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The Best Music Video of 2012 Wasn't Gangnam Style

Posted: 12/28/2012 12:52 pm

Year-end roundups have everyone with a pulse creating their Top 10 lists. Best-of selections abound and you see everyone dying to tell everyone else what the coolest "whatever" is, be it albums, movies, moments etc. It's enough to make you want to hole up in your room, watch Star Wars and listen to the Beatles' White Album on repeat.

In an age when the "M" in MTV doesn't stand for anything, the music video format surprisingly took a front seat in 2012 and came blazing back to life online.

The sad part is that despite our expanded options in this digital age, we still managed to collectively distill our watching to a scant few clips, almost like it was 1983 all over again when you could see either Michael Jackson, Madonna, Lionel Richie, the Eurythmics or nothing. You'd think the open frontier that is the Internet would even out online views, but quite the opposite happened.

By now, and after 1 billion hits on YouTube, "Gangnam Style" is a worldwide phenomenon. For anyone who's been living under a rock, "Gangnam Style" is a song by South Korean singer, Psy. It's accompanied by a signature dance both a three-year-old and a 90 year-old can ape.

I was living under a rock since I only became familiar with "Gangnam Style" around the 917.3 million views mark. Upon watching the video (on Dec. 9 at 12:55 p.m.) and seeing the view count, I promptly tweeted this to the world:

"This Gangnam Style phenomenon is more proof we are on a planet overrun by village idiots."

Instead of getting the usual avalanche of hate tweets I get for my online rants, I got over 100 retweets and 100 per cent support. Now, I must be clear, I don't hate the song. I hate the fact that over a billion people were drawn to it.

I don't weep for the future because the future is now and it's in the form of a chubby-looking dude who thinks wearing sunglasses indoors makes him cool. I also fail to see what differentiates this song/video from the endless parade of all the other vapid dance songs/videos that we're inundated with.

And although 2012 was a landmark year for music videos, where bands like Walk Off The Earth got 142 million views for simply covering Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know," a 358 million-viewed song that sounds like some Sting/Police knockoff while the actual Police themselves have only a mere 31 million views for "Every Breath You Take," it was also a year in which the greatest video I have ever seen was released to comparatively little fanfare.

That is Nekrogoblikon's "No One Survives."

Squeaking in at 1.5 million views in the last three months isn't anything to sneeze at, but endowing it as "greatest video ever made" definitely requires answering why. How can a semi-active death/folk metal band suddenly produce the greatest video ever in the history of everything?

Nekrogoblikon's "No One Survives" video contains no silly synchronized dance moves, no rusted out electronic beats, no silly looking guy in sunglasses. It's a music video containing a classic music video narrative (remember those?) about a misfit boy working in an office who likes a pretty girl. Only in this case the misfit boy is a goblin. And the pretty girl is played by Digital Playground contract girl, Kayden Kross. (That means she's a porno star in real life.) Describing the plot here does the video disservice. If you're thoroughly confused, curious or both, go watch the damn video.(Note: It borders on NSFW if you work in a really crappy place.)

When I first saw "No One Survives" it was, interestingly enough, while we were making our own music video, "Just A Beautiful Day," and our directors Josh and Jason Diamond showed it to us for inspiration purposes. We didn't exactly reach the Citizen Kane-esque heights of Nekrogoblikon, but at almost 100,000 views to date, I'd say we're doing just fine.

Criticizing something that's so widely popular and then propping up an alternative will more than likely set up whatever is being paraded for a fall. So it's with some trepidation that I even venture to suggest Nekrogoblikon over Psy. It's a tall order and a thorny request, but if you're over "Gangnam Style" you need to watch this because Nekrogoblikon's the best.

 

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Year-end roundups have everyone with a pulse creating their Top 10 lists. Best-of selections abound and you see everyone dying to tell everyone else what the coolest "whatever" is, be it albums, mov...
Year-end roundups have everyone with a pulse creating their Top 10 lists. Best-of selections abound and you see everyone dying to tell everyone else what the coolest "whatever" is, be it albums, mov...
 
 
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08:11 PM on 12/30/2012
There was a lot of damn misery in 2012. A lot of people are out of work or underemployed. The economy is not in a good way. In times where things are hard, the light, silly stuff is what attracts people. Gushy and simple or silly and light. Escapism, if you will.

Psy wasn't looking to write like John Lennon, and people liking something silly isn't the worst thing in the world. My favorite video of the year was MIA's Bad Girls, but I'm not upset that it isn't as popular as Gangnam. People have gravitated to the lighter fare for years, just like they're more likely to read a trashy issue of People than a philosophical fiction. With miserable news coming at us faster and more easily than in previous generations, we seek something light to relieve that stress, and the light and foolish provides fun reprieve. It is what it is.
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typeterson
07:50 PM on 12/30/2012
looks like danko is trying to stay relevant by trying his hand at blogging. sorry danko, you missed the mark on this one. i'm not a psy fan at all, but even a fraction of research into the psy song and subsequent video would tell you that it is a smart satire of the rising middle class of the gangnam district in seoul. the video is hilarious, and much better than the drivel that danko says is his video of the year. he probably likes it because of the porn star in it. can't fault him for that i guess. stick to what you do best danko, which is creating that 'theory of a nickle-default' style of painfully bland wannabe rock.
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02:19 AM on 12/30/2012
very well put Danko. only thing I disagree with is I cant stand the song either.I'm also a musician, did the big smoke and lights rock show for a while, was even in a death metal band in high school. The funny thing is, i find the most enjoyable thing in the world now is a scaled back acoustic show. Me and 2 other guys, it's small and we can do it almost anywhere. What i noticed, is alot of younger people (im 37) realy love an acoustic version of an old rockin tune done well. Im talkin 18-25 so the BS "music industry" will never replace guys like us. One of the bands i was in did a cover of bounce. I was even told I sing it better than you. jest messin with ya! love your work, keep rockin.
12:54 AM on 12/30/2012
Danko shouldn't have even tried to use Psy's video in comparison. People just like it becauseit's a farce that happenedto go vial. That's not music.

As for the promoted video, loved it, but watched it with the sound off.
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02:41 AM on 12/30/2012
I like Psy's video for its social commentary.
12:50 AM on 12/30/2012
Gangnam is great - funny and catchy. It is cheesy and cheeky and is a huge laugh at the nouveau riche everywhere. Try MIT and see that even Noam Chomsky is willing to take part in it. There is a Gangnam take off on the prime minister of Canada. It is so true and so funny. Gangname will never be what other fads in music and dance have been. It is very clever and if the viewer can't see that then he is a little bit slow.
04:18 PM on 12/29/2012
Keep practicing, and someday you will be as good as Nickleback.... you almost have their sound down!
12:34 PM on 12/29/2012
Not only is this video awful it is about as unoriginal as they come, a bit like Green Days Holiday changed to a German death metal beat with a hunch back of Notre Dame theme.

While Walk of the Earths hit video was a cover as was Little Boxes, as far a videos go they were both as original an idea as I have seen and both eclipse this garbage.

Sorry Danko stick to making your own videos rather than promoting , yours is quite good at least as far as the music goes.
06:08 AM on 12/29/2012
As usual, Danko speaks the truth.
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Ryan Smith100153345
11:43 PM on 12/28/2012
The best music video ever made is the one for Do The Evolution, by Pearl Jam.

Co-directed by Kevin Altieri (Batman: The Animated Series) and Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn) who also had a very good run on The Amazing Spiderman, among other comic titles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDaOgu2CQtI
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01:54 AM on 12/30/2012
man I was just thinking the same thing right before i saw your comment!
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AndyPL22
True North, Wild and Free
02:11 AM on 12/30/2012
Agreed.
09:08 PM on 12/28/2012
In ten years we look back at Gangnam style the same way we look at the macarena today. Nothing of substance, nothing but a ridiculous dance set to simplistic cliche background music.
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02:22 AM on 12/30/2012
and people will still be buying work by the beatles, led zep, the doors.....etc
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02:43 AM on 12/30/2012
Except that the lyrics and the background visuals give are social commentary about income inequality in SK and the nouveau-riche.
You did catch that right?
Psy has always been a political singer.
04:49 PM on 12/30/2012
Lets not kid ourselves here.

I would argue that 99% of the people who like the song can't understand Korean. How can you agree with something you don't understand?

"WDBIbiucbiwucuwbc" Do you agree with that? Did that empower you to become a better person?

The vast majority of people listening to this have no idea what is being said. It is only popular because it has the same formulaic beat that any other pop song has.

Can you think of one activist who's audience could not understand the language? I can't.
A video which parodies the excess of the rich does not make one an activist.

Using your logic, Nekrogoblikon's video for "No One Survives" makes them an activist band because they are speaking out against bullying.

I think you are giving Psy way too much credit for writing a (supposedly) catchy pop song.
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01:42 PM on 12/28/2012
I agree with most of what you said, but I do think that the appeal of Gangman style simply comes from his desire not to be taken seriously. It's funny and makes fun of itself and I think that people were looking for something light. It's not rocket science. He (Psy) has said in interviews that he just wanted to make the most ridiculous video he could, and is very self-deprecating about it. He wasn't trying to be cool with his shades, he was just being funny. So, while I mourn with you at the lack of general depth in the universal fan in this moment of society, I still giggle everytime I watch it and I am okay with that. :)