TunesWeek: the ’90s video that changed the world
Part 5 in a series. Once upon a time there was Def Leppard and Motley Crue and Skid Row. Then this video happened and that, as they say, was that.
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TunesWeek: ’90s video and Spike Jonze
Part 4 in a series. It sometimes seemed like MTV in the 1990s was little more than a video résumé for one Adam Spiegel, aka Spike Jonze. He seemed to be the guy directing all the damned videos, and some of the era’s most inventive concepts were his. Here’s a sample. Up first, let’s watch some television. Like, that time when
Read moreTen years ago this week the Dixie Chicks controversy erupted: I’m still not ready to back down
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. ― Theodore Roosevelt On March 10, 2003, at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire theatre in London, Natalie Maines stepped to the microphone and said this:
Read moreTunesWeek: the artistic side of ’90s video
Part 3 in a series. Our first couple of installments in the series where characterized by rage, I suppose. So today let’s step away from the anger and look at videos of a more artistic bent. First up, the video I’ve always sort of regarded as the best ever: “Dirt,” by Death in Vegas. Avant gardiste to its core, and very
Read moreTunesWeek: ’90s video goes political
Part 2 in a series. The Reagan/Thatcher years were marked by an utterly bizarre shiny/happy pastel sheen spread liberally across a decidedly apocalyptic doom. Listen to songs like “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “Forever Young” and “It’s a Mistake” (and watch the videos). The aesthetic seemed to be “we’re all going to die in a nuclear holocaust, of
Read moreTunesWeek: our favorite videos of the 1990s, pt. 1 (NSFW)
Part 1 in a series. In the 1980s, video killed the radio star. In the 2000s, MTV, Millennials and a whole new wave of mobile technology killed video. In between, though, we had the ’90s, the golden age of the form. While the ’80s were about pioneering a new genre of short film built around pop and rock songs, the ’90s
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