Video Hangover: "You're Only Human (Second Wind)"
Twice a week we dig up a music video so ill-conceived it's no wonder MTV stopped playing the damn thing. But hey, at least we learned something...
“You’re Only Human (Second Wind)”
Billy Joel, 1985
THE CONCEPT
The ghost of Billy Joel gives some life advice to Marty McFly in this mash-up of It’s A Wonderful Life and the bridge scene from Saturday Night Fever.
WHAT THEY WERE THINKING
Billy Joel is an unimpeachably wholesome pop star with tons of money, a beautiful wife, and several fully functioning automobiles. Perhaps there are some well-worn visual clichés and banal lyrics he could use to convince young people not to kill themselves?
WHERE THEY WENT WRONG
We’d be the first to admit that this is not the Piano Man’s best work, but the director doesn’t do him any favors. If you want to make a serious video, make a serious video. If you want to make a zany video, make a zany video. But if you’re going to have a scene where a jock rescues a drowning nerd, don’t follow it up with a scene where a devastated mother weeps for the loss of her child.
THE LESSON
Billy is right about teenage suicide (don’t do it!), but overall he gives some questionable advice. The gist of it seems to be: graduate high school, become a lifeguard, and marry your high school sweetheart. Keep in mind, this is a girl who apparently breaks up with George after he drives into a fruitstand. One fruitstand! And Billy’s advice is to hang around Manhasset and marry this shrew? The lesson, as always: don’t listen to Billy Joel, especially after he’s been into the champagne.
BONUS CONTINUITY ERROR
The fruitstand is next to the hydrant. In order to hit the friutstand head-on, George must be driving perpendicular to the curb. But in order to run down the hydrant, as he does a few seconds later, he must be driving nearly parallel to the curb. So how does he hit both?
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Posted at 11:30 AM in Video, Video Hangover
Tags: Billy Joel
Did Billy Joel just try to fish out a nerd? This video makes no sense. i love it.
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re: continuity error...
in the director's defense...
he's only human, he's supposed to make mistakes...
and yes, I'm going to pun hell...
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Yo! Stereogum Crap -- As the blogosphere grows ad infinitum I understand the need to streamline and routinize content to appeal to those inside the cultural periphery. The more general the content the more it can potentially appeal to more people. Fine. But BECAUSE the blogs develop and change daily you'll (nor anyone else) never corner the market. You make the blogosphere better by being a unique niche market rather than a watered-down general site. And if the "market place of ideas" concept has any relevance you'll gain more readers (or better) readers because of the quality of content. And even if you don't, at least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you didn't become a Wal-Martesque blog.
The upshot? Cut out the cheesy graphics, the weekly features, and the increasingly mainstream pop culture news. I can get all of that in US Weekly or the Daily 10. Do what you do best: find a mish-mash of odd and interesting news about bands and shows (which isn't limited to indie rock) and humorously and irreverently comment on them. That's all we need.
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i take issue with josh...this clip actually made my day today.
they just don't make them like this anymore...which i'm not sure is a good or a bad thing.
but either way - the trip down memory lane was an extremely pleasant way to start my 15 degree monday morning.
thanks stereogum - i toss my shiny harmonica to you.
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I think these guys know how to run their blog although I'm sure they appreciate your advice.
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i thought this was really funny. please keep the columns coming
also do a Toto video please!!
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I watched this video on VHI Classic while on a Jet Blue flight and laughed out loud so hard that I scared half the plane.
I'm really glad that you brought light to this because I've been trying to explain this awful video to my fiancée (a Long Islander and HUGE fan of The Joel) to no avail.
A lot of people talk about the imagery of the rockstar selling their soul as if there is some contract with the devil involved at "the crossroads". This is what it really looks like. When Billy Joel left his Wife for Christie Brinkley and started making music like this (and videos!) he threw away all of his artistic credibility.
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That comment about the fruitstand contained more thought than the video itself.
Might be worth mentioning - this song was a throwaway for Greatest Hits, Vols 1 & 2. So the throwaway nature of the video kinda goes with it. Or maybe they were just trying to cash in on that summer's other "It's a Wonderful Life" rip, The Heavenly Kid.
Sadly, this song always reminds me of Back to the Future. But not Live Aid. Go figure.
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This is my new favorite music video. It's totally and completely amazing. I love it, and I'm completely seriously. It's so fantastically awful that it's adorable.
What's even better is that I had a pretty geeky connection with this song in the first place, because it was the closer of my marching band show my sophomore year of high school.
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You have no idea how many times i have watched that video in the last two years, it brought me through my late teen depression. Without that video i might just be choking on my vomit right now and pooping all over the place.
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As a graphic designer, I'm afraid I gotta agree with Josh on this one. I may just have to move on from Stereogum if this kinda thing keeps up. Not that anyone cares, but I've been around here a loooong time, and this blog is becoming something it was decidedly not when I first started reading and enjoying it oh so long ago. Do what you gotta do, but your base may have to start jumping ship at some point. Just sayin is all.
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Hey you haters should lighten up. Last I checked it didn't cost a cent to read Stereogum. Personally I love a little retro cheese now and then between learning about some obscure band from Parmistan that plays Bowie covers with Playskool instruments..
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why do people insist on making blogs seem so much deeper and more important than they really are? it's a website that one reads at his or her leisure, for some info, maybe a laugh, the occasional godawful video. nothing more, nothing less. discussing a blog like it's a marketing report or a judicial decision is about the most inane thing i can think of. well, that and discussing things like this on the internet.
anyway...
how can one hit a fruitstand AND a hydrant at the same time? i'm guessing billy was the driving consultant on the video, too.
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Fun fact: The nerd in the video is played by the guy from "Myth Busters."
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