The Timekiller: A Trip Down Music Video Memory Lane

In the midst of some channel surfing the other day, I came across something remarkable – a channel that showed images put to popular music. I believe they called them, “music videos.”

My buddy told me that once upon a time there was an entire channel dedicated to showing these things and that it was called “Music Television.” He tried to convince me that MTV actually stood for Music Television, but I’m no sucker. If he wants to get an April Fool’s joke like that past me, he’s going to have to do a lot better than trying to convince me that the home of My Super Sweet 16 and Life of Ryan used to play these cool “music video” things.

Anyway...the music videos which I actually did see on television were on FUSE, a network which apparently has a series called Video Yearbook. Each episode features about a dozen videos from a single year. It’s mesmerizing.

The episode that I happened to come across was the Video Yearbook from 1995 and I had an epiphany while watching it – music in 1995 was a mess. Here’s my thoughts about the videos they showed with some clips of those same videos so you can play along at home.


The Video Yearbook kicked off with a pair of “alternative” (I think that’s what they were calling them then) vids including Bush’s “Come Down” and Green Day’s “When I Come Around.”





It reminded me that once upon a time Bush was as big a rock band as there was – and that that time lasted for approximately 3 months. Also worth nothing in the Bush video is the extensive use of a fisheye lens which leads to one obvious question – did Hype Williams steal that style from Bush or did Bush steal that style from Hype Williams? And which is more troubling?

As far as Green Day goes, the video is one of those videos that you’re pretty sure either has a really deep meaning that is impossible to decipher, or it was designed to imply it has a deep meaning to cover the fact that they had no budget to make a proper video.

Shifting gears (one of the best things about Video Yearbook is they play videos from a variety of genres), next up was the classic Tupac-Dr. Dre Thunderdome video for "California Love," which is best known in my mind for the behind the scenes clip of Tupac flashing cash and talking about how he fucked Biggie’s wife (it gets shown in every documentary about the Biggie-Tupac “thing”). I guess this was before the “keep it real” era, because there’s nothing really “thug life” about playing make-believe and dressing up like a sci-fi Mel Gibson. Another amusing thing in this video is the appearance of Chris Tucker, who would now only appear in a music video for a Jackie Chan song I assume.



Speaking of gangsta’s, the only other hip hop (or was it still called rap in 95?) video to make the yearbook was Coolio’s "Gangsta’s Paradise." Talk about not aging well. It’s impossible to take Coolio seriously as a “Gangsta” after you’ve seen him on Celebrity Fear Factor. Side note – whatever happened to the sweet harmonies of LV?



Presenting an alternative to the alternative, Video Yearbook next hits me with “Just” by Radiohead, “1979” by Smashing Pumpkins, and “Hey Man, Nice Shot” by Filter. In turn, I find myself wishing they had shown “Creep” by Radiohead, wishing Billy Corgan wasn’t so creepy looking, and wondering why people insist to me that Filter had a hit song even though I don’t think I ever heard it in 1995 or since then.







Wrapping up the Yearbook was a pair of songs featuring what I assume had to be 1995’s biggest freaks. First, Marilyn Manson goths up a cover of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams.” I’m no Manson fan, but you watch the video and it’s easy to see why he had his moment in the sun. I mean, he makes me wanna go shoot up a high school and I’m not even in one.



Luckily, we don’t have to go out on the sour note of a school-shooting joke. That’s because our final video is Michael Jackson’s “Scream.” It features Jacko and his sister Janet in space (for no apparent reason) and throwing matching temper tantrums (for no apparent reason). Much like 1995’s music itself, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it’s still pretty fun to watch.

Josh Spector is the "mastermind" behind Whip It Out Comedy. His column runs every Monday, assuming he remembers to write it. He has recently written about the state of web comedy and bachelor party surprises. He can be pestered at whipitoutcomedy@yahoo.com.