It’s time again for Friday on My Mind. Our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News.
Happy Bike to Work Day, everyone! Today wraps up Bike to Work Week and we are still within the midst of Bike to Work Month, so if you haven’t rallied to work on your bike yet, there’s still time to do it. This particular day and month were created in hopes that those of you who don’t feel as comfortable or familiar with being on a bike, will take the chance now and not feel so intimidated. Cycling to your job not only helps to save the planet through less air pollution via your undriven car, it also serves as an excellent way to keep your body in shape and exercised. The sun is even supposed to be back for the occasion as well. And if all of that isn’t enough to motivate you, this week we’ve chosen all music music videos featuring artists getting out and about on their bikes...Bat for Lashes - What’s a Girl to Do?
In one of my favorite music videos in recent years, Natasha Khan, a.k.a. Bat for Lashes, has one of the greatest bike riding visual sequences of all time in her music video for “What’s a Girl to Do?”. It what starts out as seeming to be an innocent night bike ride by Khan, we soon see a team of creepily masked BMXers trailing Bat for Lashes, while performing carefully choreographed bike tricks. The video feels as if it could be a long lost scene from Donnie Darko...
https://vimeo.com/55463146
Tom Waits - I Don’t Wanna Grow Up
In one of the more interesting video bike rides you’ll ever witness, Tom Waits rides a bike with training wheels while outfitted in one red stiletto heel and devil’s horns for the official music video for “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”. Considering the video was directed by filmmaker Jim Jarmusch who is responsible for the independent films Night on Earth, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and Broken Flowers to name a few, it’s no wonder that the video is unique. Watch Tom’s devilish bike ride here:
https://vimeo.com/10626238
In case you missed it, Tom performed a brand new song just last night during The Late Show with David Letterman. You can check that out here:
Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill (Live)
The 1977 solo debut release from Peter Gabriel (and first of three albums to be self titled) features one of his biggest hits, “Solsbury Hill”. This was the first song and hit for Gabriel as a solo artist after departing as the front man for Genesis. The song is one of his personal favorites, which is why he includes it within almost all of his concert sets whenever he performs live. During the following live performance, Gabriel decides to go on a bike ride while performing the song…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMwn_hnoS5Y
Honorable Mentions:
Boards of Canada - Happy Cycling!
Boards of Canada are brother producers Michael Sandison, and Marcus Eoin (born Marcus Eoin Sandison). The name Boards of Canada was taken from documentary TV films by the National Film Board of Canada. Music Has a Right to Children is the album that “Happy Cycling!” is from. “Happy Cycling” was only on the American release on Matador back in 1998 until the Warp reissue in 2004 were they added the track. 500 copies of the original US release did not have the track “Happy Cycling”, but did have it listed on the track listings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRVMPk5twvY
Sugarcubes- Motorcrash
“Motorcrash” was released on Sugarcubes’ first album, Life’s Too Good, in 1988. The video for “Motorcrash” was directed by Óskar Jónasson who also directed the video for the band’s big hit, “Birthday”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz9WNOkVTWo
It’s time again for Friday on My Mind. Our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News.
It’s time again for Friday on My Mind. Our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News.
