When Good Music meets Bad Video

Early. No coffee or Red Bull in sight. Need a stimulant, but nothing too overboard.

In 1992, INXS released Welcome to Wherever You Are a follow up to previous successes Kick and X. One can feel a slight departure from the simple efforts of driving guitar riffs, decadent drumbeats and pogoing catchiness with Eastern-themed songs like Questions and Wishing Well, but the standout, enduring song that people seem to remember off this album is Beautiful Girl. This was a song that undoubtedly graced a million alty mixed tapes from guys wearing bad pompadours and creepers.

Sad.

However, the song actually stands up well. The chords are pretty repeatable, but don't overpower or get really in the way of the lyrics... which is what every great song on a mix tape should do (which I'm thinking why this song was so popular in them). I actually love the fact that really, what sticks in one's head (besides the fact that, if you were learning how to play via guitar or Piano, this could be perfected in a couple of days) is that the message is simple:

Beautiful Girl (stay with me)

The problem is, that if the intended mix-tape recipient actually listens to the lyrics (outside of the chorus), it's about a runaway, and how this person wants to take care of her. Aaah, the quandaries that one has to come up against while attempting to woo with music. So, in the end, one is either really beautifully vulnerable (for professing the need to be with someone), or really creepy (for professing the need to be with someone). Interesting.



The video was a melange of pseudo-subliminal imagery... not really one I would have picked (a lot of the idea could be seen in the Mediate video), but then again, I'm not a video director. The video immerses itself with something not even akin to the song or the lyrics. It's like listening to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds while watching a video of exploding Whales. It's that bad.

In any case, this one is about the Music, not about the video. Enjoy.
-om