Do you see that circle? That has over half of the entire world's human population.
Human population has a weird geographic distribution.
If you've ever been to Asia, you know that you get a different feeling there. You always feel as though there's someone nearby, probably watching you or at least keeping track of your whereabouts. Know why? Because there is.
In 1968, the world population was 3,557,000,000. Today, the world population is 7,217,000,000 and grows by over 200,000 daily.
The world's population has doubled during your lifetime if you are over age 45. Guess where most of them went.
The "Calendar Girl" Scopitone by Neil Sedaka - no, they don't make them like this anymore. It is not on this list, but it is a classic hoot and worth tracking down.
These are my own choices for the category: "Music videos worth watching."
Not necessarily "the best" or "most popular" - simply worth watching. No particular order, though I suppose the ones nearer the top are considered the most brilliant by most people, I don't care about that anyway. Blogs are wonderful things: no need to please anybody in particular or worry about whether someone agrees with you or not, so just put down what pleases you and let it roll, baby.
If you haven't watched them - you should.
Anyway, on with the show, this isn't about me. I'll just intrude a few scribbles between them below if you're wondering "what was he on when he picked this one?"
This was shot by Bob Dylan back in 1965 when music videos were “promotional film clips.” There had been music videos before this, and there certainly were afterward - but this one just sent the whole concept into the stratosphere. The song is “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” and while the song is forgotten by all but fans, the video - shot in a back alleyway behind the Savoy Hotel in London for the cost of the placards, camera, film, and marker - is pretty legendary. Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth, you may have heard of them, can be seen chatting in the background and then rapidly departing at the end. Dylan even gets a little artfully clever with the cards at times, which is the final Stamp of Brilliance.
“Praise You” was a song by Fatboy Slim that you will probably never hear on the radio unless you really hunt down a channel that features songs like it. It was filmed by Spike Jonze for only $800 (most of which went toward a replacement boombox and food for the cast and crew). Jonze's concept: take a bunch of amateur dancers who are high-spirited to a California movie theatre and just start entertaining. That's the whole point of a movie theater - right? Well, not in the opinion of the guy running the theater, who comes out and shuts everything down - and pretty plainly is about to call the cops. It features the completely fictional Torrance Community Dance Group as they perform bunny hops and other stuff that expresses what they feel - and again, isn't that the whole point? One of the most subversive videos ever made, and won a slew of awards.
Oh no, black and white! The Andrews Sisters were just another girl group in the '30s - that kind of thing goes in and out of style with great regularity and will return someday, I assure you - who actually were sisters. The group composed of LaVerne Sophia, Maxine Angelyn "Maxene", and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie "Patty" was nothing special in the entertainment world, but then they were cast in a Hollywood film, "Argentine Nights," which was part of a late-'30s Latin America craze (think "Flying Down to Rio"). They just so happened to perform with the Ritz Brothers, who taught them a few sleek dance moves to replace the generic stepping they had been doing.
All this experienced worked like watering a parched plant, and in Abbott and Costello's "Buck Privates" a couple of years later, the sisters made history, above, with "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Filmed on 02 Jan 1941, well before Pearl Harbor, The Andrews Sisters recorded "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" at Decca's Hollywood studios as part of the production of the Abbott & Costello film "Buck Privates." The jump blues song was a major hit for The Andrews Sisters and endures to this day among the most iconic WWII tunes. It is ranked #6 on the Recording Industry Association of America "Songs of the Century" list. It truly is one of the great songs of the 20th Century, and this is one of the great performances of any song. Christina Aguilera did a colorful homage to this a few years ago that was good - but not as good.
Christopher Walken is pretty famous. He was just a poor dancer from Queens, son of immigrant parents. Well, he may still be a dancer straight out of Queens, but he's not poor no longer!
Walken went back to his dancing roots for this video by Spike Jonze, which is probably what enticed him in the first place. Or maybe he always fantasized about flying above sailboats?
Everybody knows all about Peter Gabriel, how he left Genesis and had huge success in the mid-'80s and all that. Or - you should know that. Anyway, Gabriel just blasted it out with "Sledgehammer," a stop-motion animation project with the good people from Aardman Animation before they, well, were the colossus they are today. Note the chicken featured prominently, an Aardman trademark. No World War II film songs in this one, though.
The music video for "Foolish Game" was directed by Herb Ritts and features Helena Christensen. It is one of the most enigmatic music videos you'll ever see - Helena seems into the whole thing at first, but then gradually seems to have second thoughts, while Chris obviously only has one thought on his mind the whole time.
No offense, Helena, you're gorgeous and we all love you, but the most iconic thing about the video is the shot of Isaak drifting above the clouds, serene and careless, realizing he's as close to heaven as a man can get on this world and it just can't last.
Iconic!
"Land of Confusion" was a terrific song by Phil Collins/Genesis or however he was attributing his stuff then, but it hardly was their best one; we'll go with "Another Day in Paradise" for that honor, though likely nobody else will. We'll also put aside the snarky politics involved, though the depiction of Gorbachev and Khaddafy as men who are "losing control by the hour" was pretty darn cool and prescient. However, it isn't the song by itself that matters in a music video, it is the blend of sound and images (for further proof, see "Praise You," above), and there "Land of Confusion" just flies right off the charts - like Superman. The song's video featured puppets from the 1980s UK sketch show Spitting Image, and that, my friends, is sheer brilliance. Where else are you going to see Mr. Spock, Paul McCartney and Henry Kissinger all in the same video?
Nobody has to talk up "Weird Al" Yankovic, he's a legend still churning out top material. He has so many classic videos to choose from that, in fact, it's almost pointless to choose. However, "Amish Paradise" is just so much fun and gets in so many shots in multiple directions that it has to be included here. Who else could figure out a way to parody the Amish? Yankovic also drops the bomb on "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio featuring L.V., which was one of those '90s songs from an "important" film that people could only talk about in hushed tones because it (sort of) touched on ... race and alienation. Ooooh nooooo! Along with everything else, Weird Al demonstrates with his wonderful lack of subtlety that there are just so many chords in music and that any pretentious songster better zip it up before someone points out that there's just a hair's breadth of difference between his masterwork and the theme to "Gilligan's Island."
Look, Duran Duran is a known quality, and we're not talking about The Immortal Bard here. However, "Ordinary World" is one of the most fantastic songs of the last decade of the 20th Century - yes, it is that good. At least to humble old me it is, anyway. It is supremely difficult to pull off difficult emotions like resignation and regret, sadness with a hopeful tinge, in a music video designed for mass appeal - and I defy you to show me any others that get anywhere near this one at doing that (see below). It just doesn't happen that often. And the best part is that the Duran Duran boys enhance the whole feeling of the song, themselves portraying an edge of sadness in their own appearance that may reflect what they had come to understand after their '80s fame withered away (until "Ordinary World" came out of nowhere) - that everything is fleeting, not just fame or fortune or life or love.
Well, what do you know - I found one.
Speaking of John Lennon, one of his favorite bands was the B-52s. Everybody loves their 'Love Shack' - which is a primo Grade A tune - but my favorite is 'Roam.' Brilliant song, and brilliant video.
I'm not sure why I like 'Back on the Chain Gang' so much - but I do. It comes from that period when music videos had actual visual metaphors and tried to say something - but with subtlety. That's how you make a great music video. Well, and get a take-no-prisoners chick like Chrissie Hynde to sing in it, of course.
And you can't have a list of must-see music videos without Eleanor Rigby. That just won't do.
And, since we're going down that road, might as well throw in Paul McCartney & Wings with the original version of 'Band on the Run' - which was an obvious extension of the "Eleanor Rigby" sequence from 'Yellow Submarine.' My candidate for the best music video of all time. Your mileage may vary. Here we go.
Here's another from Paul.
Thanks, and please remember to tip your waitress.
Okay, you didn't think I was going to ignore Neil, did you? The kitsch factor blows out the stops on this one.
So, This Fred Astaire Guy, Was He Really That Good?
Hey Fred Astaire, can you prove that you're a great dancer in two seconds?
Let's see Fred Astaire prove he was a great dancer in only two seconds. That's all it takes.
Okay, a quick hit from Fred Astaire which really just encapsulates it.
He's not looking at his feet, he's not trying to remember anything - he's checking Rita Hayworth out.
You’ll Never Get Rich (1941).
The scene goes on and on, but the comparison does not get any better for the pretty young lady (Rita Hayworth), who no doubt thinks she's just killing it. Yes, she does the moves... Rita does it just fine. However, as great a dancer as she is, Rita's completely out of her league. It's like comparing a paint-by-numbers job with a Rembrandt.
Times Square - Cagney's 'City for Conquest' was released on 21 September 1940, and note the 'London Can Take It' on the marquee. with both the Democrat candidate FDR and Republican candidate Wendell Wilkie jointly supporting England long before the US was officially in World War II.
The Big Apple Back in the Day
These shots all just seem to go together. I have no story to tell about them or anything, I just like them. Anyone who has spent time in New York City will probably recognize how much has changed - and how much hasn't. So, I am slowly adding shots of Times Square here down through the years, but looking uptown, not (as is almost always the case) downtown toward the Times building.
Times Square 1905. What is amazing is that way back in 1905, the main ad on the billboard was for Budweiser, and automaker Studebaker already had claimed the top spot, later to be taken over by Chevrolet for decades. The year 1905 saw the massive changeover from horse and buggies to motorcars, and the automakers were not slow on the uptake. Studebaker lasted until about 1965.
Why facing uptown? After all, that's away from where the ball drops. And the first ball drop in 1907 was quite an occasion.
Times Square 1907.
However, if you live in New York City below 42nd Street, that is the scene that greets you every time you walk to Times Square. It is the iconic view of Times Square. The opposite direction is a bit less well-known except to New Yorkers.
Times Square, 1908.
So, there is a method to my madness here. Also, I find a certain fascination with the changing signs and buildings at this, the 'intersection of the world.'
Times Square 1931. If you look very closely, you will see what appears to be a coffin on a caisson in front of the theater showing 'Dishonored,' which was released 4 April 1931. The same theater was still showing 'Up the River,' an October 1930 release that starred Spencer Tracey - as well as an unbilled nobody who went by the odd name of Humphrey Bogart.
So, we have the massive Chevrolet sign there in 1935, and still there in 1958. It's gone by the 1960s, though. And Coca-Cola has that prominent spot down near street level, eventually replaced by Pepsi by 1940. Pepsi lasted there at least through 1947, then switched locations to the east side of the Square. While Time Square can seem an ever-changing whirl, there are definite, deliberate changes that last for long periods of time, but then eventually change as well.
I keep changing this. You can find the year by hovering over the shot. I think they are all in chronological order, but the exact year doesn't really seem to make much difference unless you are really paying attention. The shots span the 1920s to 1960s.
While of course Times Square is much more lit up now, there was something about the raw colors back in the day that definitely has been lost. There is something simply more intimate and grabbing about giant Pepsi bottles and pop-tops than banal arrays of blinking lights and advertising posters.
However, when you go through these, you start to notice things. Some billboards become old friends, then abruptly disappear. For instance, Chevrolet, Admiral Television, Canadian Club - all stalwarts throughout the 1950s. That Admiral Television sign - still there in 1959! Also the sign directly above it, the Canadian Club whiskey sign. But the Chevrolet sign? Gone. So, too, the one with the guy's face, replaced with a pineapple.
It all brings to mind that scene from "The Time Traveller," you know, the shot where the time traveler accelerates through time and watches the changing girls' fashions in the window across the street?
Spooky!
Vehicles were so colorful back then. Not like all the dull whites and greys you see today. They should bring back the two-tone look! And look at how much room all the cars have! And the sky - you can see the sky all around!
In another 50 years, they'll probably enclose the whole thing and they'll look back at pictures of Time Square from today, surrounded by humongous office towers, and go, "Wow, it was outside! Imagine that!"
Oh, and the Criterion theater on the lower right in the 1955 shot is showing the production of "Chicago." Some things truly never change. In the 1958 shot, it is "Moby Dick."
Postcard View, 1911.
Times Square north from New York Times Building, 1922. This appears to have been a postcard shot. Note that Macy's had the spot later taken by Chevrolet. The other signs are for plays, a local phenomenon. Those prime spots would soon be taken by large national corporations.
Times Square in the 1920s. It looks surprisingly modern, the cars are definitely vintage, though. The signs are starting to change to major corporations - Chevrolet is on there, but not yet at the top, it is under 'Maxwell House Coffee.' Arrow Collars is there. The sign at the very bottom, though, which I can't really make out, appears to still be for a play. This is around 1926 - the signs are almost all the same as the 1926 shot below - but the bottom sign (for the play?) is different, along with some of the other signs along the side.
Broadway's birthday! Photo: A 1926 parade celebrating the 300th anniversary of the famous street. The sign on the right is advertising 'Beau Geste,' a 1926 film starring Ronald Colman which was remade in 1939, the latter being the one most people remember (Credit: The New York Times Photo Archives).
Times Square, early 1932 ('Strictly Dishonorable' was released 26 December 1931). This is the absolute height of the Depression. Note that the signs now all have changed from Broadway shows to the large corporations. Chevrolet has taken the Macy's top spot and would keep it for some time. This is a rare case where the entire billboard, all the way to the edge, is in use. This photo looks surprisingly modern, guys standing around in trenchcoats, the usual marquees lit up.
1934: the Coca-Cola has taken over the prime bottom spot, and Squibb took over from Pepsodent. The Chevrolet sign has changed and sits at the top. It is fair to say that James Cagney ruled Times Square during the decade of the '30s.
Times Square, 1935. Betty Boop on the marquee. The Astor on the left came down mid-sixties, along with Penn Station and Singer Building: a bad time for beaux-arts. Streetcars in the square, no overhead wires. Coca-Cola standing guard, the Chevrolet sign in all its glory.
A shot of Times Square around 46th Street. My source says this is from 1938. It could be, if in January or February. However, Ronald Colman's "Prisoner of Zenda" was released on 2 September 1937, and "Ellis Island" (which I assume is the film touted as "Mystery of Ellis Island") was released in 1936. Our best fix is John Ford's "The Hurricane," released on 9 November 1937 and getting the "premiere" treatment. Plus, the 1938 Chevrolets would have been "new" at the beginning of the model year in the final four months of 1937. Everybody is dressed warmly, as if in November or December.... So, I'm thinking this is from late 1937, maybe between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Nice shot of the Hotel Astor, too.
This daylight shot contrasts the Coca Cola sign nicely with the night-time shot directly above, where the sign is lit up and in all its glory. Real fur and fedoras were most definitely in style. My source says that this is 1936, but based on the similarities to the shot below, which definitely is early 1942, this is likely from that year as well.
Early 1942, right after the start of the war. "Lydia" was released in February '42. Quite possible that the same photographer took both this shot and the one above, maybe on the same day.
Times Square during wartime, 1943. After a couple of years of war, rationing has taken effect and there are fewer cars in sight. Pepsi has taken over from Coke. Also, note the very rare sight of an empty spot on the billboard with the plea for advertisers to give a call - Chey was not producing or selling cars at this point, it was doing war work, so nothing to sell.
Chevrolet is gone as a sign, but not for long.
Notice how the Ruppert sign looks so cool all lit up? Very dull during the day. This would be 1946, when "The Best Years of Our Lives" was released.
There was a recession after World War II, and passenger cars still were not plentiful. Thus, you still see uncrowded streets in 1947.
Martin and Lewis were breakout stars in 1952. That corner had some awesome wrap-around signs in those days.
Cars were so colorful in the '50s! Here in 1954, it is a beautiful blend of Kodachrome and pastels. Good times in America bring out the confident colors like these, less-confident times lead to cars that are all white, black, dull grey and muted. Chevrolet has returned, plenty of cars being sold now.
Pepsi has moved across to the right. This is a very professional shot.
Same spot as above, almost the same time, too, but a different shot - more of a snapshot.
Another shot from around the same time in 1955, but the lowest sign in the middle is slightly different than in the two shots above.
"Run Silent, Run Deep" was released 27 March 1958, so place this spring 1958.
The Automat at the left - Horn & Hardarts - was there for decades, from 1912 to the mid-'70s. Oh... an Automat was a place where you went in and put some coins in a slot and you could then reach in and get your dish. It had kind of a big wall full of different little niches with different kinds of food, like a slice of pie for $0.50, that kind of deal.
I know, there are several shots from roughly the same time here. But it allows you to imagine yourself there, walking about.
Chevrolet is not visible at this angle.
"The Horse Soldiers" was released June 12, 1959. This looks like summer, so probably not too long after that. "The Diary of Anne Frank" by George Stevens also is playing, it was released March 18, 1959. So, probably around June '59.
Great shot, Times Square at its peak as far as I'm concerned. Lots of smog, though, the air quality must have been miserable.
Checker cabs were already on the way out in the mid-60s, but the myth lived on for decades.
Castro Convertible and Coke are both still on the billboards in 1979, though with updated logos. Change takes place in Times Square quite slowly.
Oh, and a couple of not-colorful shots to wind things up.
Regarding the two shots below, I know you're wondering because I was. Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire, "The Band Wagon" (1953). If you knew that without me telling you - you're good.
Definitely a soundstage, nobody is going to slide along on a real Times Square subway platform.
