12 Angry Viewers: Lost Gem of Mid-Ninties MTV

12 Angry Viewers wasn't the most popular show. I'm not sure any of my classmates in the 5th grade watched it, though we all watched MTV for sure. Wikipedia describes the premise:

"12 'Angry Viewers' were chosen. Through the course of a week they would watch several "brand new" videos and vote at the end of the episode which was the best. On Friday the best video out of the four chosen during the week was chosen and put into "heavy rotation" on the network." 

Maybe it wasn't that great and I'm inflating it, but unfortunately there isn't enough content online for me to re-live it. When Googling 12 Angry Viewers, one of the first things to come up is this hilarious article from a 1997 Philly newspaper advertising auditions for the show. Right off the bat, this journalist wins me with the line, "Say you have an addytood [sic]." Sick. I did have an attitude, and opinions about videos, thank you very much. Could not wait to watch!

I didn't know it yet, but I was viewing the most music video saturated programming of my lifetime. It's what I would consider a golden era for MTV. Many would disagree. It was a steep decline, and no one could see behind them. I also didn't know that I was in-taking a smaller percentage of music videos than previous generations of viewers. With shows like Cartoon Sushi and Liquid Television providing dark, violent and sexy cartoons pre-Adult Swim, I couldn't complain. MTV was a guide book for everything 20-somethings were into. This demographic in actually was starting to shy away from MTV and soon the programming would become less pseudo-adult and be more teen oriented.

If you lived through the early aughts of MTV and beyond, you know the hilariously low number of music videos they played during that era. It started with thoughts like, "MTV only plays videos if they're on TRL!" and devolved into "They cancelled TRL and now they only play Teen Mom and The Hills."

If you can imagine, the mid-nineties had their own critics about MTV's programming. Claiming even then that MTV was slipping on the video front. 12 Angry Viewers was one of several shows used to spoon feed videos to the masses, including MTV Live, Say What?, and Total Request. I suppose the executives agreed that the youths needed to watch things in scheduled show formats. Blocks of videos without a gimmick wouldn't keep their attention. I suppose this is true to a certain extent. I get the draw of watching a show. If it's a video block, maybe you change the channel when a video you don't like comes on. If the promise of a winner or an interview is ahead, then maybe you power through it.



The promo for 12 Angry Viewers is perfectly mid-90s. It has all the bells, whistles and flashing lights (literally) to get your attention. It's narrated by a Daria-voiced gen-xer, almost cooing over how satisfyingly cynical these Angry Viewers are. The visuals say, "We're taking the idea of throwing rotten tomatoes, and we're blowing it up!" It says, 'new futuristic fonts.' It says, 'negatives are negative.' It says 'extreme,' right before Xtreme! became a thing.

I have a couple solid memories from watching 12 Angry Viewers:

1. It was the first time I saw Portishead's Only You video. This nightmare-like underwater warehouse video was directed by Chris Cunningham, and it won during it's week on the show. This gloomy, jazzy song with strings, Theremin, and mixing and scratching was a revelation to me. Two years later I would finally purchase their self titled album, and Portishead would become one of my favorite bands. In the mean time I made sure to tune in to 12 Angry Viewers every day that week to see it. 

2. The Propellerheads History Repeating was great. It won. End of story.



3. There were Father's Day / Mother's Day episodes where parents watched videos with their college age kids (hilarity ensued - mom's didn't like Korn). One of the videos played was Zoot Suit Riot by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, because "Daddies." 

4. Air's Sexy Boy was also a contender on the show. It didn't win or loose. It wasn't worth banning, but it wasn't worth Heavy Rotation either. However, this song sounded retro and French, so I loved it. 



5. Something else that was retro and French, is a music video panned for being too weird. I don't remember if it won or lost, AND I don't remember the artist. I haven't been able to find it anywhere. Maybe you can help me: The video is of two men preparing for a skydive. But the sequence goes forwards and backwards in a loop. They fly up into the plane, and then jump back out, etc. Inside the plane is a man who kind of looks like Nathaniel Hornblower, making waffles with badminton rackets, and mouthing to the lyrics (the only lyrics) sung by a breathy woman, "I love it." 

When I type this description into Google, I get nothing.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!!

This is it!! Gigantic thanks to Blogger user Hessell for answering my prayers.



12 Angry Viewers was a smart show because it purposefully played obscure and artful videos when this was going out of style. This may have been done for shock value, and to illicit strong reactions from the contestants, but at least it gave them a fighting chance on the airwaves. 

The First Taste: I Dug Up A Bad Fiona Apple Video

Side note before I begin: September really flew by. I wanted to get this post out before October, but my poor excuse is that I move to Brooklyn and spent most of my time looking for a job, and or had trouble focusing on other projects throughout this transition period. Thank you for continuing to read this blog, and I assure you, I have no intention of stopping despite my hiatus. Let me begin with a reference to a year-old post.

The post, I've Been A Bad Bad Girl, analyzed Fiona Apple's Criminal video and compared it to Miley Cyrus's video for We Can't Stop - because Miley Cyrus was all the rage back then and I'm a huge Fiona Apple fan. Criminal is a great video (obviously, it won a VMA and was directed by Mark Romanek), and Apple's other videos off of her debut album, Tidal, were enjoyable to watch as well. Sleep To Dream was moody and used cool special effects. Never Is A Promise didn't have a narrative, but it was gorgeous seeing Apple floating over the New York City streets at night.

Still from Sleep To Dream

Still from Never Is A Promise

Those were the only videos I knew of from Tidal, until I was watched a Fiona Apple video mix on YouTube. I came across a rare music video that was bizarre if only for how uncharacteristically sexual and awkward it is for Fiona Apple.

The First Taste, is an uncommon and sensual love song of longing. Most often Fiona Apple is known for songs about breakups, being depressed, or unbridled hate. Even her songs about being in love typically come with a warning - that she will be really intense (i.e. Fast As You Can or Slow Like Honey). With a Spanish hip-swaying vibe, The First Taste speaks of the desire to finally get it on with the special someone you've been seeing. It's mellow, it's personal, and it's really quite unfortunate that the video for it does not express this adequately.

Besides the fact that half of the cast doesn't understand how to behave in front of a camera, the party theme that runs through the video is mismatched by the song's personal lyrics. It's kind of a train wreck, so let's watch it.

Some people were told to throw confetti and look happy. Other's were directed to be Calvin Klein models and have zero reaction what so ever. Wow, cool party guys. I can really tell you're all friends...

With some research I was able to glean that the video was never released in the US, which explains why I had never seen it - being glued to MTV during her golden era. It was surprising this video came out before Criminal, because my first thought upon watching it was, "Wow this director was trying hard to ride the wave of Criminal's illicit house party vibe, except everyone looks alive." However, The First Taste video, directed by Dewey Nicks was released in February of 1997 and Criminal debuted that June. 

The video is a perfect time capsule for 1997, which makes it fun to watch in that respect. From the hair, outfits, accessories, to the bedroom floor Fiona is lounging on like a sullen teen.

Good speakers, groovy carpet, rotary phone; add some inflatable furniture and you've got yourself a Delia's catalog.

Argyle vests.

That sweater! This shot is a millisecond long, but when I saw it with those hands in middle school dance mode, it took me back.  

Shirt. Choker. Lip liner.

Those glasses.

Sisqo Hair.

Like many videos there are several different realms we are presented. Aside from the bedroom shots, there’s close up, hair gelled back, body glitter Fiona. 

I absolutely attempted to achieve this look.

Then there's swaying, billowy sheer shirt Fiona.

She's alone, she's grooving, she's got her wrists limp while Lorde was still in diapers. 

 Walking through a house party.

The most naturally acted moment in this video and it's 2 seconds long.

Floating through a house party.

This is one of the strangest aspects of the video (but it does get weirder later). By the Law of Music Videos, a person who appears to be floating through a room is not to be acknowledged by those around her/him. This is because being the only floating person in a group of people is an obvious metaphor for how someone feels at a party - either because they're high or lonely. In this video however, no one can avert their gaze, and it's creepy has hell.

Not only are you looking at Fiona while she's having her floaty time, you look absolutely entranced by her. Why is that? What's your motivation? Director!

Some grope and kiss her like she’s some kind of sexual house party deity. It's amazing to me how Fiona could put up with this.

Oooook. This is happening.

Fiona's smiling seems forced and fake. Maybe because it's rare to see her smile in any of her music videos, and her public persona is marked by moments like her "This world is bullshit." speech at the VMAs. Shots like the one pictured below make me feel like Fiona was being heavily coached, and there was no effort left to direct the other actors.

Girl to the right of Fiona: WHO TOLD YOU TO BREAK THE FOURTH WALL?!

Really, who are you guys looking at? I could grasp the concept of Fiona floating along and only her and I were sharing this magic moment, but when the non-floating party guests are completely cognisant of her, AND they're cognisant of me? Well that's just unsettling. 

The last and most awkward vignette in The First Taste video is the purgatory room where all of the party goers seem to reside in a different time line. It is a place where they will dance to The First Taste forever - in the most stilted way because no one can really agree how to dance to this song - and take turns making out and breaking the fourth wall like nobody's business. 

And it's a rule that everyone has to sexually engage Fiona at least once. 

 Hey! Guy in the blue jacket, don't get greedy.

Hands for a second!

There is also a barrage of clips where the party-goers are getting intimate with each other, but it seemed like the director was trying to be edgy by pairing up same-sex and interracial couples. It's my opinion that the scenes were ham-fisted statements that are more political than the song is meant to be.  A cynical part of me is thinking that by 1997 displays like this wouldn't have been shocking and shouldn't have been shocking. Considering how blatant the clips are, one would think in this day and age - even seventeen years ago - it would have seemed patronizing to the demographic it's trying to reach (14-30 year olds who listen to Fiona Apple and other alternative music). That thing we used to say, "It's the 90's!" was always used to imply that we've come to a point in our society where old social taboos were to be kept in the past. Or maybe I'm wrong. 

Maybe it takes moments like these to instill a normalization that we take for granted. Racism and homophobia are not completely extinct. If Dewey Nicks had the intention to shock or give a certain group of people a voice, was he being racist or homophobic by posing the concept that these matches are a novelty or that they should be payed special attention to? Or am I racist or homophobic because from the beginning I'm approaching this noticing that the couples are consistently interracial and gay? Should I just approach this thinking, "There's just a bunch of people making out in this video."? 

But it's not just a casual scene where couples are hooking up at a party and some of them happen to be gay or interracial couples (like any real life scenario). These shots are in the "purgatory," where they're highlighted and couples are singled out. They are displayed as a novelty. The whole video is not really romantic and intimate as it is objectifying and exploitative around every corner. It makes me wonder how or if Fiona stomached this shoot. It's as if the director could only grasp the surface of the song as sensual, but not it's intimate themes (and when I say intimate I mean when a couple shares a moment together, not how eight couples decide to ignore that there are other people in the room and start Frenching). 

It's clear that the director hijacked The First Taste's most basic theme and ran with it, using his own agenda to fill in the blanks. His agenda wasn't wrong. If he wanted to make a video about couples people would have disapproved of forty years ago (and maybe a minority that would currently disapprove), he should have done it with a different song. If he wanted to make a video about a woman at a party that everyone wants to touch and she maybe likes it (?) 

That body language is not saying "no" but it's not saying "yes" either.

He should have used a different song.

 

#history

The song #Selfie by The Chainsmokers is the new Valley Girl.

 

That is all... 

 

Wait - Let me take a selfie.

 

 

I've Been A Bad, Bad Girl

Fiona Apple's Criminal vs. Miley Cyrus's We Can't Stop

When I saw Miley Cyrus's video for We Can't Stop, I had a case of Deja Vu. There was another epic house party with tons of bodies, pool time, and randomness from 16 years ago. It's a party that has not gone out of style, and I have Fiona Apple's 1997 video for Criminal as evidence.

Criminal is one of those life-changing videos I saw when I was 10 years old. Maybe it chipped away at my innocence a bit, but musically Fiona Apple would become one of my favorite artists. Apple was 20 when this video debuted, as is Cyrus. Watching We Can't Stop, and knowing Miley Cyrus's fan base of tweens, makes me wonder if there's a group of 10 year-old girls watching it and having the same feelings I had over the Criminal video; curiosity over how unsafe everything is, what it's like to be a "grownup." Realizing it's kind of cool to be dangerous. Thinking maybe some day I'll get to be strung out in someones nice house.  

Apple's and Cyrus's respective videos both take place at a wild house party that maybe got a little out of hand. Apple's take is a bit more sinister. She's writhing around, awake when everyone else is asleep, as if wrestling with guilt. The opening line of the song is I've been a bad, bad girl. Other lyrics include Heaven help me for the way I am and I've done wrong and I want to / Suffer for my sins.

The point of Cyrus's song is that the party got out of control and therefore everything went as planned. The song has lyrics such as, We run things, Things don’t run we and It’s our party we can do what we want. It's unapologetic.

Apple's video was directed by Mark Romanek who also directed Closer by Nine Inch Nails, which can explain why it aint no party like a Romanek party cuz a Romanek party has at least a little bit of dread in it.

We Can't Stop  was directed by Diane Martel who has a huge resume including directing credits for - unsurprisingly - Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, which has a similar usage of taxidermy, stationary bikes, butt-touching, large captions, platform shoes, and product placement.

Despite differing messages in the song lyrics, here are some visual similarities that seem to be the archetypes of a wild music video party.

Let's start with holding the camera on these electrical appliances.

Lay on the floor. Watch your head when you get up, though.

Stretch out your clothes.

Sing just above the water.

Have fun in the pool. ...Or don't, Fiona.

Stuffed animals.

Get freaky in the kitchen.

Hang with your friends. (The 97' version had more photo-taking and less twerking.)

Snuggle up to a shirtless guy with no identity.

It's so tired in here!

Do inexplicable things with food.

Put your fingers in your mouth.

Get creepy.

Misuse the furniture.

Have fun in the bath tub.

Bend your legs, show off our thighs.

Pink goo.

Essentially the same things happen in both videos, but the color pallet and song lyrics change the meaning quite a bit. Both say, "Look at these people carelessly sleeping all over each other." With that visual, Criminal implies the decline of western civilization. Everyone is kind of in a stupor they will probably regret. We Can't Stop tries to depict a group of young people who do weird and provocative things with each other, and yeah, they're probably high on something, but there's a charm to it. Everyone seems to be having fun. Everyone in criminal seems kind of indifferent.

Here are the full videos for your enjoyment.