Videos do matter sometimes for songs... I know in my previous post I mentioned that the tune of the song and its lyrics make the biggest impact. I still stand by that. But recently I realized that the videos for the songs also matter.
Somwhere between my 6th grade and 9th grade, backstreet boys were really popular... especially among the boys in my batch. In fact, they were so popular, that it got on my nerves.... not the backstreet boys, but my class boys. All they needed was a mere announcement that there would be an event in which students were invited to perform, and voila.. you pretty much know what they are going to dance for... its either "everybody (backstreet's back)" or its "Get down (you're the one for me)". And we also knew exactly how they would choreograph the dance. Their choreography was good... but we had all seen it one too many times. The first time that we ever watched them perform, we were quite stunned because they were all good dancers and had done a good job by not lifting too many steps from the song. They were original. They became popular in school and after that the inevitable happened. Every other person dancing for these songs copied their steps. It almost became a religion! The originality was lost.
I think it was last year... my parents got me a backstreet boys CD with their greatest hits. I loved every song in it! I used to listen to the entire CD again and again in a huge never ending loop... well.... ALMOST the entire CD. I used to skip "everybody (backstreet's back)" and "Get down". No prizes for those who guessed that was coming! It just reminded me again and again of the cold-blooded murder of good choreography that the guys in my batch had exhibited.
I never had cable TV at home. I never watched MTV, Channel V or any other music channel. Only about 2 or 3 years back, we got cable at home and even then I used to visit those channels very rarely. I had never seen the original videos for those two songs... I saw the video for "everybody" just a few months back when an extremely shocked clueless heard that I never saw the original video. So we sat and watched the entire video... I liked it very much! It was so completely different from the "backstreet boys" of my school! I thought it was quite cool.
After God only knows how long, I listened to my Backstreet Boys CD today... and found that I really did not feel like skipping those songs! Just one video was enough for me to change my mind about the song.
After this little discovery of mine, I flipped through my entire song collection to see if there were any other CDs that found their way to the collection just because they had a good video... whats the answer???? 50% of them are in my collection because the songs had some awesome videos which totally complimented the song! The videos influence my mind (by about 5% I guess) in the CD shop as I stand debating whether or not to buy the CD. Even though it is only a 5% influence... it is enough to tip the balance to one side! The rest found their way into my collection because they have awesome tunes for which my mind creates amazing videos! But whether it was because the videos created by the artists were great or because my own imaginative videos were awesome... I realized one thing...
VIDEOS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!! They either make you love the song... or hate it or in some cases.. just ignore it!!
3 comments:
I've also have never had cable tv so I don't really know many music videos. But yes, I do agree that teenagers can be really original in their dance moves. It was like that back in my secondary school too! More than once I had to be the one dancing with the rest of the big group. It was horrible cos I have two left feet so I most probably made the dance look terrible haha. I love watching people dance but if you ask me to dance, I'll just embarrass both myself and the person who asked me to dance :p
Aah, so true. Videos are a big influence, but most of the times, they don't really affect my judgment of the songs. It's different for different people I guess...but even after watching pathetic videos like 'Superman' and 'Ironic' (sorry about the AM bashing, but I really really really hated that video...it had so much potential!! Wasted potential, now...*sigh*), I'm still able to enjoy the songs. I'm more into lyrics and the tune...but one some levels, I totally agree; videos can enhance the speciality of the song.
I wish I could make up a list of all the music videos I like...it would be quite interesting!! Hmmm..must give that some thought.. :)
And Anna, I'd LOVE to see you dance...just occured to me that I haven't actually seen you do much more than a wiggle!! But if I judge by what I saw at China Black, I wouldn't say you're a bad dancer at all!!! You're pretty groovy, baby!!! ;)
My Word Verification : wtfice. Seems like somebody put too much ice in my drink!! Hee!! :D
#ann@
I am sure you are a gr8 dancer!!!! Someday we'll see ya rock!!! then everyone will wanna dance with u!!! ;) :D
#clueless
I guess different ppl are affected at different levels with reagrds to music videos. U know me. I was also disappointed with Superman and Ironic.. but I also still love 'em!!!! Videos just happen to be that factor which help u decide whether or not to buy the CD in the music shop.
superb word verification! why don't i ever get stuff like that???? Mine is just "gagcqrxm".... sounds like someone's choking in a weird manner!!! Then swearing of course!
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