Lost Video Island

[thefilmchick]

Bumping this up from the depths of two months ago to chip in:

I use a lot of songs from the '70s. It's what I grew up listening to, and I've never stopped listening to folks like Costello and Zevon. It appears to have the following positive effects:

1) Novelty. I can choose songs not many people have heard before.

2) Lyric use. To stereotype entirely unfairly, lyrics were better in the '70s, especially for the dark, slightly paranoid tinge which I like to give to a lot of my videos (ensembles in particular.) People were more questioning in those days.

It has some negative effects too, though:

1) Unfamiliarity. People will go look at a Lady Gaga video or an Owl City video before they will look at an Elvis Costello or Warren Zevon video.

2) People not getting the song. Say I were to use 'Tramp the Dirt Down' (Elvis Costello), which is a response to Margaret Thatcher (he's not a fan). Not many younger Americans know who she is. Similarly with Zevon, if I were to use 'Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner,' which is about a Norwegian commando serving in the Boer War (and then getting his head blown off and stalking his killer through Africa), it would lose people who would never have heard of the Boer War. If those songs somehow connected to a character (say I did a ghost story to the last song, using Mikhail or Keamy or somebody), I would have to be very explicit/obvious, otherwise people wouldn't get it.

What I listen to is what I listen to, though, and I'm not going to sit through some insiped and terrible Miley Cyrus song just for a few more hits. (Hell, I wouldn't sit through it for a free lunch, either. Maybe $20. Provided I could have some Costello or Zevon to cleanse myself with afterwards, though!)
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I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's. His hair was perfect.