http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMhwddNQSWQ&feature=related
Dare To Be Stupid, “Weird Al” Yankovic
The strangest thing about this video is that, in point of fact, this is pretty much how New Wave music videos operated back then. It’s not actually as over-the-top as it looks. Don’t believe me? Check this one out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTpUVAcvWfU
Not a parody.
Those were the days when MTV meant something.
Love the Interocitor appearances. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQlF-dpU5lw
Fish Heads predates MTV, even. I’ve seen Bill Mumy (who was half of Barnes and Barnes) sing Fish Heads live.
Does ‘Fish Heads’ qualify as New Wave? I thought it was just a Dr. Demento novelty song.
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Also, ‘Dare to Be Stupid’ is a pastiche of Devo’s style, and at least some of the elements you see in the video (like the plastic yellow jumpsuits) are lifted from various Devo videos.
Barnes & Barnes was all jokes, all the time. “I Had Sex On TV”? “Work the Meat”? “Swallow My Love”? These were not serious ventures.
Don’t forget “Gotta Get A Fake ID”, complete with guest appearance by Dr. Demento. Someone once observed that every Barnes & Barnes song ends with “yeah”.
Yeah.
I remember seeing a VH-1 show on Weird Al, and Mark Motherspaugh of Devo said, “He captured the essence of Devo better than we could ourselves. I hate him.”