Douglas Martin’s Dirty Shoes: “Candy” and Sour Endings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N8yrPG4s0s Douglas Martin is also an aficionado of the other “Candy.” The music videos that are etch themselves into our brains are the ones with the most...
By    September 17, 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N8yrPG4s0s

Douglas Martin is also an aficionado of the other “Candy.”

The music videos that are etch themselves into our brains are the ones with the most original ideas. We got goosebumps when the sidewalk lit up under Michael Jackson’s feet in “Thriller.” The Beastie Boys starring in their very own pulp crime drama kept our attention rapt for every second. And anyone who doesn’t consider Missy Elliot rapping in a trash bag one of the greatest music video moments of all-time should probably invest in Lasek Eye Surgery.

Sometimes the “original” part is negligible, but the video still turns out incredibly (example: Spike Jonze’s masterful editing for Weezer’s Happy Days-themed video for “Buddy Holly”). And sometimes, you get the video for Nickelback’s “Far Away.” I’m shuddering at the very thought. In a move that’s sure to resonate with hipsters who were relentlessly teased in high school, the video for “Candy” by Frankie Rose and the Outs (from their excellent debut record) has the band’s frontwoman reenacting the legendary final scene from Carrie, fake blood splattered all over her prom crown before she unleashes an onslaught more psychologically catastrophic than physical (probably due to a limited budget, but I’ll bite).

The treatment of the video provides a different context to the song, morphing it from a proclamation of devotion to a tour of insecurity and unrequited love, with the object of her affection likely being one of the kids laughing at her when the blood spills. I’d hate to spoil the ending for you in case you’re one of the three people on Earth who hasn’t seen Carrie, but before you know it, bodies are writhing in agony all over the floor, including Abe Vigoda’s Michael Vidal, who scores a cameo. That’s what you get for inventing the term “tropical-punk.”

Download:
MP3: Frankie Rose & The Outs-“Candy”

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