I have been toying with the idea of putting together a list on this theme for a while. But, since I'm not a great fan of what is described as 'dance music' these days (understatement of the century!), nor have I ever been much of a dancer myself, I wasn't confident that I was sufficiently familiar with the field to come up with a strong 'Five'.
I received a little nudge the other day from my blog friend JES, whose latest post contributed the first of these selections.
A Top Five Dance Videos
5) Saint Motel - Benny Goodman
This new-ish band from LA seem set to make quite a hit with this single from their first album, released this summer. JES's post on this explains the inspiration behind the arcane song title (apparently the great jazz band leader had a similar flirtation with obscurity and failure at a critical moment early in his career) and the video concept in some detail. The precocious little moppet playing a young Michael Jackson is apparently a viral video sensation called Miles 'Baby Boogaloo' Brown.
4) Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You
The Norwegian electronic duo have a way with a catchy tune (what is it about Scandinavians and music?), but their sound is a little thin (and bloopy-bloopy) for my taste. But this is an outrageously charming video. [I've posted it once before, actually, over on Froogville, all the way back in 2007.]
3) OK Go - Here It Goes Again
The Chicagoan alt rockers make the best music videos in the world (really - just check out the selection on YouTube). But this gym treadmill routine for their 2006 single, in particular, won all kinds of awards and was immediately hailed as a modern classic. There's now a whole video sub-genre of American high school and college students replicating it for talent shows.
2) The Avalanches - Since I Left You
A charming, surreal, and finally very moving little fable from the Aussie cut-and-paste masters best known for the fabulous Frontier Psychiatrist.
But in the top spot this time, what else could it be but....
1) Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice
I really don't like this kind of music at all. But Spike Jonze's video is fantastic. Watch it with the sound down, if you have to. Walken dances!
2 comments:
I know you're not a Steve Martin fan, so you may have missed his odd 1981 musical feature Pennies from Heaven (based on the BBC series). Anyway, that film included an amazing dance number by Walken, almost (?) a strip-tease, to "Let's Misbehave." The lip-syncing to old performers' recordings is obvious -- it was the film's gimmick -- but there wasn't much question after I saw this that yes, Christopher Walken could DANCE.
(Some interesting background about his musical/dance skills here.)
Actually I'm a huge fan of the more intellectual Steve Martin; it's just his early gumby comedy that I'm resistant to.
I've had the DVD of that film for years, but somehow haven't got around to watching it. You give me a good pretext to dig it out now. The original version, a BBC series with Bob Hoskins in the lead, was one of the more haunting TV experiences of my childhood.
Thanks for the background on Mr Walken's beginnings as a hoofer.
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