Saturday, January 17, 2009

Exceed excess, without a clue

Both are about quick to rise to the top pop artists. Both talk about the naivete of the protagonist towards the actual meaning (and longevity) of their success. Both have great videos. Both reference the word 'Wide' in their title.

Both are hella catchy tunes.

(Can't find the videos complete and decent anywhere else. Oh, well.)

Wide Boy - Nik Kershaw





I have no basis for this, other than I read it at the same time I first saw this video eons ago, but I'd like to think Nik's last look back at the doctors and nurses, where he sees them all sporting animal heads? Is a nod to Daphne Du Maurier's short story, 'The Blue Lenses'. Great set of short stories, by the way, in the same named collection; the title story should have been made into a Hithcock short. (I'd say Twilight Zone, too, except I think they may have not given it the chilling undertone it deserved without making it a wee bit campy.)

Into the Great Wide Open - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers





(Originally, Winona Ryder was supposed to appear in the video with Johnny Depp, and there was to be a lot more scenes about 'Eddie' and his girlfriend, but the real life couple broke up before shooting began ,and Gabrielle Anwar was hired at the last minute, after which they changed the storyboards. WHY do I know these things??! HOW do I know these things?)

2 comments:

Itadaki Mouse said...

Aww...because you're a closet Johnny Depp fan?
Great video -- I had never seen Nik Kershaw before.

Anonymous said...

I would say you're probably on the right, just not with the right half. I really liked Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice and Heathers, so I likely noted tidbits I read or overheard on the TV about her. I mean, I actually prefer Greco's Booker to Depp's Hanson on 21 Jump Street; that's something no self-respecting and true Depp fan will ever think of of, let alone say!