January 15, 2008

Video Hangover: Happy Mondays - "Stinkin' Thinkin'"

Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, Jon McMillan breaks 'em down for you. Why Video Hangover? Because when you watch as many videos as we do, you're going to feel it afterwards.

"Stinkin' Thinkin'"
Happy Mondays, 1992

Shaun Ryder will clean your pockets for a quid.

First you twist the melon, man, then they call the cops
By all accounts, the Mondays lived up to their rep as drugged-out nutjobs, so it's no surprise that "Stinkin' Thinkin'" opens with Shaun Ryder blissfully fondling an underage girl and ends with the boys on the way to jail. And while Ryder does crack a few smiles (evil grins?), the video isn't exactly an ironic take on the Mondays' wanton lifestyle. If anything, it's a kind of cinema verite. Check out the wasted women in the brothel (:51), or the aforementioned fondling. Or the ending, for that matter, where Bez (who is actually handcuffed to the seat) nods off before the song ends. I don't think there's very much "acting" going on here.

Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and do something like this ... and totally redeem yourself!
Really, though -- who would have thought these guys could pull off a pickpocket caper, even in a video? Not only is Shaun able to replace the judge's billfold with a newspaper, but the rest of the band makes three flawless handoffs in about two seconds.

Just another day at the office
I haven't read Bez's autobiography, but it's reasonable to assume that he has no recollection of ever being in this video. Dancing with a huge, white mouse? Dancing in a clown suit? Distracting people on the street while Shaun steals their wallets? That wasn't a video, mate -- that was 1991.