration from the cover art of Dam Native’s debut album, “Kaupapa Driven Rhymes Uplifted”, which sees the group positng with a tokotoko. Originally a walking stick, the tokotoko is now more commonly used as an oratory prop, and it’s this use that fits perfectly into Dam Native’s world of hip hop.
According to John Pain who worked on the video, “The Son” also takes stylish inspiration from the cover of the 1958 LP “Ramsey Lewis and his Gentlemen of Jazz“.
It’s a really handsome video. Every frame is perfectly framed, with a very photographic feel. The video is lit in rich reds and browns, with works perfectly with the uplifting lyrics of the song – the son will always shine.
Best bit: the breakdancing headspin.
Director: Steve Morrison
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Next… one man and his pole.
Bressa Creeting Cake “Papa People”
Bressa Creeting Cake knew how to make good crazy videos. We meet a young woman having a tearful conversation with her lover, a giant weta. Actually, not a giant weta as in the 10cm species of weta; this weta is as big as a man.
Mr Weta has ditched her and she is utterly heartbroken. She thinks back to the good times they spent together. Days at the beach, dining on lobster at a fancy restaurant. Oh, such wonderful times.
She figures the only way she can win back her insectoid lover is to become like him. So she heads off to her local mad scientist and is injected with a strange green liquid, which turns her into a human-weta hybrid. What weta wouldn’t want a piece of that, etc.
Is a happy reunion on the cards? No, it turns out the weta has actually been rooting a pig while a horse watches. What an arsehole. We don’t see the woman discover this, but – in human form – she wanders a strange room where the walls are covered with projections of maggots.
Over on NZ On Screen, Geoff Creeting is quoted as saying, “In the end I don’t think anyone really gets the story.” Well, the ending puzzles me a little, but as a whole, the video is like a surreal chapter from “He’s Just Not Into You”. There’s a valuable lesson in there about being yourself.
Best bit: the mad scientist enjoying a fish and chips meal before he starts on his new assignment.
Director: Steve Morrison
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Next… the mysteries of the Orient.
Thorazine Shuffle “Harry”
I used to hear this song a lot in the mid-’90s. I was never quite sure what the lyrics were about, other than some fellow called Harry. Will the video shed more light on the mysterious Harry?
So, yep, there’s Harry, driving the band somewhere in his vintage car. Cool. Harry drops them off at a vintage shop, where a shop attendant files her nails. This is what bored shop attendants did in the days before Facebook.
Harry waits outside while the band do stuff in the shop. Has Harry employed the boys as his personal stylists, getting them to pick up some fresh threads? But oh dear – the band has been spotted, causing a flock of teen girls to surround the shop. Getting a shopfront worth of extras to appear in a music video is a great achievement. This must be what it’s like for One Direction every single day.
Is this about the music industry? An Aotearoan “Frankly Mr Shankly”? Harry is still a mystery. Perhaps it’s better that way.
Best bit: the lecherous guy outside the shop who rubs his nipple with excitement. What.
Director: Steve Morrison
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Next… one D and some puppets.
Semi Lemon Kola “Play Dumb”
Semi Lemon Kola always had a bit of a Red Hot Chili Peppers sound, and indeed it’s there even when they’re tackling a ballad. “Play Dumb” has that same serious Anthony Keidis ballad voice happening, complete with compressed vocals.
The video attempts a World War II theme, but it’s not quite an authentic period drama. In this World War II, glamorous women are also high-ranking military officials.
A non-military glamorous woman puts a record on the stereogram for a couple of officers, while up in the sky some aerial combat takes place. Any attempt at realism is dropped with the use of wobbly models for the aerial shots.
After a terrible crash, a soldier gets some badly applied bandages on his face, reminiscent of Metallica’s “One” video, only not as haunting.
But who is the enemy these brave soliders are fighting? Perhaps there is a clue in the lyrics – “I’m my own worst enemy. The only one I blame is myself.” Oh, it’s not Nazis they’re fighting; it’s the super-ego!
The video ends in more aerial combat, cuminating with a cheerful pilot who appears to drop a nuclear bomb on the Beehive. It’s not entirely clear why he does this, though it’s probably something to do with the government getting everyone down.
I dunno. New rule for music video production: stay away from the army surplus store.
Best bit: the glamourous lady plays the “Oceana Roll” record, a song that predates World War I. Get with it, grandma.
Director: Steve Morrison
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Next… a giant jar of Vaseline and a view.
Thorazine Shuffle “An Affair”
I’m getting a very strong Urge Overkill vibe – probably the suits, the hair and the theatrics.
The scene is set in a ballroom on a boat. But it’s a shipwrecked boat at the bottom of the sea, so therefore Aucklandic cool dudes Thorazine Shuffle are all ghosts, singing of the one thing that is haunting them in the afterlife, right?
In their finest suits, the band play up on stage, while in front of them the dancefloor is filled with guests in their finest eveningwear. Joel Tobeck plays the featured guest, jauntily dancing with a blonde-wigged woman.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah! We can have an affair!” sings the flame-haired eyeliner-wearing Josh Thorazine. He is doing his very best to tempt the object his desire into having an affair.
But who is this mystery person? It the blonde woman dancing with Mr Tobeck? Is it the goth chick who stares out from under a face full of hair? Or is it the dreadlocked barman who exchanges a few meaningful glances with the energetic lead singer?
Well, if they’re all ghosts, they’ll be trapped in this neverending nightmare forever, with the affair never happening until Ghost Joel learns that affairs are wrong.
Best bit: Joel Tobeck’s manic performance on the dance floor. He can dance, for inspiration.
Director: Steve Morrison
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision