Talking Heads - Wild Wild Life
*** (of four)
"Wild Wild Life" was the big hit from the Talking Heads' True Stories album, which was the soundtrack to a quirky 1986 film of the same name directed by Heads frontman David Byrne. You know, the strange fucker in the huge white suit. His wardrobe is a little more subdued here, but you can still tell Byrne is one weird, weird dude. This time, though, he's overshadowed by a parade of microphone lip synchers, each of whom slides up to the forefront for a line or two.
I'm assuming, just from the hammed-up cameo appearance by John Goodman (in orange suit and green bowling shirt), that the microphone performers are all from the cast of True Stories. Goodman was second-billed in the film, but the rest of the cast names are a mystery to me - colorful people, though, including a fake-moustachioed and greasy-wigged Latino gigolo, a ninja, a fat girl, Billy Idol and Prince impersonators and a skinny guy who jerk-shimmies like Byrne himself in the "Once in a Lifetime" video.
The band members - some snappy dressers their damn selves - stay in the background while random stock footage clips play on rows of screens above them. The whole thing goes down in a fairly intimate nightclub, and you can be sure the director (Byrne himself, I assume?) cuts to plenty of bemused reaction shots, both of individuals and couples. The whole thing is cheesy, but knowingly so, and there's just enough variety and stimulation to sustain the video the whole way through.
"Wild Wild Life" was the big hit from the Talking Heads' True Stories album, which was the soundtrack to a quirky 1986 film of the same name directed by Heads frontman David Byrne. You know, the strange fucker in the huge white suit. His wardrobe is a little more subdued here, but you can still tell Byrne is one weird, weird dude. This time, though, he's overshadowed by a parade of microphone lip synchers, each of whom slides up to the forefront for a line or two.
I'm assuming, just from the hammed-up cameo appearance by John Goodman (in orange suit and green bowling shirt), that the microphone performers are all from the cast of True Stories. Goodman was second-billed in the film, but the rest of the cast names are a mystery to me - colorful people, though, including a fake-moustachioed and greasy-wigged Latino gigolo, a ninja, a fat girl, Billy Idol and Prince impersonators and a skinny guy who jerk-shimmies like Byrne himself in the "Once in a Lifetime" video.
The band members - some snappy dressers their damn selves - stay in the background while random stock footage clips play on rows of screens above them. The whole thing goes down in a fairly intimate nightclub, and you can be sure the director (Byrne himself, I assume?) cuts to plenty of bemused reaction shots, both of individuals and couples. The whole thing is cheesy, but knowingly so, and there's just enough variety and stimulation to sustain the video the whole way through.
posted by daytime at 9:32 PM
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