Video Of The Week: The Cars

Let's take a short break from hockey predictions to acknowledge one of the best songwriting talents in 20th Century Rock, Ric Ocasek, who was found dead earlier at the age of 75. He was inducted along with his other The Cars bandmates into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2018 (I sure as fuck voted for them, yes).

He also put out some terrific solo albums, my favourite being 1997's Troublizing, which included bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur (Tinker, Hole, The Smashing Pumpkins, a great solo career in stoner rock), drummer Matt Walker (Filter, Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins, Morrissey) and Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins) on guitar, keyboards and backing vocals.

But I wanted to focus on The Cars for the moment, seeing as that's what Ocasek was most known for. My favourite Cars song is My Best Friend's Girl, with Just What I Needed ranking a close second:

I'm still looking for additional information pertaining to the video, including who directed it. When I find out, I'll update this paragraph.

Okasek also produced a ton of records for other artists, including Suicide, Bad Brains, Bad Religion, Nada Surf, Le Tigre, No Doubt, and, most recently, Weezer. He just may be the king of Power Pop.

Video Of The Week: The Voidz

The things: I hate the 1980s, generally speaking. And Julian Casablancas can usually do no harm.

The former The Strokes singer now has a new band, The Voidz, with whom he continues to explore old 1980s synth music, and I like the dark undertones found in the song QYURRYUS ("curious"), for which he directed this video:

In addition to sounds reminiscent of Indian music (particularly the oeuvre of Bollywood classics like Donga, a.k.a. the "Indian Thriller" movie) and German electro, the video looks like a hair metal clip interspersed with George Michael rainy sexiness, an old Mike Patton/Faith No More look and the feel of a "shred" parody video.

Video Of The Week: The Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins' 1998 release, Adore, was the band's ode to dark New Wave music, where electronic beats (and Joey Waronker) took over for departed drummer Jimmy Chamberlin; it was also the last to feature any member of the classic line-up save for leader Billy Corgan, as guitarist James Iha left for A Perfect Circle and bassist D'Arcy Wretzky had just had enough (of everything, Corgan in particular).

A lot of people loved the song Perfect - I didn't, feeling that it was an easier-to-listen-to rehash of 1979 - and almost no one understood the The Cure reference of 17; Ava Adore, however, was liked by almost all fans, in the same vein as Eye from the Lost Highway soundtrack, but more radio-friendly and with its own themes and structure. Its video, directed by Dom & Nic (a.k.a. Nic Goffey and Dominic Hawley), was heavy on the "heroin chic" visual theme, one the Pumpkins had been flirting with since 1995 (Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Zero) but hadn't fully embraced yet:

With Adore considered a flop, Corgan followed it with the extremely hard rocking two-part release Machina: The Machines Of God and Machina II: The Friends And Enemies Of Modern Music, thought at the time to be the band's curtain call.

Video Of The Week: Arctic Monkeys

And in the category ''Best rip-off of Black Sabbath's War Pigs'', the award goes to... Arctic Monkeys?

Yes, indeed. And just like last week's Beyoncé video, it was directed by Jake Nava. It's a black-and-white shot of the band playing in a Beat Generation-type of 1960s jazz bar orgy attended by British ''rockers'' of the time (you can tell by their leather jackets), so you half-expect the video to end with them entering a fight with ''mods'' (their Vespa-driving, fashion-obsessed amphetamine using counterparts):



Like most songs by Arctic Monkeys, it's irresistibly catchy and relatively dancey, but this time they've put more rock in their sound, and it suits them just fine. 2013's AM was also less ''let's be clever at all costs'' and more, uh, ''good'' than their previous efforts except for their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), which was successful on both ends.

Video Of The Week: Divinyls

Holy shit - Divinyls lead singer Chrissy Amphlett died this week, at age 53, of breast cancer! She couldn't undergo radiation therapy because of her concurring multiple sclerosis.

She fronted her band with bigger balls than many of her male contemporaries, and it's for that reason that I didn't go with the obvious singles (I Touch Myself and Make Out Alright) and instead opted to feature their cover of The Troggs' Wild Thing for the soundtrack to Reckless Kelly, in which Yahoo Serious is pretty much dressed like Lara Croft.

Other known versions of Wild Thing include those by Jimi Hendrix, The Runaways, Sam Kinison (who butchered it and turned its meaning around), X, Cheap Trick, Hank Williams Jr, and Liz Phair, and it is most often used as a b-side or soundtrack cut.

It's a shame I couldn't find a better-looking version of the video, but as with many overlooked great bands deemed ''one hit wonders'' by the general public, this important Australian band (they may not be on AC/DC's or the Bee Gees' level, but are definitely worthy of mention alongside or ahead of Split Enz, Crowded House, and Hunters & Collectors - far ahead of Air Supply, Men At Work and Silverchair) stopped being supported by their American labels - yet they kept making hits in Australia - and their web presence is thus almost mute.

When she wasn't playing in her band or on stage in a musical, Amphlett wrote songs for other strong-willed singers such as Chrissie Hynde and Cyndi Lauper.



I'll have to feature I Touch Myself someday just to touch upon the huge controversy surrounding that song but, again, I felt it was too obvious for this week's choice. Soon, though, I promise.

Video Of The Week: Images In Vogue

Canadian New Wave? Yep, Images In Vogue have that niche market covered.

Equal parts Corey Hart, The Cure, Depeche Mode and Culture Club, but as jocks wearing glasses and leather jackets. Among their band members, though, lie dormant cEvin Key (founder of Skinny Puppy) and Don Gordon (founder of Numb, who has since quit the music industry and moved to Vietnam), proving that going cheese-pop once doesn't mean you'll stick with it forever. Those two do not play on this recording however - they'd both left two years prior to the release of this 1985 track, for cause of ''too poppy''.

Video Of The Week: The Boomtown Rats

Many folks know Bob Geldof as the old guy who gets U2 and/or Bono to play all these benefit events, but before that, he led The Boomtown Rats, an Irish New Wave band that had a few semi-hits between 1979 and 1985, among which She's So Modern and this week's entry, I Hate Mondays.

Now, like Garfield, I really do hate Mondays, to the point where in College and University, whenever I could, I would choose classes in order to have Mondays off and instead start my week off on Tuesdays, which was the greatest idea ever: not only did it make my weekends a day longer than everyone else's, it also forced me to be on the ball as soon as I did make my way to school, because everybody was already right into their week, so I couldn't afford to be in a ''Monday slump''.

The song itself, though, is inspired by a much more tragic story: on January 29th, 1979, Brenda Ann Spencer, then aged 16,  killed two and injured 9 (eight kids and a cop) while shooting at her neighbour school from the comfort of her own home. Not only did she not show any remorse, her explanation  for the crime was "I don't like Mondays; this livens up the day."

Enjoy.

Video Of The Week: Haircut 100

Hey - it's one of those weeks, where anything that can make you smile, giggle or just laugh out loud is more than welcome. So with that in mind, for this week's Video, I went back to the early 1980s - a bottomless pit of the cheesiest music - to find British New Wave band Haircut 100 and one of their ''hit songs'' from their first album, Pelican West. The song is Love Plus One.

In this video, you will witness an old guy who looks like he's trying to either capture King Kong or start himself a Jurassic Park, Tarzan, cannibals, a shy frontman (weird, since he left to band to pursue a solo career between their first record and its follow-up), the happiest drummer on the planet, and a bass player who proves white men can't dance.

As far as clichés about Africa go, this one scores on many, many fronts. Not many of you will be able to tolerate this all the way through - you have been forewarned.

Video Of The Week: Haysi Fantayzee

Don't worry - before my friend Triangles Stuart turned me on to Haysi Fantayzee twelve hours ago, I had no clue who they were either. But I love me some New Wave, and this crop of merry Bristers was just what I needed to get me through over-consuming food and sports for a weekend.

The band is comprised of do-it-all musician Paul Caplin, with his wife Kate Garner and dreadlocked Boy George-lookalike Jeremy Healy on vocals. While they didn't quite hit it so big in North America, their sole album Battle Hymns For Children Singing did spawn four minor hits in England, one of which (''John Wayne Is Big Leggy'') I'm on the fence about at the moment.

This number, however, called ''Shiny, Shiny'', I know I like a lot. It's a take on the end of the world and the upcoming apocalypse, but done in an upbeat, ironic manner. And Garner looks stunning in both videos.

Oops - I spoiled the surprise. Because I didn't know which was the official video, since even their ''live'' TV appearances had plenty of choreography and montage, I selected the two versions that seem more likely to be videos and got embedded them here. You're welcome.

First, a version in front of a house that could be Pee-Wee's Playhouse's evil twin:





Also, a version on mostly black background intertwined with newspaper clippings, with Garner sporting what looks like (really hot) 80s exercise clothing, and Healy mimicking the guitar solo in the middle of the song: