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| "I don't get it. Satire? If it is, I don't see it. Maybe there's a key to this in the lyrics" |
A member of the roundtable presented this music video and the following conversation ensued:
- I remember watching an interview with the drummer around the time the "Deathbound" video came out and he simply said that the plan with that video was to get as much weird shit in there to get some attention from people, as attention spans are so limited today. I think they must be doing the same here.
- So the video is the band's response to the world's attention deficit disorder?
- That would explain everything. I was thinking "why does Mastadon sound like a high school metal band and why is this video some sort of random mash up of cheap horror themes with hip hop stuff like dance-offs and twerking".
- There's nothing weird about twerking. Twerking is the new anti-weird. Also, the imagery is juvenile and lazy compared to anything one could trace back to Tool, Marilyn Manson, NIN... Even Prodigy and Grimes out-weird this but with some grace and integrity.
- Have metal bands used twerking before? Perhaps this is a three minute protest against the rise of pop culture in metal.
- Flashes of twerking is normal in my opinion, a whole video of nothing but twerking and oversized men covered in pearls is another thing. I don't know. I laughed out loud during the solo when the twerking of the zebra lady turned into those hallucinating kaleidoscope thingies... Also, twerking in slo-mo... I don't know!
- I think the highest level of protest is the slow motion shot of a female's behind.
- Hahahaha! If this is some sort of pop culture commentary, in and of itself, it's a weak attempt.
- Why do you say that?
- Because if I don't get the commentary, which arguably is there somewhere, it must be weak. Or I'm being too thick. If so, then, I must surmise that a great number of people are not getting it either. In conclusion, this just looks like a "strange" video with butts like every other video for the last ten years. P.S. The lyrics talk about a heavy burden of sorts and one character is walking around with a heavy bell on his back. There, I get that!
- Mesmerizing, hypnotic even!
- What the shit did I just watch? Really, if there was any doubt in anyone's minds that Mastodon have lost it, this video (and song) should dispel those doubts. Can't believe these guys wrote Remission... God DAMN. what a steaming pile of excrement
- I like the new album, but this is one of, if not, the worst songs on it.
- I'm not a fan of this video either... Like Birkir says, it's weak
- Is this a sharp critique of the over sexualization of female bodies in modern pop culture, or a very modernised take on male fear of female sexuality and the fall from Eden (hence the apple), or just another music video obsessed with callipygian women? I would think the latter.
- "Holy shit, we're rich and famous and we've never made a video with copious amounts of ass!"
- So, guys... What you are basically saying here is that this is a lousy video for a lousy song from a band that has clearly seen better days? I don't know... I like it. I guess I will just have to live with that.
- Pretty much. I mean, really... What the fuck happened to Brann Dailor? His drumming sounds completely devoid of all the imagination and technical proficiency that defined his earlier work. This is more than selling out, it's a middle finger to all fans of complex and challenging metal. Maybe he should concentrate more on pulling his weight on the set than singing...
- Perhaps you are right, but I don't see this as selling out. Rest of you guys - Haven't the videos of Mastodon always been a bit absurd? Wasn't it whale hunting in one video? Why is it not okay to use twerk in the same manner?
- It's NOT being used in the same manner, obviously.
- The video isn't funny and the song is shit.
- Don't mind me, I'm just really surprised at how this band has gone to utter shit, in my humble opinion, over the space of a couple of years. Chalk my response up to shock and dismay...
- I don't dislike this song. It's rock song with some some flourishes on it only an esteemed modern metal band could muster. As such, it's alright. His drumming has cooled down. So has the song writing. Busy drums would have made the song horrid.
- Well... Blood and Thunder is themed on a novel about whale hunting, I'm just saying what it is, a video obsessed with ass, and if it is going pass as a satire every J-Lo video has to pass as one too.
- I just see the band trying to evolve and try new things. If they were still doing the same thing as they were back in the Leviathan days, it wouldn't make us happy either. The last two albums have been hit and miss but I still, overall, like them and don't feel they have sold out in any way, shape or form.
- No. It depends on context, don't it?
- The context of your butt maybe?
[Laughs all around]
- Yes. Buttmaster.
- So? metal + ass = critique while pop + ass = sexualizition ---- I really can´t see how the female body is represented differently from any other run-of-the-mill video here. Just some hot chicks shaking their asses and a bunch of guys looking at them, very conventional, there is even a twerk off. It just comes across as horny.
- No. Metal does not equal instant criticism. Perhaps Mastodon are just being bootylicious and not a care in the world lies behind this video. All I know is that I like the song.
- My guess is Mastadon's label/management is extremely happy with the fact no one is talking about the actual music but only the video. That's pop music 2014 for ya. Welcome to the big league Mastadon.
- I did mention earlier what I thought of the song, but my comment was maybe a bit vague. It's reminds me of what all the kids are listening to today. What's in. Or at least my idea of it. "High-school metal". I don't like it and after listening to this I had to listen to something else by them to remind me they're not bad, it's just this song that's not good.
- No. Metal does not equal instant criticism. Perhaps Mastodon are just being bootylicious and not a care in the world lies behind this video. All I know is that I like the song.
- A) the band/bandmembers themselves have nothing to do with the content of this video. Label hires some director to play with his/hers visual imagination. B) The imagery in the video is firstly the old fairytale of the orgies of Pan/the horned one, that symbolism is then cast into its modern symbolism with the silly rumpshaking competing women. And possibly the women pictured there are strong and confident in their sexuality and in that way not looked down on (?) C) that song sounded pretty good to me, (not that I will run out and buy the double vinyl) but will give it another listen.
- Also maybe a pearls and swine connection?
- Why is that?
- Just crossed my mind when I saw the overweight naked guy with the pearl necklaces. maybe says more about me than anything else
- So you see an overweight naked man and you think: swine?
- Only when I look in the mirror
- Well, then you are looking in the wrong mirror because you are a pearl.
This important all-male roundtable consisted of: Eyvindur Gauti (twitter, Currentz (blog), as well as overloard at Andfari (blog); Theodór Helgason (twitter); James Frigge; Sigurður Harðarson; Bob Cluness (twitter, Reykjavík Sex Farm! (blog)); Garðar Þór Þorkelsson; Kristján Fenrir (twitter); Ívar Arash Radmanesh...
On the topic
Rock bottom: why Mastodon's misogynistic new video misfires
Mastotwerker Defends Mastotwerking
Mastodon's Brann Dailor Talks "The Motherload" Video: "It’s Not to Be Taken So Seriously"
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