I don't like music videos - most of them, anyway. Per Joe Jackson, I don't like them for the following reason:
• Devaluation of music.The preceding blockquote is taken from a "Video Clips: A Personal View" article that Jackson wrote in the mid-1980s, which I encourage you to read in its entirety (thanks, The In Crowd).
Though a live musical performance often contains an element of visual showmanship, music itself is an art form that is experienced with the ears, not the eyes. Being forced to associate forever a preconceived set of images with a particular song robs the listener of the ability to use his own imagination. It also tends to kill the potential of a song to evoke special feelings, memories, and associations for the individual listener.
If a song can't stand by itself - as its own 'organic experience', shall we say - without some cheesy video to accompany it, then it shouldn't be recorded in the first place. If you can't listen to music without some sort of visual complement thereto, then I would question whether you really are a music fan.
YouTube video taxonomy
In the previous post, I noted that I now stream music at YouTube, and praised YouTube's music offerings - how do I reconcile this with my dislike for music videos?
As it happens, not all YouTube music videos are created equal; there are at least five types of backdrop for a song:
(1) Sometimes all you get is a still photo of the front cover of the album on which the song appears: see, for example, this page for "Thumbelina" from the Pretenders' Learning to Crawl.
(2) Sometimes you get a video that writes out the song's lyrics on a solid-color background: see, for example, this page for "Out of the Shadows" from Sarah McLachlan's Touch.
(3) Sometimes you get an image montage of some sort: see, for example, this page for "The Song of Solomon" from Kate Bush's The Red Shoes.
(4) Sometimes you get an
officialvideo: see, for example, this page for the title track of The Cars' Panorama.
(5) Sometimes you get a homemade video: see, for example, this page for "The Itchy Glowbo Blow" from the Cocteau Twins' Blue Bell Knoll.
Brief commentary
(1) I can't complain about the still photo 'videos' because, of course, they're not really videos at all.
(2) I like reading a lyric sheet while listening to music so I'm not going to complain about the lyrics videos either.
(3) Hard-core fans will like a photo montage of an artist but if I were the artist I would find it somewhat creepy/obsessive.
("Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you" - you didn't think that was a love song, did you?)
(4) In the "Panorama" video we are treated to scenes of Ric and the boys running around like a bunch of idiots. Who thought this up? How much did it cost? Did the band have 'fun' doing it? What a waste, in every way.
I don't mean to single out The Cars: the overwhelming majority of official music videos make my skin crawl. However, here's one I like.
(5) I don't care for homemade videos either, but I'm going to cut shum65 some slack because (a) he does go to the trouble of making his own videos and (b) his videos do capture the otherworldly feel of the Cocteau Twins' music.
To sum up, YouTube music videos should be judged on a case-by-case basis; for a bad video, you always have the option of minimizing the page and just listening to the song.
Grooveshark update
As of this writing, the Grooveshark farewell message is still in place, the http://grooveshark.li/ site hasn't been shut down (yet), and there haven't been any new entries at the whymusicmatters.com blog since the last time I checked (hmmm...).
Before leaving the Grooveshark topic behind once and for all, I would like to finally thank Grooveshark for curating very good collections of progressive rock songs and post-punk songs and for introducing me to Strawberry Switchblade and Wild Sweet Orange.
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