Van Halen - Right Now
**1/2 (out of four)
At one point just after its release, "Right Now" was considered one of the best videos of all time. Then it became the spokesong for the soft-drink trainwreck known as Crystal Pepsi and was forever tarnished.* Now it just seems like some uber-liberal ad agency's self-righteous public service announcement, a bunch of sleek, disconnected images covered with one-liner slogans, all based on the concept of what's happening in the world "right now."
Some of these platitudes fit with the song's lyrics (when Sammy Hagar mentions "working so hard," we see one of a trio of migrant Mexican laborers climb into the bed of a pickup truck), while others are just plain cute for the sake of cute.
It kind of makes me wonder who wrote all these little slogans - I'm hoping it was members of the band and not outside hired help. Director Mark Fenske does manage to juggle a lot of second-unit set pieces and stock footage in with the shots of the band, but somehow "Right Now" never becomes a coherent, fully-realized video. It just kind of moves from one half-baked idea to the next, always living entirely in the present. Which I guess is what the song is supposed to be about.
* = However, tarnished in kind of a see-through way, since it was affiliated with crystal-clear cola and all.
At one point just after its release, "Right Now" was considered one of the best videos of all time. Then it became the spokesong for the soft-drink trainwreck known as Crystal Pepsi and was forever tarnished.* Now it just seems like some uber-liberal ad agency's self-righteous public service announcement, a bunch of sleek, disconnected images covered with one-liner slogans, all based on the concept of what's happening in the world "right now."
EXAMPLE: The camera pans down a red-silhouetted set of raised arms dangling the strings of a dancing stick puppet while superimposed somber gray-on-white type reads, "Right now, oil companies and old men are in control."
EXAMPLE: An unused yellow condom on white background with superimposed black type reading "Nothing is more expensive than regret."
Some of these platitudes fit with the song's lyrics (when Sammy Hagar mentions "working so hard," we see one of a trio of migrant Mexican laborers climb into the bed of a pickup truck), while others are just plain cute for the sake of cute.
EXAMPLE: The band, posing in black and white, disperses, and a spotlight arises on the bass player - standing by himself with an upright bass guitar - while the screen reads "Right now Mike is thinking about a solo project."
EXAMPLE: A kindly old lady, awash in bright white light, leans into the camera and smears red lipstick all over, while type flashing black and white type reads "Right now your parents miss you."
It kind of makes me wonder who wrote all these little slogans - I'm hoping it was members of the band and not outside hired help. Director Mark Fenske does manage to juggle a lot of second-unit set pieces and stock footage in with the shots of the band, but somehow "Right Now" never becomes a coherent, fully-realized video. It just kind of moves from one half-baked idea to the next, always living entirely in the present. Which I guess is what the song is supposed to be about.
* = However, tarnished in kind of a see-through way, since it was affiliated with crystal-clear cola and all.
posted by daytime at 5:22 AM
1 Comments:
Fenske wrote them not the band. It seems you're half baked not the video. It broke out of the "clutter" that exsisted in videos of the era. Video budgets are low and with a stron concept that drives the video it involves the viewer and nobody notices the low production value because the idea is so strong. Right now more dumb shits have blogs.
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