I have two half-finished blogs on very interesting historical topics. You’re not getting any of that with today, though, because this time it’s all about what makes me laugh. Specifically, I’m sharing links to my favorite funny music videos and hoping that you will share your favorites with me.
I’m leading off with a recent video because that’s what got me started down this whole train of thought. Get it? Train. The first video is by Train, and though I’d heard the song many times, I never paid attention to the lyrics until I saw the video. Then I had to watch it about four times to catch all of the murders. This is “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” and I love everything about it, from the mariachi band in the grocery store to the blonde decapitated by a “crappy purple Scion.” The song is a lovesick guy explaining to a very sympathetic David Hasselhoff why his girlfriend no longer grocery shops with him. She has been eaten by a lion. Danced to death in an East Side night club. Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand. Or run over by a crappy purple Scion. You pick. The video shows it all and it’s laugh out loud funny. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGzlMD4KM04)
My next pick is at the opposite end of the spectrum, an antique by video standards, released in 1981. “Land Down Under” by Australia’s Men at Work still makes me smile with the hammy performances by the band playing a variety of local characters, and the stuffed koala bouncing across the sand. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s).
The third video can only be fully appreciated if you watched TV’s “Happy Days” at some critical point during your developmental years. Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” seamlessly integrates video from iconic 1970s TV show about the 1950s with footage of the band performing in period garb. The “Fonz” even dances in front. Maybe it’s funny if you never saw the TV show. It’s pretty ridiculous. (How did I ever watch that stuff?) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s)
My fourth pick introduced us to a band that would become one of my daughter’s favorites. We liked their treadmill video, but the beautiful styled dance routine in OK GO’s “A Million Ways” is their best, in my opinion. I tried to talk my dance class into performing this routine during our daughters’ recital but they wouldn’t go for it. I can’t imagine why. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s)
It’s really hard to stop now that I’ve started, but I’m going to end with the one I find funniest of all. However, I will warn you that context is everything with this one. To begin with, everyone in my house has seen the Lord of the Rings movies several times. And before I saw this video, my son decided to torture us routinely by playing the “Trololo” video, which consists of a smiling guy with a plastic face and a cheap polyester suit singing a song with disjointed syllables and no actual words. The sound of his mellow baritone voice singing “trollollollo” and “hahahaha” accompanied by Lawrence Welk strings haunted me all summer.
Then I saw this video of “Trolling Saruman” and everything became clear. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaqC5FnvAEc)
Enjoy! And if you have time, please share your favorites.