Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Artists Who Recreated Other Artists Music Videos


On Wednesday, New York disco-rock band Escort released a video for their latest single “Outta My Head.” The video near-faithfully recreates the one released by Journey for their hit “Separate Ways” back in 1983, down to the clothing each member of the band is wearing.

This is not a new occurrence, as many artists before them have either recreated other artists’ videos in either tribute or parody as well. Artists like Eminem and Blink 182 have been parodying snippets of popular videos in their own ways for decades. With every new parody single he releases, “Weird Al” Yankovic produces a parody video to go with it. Recently, younger artists like Troye Sivan and Anne-Marie have been paying homage to iconic late 1990s videos in their own clips.

Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look at artists who have recreated another artist’s complete music videos for their own music videos. Here are six that wear their inspiration on their sleeves and, faithfully or not, pay homage to what came before.


1.       Panic! At The Disco, “Girls/Girls/Boys”: When it came time to release a video for single “Girls/Girls/Boys” from their fourth studio album, ‘Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!’ in 2013, Panic! At The Disco took things back to early 2000s R&B for inspiration. To go with the song’s lyrics about a love triangle, they decided to recreate D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” video, which would have frontman Brendon Urie completely stripped down and singing directly into a camera. It’s a pretty faithful remake with every camera zoom and pan spot on. (video)

2.       Weezer, “Africa”: Weezer are no strangers to parodying pop culture in their music videos. But with their recent cover of Africa’s “Toto,” the band decided to do something a little different. Instead of recreating the original song’s video, they recreated one of their own. The band recruited parody expert “Weird Al” Yankovic to play Rivers in a shot-for-shot remake of their “Undone (The Sweater Song)” video. The only differences were Yankovic’s “Buddy Holly”-inspired outfit and the lack of dogs running around the set. (video)

3.       Fall Out Boy, “Irresistible” feat. Demi Lovato: For their “Irresistible” video back in 2016, Fall Out Boy inserted themselves into the world of *NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me” video, turning themselves into bobbleheads that get brought to life on the store shelf. While not as faithful as some of the other videos on this list, the band does a good job of putting their own spin on the concept. They even found roles for *NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone in the production. (video)

4.       Blink 182, “She’s Out Of Her Mind”: Not ones to take themselves too seriously, Blink 182 decided to parody one of their own music video in 2016. The video for ‘California’ single “She’s Out Of Her Mind” is a nearly shot-for-shot remake of the video for the band’s breakthrough single “What’s My Age Again,” except with ladies running around instead of the band. (video)

5.       Classixx feat. T-Pain, “Whatever I Want”: With their 2016 video for “Whatever I Want,” electronic group Classixx found inspiration in indie rockers The Smiths, faithfully recreating the video for “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before” down to the photo of Oscar Wilde and even reusing shots from the original. According to director Daniel Pappas, the inspiration for the recreation came from collaborator T-Pain’s (who plays the part of Morrissey in the video) struggles with depression, the “shared sadness of Smiths fans and how, through all of the depression and sadness, when you look like Morrissey in whatever way you can, everything is going to be okay.” (video)

6.       Ingrid Michaelson, “Girls Chase Boys”: Robert Palmer’s video for 1988 single “Simply Irresistible” has had its share of reimaginings and references in popular culture. But for her 2014 single “Girls Chase Boys,” Ingrid Michaelson went a step further and created a nearly faithful homage to the original. The twist, however, was that the ladies in make-up and pink dresses from the original would be replaced with men in make-up and pink shirts. (video)


Whether parodying their own videos or faithfully paying homage to the artists that came before, recreating a music video has become a popular way for artists to share artistic inspiration and/or get a certain feeling across. Check out some of these recreated videos above and let us know what your favorite music video recreations are in the comments below.

---

Pay homage to your favorite artists by picking up music from these artists and more at Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s top new independent record shop. With thousands of titles to choose from in a wide variety of genres, we have something to fit the tastes of most music fans. Browse our selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs, memorabilia and more in store at our Plainview location or online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles being added to our selection all the time, you never know what you might find at Vinyl Bay 777.

No comments:

Post a Comment