WTF.
03/09/04
You know, I shouldn't do this. I want to be a class act. I want to be dignified. If I ever heard a young band that sounded like The Dismemberment Plan, I wouldn't be a bitch and call them out, because it wasn't like Brainiac ever tried to embarrass me when I was a youngblood... or Soul Coughing, or Trenchmouth, even though we owed those bands royalties for all the ideas we took. We did our best to take the ideas to a new place, but first we just kind of imitated. That's how it goes.
But when it comes to folks stealing video ideas, damn, that's just wrong. So without further ado, please compare the video for the Vines song "Ride" with The Dismemberment Plan video for "Time Bomb."
Damn. I having a terrifying new emotion--the urge to sue someone's ass. Are there any lawyers out there? Can they get away with this? I mean, I don't really want to sue anyone, I have a sanity to chase, like an inept sheepdog. Somebody better tell Capitol Records they picked the right guy to fuck with. But I'm wondering what this looks like from an ent-lawyer standpoint.
That reminds me. I want an entertainment lawyer that is actually an ent. I want a fifty-foot-tall tree to stand up and say "objection, your honor, my client thought it all up at the Bagel Place in College Park MD and everyone knows it."
Fuck the Vines. At least a band with some personality could rip my team off, not them. Xiu Xiu and Basement Jaxx may rummage through our shit any time.
Back to zen acceptance of all things. I hereby vow to never publicly speak of this kind of thing again. I just had to step off my cloud and say some things this time like the weak egotist I am. Damn.
By the way, how good is that last Basement Jaxx record?
-T
In any case, I dunno. I really liked the idea of the Plan including a lot of other bands into their one and only music video. But as a whole concept...it just didn't really stand out much for me. I mean, is the Vines' video really a ripoff of "Time Bomb" or is it actually closer to a ripoff of Gondry's work on the White Stripes' "The Hardest Button to Button" (is that even the right one? Whichever one had the repeating/multiplying instruments).
Anyway.
― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 12 March 2004 04:03 (twenty-two years ago)
the Pitchfork column about the Vines song mentioned the "by-now played-out" concept of the video, and the way it was described did remind me a little of the "Time Bomb" video. I can't think of any other videos that haven't done that same thing, although I'd imagine it's the kind of thing that has been done many times over. any other examples?
it's really a shame I never saw that "Time Bomb" video outside a Quicktime window, it would've been nice if it'd gotten a little airplay on MTV2, considering how often they pick up videos with lesser production values by indie bands with smaller followings than the Plan had. meh.
― Al (sitcom), Friday, 12 March 2004 04:44 (twenty-two years ago)
Yeah, who outside of the Plan's fanbase has actually seen the "Time Bomb" video? I doubt Gondry knew anything about it.
Additionally, compare and contrast: Gondry's video for the White Stripes' "The Hardest Button to Button" vs. "Ride".
― Nick Mirov (nick), Friday, 12 March 2004 05:03 (twenty-two years ago)
Wait, did Gondry actually do the Vines video? Wow, that really disappoints me.
― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 12 March 2004 05:45 (twenty-two years ago)
The commercials for Eternal Sunshine... prominently feature the one good Poly. Spree song, so I'm not shocked Gondry's involved.
Why are they even getting another video, though - weren't they dropped by their UK label? It's not like anyone in the US cared/s about them.
― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 12 March 2004 05:54 (twenty-two years ago)
six months pass...
i am monumentally disappointed by the fact that gondry's last two videos have been for the vines and steriogramYeah, WTF? The video for Walkie Talkie Man looks like someone explained the idea of Michel Gondry to an idiot (possibly the same one that they explained Spike Jonez to for the video to Ch-Check It Out) and gave him a million dollars. Also how can they be from New Zealand rather than Holland or Belgium?
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Sunday, 10 October 2004 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)
I love the D-Plan more but the Vines video was funnier overall. I don't care who does something first, I care who does it better.
Dude, "Ch-Check It Out" wasn't idiot Spike Jonze, it was typical Nathaniel Hornblower (which I luhve).
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 10 October 2004 17:47 (twenty-one years ago)
Haha I remember a Beastie Boys marathon on MTV which had in the corner a "minutes remaining until fish-eye lens" counter. The wigs and facial hair seemed like a reference to Sabotage, but I'll take your word for it. I suppose I was thinking of that crossed with Intergalactic, which is a Nathanial Hornblower joint all right.
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Sunday, 10 October 2004 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)