"Black or White" (Complete Panther Version) -- a music video retrospective

For my very first retrospective on a music video from yesteryear, I wanted to do something special. Maybe show a normal person something old with a twist--something rare and glorious. Maybe something that would make you say "holy wow". I searched and searched, and I think I have it. I wanted to start on the right foot. I hope it doesn't set a high bar for the rest. Michael Jackson.

John Landis, the director of arguably the best music video of the 80's ("Thriller"), was tasked again with showing Michael Jackson to the masses in 1991. He knew the pressure was on and he had to go all out. Not only was this video to simultaneously premiere on (America's) MTV and BET, but even FOX was in on the prime time action. (You may remember also seeing "Remember the Time" on CBS in primetime the next year). If you were old enough to remember, you know that MJ was an untouchable star in the late eighties and early nineties.

As for cameos, there are many. Most people could tell you that Macaulay Culkin is the featured actor, but Cheers' own George Wendt, along with Homer and Bart Simpson, Tess Harper, Peggy Lipton and even a young Tyra Banks are part of the complete package. What a motley crew! But actors are one thing--what about content?



There's a good chance you've seen the Culkin intro and the meat of the edited video at some point in your life. Basically, there are 3 parts to the edit: a fed up kid blasting his father through the roof with a loud guitar, Michael cavorting around with lots of ethnic groups/nationalities, and a morphing scene that "blends" a bunch of people's faces into one another. The main theme is racial equality and stuff. There is also a little urban rap segment, but that is really not a big deal. What is the big deal is the last segment of the long unedited version.

The camera cuts the morphing scene, and a melanistic jaguar (black panther) leads us to a vacant street in the night. The jaguar then morphs into a cooler-than-Christ spotlit Michael. What then ensues is unbelievable. It can be best described as: a choreographed solo dance becoming an orgy of violence. I am not kidding, you just have to see the whole thing play out. There is a lot of crotch touching.



Michael begins slamdancing/tapdancing and then goes apeshit on a car and breaks the glass of a nearby store/hotel. Pantherrrrr raaaaage! After a decent amount of fan outrage (for Jackson standards), graffiti was superimposed on an altered version of the video. The windows now read "No More Wetbacks" and "Hitler Lives" (to go with the equality theme, you know). You may be able to hunt down the non-graffiti version, but it is super rare.

I think the seminal rage moment is when Michael reaches into the glass-smashed car, grabs the steering wheel and throws it at a window with the graffito "KKK Rules". The two best parts about this are: the groan when Mike throws the wheel, and the fact that some inner city artist spray-painted anything about the Ku Klux Klan. And that alone is worth the price of admission.



Try to watch it and think only of the video, song, and not the press surrounding the artist (you know, he's turning 51 this year, and his farewell concerts are this summer).

Video facts
Length: 11:15
Director: John Landis
Date: November 1991
Est. Cost: $1.2 million (ref)
Links:
* http://www.steveprutz.com/downloads.html
* http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/18164/black_or_white_long_version_.jhtml
* http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=14151
* http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/16/arts/review-rock-new-video-opens-the-jackson-blitz.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
* http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,316363,00.html
* http://community.michaeljackson.com/us/videos

I do not wish to bash Michael Jackson in any way here, now or ever. He is a visionary to say the least. I envy his legendary dance skills. But, why did he need a solo dance scene at the end of an already overblown video? That is all I have to say on the subject of "Black or White". I guarantee MJ will appear a few more times before I leave the music videos to another lost soul.

Go buy the HIStory - The Video Greatest Hits DVD and enjoy this gem forever!!!

To submit ideas for Retrospective articles, or to just chat about the obscure and esoteric, contact me here.

>> Check the music video & artist name labels for more posts on music video masterpieces!

[All images are © their respective owners.]

On music videos (Part 2)

I guess the best place to begin starts with the explosion of creativity in the mid-20th century. At one point, a performance video became a concept video. You can catch up on that on Wikipedia. My story begins with the birth of Music Television (MTV) in 1981. Music video was the greatest invention in music since the advent of sound recording. It was a whole other dimension to consume and digest, and it had a fucking channel all to itself. MTV shaped the music world. Do you think "99 Luftballoons" or gangsta rap would have had their explosiveness without the medium?

I was born two months after the station's famed launch, but that makes no difference. When I became old enough to really understand the world around me (1986), is when the experience began. A few videos from that time really define the moment for me.



"Open Your Heart" is (I think) what started to get me interested. It may seem funny, but I was drawn to this Madonna... this stripping singer of sorts. You may want to re-watch the video to see what I mean. I didn't have any hormones really running at the time, but I knew sex when I saw it. It was Madonna in her Sean Penn/hat wearing phase. Maybe I thought I was that little kid in the story. It's kinda creepy, I must say. I always remember I looked out for the ending, because the building where Madonna's peep show was going on had a big voluptuous woman on the top... with blue lights as nipples. Damn, she has some good videos.



Or maybe it was David Lee Roth's "California Girls" vid. Just an absolute spectacle of women and theatrics. Later, his "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" and even "Just Like Paradise" would tattoo my brain with excessive debauchery that was the sign of the times. Good stuff.


I can also totally remember "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" as a kid, too. The Beasties jumping on the couch is iconic.

George Michael shaking his ass with a jukebox also comes to mind ("Faith").

Music Television played a huge part in my childhood and adolescence. It also left and then came back into my life. My hometown's only cable company stopped broadcasting MTV in the late 80's. They (the conservative Southern Baptist monopoly) were fed up with the Motley Crue-types drinking and banging in our living rooms. I was irate. It eventually came back on, to the point where I missed GNR and the whole grunge scene, and got backwash.... I think it was 1994 when it was "allowed" back on. Coincidentally, most of my favorite albums come from that same year.

The MTV engine grinded to a halt around 1998. The channel had recently moved from Los Angeles to New York City. Instead of invigorating ideas and videos, we got a daily dose of non-music. I can't blame the city... maybe the channel was doomed all by itself. One of the last bastions of the network's music shows, MTV Live (which mostly rocked), had devolved into TRL. This was the end of network credibility.

Now, the only music videos you see on the station are during a reality show's credits, or at 3 AM (at which time they play only 10 recent videos on repeat ad nauseum). Sigh.

At one point in college, I had the sensibility and bandwidth to start preserving the music video memories I so loved. Using mIRC, Napster clones and the like, I got a heavy dose of the classic, the obscure and the rare. I started reading music video blogs and websites, and watching at least one new video a day. I started making DVDs to watch away from my computer. About 23 GB later, my collection only has a handful of missing pieces from the days of yore. So, get ready to experience some new and old novelties!

On music videos (Part 1)

I have a special, special relationship with the art of music videos. I have a gigantic collection on my hard drive, and it's all quality.

Some of my first memories of the medium are videos by Belinda Carlisle, Beastie Boys, Van Halen and of course Weird Al. It was Music Television in its heyday, and the channel instilled a love of music and cinematography... that I cannot get on that station anymore.


I am not sure if I will be doing one video at a time, or one theme at a time or what. But, be sure you will definitely see stories about the rise and fall of MTV, directors, the legend of Madonna (and others who always understood the power of the medium) and various eclectic tracks you may have never seen before. Sometimes I may go forward, sometimes backward.


So, it's time to get down to the business and namesake of this blog... stay tuned.

Life as a Music Video

Hi.

I decided to change my blog name to something more catchy. One day you will be old enough to understand. Stay tuned for more on the theme.

Best of the Year 2008: Music Videos

Annually StevePrutz.com reviews some pop culture and ranks a best in categories like film, music and television. This year is expanded to include critiques. This.... is.... 2008!

Last year was rich with artistic and unique music videos, many by new contestants. But in 2008, the perennial favorites have come back. With the launch of mtvmusic.com, there is a sense of nostalgia in the air. Old bands that make good video art are back for one more round. And, it seems that Grindhouse is more inspirational than critics originally thought! No Rickrolls here!


Coldplay: "Viva la Vida" (Version 2) [dir. Anton Corbijn]
If you don't know already, this is a tribute to the original video of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence", a concept that that band hated. But, Corbijn's idea of a "king who is looking for a quiet place to sit" was brilliant. Instead of a beach chair this time around, the King is toting a painting and a sad expression.
Killer scene: Now he's got a boombox??? (1:53)
Yawn moment: I don't want to see the band ooh-ing the outro. (3:53)



Beck: "Youthless" [dir. Kris Moyes]
This music video shows that there are about 100 ways to depict Beck Hansen's head using art. We get stop-motion animation of stuff that looks like it came from the Neverending Story or Nightmare Before Christmas. All interesting.
Killer scene: Leatherface Beck! (2:08)
Yawn moment: That ghost looks nothing like him! (2:11)



Santogold: "LES Artistes" [dir. Nima Nourizadeh]
This is some surreal blood and guts. Basically this is all the violence an American could hope for, with no real bloodshed. The opening shot of the video (pictured) is just marvelous.
Killer scene: Stomping the melon-head (2:06)
Yawn moment: Stop crying that you're wet! More violence! (2:37)



MGMT: "Time to Pretend" [dir. Ray Tintori]
Every new band should wish for a video like this: something that perfectly describes their sound and theme. The special effects here are cheap, but do their job. Psychedelic!
Killer scene: The zebra feast. (1:33)
Yawn moment: Does the dolphin explosion really need to be in this vid? (3:40)


***** 2008 BEST VIDEO *****

Metallica: "All Nightmare Long" [dir. Roboshobo]
Twelve years after their last notable video, the old guard of speed metal return with a Soviet-zombie documentary. In metal, there are lots of music videos that try to mix horror and cool imagery with a song, but only Metallica has the budget to pull it off right.

The band is missing from the set (thank god) and replaced by a Russian scientist recalling the (oft-discussed-in-paranormal-circles) Tunguska event in Siberia. In this alternate history, it seems the Soviets have found something that could help them destroy capitalism once and for all. Animation and live action both help the plot. There's also this excerpt about chemtrails from a man in Stamps, Arkansas, which is pointless but intriguing.
Killer scene: at the crescendo of the song, the Commie robots appear! (7:08)
Yawn moment: the bad cat CGI (3:12)


****HONORABLE MENTIONS****
Bjork: "Wanderlust" [dir. Encyclopedia Pictura]
This took 9 months of post-production to get the special effects just right. The water is cool, but I wouldn't ride a buffalo down it with a haunted backpack.

Oasis: "Shock of the Lightning" [dir. Julian House and Julian Gibbs]
This stock footage interspersed with album art video is surprisingly good.

Sammy Hagar: "Cosmic Universal Fashion" [dir. Todd Gallopo and Zan Passante]
Trying to re-capitalize on 1992's "Right Now" video, Hagar gives viewers updates on current affairs and new (but cheap looking) stock footage.

Yeasayer: "Wait for the Summer" [dir. Mixtape Club]
The effects are super, but why such an obsession with the apple?

The Blizzards: "The Reason" [dir. Chris Sayer and Jason Arber]
Reminiscent of the effects of Muse's "Invincible", the story is about a 90-ft-tall female monster babe and the man who can't take his eyes off her.

ANJ: "Gorbachov" [dir. Tom Stern]
This international entry comes from Mother Russia (and it took me a few viewings to realize it was sung in English). But, the song is secondary to the video, which depicts buxom babes being attacked by undead communists! The protagonist, a shirtless, axe-wielding Mikhail Gorbachev runs in to save the day, just like in real life!

Flying Lotus: "Parisian Goldfish" [dir. Eric Wareheim]
Simple, tasteless; flashing lights.

1. OTHER BEST OF THE YEAR 2008 SELECTIONS