If You Can't Say Anything Nice About... REO Speedwagon
By hrrundivbakshi on Nov 13, 2009
We here in the Halls of Rock Town are sometimes taken to task for being overly negative, snarky, hyper-critical, and all too often, just downright rude. As part of our collective efforts to bring a bit of sunshine and light to the world wide web, we occasionally make an extra effort effort to find something *good* to say about, you know, stuff that is clearly godawful.
It is in that spirit that we embark on yet another effort to bring some positivity to our proceedings. Please spend some quality time with the video above, then -- if you can -- please find something *nice* to say about it. You'll feel a whole lot better, I promise you.
I look forward to your comments. Just remember, if you can't say anything nice about this video... please don't say anything at all.
HVB
28 comments
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member] 
I'm especially keen to hear what Townsman Mwall has to say here. This would seem to be an especially challenging exercise for him. Come on, Mwall -- let some healing into your heart. Let those feelings flow.
11/11/09 @ 16:39
Comment from: hissing fauna [Member]
admit it, the teddy bears are quite cute. and the lead singer seems to have had more success with rhinoplasty than micheal jackson. they all seem to exercise some degree of personal hygiene.
11/11/09 @ 17:03
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Thanks, Hissing Fauna. You're right, they certainly seem to be very clean and tidy in this video. I wouldn't mind sitting next to them at a lunch counter. Not sure I could say that about, say, Black Oak Arkansas or Blue Cheer.
11/11/09 @ 17:11
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
I like the restraint in facial expressions. There's no over-emoting while miming, which is admirable.
11/11/09 @ 17:14
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Good point, BigSteve! Thanks for finding something *nice* to say about the total lack of any kind of visible emotion on each and every band member's faces.
11/11/09 @ 17:24
Comment from: mwall [Member]
Most other rock and roll singers wouldn't look nearly as good wearing a wig as the singer of this band looks wearing his.
I was also really impressed by how many different kinds of things rose in the air in gestures of transcendence. Isn't it great to know that teddy bears too are going to heaven?
I was also really impressed by how many different kinds of things rose in the air in gestures of transcendence. Isn't it great to know that teddy bears too are going to heaven?
11/11/09 @ 19:51
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Excellent contribution, Mwall! I for one was perplexed at the hundreds of sparkling penises, rising into the starry night sky -- until I realized they were candles. A bit of a let-down.
I have to admit I'm still waiting for somebody brave enough to analyze the overlying story arc of this video. Is it birth/death/rebirth? And if so, what does the stony-faced, mullet-headed lead singer's profession that he can't fight his feeling anymore have to do with that?
I have to admit I'm still waiting for somebody brave enough to analyze the overlying story arc of this video. Is it birth/death/rebirth? And if so, what does the stony-faced, mullet-headed lead singer's profession that he can't fight his feeling anymore have to do with that?
11/11/09 @ 20:23
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
There aren't many rock bands I'd leave to raise my toddler son. In fact, there are probably no other rock bands than REO Speedwagon to whom I'd grant this tremendous responsibility, but look at the tender, loving, empathetic face of the guy at the 1:39 mark. I wish I could go back in time and have him as one of my rock 'n roll "uncles."
I also like the look in Kevin Cronin's eyes. He reminds me of those two guys who follow around the Tim Robbins character, Bob Roberts. Those guys had a steely passion about them that Cronin matches.
Thanks for sharing this, Hrrundi. I've been struggling with some of my cynical takes on humanity this week, and this video brings me back to my idealistic perspective on the world.
I also like the look in Kevin Cronin's eyes. He reminds me of those two guys who follow around the Tim Robbins character, Bob Roberts. Those guys had a steely passion about them that Cronin matches.
Thanks for sharing this, Hrrundi. I've been struggling with some of my cynical takes on humanity this week, and this video brings me back to my idealistic perspective on the world.
11/11/09 @ 22:39
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
cher, are we supposed to be reminded of an segment in a Vonnegut novel - is it Breakfast of Champions? If so, is that really something "nice" to say about REO Speedwagon? HVB, we need a ruling.
11/12/09 @ 00:11
Comment from: andyr [Member]
I really like the fact that the colors of the guitars match the drums. Nicely done.
Also, the acting done by the lead guitarist from 2:12-2:18 sends chills up my spine. Well played.
Has there ever been a thread on the best acting done by a band member in a video?
Also, the acting done by the lead guitarist from 2:12-2:18 sends chills up my spine. Well played.
Has there ever been a thread on the best acting done by a band member in a video?
11/12/09 @ 08:16
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
I don't believe there has been, andyr, and that's a topic that does need to be explored. Do you want to make it so, or should I put together something on your behalf?
11/12/09 @ 08:18
Comment from: cdm [Member]
REO was pretty massive around the time of this video, and yet they seem remarkable down to earth and free of affectations.
Full disclosure: I'm an REO disliker but not a REO hater. Riding The Storm Out is always a welcome surprise in those rare instances when it pops up on the radio.
Full disclosure: I'm an REO disliker but not a REO hater. Riding The Storm Out is always a welcome surprise in those rare instances when it pops up on the radio.
11/12/09 @ 08:51
Comment from: 2000 Man [Member]
I'm confused - when the kid gets out of the little room and stands up, is Gerry Richrath his mom?
11/12/09 @ 10:01
Comment from: 2000 Man [Member]
cdm, I never minded Riding the Storm Out, but I hate that live version they always play around here that starts out with some line by Mr. Wimpy about how "This is the last song - It's a song about survival in grueling conditions people. It's...Ridin' the Storm Out!" and then that big, foghorn keyboard thing starts the song. The studio version is much more enjoyable.
11/12/09 @ 10:09
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Like Mwall, I'm still most impressed with the lead singer's ability to perform while balancing a dead groundhog on his head.
11/12/09 @ 10:44
Comment from: mwall [Member]
Bakshi, what I'd say about the overall story is that it's really great that everything is left so unclear and ambiguous regarding what's really going on. That way, the story remains profound, it can mean whatever we want it to mean, and it's not trying to force any message, or even any content, down our throats. Viewers are left free to imagine anything they like! Could anything be more democratic and open?
11/12/09 @ 10:46
Comment from: pudman13 [Member]
The nicest thing I can say is that the video was made by the same band who made the greatest bar-band rock album of all time: R.E.O. T.W.O.
By the way, if you block out the two hit ballads, HI INFIDELITY is a great album too.
By the way, if you block out the two hit ballads, HI INFIDELITY is a great album too.
11/12/09 @ 10:57
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Does the fact that the video imagery seems to have nothing to do with the lyric make the band's creative vision particularly sophisticated? Is there a name for this sort of jarring dichotomy that a learned professorial type like you would know? We need to pay these guys their props!
11/12/09 @ 11:54
Comment from: mwall [Member]
"Disjunction" is the word for purposeful placing together of images that specifically and actively resist being defined as a unified whole.
"Collage" is the word for putting together disparate images and asking us to consider the way they resonate with each other.
"Incoherence" is the word for throwing together a bunch of things without considering at all what they have to do with each other.
One of the great things about this video is that its attempt to create a collage about the cycle of life, and the meaning of life, really can teach us a lot about why incoherence isn't interesting.
"Collage" is the word for putting together disparate images and asking us to consider the way they resonate with each other.
"Incoherence" is the word for throwing together a bunch of things without considering at all what they have to do with each other.
One of the great things about this video is that its attempt to create a collage about the cycle of life, and the meaning of life, really can teach us a lot about why incoherence isn't interesting.
11/12/09 @ 12:16
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Excellent, Mwall! But... is it possible that REO Speedwagon is actually trying to get to a larger point -- to show us not that the technique of incoherence can be boring and pointless, but that THE MEANING OF LIFE ITSELF is incoherent... and thus frequently boring and pointless. Yes! everything points to this likelihood:
- the non-threatening, emotionless faces (what is the value of emotion in a meaningless world?);
- the shower of penis-candles (all that unites us is our need to satisfy our most basic primal urges);
- the teddy bears fallng away into the distance (loss of -- indeed, nonexistence of -- innocence);
- the groundhog on Kevin Cronin's head (the ultimate incoherence: the blurring of identity at the species level)
-- it all makes sense.
Fucking genius!
- the non-threatening, emotionless faces (what is the value of emotion in a meaningless world?);
- the shower of penis-candles (all that unites us is our need to satisfy our most basic primal urges);
- the teddy bears fallng away into the distance (loss of -- indeed, nonexistence of -- innocence);
- the groundhog on Kevin Cronin's head (the ultimate incoherence: the blurring of identity at the species level)
-- it all makes sense.
Fucking genius!
11/12/09 @ 12:41
Comment from: mwall [Member]
You have indeed proved, bakshi, that this video is a fantastic example of The Pathetic Fallacy: If you want to show us how life is incoherent, you need to create an art work that's incoherent.
11/12/09 @ 12:47
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
So the feeling he's fighting is the feeling that the cycle of life is nothing more that a series of disconnected images? Life is so random that he's forgotten what he started fighting for. His expressionlessness must be the result of the realization that life is ultimately meaningless. I always thought REO's music was a tragedy, but not in this sense.
11/12/09 @ 14:37
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
I disagree that Cronin and company are "expressionless" in this video. Rather, I think they display a look of acceptance and serenity, albeit occasionally bordering on smugness. But hey, that's part and parcel with Enlightenment.
One of the most powerful moments is at the 2:44 mark, when the chipmunk-cheeked bassist and the permless-guitarist line up alongside Cronin, each musician displaying more serenity than the previous one. Then the keyboardist and drummer are shown providing support and nourishment from their respective seats. THAT, my friends, is the feeling I've always gotten when playing with my bandmates. Let those middle class couples grow old and cold as they watch their parsley plant die and their son leave home - naked (see 3:35). How does that feel? See, that's what I think they're expressing, in a loving if mildly mocking way. Few know more about loss and rebirth better than longtime working musicians who've spent the better part of their adult lives on THE ROAD!
One of the most powerful moments is at the 2:44 mark, when the chipmunk-cheeked bassist and the permless-guitarist line up alongside Cronin, each musician displaying more serenity than the previous one. Then the keyboardist and drummer are shown providing support and nourishment from their respective seats. THAT, my friends, is the feeling I've always gotten when playing with my bandmates. Let those middle class couples grow old and cold as they watch their parsley plant die and their son leave home - naked (see 3:35). How does that feel? See, that's what I think they're expressing, in a loving if mildly mocking way. Few know more about loss and rebirth better than longtime working musicians who've spent the better part of their adult lives on THE ROAD!
11/12/09 @ 15:04
Two things
1. Love the guitar solo - I always wanted to learn to play one of those juicy 38 Special / Journey / Brian Adams solos over a rock ballad (though the one on Keep On Lovin You is even better)
2. Love the giant WEED plant in the window at 3:33
1. Love the guitar solo - I always wanted to learn to play one of those juicy 38 Special / Journey / Brian Adams solos over a rock ballad (though the one on Keep On Lovin You is even better)
2. Love the giant WEED plant in the window at 3:33
11/12/09 @ 16:16
Comment from: chuckflack [Member]
I can't stomach the thought of watching, but from the still, the guy's got a head of hair I envy (and I mean that in a nice way).
11/12/09 @ 19:24
Comment from: bobbybittman [Member]
I don't understand. What's NOT to like in this video?
11/15/09 @ 07:00
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