Just saw the video for "Cosmopolitan Bloodloss" by a band called Glassjaw, which features noted scenester/filmmaker Vincent Gallo in role simillar to that of Richard Ashcroft in the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony," wherein he walks the streets making a genuine ass of himself to anyone who happens to get in his way. Meanwhile, Glassjaw -- fronted by a truly annoying vocalist who insists on leaning over at an acute angle when singing, as if being probed from behind by an invisible broomstick -- play the song in an alley and jump around a lot, throwing lots of by-now cliched rock poses. By the end of the clip, Gallo (who was once a member of the 'no wave' band Gray, which also featured the late Jean Michel Basquiat) encounters the band, and angrily unplugs their amp, without saying a word. My question is this: are we to sympathize with Gallo who -- prior to merficully silencing the woefully earnest Glassjaw -- has been a complete jackass in the video?
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 15:30 (twenty-three years ago)