Gaby recently directed me to the riot grrrls episode of Roseanne, which reminded me that, before Scientology and terrible Big Three Network shows, Jenna Elfman was a super cool rock video star.
Here she is getting silly with Depeche Mode in the "Halo" clip, from a time when bands could afford to spend serious money on ridiculous music videos for songs that didn't even get released as singles. Someday, someone will write a book about how Depeche Mode are like a traveling circus, and why Dave Gahan is the strongman and Martin Gore is the clown. But they shouldn't.
A few years later, Jenna was the subject of a kidnapping in the video for "Black Lodge," a Twin Peaks-themed song that Anthrax wrote with David Lynch mainstay Angelo Badalamenti. I'm a huge fan of both artists, although I don't love this song--all build-up, without much payoff. Elektra probably thought they could cash in on Twin Peaks mania by financing the video, or maybe they just figured hiring a cute lead actress would do the trick.
Finally, here's Jenna as a dancer on tour with ZZ Top in 1994. Basically the rock music equivalent of being a Bond girl.
Showing posts with label david lynch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label david lynch. Show all posts
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Monday, July 9, 2012
Song of the Day: Faith No More, "Midlife Crisis"
What if David Lynch managed a rock band?
David Foster Wallace once took a shot at defining the word "Lynchian" as "a particular kind of irony where the very macabre and the very mundane combine in such a way as to reveal the former's perpetual containment within the latter." To me, that's Faith No More and "Midlife Crisis."
The song is from the record Angel Dust, named for the dehumanizing drug with a pretty name. The album cover, a lovely image of egret, opens up to display a cow hanging from a meat hook. Watch for the white horses in the video above, then stick around to see what they're doing.
See if you can also catch snippets of Simon & Garfunkel in the intro and the Beastie Boys in the bridge. Other than a New York base, the two don't have much in common, but they're snug together inside Faith No More's original score.
As with all FNM songs, I can't figure out what this one is about. They've always been more concerned with the sounds of the words in the melody than the meaning behind the lyrics, so don't try to make head or tail of couplets like "You're perfect, yes, it's true, But without me you're only you/Your menstruating heart, It ain't bleedin' enough for two." Just hear how they roll off Mike Patton's tongue, with the range of a choirboy and the lungs of a demon.
One of my favorite moments in any song I've heard comes right after the pause at 2:38. With brilliant aptitude, the band layers the vocal melodies from the verses and chorus on top of each other in perfect synchronization. When writers gab about how musicians see the world differently from the rest of us, this is what they should be talking about.
Two summers ago, I caught Faith No More's U.S. reunion tour and fell into ecstasy. I screamed along to every word while gearing up for my favorite moment of "Midlife Crisis." After two-and-a-half blissful minutes, the band drew out the pause almost longer than I could stand. They returned with "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder instead.
David Foster Wallace once took a shot at defining the word "Lynchian" as "a particular kind of irony where the very macabre and the very mundane combine in such a way as to reveal the former's perpetual containment within the latter." To me, that's Faith No More and "Midlife Crisis."
The song is from the record Angel Dust, named for the dehumanizing drug with a pretty name. The album cover, a lovely image of egret, opens up to display a cow hanging from a meat hook. Watch for the white horses in the video above, then stick around to see what they're doing.
See if you can also catch snippets of Simon & Garfunkel in the intro and the Beastie Boys in the bridge. Other than a New York base, the two don't have much in common, but they're snug together inside Faith No More's original score.
As with all FNM songs, I can't figure out what this one is about. They've always been more concerned with the sounds of the words in the melody than the meaning behind the lyrics, so don't try to make head or tail of couplets like "You're perfect, yes, it's true, But without me you're only you/Your menstruating heart, It ain't bleedin' enough for two." Just hear how they roll off Mike Patton's tongue, with the range of a choirboy and the lungs of a demon.
One of my favorite moments in any song I've heard comes right after the pause at 2:38. With brilliant aptitude, the band layers the vocal melodies from the verses and chorus on top of each other in perfect synchronization. When writers gab about how musicians see the world differently from the rest of us, this is what they should be talking about.
Two summers ago, I caught Faith No More's U.S. reunion tour and fell into ecstasy. I screamed along to every word while gearing up for my favorite moment of "Midlife Crisis." After two-and-a-half blissful minutes, the band drew out the pause almost longer than I could stand. They returned with "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder instead.
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