Video's of the week #23

[Niels (Mod)]

Time flies, and it's time for yet another VOTW. The year is coming to an end, and it seems that there's not THAT many really new video's out there, that's interesting, but this is, what I have found, as usual 4 new video's and 2 classic. Here we go:


1. ARCADE FIRE - THE SUBURBS

When I had this cd in NMC a few weeks back, it was'nt like everyone cheered and said, they were going to buy the damn thing, but here's a video from the album anyway, directed by Spike Jonze, well infact it's a piece of film called "Scenes from the Suburbs".

2. THE BURNING - BAIT THE HOOK

I've shown you a few sweedish video's, so now it's time for a DANISH video. The Burning comes from a town called Aarhus in Jutland/Denmark, and was founded in 2005. They have made 3 albums so far. This is from the new album called "Hail the Horde".

3. HALFORD - LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW

A new video from Halford's newest album "Made of Metal". Imo a better video, than the one I showed you a couple of weeks back, because this time you actually see the band.

4. PUDDLE OF MUDD - STONED

From WiKi: Puddle of Mudd is an American alternative rock band from Kansas City, Missouri. They achieved success on rock radio and some success in the mainstream, and their major-label debut Come Clean has sold over 5 million copies. To date the band has sold over 7 million albums, and have had a string of #1 mainstream rock singles in the United States. They have released 2 independent and 4 major albums, with their latest being Volume 4: Songs in the key of love & Hate in December 2009. This is of course from that album.

5. QUEENSRŸCHE - I DON'T BELIEVE IN LOVE

Well, what can I say about this one? You've probably seen it a few time before, but as usual the first classic video in the week's VOTW, is one where I either really like the video or the song or both.

6. MADAM X - HIGH IN HIGHSCHOOL

For not so long ago, I had a video in VOTW with Vixen. Now this is the same drummer, and this is the band she was in before joining Vixen. I remember this band, but I never bought a record, go figure! How's the cheesefactor on this one?? It's from 1984, or very early 1985. (Is that Vinnie Vincent on guitar??)

[Scott]

ARCADE FIRE... 1.25 points
I remember when you posted this, at the time it was getting some pretty good exposure on Amazon and other music sites. Critical success? maybe... Interesting video depiction of family life and kids at play in the Military Zones of the Suburbs. Pretty dramatic representation of innocence lost. Video was pretty good, 1 point. I liked the song better than the first couple times I heard it too, but not enough for purchasing. .25 points for the song because of its slight improvement.

THE BURNING... -.5 points
What is the deal with the videos in abandoned places and empty rooms? Does everyone use the same director? I have to start deducting points for this, and the cookie monster vocals, not as dramatic as some other current bands but still. Musically not very interesting, I'm skipping the last minute of this... -.5 points for an all around uninspired video and song.

HALFORD... .5 points
Hey! an actual performance of a band on stage and not in some empty warehouse/abandoned room! Props for that. The song is still rather monotone and uninteresting. Not his best effort IMO. .5 points for letting us see him on stage with his band and for a good, not great song.

PUDDLE OF MUDD... 0 points
I bought their debut CD and it was pretty good, but now sounds dated so it has gets no airplay anymore. More of a novelty band because of their play on lyrics, at least from my perpective, and this still seems to be true. And the they flip me off at the end? Is that suppose to be cool? Not getting this video at all, although the song (sans the lyrics) is just OK. 0 points.

QUEENSRYCHE... 2 points
I can make this one real fast. Cool band and excellent video for an excellent song! Still hold up very well!

MADAM X... -2 points with a cheese factor 9.9
First thought? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Second thought? Nice looking female guitar player!!! Third thought? This song sucks really really bad! Poorly written, poorly executed and cheese factors too abundant to catalog! Fourth thought? Watching this is making me brain dead, if it wasn't for the moves the guitar player is making I would turn this off.

[Scott]

Just noticed the Arcade Fire was on sale at Amazon.com $1.99. Download of course, but man thats a big fall!

[Niels (Mod)]

Arcade fire (1,5 points)

I like the song. It's a very good song. The video aint bad. It is'nt much, you see the band (I think one of the policemen, is the band-leader, can't remember his name), but it's a nice little film. (1/0,5)

The Burning (0 points)

I'd never heard of this band before I saw this video. It's not really my cup of tea, neither the song or the video.

Halford (1,25 points)

A very good song, reminds me of Judas Priest /and why should'nt it??). It's not a very good video, but it's much better than the last one they made. (1/0,25)

Puddle of Mudd (1,75 points)

This one is not bad at all. Overall, it's the best of the new videos/songs. (0,75/0,75)

Queensryche (2 points, of course!!)

Truly a masterpiece!!! I remember the first time, I heard "Operation Mindcrime". I did'nt really thought, that they could top "Rage for order", because that was the best album of 1986 imo, but they did. I was stunned, after the first listening!! The video is also a piece of art.

Madam X (0,5 points, Cheesefactor 7)

In a way, I like this video. You got to remember, that it's 25 years old, and it shows of course, but there's a lot more video's out there from that time, that's a lot worse. The song is not very good.
The dwarf alone get's the cheesefactor up to 7.

[TageRyche]

Sorry I don't follow the ratings scale.

Love the Queensryche clip, it's a classic from when the band was my favorite.

The Halford clip features a decent song and a video that doesn't suck donkey balls.

[RJhog (Admin)]

TageRyche, the rating scale is as follows:

Everybody starts with zero.

You can give up to 1 point for video, 1 pt for song.

So if you really like both, you give 2 points.

You can give up to -1 pt. for video and -1 pt. for song if you don't like them, so max negative would be -2 points.

You can give anything in between if you sort of like part of it or not.

Niels uses commas instead of decimal pts., so his look like this: 1,5 (where mine would be 1.5)

The cheese factor is a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being extremely cheesy.

[Niels (Mod)]

Ahh, now I see, that it may confuse, that I use commas. I try not to do that in the future!

[Jon]

Arcade Fire---0 points
Overhyped crap band. Video was interesting because I immediately disliked the actors, so I won't go negative. I think I was supposed to dislike them, right?

The Burning---0 points
Song isn't too bad, got a bit of a Pantera vibe from it. Thought there would be some Cenobite action with the chains, but there wasn't so deducting a point for that.

Halford---1 point
Song is helluva lot better than the previous one posted. Seemed like the drummer was off in a few places? Simple video, but what's the point of dishing out a ton of money for a video nowadays?

Puddle of Mudd---1.75 points
Liked to song, liked to video. I've actally felt like doing that at work somedays, but I ain't no rock star so wouldn't get away with it. Also hot...dancing...chicks. I like the whistling at the end, it was a bit funny for some unexplained reason.

Queensryche---1.75 points
Song is great, of course, but too much band performance in the video. A little less of the band on stage and more telling of the story would make me bump it to a 2.

Madame X---0 points, cheese factor 3
I probably would have liked this song back then, but not now. Typical 80's metal, trying for an anthem I guess. And the vdeo isn't really that cheesy to me. Sure, there's a LOT of hair (is that the hairiest band ever?), but the only thing that struck me as cheesy was the transformation from stuffed kitty to human. And what was she doing to that geetar during the solo?

[Scott]

Not sure what she was doing in the that solos either, but.... if they'd just filmed that over and over it would have been a very good video! hahaha...

[RJhog (Admin)]

Arcade Fire (1.5 points)

I like the video a good bit. Minus the cold and snow, I get a Red Dawn vibe in several parts. I don't remember thinking much of the song when it was in NMC, but it goes well with the video for me. The video get's 1 point and the song get's O.5 points.

The Burning (-1 point)

The vocals are terrible. The song is bad. The video isn't horrible, but it's boring, so it leaves me with no feeling whatsoever. So -1 point for the song, 0 points for the video.

Halford (0 points)

The biggest reason this gets a neutral rating from me is that the video keeps buffering every 7 seconds and I just can't watch it. But from what I see and hear, the song is okay, I'd probably give 0.25 points, but I'd give -0.25 points for the video. Again, from what I can see, a very uninspired, boring performance.

Puddle Of Mudd (2 points)

I like the song and video enough to give each 1 point. This band's first album was pretty good, but I haven't liked anything since. Although the singer's voice can irritate at times, it works well enough for this song. The video sports hot chicks, especially the one sitting on the floor at about 1:45 with the blouse unbuttoned and the very valuable assets.

Queensryche (1.5 points / Cheese Factor 3.5)

The song is outstanding, so 1 point easily. I'm not crazy about the video, so 0.5 points. The CF is 3.5 for 3 reasons:

Geoff Tate's tanktop/shirt, and the fact that it's tucked in.

Guitar player holds guitar up in the air for solo...why?

The drummer's air drumming is heavier than the song.

But I do forgive all of this stuff because it's Queensryche. By the way, aren't we supposed to assign cheese factor ratings for all of the classics?

Madam X (-1 point / Cheese Factor 8)

That song is bad, very bad. For some reason I was getting a Quiet Riot vibe with that song. Minus 1 point for the song. Although the video was pretty cheesy, it's not the worst I've ever seen, so I'll stay neutral. Besides, it's nice to see Vinnie Vincent on the pink lead guitar again. Actually, the fact that the chick looked like Vinnie Vincent caused me to bump it up a little on cheese factor.

Enjoyed it, Niels...

[Niels (Mod)]

Glad to hear that. You're right about the girl on the floor!!!!

About the cheese factor ratings, well don't mind if you do, but since the first of the classics (for the time being, anyway) are some kind of favorite of mine, I usually don't think they are very cheesy, but the second of the classics are definetly cheesefactor potential!!