Solitary Sister, is Seal a Cyberpunk?
These days Seal‘s better recognized by his shiny dome but there was a time, long ago in the decade we call The Nineties, when that very cupola hid in the shade of undercut dreadlocks, best admired under sparse flashing light of an underground techno laboratory. In addition to an edgier look young Seal kept some interesting company. Take Adamski for instance: punk-turned-rave-enthusiast with a fondness for cyber-turbans, who worked with everyone from Johnny Slut to Nina Hagen.
Please turn your attention to Seal and Adamski’s video for Killer, their 1990 crossover hit. The plot revolves around Seal’s disembodied head, a lot of static and the aforementioned techno lab either birthing Seal from its circuits or, alternately, feeding Seal virtual reality visuals in the form of dancing loons. Note the neon, striped pants, amazing CG and broken down technology offset by Adamski’s shiny but vurt-addled antics. Could Seal be a secret Cyberpunk or was he merely lucky to be making music in the early 90s?
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/7XBcT41ImSI" width="400" height="330" wmode="transparent" /]
Somewhat related: George Adamski – the ufologist from whom Adamski took his name.
[Thanks, Terra!]
June 18th, 2008 at 7:33 am
I would venture to agree that he certainly is. The original mix of the song had a video with a similar theme and if the original one isn’t cyberpunk then I don’t know what is. Surrealist landscapes are computer generated, Seal wearing some kind of Tron-like suit. It’s all there. Even his ‘Lord Nikon’ dreadlocks.
The last time I heard this song Sven König was using it to demo sCrAmBlEd?HaCkZ!, his musical granular synthesis program.
At 1m07s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRlhKaxcKpA
Also, here is the original video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lvGfGwLNA
June 18th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Also, first music video broadcast in 3D that I’ve ever seen. Sadly, you still needed the red/blue glasses to watch it.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:26 am
It would seem that Adamski is the Cyberpunk power behind the Killer throne.
When Seal broke out on his own and rereleased this song under his own name he made another video. And unfortunately it is terrible.
Seal, wearing what seems to be a laserquest outfit, rocks out on the side of an Escher-style portico suspended in a crazy space.
wait… reading that back to myself it sounds like an awesome video. maybe it’s just the dolphin that appears halfway through that puts me off.
decide for youself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lvGfGwLNA
June 18th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Yeah, it’s the dolphin, a walrus would have been a much more sensitive choice.
June 18th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
See, Terra – I also think that other video is just as cyberpunk! It’s like being plugged into the Metaverse, Seal’s version – Tron suit an all. My only question is – why a dolphin instead of a… seal? Ooh!
June 18th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Oh my god, Seal with dreads… that was a totally different universe we lived in!
I think between Seal, Janet Jackson and Kanye West, black pop stars definitely do cyberpunk better than their Caucasian counterparts (Billy Idol? WTF was that?).
June 19th, 2008 at 6:23 am
touché, a very good point. I didn’t see it like that before.
Though I will stand by Adamski to the end. By the by, whatever happened to him after that. Did he do anything else worth a note?
June 19th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Adamski became a regular old techno dj named Adam Sky. He has 2 girls and still djs in the UK. Zoe, I swear Zeitgeists do exist. I was on an Adamski kick all last week for some bizarre reason, I was missing my Doctor Adamski’s Musical Pharmacy #8 cd and I had to listen to it.
June 19th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Bianaca – I have to say I am a zeitgeist believer, especially since we started this Coilhouse thing.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
seal is also notable for being a devout fan of c. c. poell’s work.