Commentary

Last year saw the birth of a very strange trend. A trend which is equally disturbing, unnecessary and hideous. The movement I speak of is the sudden influx of indie rock NSFW videos.

For any readers not familiar with cyberspace slang, “NSFW” is an acronym for “Not Safe For Work.” Meanwhile, “Not Safe For Work” basically translates to “TCIGHSNSII” – “This Clip Is Gonna Have Some Nude Shit In It.”

I don’t know when all these musicians collectively decided it was time to get naked in their videos but, after seeing the results, I have an entirely new appreciation for clothing. I’m sure there have been some instances prior, but I look at Matt and Kim’s video for “Lessons Learned” as being the springboard for the movement. In the clip the young duo incrementally remove all their clothing while walking down the streets of Times Square. Luckily it was winter time, so it takes a little while before the pale force duo are both in their birthday suits. I thought the premise for this video was clever though, so I can’t hate on it that much.

Then there was that weird ass Major Lazer video for “Pon De Floor.” I guess that video was more WTF then NSFW though. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, imagine the guys from Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show directing a booty filled rap video. It’s actually pretty funny. I can’t remember the band’s name, but they borrowed footage from some old ’70s porno movie and spliced it together with current interview footage of that film’s starlet for their video. Once again, more WTF or, in this case, WB – “Why Bother?” Perhaps ONYD – “Oh No You Didn’t!!!” or G – “Grandma!!!!!” would be appropriate in this instance as well.

The stakes were upped a bit this fall and winter when The Flaming Lips and Girls entered into the fold. Even though it was their first foray into group nudity, The Flaming Lips video seemed pretty par for the course for the band. In the clip Wayne Coyne wanders around the woods in a giant hamster ball (seen it), and eventually encounters a large hairy orb which proceeds to give birth to full grown humans sporting a different type of bush. The gang o’nudes immediately hijack Coyne (still in his hamster ball), and join up with a gaggle of similarly unclothed bicyclists to remove Coyne from his protective orb, strip him naked, and insert him into the aforementioned hairy orb. The entire video is best described as MSIYAFLF – “Makes Sense If Yer A Flaming Lips Fan.”

But the grand prize for shock value has to go to Girls, who stepped it up 1000 notches with the video for their song “Lust For Life.” The boys in Girls, came out swinging in this one- included in the clip is footage of a man lip-synching while utilizing his bedmates erection as his microphone. Take that Matt, Kim and Wayne Coyne! Ain’t no one stepped up to the BUAM – “Boner Used As Microphone” realm until Girls had the balls to do so!

So we can safely say that Girls has won The Battle of the NSFW Indie Rock All-Stars and we can bury this trend for 2010. If we have learned anything from these videos it’s that people who play in groups like this were not meant to be seen naked. In fact, if indie rock had been invented before clothing had been invented, God would have invented clothing shortly thereafter just to cover up the pale, flabby, poorly tattooed, hairy bodies which were only partially obscured by a guitar, bass, or, in the worst case scenario, a melodica. Girls (actual, not the band) do not scour the Internet searching for nude photos of J. Mascis or Ben Gibbard. These are people that are meant to be heard, and when they are seen it should be onstage in nuclear radiation suits. Overall, these videos feel like a cheap ploy to garner a little shock value to entice fans to watch a clip. The only problem is, I doubt anyone has had the reaction “Wow! A naked person on the Internet!” after viewing any of these. If these people want to get shocking in the digital age, they’re gonna have to do a lot more than just strip.

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