Remembering the 90s...Music Videos

I first discovered MTV in the 90s. Once the 21st century hit, I had peeled off into other interests, and if I hit up the MTV Channel post-90s I usually get bombarded with some rapper I don't know decorated in "bling" or some odd band whose acoustics don't really tickle my fancy.

I'm not some geezer reminiscing on "Sonatra days" but I do have a repertoire of "Old School" music videos by which I felt utterly entranced by in the early 90s. In addition to watching a music video being something "somewhat rebellious", going back and revisiting them and understanding the underlying message of a lot of them has felt extremely rewarding.

Some of these I claim "utterly awesome" because of their visual story, or maybe I owned the album and liked seeing the band, or maybe I just liked the tune, but they all embody and quintessentially capture the 90s music scene. In any case, Here's my top ten list not in any specific order:

1. Men without Hats. The Safety Dance
   This is such a goofy (but appropriate) music video for this song. I had never heard of the band, nor the song, but this I definitely caught multiple times channel surfing in my teens as one of the weirdest (but still acceptable) videos of all time.
   
   
2. Blind Melon. No Rain.
   The first music item I ever purchased (as a tape cassette at the time!). This definitely had to make the cut. The bee girl on the album cover as well as the "hippie in the field" scene set, in addition to being just a great song, all were emblazoned on my mind.
   
   
3. Collective Soul. The World I Know.
   While these guys certainly aren't "boring", I did put on their album almost every night in highschool to fall asleep to. The actor in this music video kind of irritates you, but I knew the song and the video certainly has a moving quality to it.
   
   
4. Soundgarden. Black Hole Sun.
   Creepy? Yes. Disturbing? Fairly. On MTV about every other 5 videos during the 90s? Yep. Don't really like the Soundgarden band but if you ever watched the MTV channel, this definitely always seemed to be on the air.
   
   
5. Dave Matthews Band. Ants Marching.
   This isn't the original video, which wasn't that good in the first place. But still a great 90s song.
   
   
6. Green Day. Basket Case.
   If there existed one quintessential classic 90s song, I think it would have to be this song. Although many a great band exist, green Day might even be The quintessential 90s band. I just think of Green Day when I think of 90s music. Their unruly music and boisterous video definitely made you feel a bit "rebellious" watching it as a teen.
   
   
7. Prodigy. Breathe.
   . Almost an angry song, it definitely has the creepfest flavor to it like Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", but the band put a huge amount of time into this video. It's well-choreographed and memorable.
   
   
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers. Love Roller-coaster.
   This definitely makes the cut for 2 key reasons: 1)Love rollercoast is an absolutely fantastic song and 2)Beavis and Butthead just "wreak" of 90s music. I remember first discovering the MTV Tv show with a great computer friend in California and it definitely fell in the category of one of those shows that if you're parents caught you watching it, they'd likely defenestrate the telly.
   
   
9. Joan Osborne. What if God was One of Us.
   . Hideously (and humorously) mocked by Austin Powers, this video definitely sparked a good interconnected vibe and captured a lot of 90s music videos.
   
   
10. Sugar Ray. Fly.
    This kind of reggae-ish pop music was completely novel to my ears.
    
    
11. Goo Goo Dolls. Iris.
    No, you never saw the actual movie this soundtrack covered, but the music video was on all the time!
    
    
12. Sheryl Crowe. All I Wanna Do.
    . Old School Sheryl Crowe before her unique musical creases and quirks got smoothed over (and dulled) by pop culture hype. Good stuff.
    
    
13. Run DMC. It's Like That.
    Just WATCH this video. I think I tried to record this the first time I saw this (probably 7th grade) and it inspired me to nearly break my neck a few times attempting gold-medal-like gymnastic break-dancing moves, but this takes the cake by far for best dancing in a music video ever.
    
    
14. Beastie Boys. Sabotage & Intergalactic.
    
    Along with Dave Matthews, maybe Bush, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, only a few of these bands I actually still follow today. Beastie Boys is one of those. I see them live at Northerly Island in Autumn of 2007 and they were incredible. Mike D, at 40, looks, sings, and performs as if he's about late 20s. This is one of their classics.
    
    A few more "definitely 90s" songs (that didn't have embedding enabled):
    
    
15. Tom Petty.Into the Great Wide Open. Don't Come Around Here No More Sure Tom Petty (and this video, specifically) was definitely before the 90s, but I SAW this in the 90s, so that's what counts! There also exist greater songs by Petty, but this one's epic with the pink hat and storytelling sing-mode.
    
16. Ace of Base. Don't Turn Around. You don't particularly like the song, but it was always played and always on.
    
17. Bush. Comedown. Amazing song. Love the band. The elastic guitar chords (and cords) were the coolest, craziest thing I had seen at the time. Man, if you could pick one video that warped space-time this would top the charts.
    
18. Jamiroquoi. Virtual Insanity. The classic "gallon magician's chapeau" made this video. Very cool
    

Okay, so I ran a little bit over the "10" videos list, but hey, I kept finding the golden ones later down the line. Additionally, you've gotten an unfiltered sampler of the eclectic style and musical taste's of Validate Your Life!

Well, that about wraps it up. I'll likely amend this if I come across an old and memorable 90s music video. You really feel like you've unlocked some quality cognitive nuggets of your personal history after making such musical medley. I encourage anyone else who has a "good ol' days of music" concept, to chronicle their tastes as well. I'm positive that I vicariously lived out my musical rockstar fantasies through watching many of these videos, so they mean a lot.

Keith Richards on "Shine a Light"

This interview was hilarious. I don't think I've ever cracked up as much reading this. Why? A few reasons.

1. I think I just like hearing british people's responses. They're logic processes appeals to me.
   
2. I prefer articles where the epicenter of the article actually gets heard (i.e. an interview!) instead of some bloke author reporting on something I have an interest in. In other words. I have no idea who the article author "clark collins" is. nor do I care. You read something like this to see more about keith, so having his responses compose the bulk of hte article makes this read worthwhile. In other words, using this example, I want to hear from the horse's mouth what Keith, Mick, or Scorcese had to say about "Shine a LIght" (a movie I seriously want to watch), not some dude reporting on it expressing his views because then you have to filter out and extract subjective perspective. Same goes for any topic.
   
3. Keith's responses were just outrageously HILAROUS!
   

Keith's responses:

1. "You realize, Mick, that you've got five songs in the same key." What?! Why would he have five songs in the same key? I'd appreciate if a musician explained this to me.
2. "Mick is not very musical!" What?! lol. He's like pure music!
3. "Oh, I love film. D.W. Griffith, Hitchcock. William Wellman. I mean should I go on? I know my movies." LOL!! He lists like three of the most old school film-makers Do you realize ALL of those directors were born in the 1800s!! They did like all black and white!. Hysterical.
4. "I think the guy went mad. He's a frenchman. We can't help them." Totally royally hysterical.
   
5. "one of my friend,s in a way is bruce willis. I mean, terrible movies. We know that. But a great harmonic player." What?! Great actor!. hilarious.
6. " That's why you paid for the dinner, eh?" Johnny bought him dinner b/c who used sparrow's character traits modeled from keith? How's dinner fit into that? haha.
7. "No, but there are certain chicks." (about missing years from his noggin). That one I get. So funny.
   

Beastie Boys at Northerly Island

Awesome show. Period.

Eras of Music

• 750-1820 – Classical – balance and structure
• 1820-1900 – Romantic – emotional, large, programmatic
• Beyond 1900 – 20th Century – limitless

• 750-1820 – Classical – balance and structure
• 1820-1900 – Romantic – emotional, large, programmatic
• Beyond 1900 – 20th Century – limitless

I'm currently bouncing between classical and romantic music. 20th century -- limitless is where I'm headed bay-baby!

Lennon was not a Sculptor

Sinead O’Connor says “We all loved John Lennon better for all the mad things he did – the way he was interested in just tearing open the sky. He was definitely the sexiest of the Beatles because he was angry and edgy. And look at what he did with his fame. He didn’t use it to suck [up] and get more money and be liked by everybody. In fact, that’s the powe rof John Lennon to me: he was real. Even in the songs, he was never afraid to show that he was a bit of a bastard, that he had a nasty side to him like the rest of us do. He stood up and showed that, no matter what, you’ve got to be your frickin’ self” (Giles 64).

Some say that "the beatles split when Yoko sunk her claws into John. Most of his post-beatles work was crap. It was diabolical" (Giles 64). Or that "Ono is commonly accused of having sabotaged her husband's gifts; how she worked her black magic on McCartney is unclear" (Giles 68). But what is more realistic? Lennon's wife was some black sorceress witch doctor woman intent on defiling his music to make him less successful, or he simply had a slump and his fans where to fanatical to admit that it was of his own doing? Ono could have certainly have had a bad impact on Lennon, maybe even done some things to purposefully derail if wicked run of generation-defining music, but it's not too far-fetched to say he drifted a bit on his own, too. The point is that he made great music that perpetuates; it was great then, is great now, and will be great later on.

It’s important to note that singers like Mick Jagger painted an even more rebellious “bad boy” image than Lennon. Compared to Mick, Lennon was a momma’s boy. But this is not a rebellion contest. The point is that Mick, Lennon, Springstein and many other successful musicians weren’t trying to be bad boys. They weren’t out there trying to sculpt themselves into an image of rebel with plaster and a societal chisel. No, instead they just laid it on the line. They spoke their voice and made sure it was heard regardless of whether or not people would accept their message, kill their message, rejoice because of their message. They were masters of authenticity because they didn’t try to sculpt. Society sculpted them into how we describe them today, but their level of authenticity demands so much more attention because of the level of certainty it creates.



Giles, Jeff. “Lennon Lives” Time. November, 2006.