Riffing the Stories: Down and Out in Limbo City

Of course allmusicjunkies didn't forget Valentine's Day.

This is why they suggested the first lines of "My Funny Valentine." For me though, the only rendition of this song that's stuck in my head is Michelle Pfeiffer in the movie 'The Fabulous Baker Boys'. (Which one do you people prefer?)

Throw in my current reading of detective fiction of Jedediah Berry's excellent The Manual of Detection, plus China Mieville's The City and the City, and I had to write the customary scene of a detective in his dingy office and the cool, sexy blonde that walks into his life...

Down and Out in Limbo City

My funny valentine, the phonograph scratched from the old vinyl record playing at one side of his office. Sweet comic valentine.

The dead detective barely heard the song as his unseeing eyes stared at the necklace wrapped around his hand. A shot glass and a half-empty bottle of whiskey were on his desk.

You make me smile with my heart.

There was a slight knock at the door and the detective roused himself to say, “C’mon in. And that better not be you, Simon.”

The door swung open and a tall, curvaceous woman in a tight black dress walked in. A small black hat and a black silk veil covered her head and features, but the dead detective felt the woman’s gaze like a punch to the gut.

“I’m not Simon,” said the woman in a soft steel-limned voice. “I trust I’m not disturbing you?”

I've noticed though that current spate of allmusicjunkies fiction has been devoid of local flavor. But that's all right. Sometimes it comes, sometimes you gotta let the imagination run wild for a bit.

I Want My MTV

Let's face it, we can't imagine not having MTV nowadays.

But in the late '80s, the only source of music videos at that time (pre-MTV and Channel V in the Philippines) was the local channel RPN 9 with its one hour chock-full of music videos during those lazy Saturday afternoons. I would actually make it a point to stay in and watch the show. Fortunately, despite later warnings of turning into an ADD kid, I didn't.

One thing I did realize in the aftermath of my youth-- and pre-fast download speeds on the Internet-- is the fact that there some music videos that become your favorite despite the song and artist. I also wondered if people would eventually start collecting music videos the way kids would to collect playing cards or shoes.

Thanks to Youtube, my realization has come to the fore and we can now enjoy the aforementioned music videos. Thus, here's a handful of music videos that stuck to me all these years:



Cranberries' Promises

The first time I saw this video by this Irish band, I was essentially wow-ed by the song's hard-hitting tune and lyrics. But I also couldn't tear my attention away from the weird, ghostly storyline embedded in the music video. I suppose my later fascination of the Wild Weird West stories of Stephen King's The Gunslinger and Mark Sumner's dark magical West of sorcerers and shamans stem from this music video.



Garbage's Push It

What's not to like Garbage? However, this first song of Garbage from their sophomore album really blew down windmills in my mind, stomped them into the ground and told me sweetly, "Bite me". This was also the first time I saw the particular effects used in the music video, commonly used now in a number of horror movies. Some scary imagery there, plus Shirley Manson. You can never have enough of Shirley Manson.



The Cardigans' My Favorite Game

I'm sure most people know the reputation of this particular music video with its hyper-kinetic violent storyline. I admit I only knew about the safe edition until someone told me about the extended length of the video that had Nina Persson swerving all over the highway and overturning her car. Despite the fact that The Cardigans' was never a favorite band of mine (that is, not favored but not hated either), this is the quintessential driving song for me.



Madonna's Frozen

Whatever you think of Madonna, it doesn't matter in the face of this song and video with its surreal, haunting quality and fascinating special effects. And the dobermans look creepy, looking at you like they know what you're thinking. They're probably the same dobermans in The Exorcist.

So, if you had the option of collecting music videos (regardless of singer or song), what are your favorites?


Edited to add: Sean reminded me of this great video by Fatboy Slim. Unfortunately I can't seem to get an embed so you'll just have to settle for a link.

Cats rule!