What happened to the front of that girl's wedding dress?
How did they find that teeny-tiny church in the middle of the New Mexico? And why bother with the marriage hoopla when Slash is clearly the star of this video?
Has anyone at this wedding ever seen rain before? No need to destroy the cake!
And perhaps the biggest mystery (Spoiler Alert if you are under the age of 27 or over the age of 40) What happened that put this bride in a coffin by the end of the video? The mirrored face implies suicide...but why? She should've married Slash...
Some questions we will never know the answers to. But what I really wanna know is that since our society has digressed evolved to a point where MTV and VH1 are not for music videos anymore and YouTube is the new medium for them, are we still getting the same narrative production value in videos today?
What is today's equivalent of the overly dramatic music videos that I grew up with? You know the ones. Richard Marx's "Hazard," MJ's "Thriller," A-Ha's "Take On Me," anything by Celine Dion, Bonnie Tyler or Meatloaf, Reba's "Fancy," and yes, I will go there...R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet." These videos and many more like them put images to music that redefined the songs and became icons for my generation.
Before we explore some possible contemporary comparisons, let's dissect the elements of these videos:
1. Storytelling-The story doesn't have to be concrete or detailed, but each of these videos has characters, setting, and some semblance of a narrative arc that moves the story forward.
2. Epic elements-I'm talking about costumes, lights, wide angle shots, absurd length, and lots and lots of extras.
3. Solo break-It doesn't have to be a guitar solo, it can be a dance solo or just a total interruption/change in the music, but something has to break it up.
4. Chill factor-Where would any music be without those four right chords that make you cry? At some point in watching a video, whether it's musically induced or story induced, the hair on your arms should stand up.
5. It helps if someone dies.
Now, I submit for your consideration the following possibilities:
Anything by Lady Gaga but more specifically "Bad Romance"
Coldplay "The Scientist"
Katy Perry "The One That Got Away"
Beyonce "If I Were a Boy"
Eminem and Rihanna "Love The Way You Lie"
Even though the above videos have potential, you can see that they all fall short of the dramatic videos of the 80's and 90's. In short, I am completely unsatisfied with these results. But I recognize that I might not know everything. My talents are far-reaching, but I admit that there might be cobwebbed corners of music that I cannot reach. And in my attempt to find the modern day have the lock on the modern version of "November Rain."
So I ask you, dear reader, help me find the most epic music videos being made today. If you would like to suggest one, leave a comment!