Rad Omen’s “Rad Anthem” Music Video
“Rad Anthem” by Rad Omen. Directed by Nicholaus Goossen.
Gack! What a disgustingly perfect, perfectly disgusting piece of work. Very “Dick in a (Happy Meal) Box”. One of those indelible wee slices of cultural tongue in stripper cheek that makes ya want to spit, laugh, cry, vomit, and masturbate all at the same time.
The four reigning icons of American fast food (Ronald, Jack, The Colonel and The King) get together for a boy’s night out and proceed to rampage up and down Sunset Strip like the douchiest of all popped collar, Entourage-aping broheims, gorging on drugs/booze/casual sex before retiring to Carney’s for late night refueling and condiment abuse. (The only thing missing is a cameo from the “yo quiero Taco Bell” chihuahua. Thankfully, comedian Nick Swardson‘s appearance as Wendy the stripper more than makes up for that omission.)
As Steven Gottlieb at Video Static puts it, “why wouldn’t fast food mascots live fast? After all, if they actually subsist on the shit they’re selling, it only stands to reason that they’d be just as tasteless with other aspects of their lives.” He goes on to state that the video “dry humps the line between parody and defamation” and I’d have to agree. It’s not as full-on chaotic neutral as “Smack My Bitch Up” or as viciously intelligent as “Windowlicker“. I’m giggling, but also left feeling the same vaguely irked “YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG” sentiment that I get watching a mindless sausage-baster like “Country Girl“. Displays of entitled douchebaggery + vapid disco shitbeats + the unbidden, deeply personal olfactory memory of being accosted with the stench of other people’s McDonald’s = INSTINCTIVE WRATH.
So. Is this conscious social commentary, or just another music video that –more cleverly than most– panders to the lowest common denominator? Either way, it got a strong response from me (I sure didn’t intend to ramble on this long about it)! Kudos. Now I’m off to alleviate this emotional hangover by fixing myself a huge, healthy salad.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:47 am
I say it panders to the medium level denominator. People who are clever enough to catch social satire, but who still love the tried and true music video staple of shiny, confused looking strippers.
I am all in favour of people admitting that their work is at best a silly premise with little to no subtext and standing behind it. A little bit of effort to say something goes a long way, and while I would not compare this to Windowlicker or Smack My Bitch Up, it does draw comparisons to the ‘bikini girls with power tools’ Satisfaction video by Benni Benassi. For the ill-informed jiggle enthusiasts, see here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_iBfkBNLi8
Not everything needs to be an allegory of some sort, especially in the world of music videos, where the bar for cheese is so low, and the bar for poignancy is often super high. The whole “that’s kinda funny, fuck it, let’s do it” school of music video direction may have a dash of social conscience, but at their core they are still paced like action movies. Every few minutes, (in this case seconds), something crazy and/or sexy has to happen. A lot can be done with the medium, a little was done here, but that’s more than most.
As a side note, this video solidifies my stance that only fictional characters should be allowed to act like Entourage-esque douche bags in public. That’s why the guys in Entourage can do it, because they don’t exist. If you saw Mr. Clean at a club, wearing a giant Ed Hardy belt buckle getting bottle service, acting like he’s the man, you’d say “Yeah, he’s Mr. Clean, he IS the man”.
January 25th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Everyone and everything in this video appears regurgitated.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
I thought it was pretty clever. But it did leave me feeling kind of hollow – I know exactly what you’re talking about there. It wasn’t quite Windowlicker. I *loved* Wendy the Stripper! The Taco Bell chihuahua would’ve been great. It would’ve been fun to see the Hamburgler, too. The Country Girl video is gone now. Were you talking about the Primal Scream one?
January 29th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Hey Infamous Andy, u obviously have never spent any considerable amount of time in Hollywood b/c (unfortunately) those “Entourage-esque douche bags” are everywhere. They’re VERY real. Btw, LOVE the video. F-ing HIGHlarious.
February 1st, 2010 at 2:25 am
Oh, I know they are real, trust me. I think my stance is still valid, though. Just as much as I love to mock a goth guy who is convinced he is actually a vampire, I feel I am in the right to mock people for throwing on spray-on tan and pretending to live a life just as debaucherous and fantastical. Don’t get me wrong, everyone can dress and act however they please and it generally does not phase me. Be who you want to be, but if ‘who you want to be’ is a self-rightous prick living in a fanatsy world making my life miserable, then go to hell, be you fake-tanned or fake-pale.
I live in Winnipeg, about as far away from Hollywood as you can get, but the virus has made its way here in a very real way. You go to the wrong bar on the wrong night and it feels like a meeting of the winnipeg branch of the Jersey Shore reenacment society.