At a certain point of most "serious" singer/songwriter's lives, they attempt to ironically confront that which seems limited, trivial and superficial, by embodying it in song form.
Bruce Springsteen had "Born in the USA", Randy Newman sang "I Love LA".... and I had "American Television".
Both a celebration of the 80's tv culture I grew up in, and a question about the possibility of transcending it, "American Television" was my acknowledgement that I had been both shaped and limited by non-stop consuming popular culture.
Director Todd Strauss-Schulson (Harold & Kumar's 3D Movie) helped bring this vision to life as we re-created versions of all our favorite tv moments from childhood, see which references you pick up on!
Oh, and of course, one of the most memorable things about this video was casting Tiffani Amber Thiessen (Valerie from Beverly Hills 90210) as my love interest. Whoa.
Alright, friends. Enjoy.
I'm gonna binge watch some Netflix with my wife.
That'll be my next tune.
xx
@benleemusic
My video is at DLive
Even though it was old America Pop Culture but it tends to give elaborate of their daily lives. The singer as well as the participants of video looked like having fun too. Simple but the addition of some comedy make it really lively!
Ha, that was excellent!
Thanks Bonnie! xx
This was awesome!! Looks like a really fun project :D
You gotta get silly sometimes!
OMG this made me laugh!! Nice job bringing it back to the goofy old school 80's themes! Brought back some memories !!! 😂😂😂
I know it was quite a production - super fun!
This just made my day! 😃 "American Television" was the first song by you that I ever listened to. This was years ago, I remember how I liked it the first time I heard it and added it to one of my playlists. So I listened to it a lot back then, but I'd never seen the video until today. I absolutely love that guitar chord right after "1992", "1994" and "right here right now", it's just perfect.
You know, when we first met on Steemit (you left a welcoming comment on my intro post and started following me, then I checked out your blog, liked your content and your vibe and started following you) I didn't immediately associate you with that song. In fact it wasn't until some days later after watching your video for "Ayahuasca" that I realised you were the same person. I've been listening to your music on Spotify since then. Lots of good stuff! Small world, innit?
Funny when we get pulled into each other's orbit! Thank for your kind words friend.
This reminds me of that time I wasn't born. the life seems happier and less complicated. ho, how I miss those time :)
That was pretty great, you all look like you had a bit too much fun making this XD Couldn't stop giggling like a loon!
Haha, that was really funny, probably for the whole cast, too! It was also interesting to see what had or hadn't made an impact on German pop culture, and what was huge here, but not really in the US or somewhere else - you know, the "Hasselhoff effect" ;)
🙌🏼🙌🏼
this is fun
That was great! The song is catchy, and I love the video. I was laughing. ALF! Law and Order. Grey's Anatomy. Perfume commercials. 😀
What a great clip. Really made me smile. I can't believe I've never actually hear this song before. I'll have to grab Ripe and check out the rest of the album. Like everyone else here in Oz, I have Breathing Tornadoes and Awake is the New Sleep, which is pretty good effort consider how many other brilliant Aussie acts there where during that time. It is a travesty that the music scene here has been decimated, but that's a topic for another day. Now to watch the clip a few more times to figure out some of those references I missed the first time around.
LOL!!! THE MONKEY! :)
this is very amazing that good job .