In Space, You Will Probably Still Be Forced To Hear The Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris”
Ed. note: Once again, Idolator intern Kate Richardson scours the video sites, looking for the best fan-made music videos. In this installment, she looks at two clips that travel into space with Battlestar Galactica:
I want to preface this week’s post by saying that I have never seen Battlestar Galactica, and am therefore at a severe disadvantage when it comes to making making jokes and references. If you are a big fan, feel free to write some for me and leave them in the comments. It’s this new interactive concept for the lazy and uninformed that I am piloting. Anyway, from what I ascertain, BSG is set in space. It’s like Star Trek, but less popular? Something like that. There’s a doomed romance and lots of serious intergalactic warfare. Serious enough to bust out the Goo Goo Dolls? You bet! Also, Simon & Garfunkel.
Song: “Iris” by The Goo Goo Dolls Concept: Battlestar Galactica as City of Angels. When the world finally implodes on itself, due in large part to the Hannah Montana tour and extinction of polar bears, the only remaining vestiges of life will be a TV and a radio playing a VH1 “Celebreality” program and “Iris,” respectively. Seriously, this song will never die. Someone will always find it apropos for something, even if, as in this case, it’s space planes. Apparently this is a tribute to “Vipers and Viper pilots.” There’s nary a love story in sight, which is sort of endearing, really, and makes the concept somewhat novel. But despite this glimmer of hope, it’s still a horribly boring song and the Vipers, however bad-ass they might be, are about as equally boring to look at for almost four minutes. I sincerely hope this video isn’t indicative of the entire color scheme of BSG. It’s like staring into a bag of machine parts. Best music-to-image sync-up moment: None. Silliest music-to-image sync-up moment: I really can’t find one.
Song: “I Am a Rock” by Simon & Garfunkel Concept: Battlestar Galactica as surreal nightmare. Now this is a horse of a different color. Seriously, what inspired this epic act of audio/visual incongruity? According to the video description, Commander Adama is “like the ‘rock’ or foundation that holds the fleet together.” Bingo! It’s all clear now! Cue the Simon & Garfunkel! Their delicate harmonies and folksy sensibility are perfect for that bloody fight scene. Everything about this video is severely disorienting and vaguely–if not explicitly–disturbing. It’s very violence-oriented, which makes the Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack all the more bewildering. But at least it’s entertaining in its aggressive insanity. Best music-to-image sync-up moment: One minute in, as Adama beats the living shit out of some guy while Simon & Garfunkel sing “I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain. It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.” Silliest music-to-image sync-up moment: Almost anything, really. I’ll go with the shooting scene halfway in.
Verdict: It’s no contest: the Simon & Garfunkel video is by far more entertaining, and just about as weird as any tribute video can strive to be, making it the (insert Battlestar Galactica reference here) winner of this week’s match-up.
