Video Hangover: "Don't Give Up"
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...
"Don't Give Up"
Peter Gabriel (Feat. Kate Bush), 1986
THE CONCEPT
Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush hug – for six minutes. This is what’s known in the business as “high concept.”
WHAT THEY WERE THINKING
Kate was probably thinking: “I am a serious artist.” And Peter was probably thinking: “I can’t believe she went for the six-minutes-of-hugging video trick! Sting is never going to believe this!”
WHERE THEY WENT WRONG
We get it: they’re artists. This is a heartfelt ballad about sensitive themes, like having friends, and not giving up. Not sexy at all. But it’s Kate Bush we’re talking about here. Kate Bush! Was the trench coat really necessary? Would it have killed them to show a little bare shoulder? Calf? Heaving bosom? No? Nothing?
THE LESSON
Thirty seconds of this with a Cialis logo at the end might win a Clio, but there’s only so much chaste grappling we can sit through before we reach for the remote. Here’s how it went for us, minute-by-minute: compelling, awkward, cathartic, awkward, unbelievably hilarious, awkward. More proof that great song plus novel idea does not always equal watchable video.
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Posted at 2:19 PM in Video, Video Hangover
Tags: Kate Bush | Peter Gabriel
Okay, I like this video...
but I'm theoretically with you on the "where they went wrong" section. Kate Bush is a sumptuous human being.
You can see evidence of that other places, though. I don't *need* to see it here.
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You're remarkably wrong about this. Great video.
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Sorry, I have to disagree with this post too. That's a great video.
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Did I say I liked this video? Because I do.
(voices become a choir, albeit somewhat studio-doubled)
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Peter Gabriel = Ben Gibbard?????
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I agree, I like it.
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Funny how these Yo! MTV Crap videos are always taken from VH1.
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How is this a crap video again? I think I didn't get the memo.
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who the hell's running stereogum?
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booo!
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I am a bigger Peter Gabriel fan than all of you. BUT this video sucks.
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Greetings Stereogum readers! Come on over to Timedoor to check out the video of the version done by Willie Nelson and Sinead O'Connor, plus three mp3's of the Gabriel/Bush version, the Nelson/O'Connor cover, and a live version by Gabriel and O'Connor.
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um, seriously. what the hell is this column? i can't think of anything more uninteresting and irrelevant than these videos
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cait needs a hug
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I think what breaks this video is not the lack of Kate Bush's visible skin, but her horrible acting. Her faces and overzealous shoulder action are feature of all the "awkward" moments, for me. Peter Gabriel's a good hugger.
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The elegant simplicity of the video has fooled MTV (and Stereogum!). The hug isn't supposed to be sexy - it's about support in times of despair.
P.S. I love the timing of the total eclipse - it lasts the whole of the middle eight.
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love this feature concept.
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Don't even try stereogum. Clearly everyone's going to have a problem no matter what video/band is posted, just for the sake of it.
I guess i don't need to mention that i think this is the stupidest video ever. you know what it's missing? Candles and a guy holding a billboard that reads "TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART"
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Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush hug – for six minutes.
But... but... but... THE ECLIPSE!
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everytime i turn on mtv i see some really really bad rap video thats a diluted version of the one before it, why not pull out the most horrible outlandish over the top rap video and at least give us a chuckle,the best you can do is peter gabriel?? come on!! having not seen the video i thought the concept was rather interesting, although its not uber hip or the latest greatest chris cunningham short, dont try to steal peters mojo, hes got 'sledgehammer' and 'in your eyes'
im with the above post
"whos running sterogum"?
www.lightfromheat.com
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The label probably budgeted $146 for this video after Sledgehammer.
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