Once of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you…
The popular music-performance show American Bandstand contains some of the most iconic live music performances from the mid-20th century by everyone from The Beach Boys to Michael Jackson to CCR.
One of the performances that I always find myself watching time and time again though is that of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” While numerous artists have tried covering her song in recent decades, nothing compares to the original performance, which is full of go-go dancing, foxy feminism.
Nancy Sinatra released “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” in 1966 and the catchy pop song immediately made it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts due to its girl-dominant lyrics, unique vocal structure, and notable bass line.
In her American Bandstand performance, a gathering of go-go girls parade around Nancy and brandish popular 60-themed dance moves as Nancy sings directly to the viewer while decked out in traditionally mod makeup, hair, and sequined dress.
The 60s were a decade for pushing the envelope and embracing free modes of expression and sexuality and this performance is no exception. The backup dancers don only sweaters and black underwear (borderline scandalous for a live television performance in the 60s!) and beginning at 1:45 of the performance they shift from their more traditional dance moves to a writhing, stripper-like dance performance (sans the actual stripping).
The performance is definitely just one example of the many ways that music television was used as a mode for pushing the generation’s buttons and moving us towards a more progressive acceptance of modern day society. This decade of pop music has female trend setters like Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj, and for a brief portion of the 60s, pop music had Nancy Sinatra.
Album Design- Fisheye Lens
Psych and punk rockers Ty Segall and Tim Presley/White Fence (White Fence is the side project of Presley’s Darker My Love) recently released the much lauded album Hair. The album cover features a sepia-toned, high-exposure contrasting photo of the two artists in fisheye lens form. Whether deliberately or not, the image is a nod to a number of other notable albums that incorporate the same photographic technique:
The Rolling Stones’ first compilation album, 1966’s Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
The US Cover of Jimi Hendrix’s 1967 album Are You Experienced
Kool and the Gang’s 1976 album Love & Understanding
The Smashing Pumpkins’ 1991 debut album Gish (My personal favorite of the fisheye lens variety)
Oasis’ 2005 album Don’t Believe the Truth
The “Imitation of Life” Revealed
I first discovered the art of music videos when I was in about 8th grade. Although I had witnessed random videos in the years prior, it didn’t really register to me until I was about thirteen or fourteen that music videos could serve as more than just a three minute segment of a dolled-up pop artist singing into a camera with pouty lips and a “come hither” gaze.
Instead, music videos could also serve as an ideal artistic medium, visually representing what instruments, lyrics, and voices could not express alone.
I’ve been hooked ever since.
While dozens of music videos were part of my morning-routine-playlist as I got ready for school circa 2000-2001, one video stands out in my memory as the most mesmerizing and hypnotizing music video of that time: R.E.M.’s “Imitation of Life.”
In the video, directed by Garth Jennings (Beck, Fatboy Slim, Vampire Weekend), Michael Stipe dances among an elaborate backyard pool party that at first seems to simply portray attendees who are dancing, eating, and enjoying each other’s company.
As the music video progresses though, viewers zero in on different areas of the backyard to witness an unfolding series of events that intertwine with one another and contain both humorous and shocking revelations.
The initial concept of the video isn’t too out of the ordinary, but what is so groundbreaking about “Imitation of Life” is that the 3:58 music video is actually made up of a single video clip that is only 20 seconds total in length.
Using a technique called “pan and scan,” Jennings repeatedly back-tracked and resumed through the looped clip, zooming in on new segments of the scene throughout the song to create the final product of the video.
Besides Jenning’s innovative filming techniques, what blows me away is the absolutely flawless precision of each of music video’s party-goers. Stipe sings for a few brief seconds of the video only to be replaced by others in the scene who mime the lyrics in a variety of different modes (slow motion, in reverse, etc.). Additionally, their individualized actions fuse together flawlessly, pulling viewers from an escaped inmate on the loose to a man on fire to a woman being doused with water.
The result of the video is both visually appealing and engaging, captivating viewers to try and catch every action within a brief moment in time and serving as a perfect metaphor for the song: that sometimes the seemingly sublime lifestyles we fawn over are really nothing more than a candy-coated facade of less-than-perfect realities.
Album Design- Multiple Covers
Alternative hip hop collective Odd Future recently released their latest album, The OF Tape Vol. 2, and rather than only featuring a single cover, four possible covers can be purchased with the album, all of which are as relatively varied as the assortment of members contained within the group.
Odd Future is far from the first group to release an album with multiple covers. Paying homage to the album cover collective, here is a list of what I would consider to be the most striking sets of covers for a single album:
5. 1983’s Synchronicity was The Police’s fifth and final album and contained a whopping 36 cover variations, each featuring three different arrangements of color stripes made with a collage of different photographs that the band members took of each other. The most popular version included an photo of Sting reading Jung’s Synchronicity – which not surprisingly was inspiration for the album’s title – and actual text of the synchronicity hypothesis.
4. Hip hop/neo soul group The Roots originally released their 1999 album Things Fall Apart with a choice of five possible album covers. The covers each featured disheartening black and white photographs of an African-American population in the wake of poverty and violence. Most notable of the choice covers was of a photograph of the 1964 Bedford-Stuyvesant riot and went on to be listed as one of the greatest album covers of all time.
3. Midnight Marauders, the 1993 album from Hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, was issued in three different color schemes (red, green, and black) and featured head shots in the background of over seventy individuals from the hip hop scene who the group respected or were inspired by. Almost two decades later, the album covers are now seen as time capsules of the hip hop era, similar to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, with photos of everyone from the Beastie Boys to Dr. Dre to Ice-T to Grandmaster Flash. The covers even served as a source of inspiration for retail products created by the Air Jordan Brand in 2009.
2. Kanye West’s 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was originally released featuring an image by contemporary visual artist George Condo of a nude woman straddling a nude man. After being rejected by stores, the publicity image was replaced to a less-explicit painting of a ballerina. Unlike other albums featuring multiple covers, listeners who purchased Kanye’s physical album were not limited to one, but five possible designs which could be interchanged by sliding the pictures through a frame on the cover.
1. When English rock band Led Zeppelin originally released their 1978 album In Through the Out Door, it was first assumed that the album cover was nothing more than what appeared to be a brown paper bag. In actuality, Led Zeppelin released the album with one of six different sepia-toned images on an inner sleeve. Each image depicted different perspectives of the same scene in a bar according to photographs by individuals who each appeared in separate versions. Additionally, in the center of each photograph is what appeared to be a brushstroke and was rendered in color when washed with water. The outer brown cover kept listeners from knowing which version they were purchasing and the covers were so successful that Hipgnosis, the art design group responsible for them, was nominated for a Grammy in the category of best album package.
Concerts in the Digital Age
After posting about the documentary Biggie & Tupac last week, Tupac graced us with his presence again only days later at Coachella. By now it’s pretty much old news, but for those not in the know, an extremely realistic, three-dimensional representation of Tupac Shakur performed alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday night.
The hologram was apparently synced with a series of audio clips from past live performances before Tupac’s death in 1996. Surprisingly, Tupac isn’t the first hologram used for live performances purposes, but his appearance made quite an effect. Some individuals expressed their fascination with the technology used to create a realistic visual of Tupac while other expressed that they were mildly disturbed.
The general opinion though seemed to be vastly positive and video footage of the performance quickly went viral (unfortunately Cashmere Agency, who is responsible for creating the hologram, has already had all the videos removed… I say this is a bad publicity decision on there part). There is now talk that he will even be going on tour with Snoop Dogg later this year.
The popularity of a digital Tupac’s performance brings up an interesting concept. Could Tupac be just the first of a string of artists who have already passed away making a reappearance for sold out concerts and music tours? There are always new generations of music listeners claiming their love for artists like Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix. If record companies are always looking for ways to bring in the big bucks then it only seems natural that they would consider hologram artists as a new means of making more money.
On one hand I’m in agreement for using holograms in place of artists who are no longer with us – we should be taking advantage of the latest in technological advancements and I definitely wouldn’t turn down a Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, or Janis Joplin concert.
On the other hand though, one aspect of music that seems nearly impossible to recreate is the emotional connection that is often formed between an real, live artist and a listener. This is why we music fans usually boast a more intimate experience from listening to a record versus an mp3 track or going to a live concert versus watching a concert on DVD.
Nonetheless, as technology continues to make its way to the forefront of our daily lives, we should probably welcome it to everyday aspects of contemporary visual culture as well.
Music Doc- Biggie & Tupac (2002)
SnagFilms offers tons of free documentaries for public viewing and thanks to the site, I recently watched the 2002 documentary Biggie & Tupac.
The documentary centers around Biggie and Tupac’s mysterious deaths, toying with the idea that each artist’s death was orchestrated by Suge Knight and supporters of Death Row Records rather than specific individuals within separate gang rivalries.
It’s important to note though that regardless of who specifically should have been found guilty in the deaths of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., there truly was a heated rivalry between the gang culture of the East Coast and the West Coast, and more specifically, between Bad Boy Records and Death Row Records at the time.
Documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield highlights this rivalry beginning at about 22:20 of Biggie & Tupac. In one of the more eye opening moments of the documentary, viewers are able to witness the intial breakdown between the two competing recording companies at the 1995 Source Awards.
During the award show, Suge Knight publicly insults P. Diddy (who at the time was still known as Puffy Combs) while accepting the Motion Picture Soundtrack of the Year Award. This verbal attack is then followed by Biggie’s accolades of Bad Boy Records, which is then followed by a public tirade by Snoop Dog. The scuffle is temporarily brought to a close when P. Diddy (of Bad Boy) acknowledges Suge’s insult and then expresses support for both Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre (of Death Row).
Within the fleeting accumulation of a single award show, a whole new level of gang rivalry formed right before the eyes of millions of viewers across the nation and shortly after, as Tupac decided to join forces with Suge Knight at Death Row, the relationship between Tupac/Death Row and Biggie/Bad Boy was never the same.
If forced to pick between the two, I’d have to say I’m more of a Biggie fan myself, but the loss of both of these great artists nonetheless shook up pop culture and fans of rap music in the mid-90s. Their deaths each resulted in a staggering amount of shootings in the weeks to follow and cops were afraid to investigate the cases in depth for fear of their lives. Broomfield’s documentary accurately depicts the tension, uneasiness, and ambiguity surrounding this important time in music history and can be viewed in full above.
Album Design- Fiona Apple’s The Idler Wheel…
The newly released cover art for Fiona Apple’s upcoming album The Idler Wheel… reminds me of one of my favorite paintings by the late-20th century artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Skull).
I used to not be a fan of Basquiat’s art. I saw it as sloppy and disjointed and the chaotic aestheticism of many of his works often left me feeling unsettled, not to mention frustrated at the thought that thousands of seemingly gullible art critics had completely eaten up Basquiat’s work and given him endless amounts of unnecessary praise and money for it.
Tastes change though and over the past couple years, I have not only come to accept Basiquat’s art, but to consider myself a fan of his work. Through the use of words, numbers, lines, symbols, and diagrams, Basiquiat’s incredibly detailed works of art often contain more depth and meaning than most observers would initially notice.
Also, I find it fascinating that much of Basquiat’s creations are developed through the artist’s knowledge of everything from history to science via referencing things like Gray’s Anatomy and the writings of Leonardo da Vinci.
Untitled (Skull) features the image of a human head made up of a severe, partially crushed jawline, protruding eye sockets, and the intertwinement of various lines and colors that give the appearance of veins, muscles, the pumping of blood, and the electric paths of neurons.
While much more controlled and undamaged, the cover art for The Idler Wheel… also features a human head and has a similar energy. The intricate web of lines that make of the head look like they could have been drawn with a compass or a protractor and the added colors don’t venture from their designated spaces the way that the colors in Basquiat’s painting do, but both images are rich and detailed, giving life to what could have easily become standard if not blasé anatomical figures.
From a more objective viewpoint, Untitled (Skull) and The Idler Wheel… also reflect one another in that both heads are positioned at similar angles, both images feature protruding eyes and noses, and both eyes even seem to be looking in the same exact direction.
Each work of art is finished off with a colorful, collage-like background and conveys an overall electrified yet downcast emotion. There’s no telling yet if the music contained within The Idler Wheel… will be as engagingly frenzied as the album cover (listeners will have to wait until June to find out), but if the possible nod to Basquiat is of any significance then listeners have a lot to look forward to.
The Allure of Purple Rain
Despite the fact that he rarely does interviews and repeatedly fights to have his youtube videos taken down, I am a huge fan of Prince. Michael Jackson aside, I would probably consider Prince to be the most gifted and enigmatic artist of late 20th century and I truly believe that any future artists will be hard spent to take his place under the sun.
Why is Prince so talented? Let me count the ways: He has an incredible vocal range, plays countless instruments, has won seven Grammys and an Oscar, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility, and has reportedly written and recorded several hundred songs which have never even been released.
I recently came across this video of “Purple Rain” on youtube and so while I still have the chance, I’m posting it here. There’s no telling how much time remains before it will inevitably be removed like all of its predecessors.
There are few songs of this length that I can listen to in one full sitting, but “Purple Rain” fits the bill. From its intoxicating intro, which sounds like a guitar is being played underwater, to its closing, which includes Prince’s trademark “Ooos” and speaks of un-teachable emotionality, this is just one of those special songs that only comes along every decade or so.
In this featured video clip, taken from the 1984 cult classic of the same name, Prince performs “Purple Rain” before a crowd of young adults decked out typical New Wave fashion. Prince himself displays one of his more memorable looks in this video — coiffed hair, a ruffled pirate shirt, and a purple studded jacket — that is equal parts romance and sex appeal.
The video is finished off with smoky, purple-hued lighting and creates a scene that perfectly reflects not only the mood of the song, but the mysterious, intriguing nature of Prince.
This video is also a great example of how even though Prince stands at only a diminutive 5’2”, he performs with an astounding ferocity that gives him the presence of someone who is feet taller. By the end of the video, the uncertain, hypercritical stares of those in the audience have been replaced by that of unanimous respect and adoration.
St. Vincent’s “Cheerleader” and the Act of Voyeurism
The new video for “Cheerleader,” by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark/St. Vincent, is an example of voyeurism at its finest and most tragic.
In the video, Annie Clark appears as a larger-than-life version of herself on display in a museum. She endures the stares of unaffected museum patrons who surround her as she is bound down by ropes. As the video draws to a close, Clark works to break free from the confines of her museum display and escape the patrons’ gazes, but in her attempt at freedom she breaks into pieces and crumbles to the ground instead.
The atmosphere of the video is stark and sterile while still maintaining a level of thought-provoking emotionality. An irony of the video lies in the fact that viewers of “Cheerleader” are participating in the same act of overly avert voyeurism that the museum’s patrons are, ensnared by curiosity but able to avoid any sort of connection to those being held under a microscope.
The concept for “Cheerleader” was inspired by the work of sculptor Ron Mueck who creates immense, hyper-realistic sculptures of individuals who are often in vulnerable states.
I first came across Mueck’s work when I was a senior in high school, specifically that of “Big Man,” and couldn’t get the image out of my head. The man truly looks as if he wishes nothing more than to cower away and escape the undesired gawks of strange visitors.
I absolutely love going to museums, but things like Mueck’s sculptures and St. Vincent’s video do place a strange perspective on what it means to stand around objects in extended and often silent observance. Regardless, St. Vincent’s video remains beautiful and ornate much like the music of St. Vincent herself.
Moby’s Commentary on LA Architecture
A while back I talked about how music and visual art are often seamlessly blended and how because of this, artists are often able to take on multiple roles within those fields. In the same post, I then elaborated on rapper Ice Cube’s collaboration with the California-based art event Pacific Standard Time in which he provided thoughtful commentary on Los Angeles architecture.
We could assume that modern architecture’s influence on a music-heavy artist was just a haphazard occurrence, but now, techno musician Moby is giving his own take on LA architecture via self-created blog. His reason for it? Moby explains, “Most cities have big, grand, old, and well documented architecture. LA has idiosyncratic weirdness… So when I walk/drive around LA I’ll take pictures of some of the strange, beautiful, ugly, banal, sublime, baffling buildings I come across.”
The blog features Moby’s personal photographs of buildings (often black and white) that the artist deems beautiful, strange, or even painfully banal as well as a description on the buildings’ history or Moby’s opinions of the building being featured.
From Moorish castles to a Frank Lloyd Wright house, Moby’s photography offers a well-rounded display of LA’s architectural diversity. Similar to Ice Cube’s description of the Eames House, Moby blog also provides mention of how a lot of the city’s beautiful architecture is hidden on tiny streets, rarely to be seen by others. The artist elaborates on this saying, “Underneath the grim surface of Hollywood is some of the most interesting and odd and baffling urban architecture on the planet… If you’re inclined to dismiss LA as a place of unrelenting vapidity and generic 1980s architecture then you’re doing yourself and LA a huge disservice and you’re just not looking hard enough.”
Fortunately though, thanks to artists like Moby and Ice Cube, we now have a more eye-opening view of the hidden architectural gems that Los Angeles has to offer.
