| Blur---No Distance To Run | Underworld---King Of Snake |
| Stereolab---The Free Design | Iggy Pop ---Corruption |
---Reviewed by John Kane
Quite funny, but maybe
not intentionally, this video from the increasingly less interesting Brit
Pop band Blur has cameramen filming the foursome sleeping. After the guys
blather about how nervous or not they are about seeing themselves in the
dreaming state the melancholy song starts and we get to see the guys snooze
and that's pretty much it. Guess what, rockstars don't sleep any different
then we do! We get shots of them tossing and turning, rubbing their faces,
drooling... I suppose if I were some popscene girl (or boy for that matter)
I might be able to get some sordid fetish kick out of watching Damon Albarn
sleeping shirtless but I'm not and all I could think was that it can't really
be like this for him. I mean the whole reason someone becomes a rockstar
is so they can buy enough drugs and alcohol that they can stay up all night
and when they do crash there is always someone warm to share their bed.
There is a good bit at the end though where a sleepy Damon tries to explain
what his song's about and ends up creating a self-serious rockstar moment
worthy of Spinal Tap. 
---Reviewed by John Kane
While
liking Stereolab's catchy songs, I have to admit that they can be pretentious
art wankers. But luckily this video, while being something pretentious art
wankers would make, is cute and endearingly nostalgic. Shot in black and
white, with scratches added to give it the illusion of being from the early
days of cinema, we're presented with Indonesian shadow puppet theater. There's
the lead singer as a moon goddess intertwined with other ghosts flying around
a magic lantern starry sky background. Towards the end of the video the
puppets give way to the silhouette of a naked stripper (I love how they
chose someone with a bit of fat to maintain the old days theme) intercut
with a skeleton and a phallic rocket shooting into the sky and meeting the
moon. I fear they might be trying to make a statement about sex and death
and how there is no "free design" but I just ignore that part,
sit back, and watch the pretty pictures. ---Reviewed by John Kane
At
every show or club there's always that one guy dancing way too excitedly
all by himself. You know, the Spaz. This video is centered entirely around
such a man. Looking like a fatter and older Deiter from Mike Meyers' Sprockets
sketches, the Spaz shows you all his dancing moves as a typically entrancing
Underworld song plays. Flailing limbs, weird hand gestures, spooky writhing
of a disturbingly sexual nature, all the standard Spaz dance moves are here
for your viewing enjoyment. The nice thing about this video is despite the
fun it pokes at the Spaz, it does give him a certain dignity. Anybody allowing
themselves to be filmed making an ass of themselves has to be respected.
Whether he's sweating pounds, fogging up his glasses, or appearing uncertain
about what to do during the spoken word part of the song, the Spaz is ready
and willing to give his all to make this video memorable. And he succeeds.
Further proof that the key to the best videos is simplicity. ---Reviewed by John Kane
Two suburban kids, of the jaded snot-nose variety, are doing that holiest
of suburban acts: zoning out in front of the TV set. Channel surfing away
the kids get an eyeful of what I suppose are examples of corruption---violent
news footage, world leaders (Boris Yeltsin, Bill and Monica), silicone-enhanced
bikini-clad women, cigarette ads, that Heaven's Gate guy, and of course
the latest Iggy Pop video. Things that if I were I still a kid I would consider
fun and cool. For these kids though, it's just more of the same, not enough
to even make them blink. It's the standard corrupt world desensitizing the
young line, to which all I can say is blah. What's always been exciting
about Iggy Pop is that he's never seemed to give a damn about the world
and what's going on in it. His anger is more internally based, at the risk
of sounding pretentious I'd even use the word existential. Anyone out there
remember his song 1969 where instead of caring about the social changes
and struggles of the time he just sees it as another year with nothing to
do? Maybe it was a self-centered viewpoint, nihilistic, but at least it
was vital, passionate. Which this video isn't. One thing I was impressed
with---Iggy's muscled out physique. At fifty plus it has to be said the
man's in great shape.