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The Strokes’ “Juicebox” video

Monday, November 14, 2005

(Video pulled due to bandwidth issues)

Monday Morning Music Videos today is devoted to just one–the “leaked” video for the hotly debated single from the Strokes’ impending release First Impressions of Earth. And by “leaked,” I mean a strategically released high-quality version (complete with timecode burn in lower left corner) of “Juicebox“ to get bloggers salivating and keep the pre-release buzz at a noticeable level. The single itself is subpar, but only by the incredibly high standards of previous offerings. It’s harsher and much less instantly memorable than anything they’ve done yet, and lyrically, it’s a whiner about the “pressure” of being famous: “Everybody sees me/But it’s not that easy/Standin’ in the lightfield,” and the search for salvation through civic affection: “Why don’t you come over here/We got a city to love.”
The video is, well, bad, but does work harmonically with the song (I’ll let you decide whether that’s a good or bad thing.) The chromatically bold, high-contrast David LaChapelle style I can do without, but can be seen as the next step in the progression of the band’s visual style away from the tight t-shirts and skinny ties and into the hands of stylists more interested in gloss. The paralleled classic/modern instant gratification themes–the radio broadcast of the song (”Batman”/Gotham City sample now more appropriate) driving city-dwellers into a sexual frenzy, further heightened by text messaging and live streaming lesbian sex–would be better used in a Motorola ad, but it can’t be denied that, for better or worse, it doesn’t add to the already high level of sleaziness in the music.The saving grace is the inclusion of David Cross as a completely clueless and hilarious radio DJ (”Please welcome…Stroke, with “Juicy Juice”)–reviving the bit made popular on his concert disc Shut Up, You Fucking Baby! from 2002.
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