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A few days back, I saw an interview with Trent Reznor on MTV's Most Controversial Videos.
He looked like a NERD.
Really.
MTV's Most Controversial Videos was a masterpiece, in that in 120 minutes of a show they managed to avoid showing a single video in its entirety. And they used that irritating camera technique that I first saw on The Lick: constant cutting to a camera that the talking head isn't talking to, random switches to black and white, and for fuck's sake can't anyone hold a camera upright these days? Most of the "controversial" videos were utterly tame, especially since the number one video - Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up - has been shown repeatedly on late-night MTV despite repeated comments on this show to the effect that it was only shown for one week. Smack My Bitch Up has actual nudity in it; of the 20 vids, it was the only one, I think, about which you could say that.
Trent™ was commenting on Closer, which is easily my favourite NIN track; the video was a bit freaky, but I've seen freakier on MTV. I dunno, maybe we get treated more like responsible adults on this side of the pond, in that it's up to us whether we want to watch tits and gore on TV or not, rather than the broadcasters. Within a certain amount of some sort of reason, anyway. I think the rule of thumb goes that you can show what you like if you make out that you're disgusted by it and it's for scientific purposes or something.
Despite the presence of NIN, the Crow soundtrack does not have the same soothing effect on my driving state of mind as The Downward Spiral did. Further investigation required. Mind you, there's a lot to be said for sitting in bumper to bumper traffic with the sunroof open and Ghostrider rattling the windows of the cars around you.
I caught the tail end of a live Blink 182 performance this evening on MTV's Stalker, er, sorry, Fanatic. It confirms what I thought about them after reading the Mixerman saga: there's no way they can possibly be as good live as they are on the album. The album harmonies are just too perfect. But jeez. The guitarist played the one track I saw with either the E or the A string out of tune, and obviously so - I'm not being a musical asshole [1] or anything. The bass player more than made up for it, though; he was strumming chords on the bass toward the end of the song. The guy must be able to crack walnuts with his fingers.
I suspect Sum 41 would be similar live - again, their studio stuff is way too perfect.
[1] "Did I ever tell you the story about the man who taught his asshole to sing?" - with apologies to WSB.
He looked like a NERD.
Really.
MTV's Most Controversial Videos was a masterpiece, in that in 120 minutes of a show they managed to avoid showing a single video in its entirety. And they used that irritating camera technique that I first saw on The Lick: constant cutting to a camera that the talking head isn't talking to, random switches to black and white, and for fuck's sake can't anyone hold a camera upright these days? Most of the "controversial" videos were utterly tame, especially since the number one video - Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up - has been shown repeatedly on late-night MTV despite repeated comments on this show to the effect that it was only shown for one week. Smack My Bitch Up has actual nudity in it; of the 20 vids, it was the only one, I think, about which you could say that.
Trent™ was commenting on Closer, which is easily my favourite NIN track; the video was a bit freaky, but I've seen freakier on MTV. I dunno, maybe we get treated more like responsible adults on this side of the pond, in that it's up to us whether we want to watch tits and gore on TV or not, rather than the broadcasters. Within a certain amount of some sort of reason, anyway. I think the rule of thumb goes that you can show what you like if you make out that you're disgusted by it and it's for scientific purposes or something.
Despite the presence of NIN, the Crow soundtrack does not have the same soothing effect on my driving state of mind as The Downward Spiral did. Further investigation required. Mind you, there's a lot to be said for sitting in bumper to bumper traffic with the sunroof open and Ghostrider rattling the windows of the cars around you.
I caught the tail end of a live Blink 182 performance this evening on MTV's Stalker, er, sorry, Fanatic. It confirms what I thought about them after reading the Mixerman saga: there's no way they can possibly be as good live as they are on the album. The album harmonies are just too perfect. But jeez. The guitarist played the one track I saw with either the E or the A string out of tune, and obviously so - I'm not being a musical asshole [1] or anything. The bass player more than made up for it, though; he was strumming chords on the bass toward the end of the song. The guy must be able to crack walnuts with his fingers.
I suspect Sum 41 would be similar live - again, their studio stuff is way too perfect.
[1] "Did I ever tell you the story about the man who taught his asshole to sing?" - with apologies to WSB.