Tuesday, January 15, 2019

November Rain, annotated

In the early 90s my good friend Derek and I had a running joke that November Rain, by Guns 'n Roses, was 'the song of the 90s'.  Maybe it was the pretensions to be epic, or that we really liked it, or that grunge and hip hop were already starting to change the music scene and so we were being ironic...but whatever it was, this was another video that stamped something upon me.


0:07: Why is my innocent mind's first thought that he's snacking on tic-tacs?
0:21: Weird Al?
0:59: I don't know which special effect was better, the sudden move from church to desert or Michael Jackson's Black or White
1:02:  OK, here's the biggest problem with this song...the continual drum beat of 2 beats, three quick beats, and one final beat.  Everytime they don't know what to do they keep doing this.  Again, again, again.
1:11:  So, is this all a dream?  Flashback?  Nightmare?
1:26:  Couldn't be a hair band song without a hot blonde playing a flute.
2:11:  Smoking ordinance violation.
2:31:  Seriously, I'm getting lung cancer just watching this video.
2:51:  Swaaaaayyyy...swaaaaaayyyyyyy
3:04:  DOH!  It's the 'missing ring' trick!  Makes even the priest happy.
3:22:  But do you really need rings when you've got a spectacular pinky ring/letter opener combo?
3:33:  Tongue.  Yech.
3:38:  "Slash?  Slash?  Hey, can you go get us a gatorade?  We've been on this set all day and we are SOOO thirsty.  Thanks, man.  You're the best."
3:58:  "Oh man...I was in this giant cathedral...and now I'm walking out of a tiny chapel in the desert while trying to get my friend a gatorade.  I gotta lay off the tic-tacs, man."
4:14: Wind machine's gotta get back to the rental place in two hours, so they rushed through this shot.
4:34: All joking aside, that's a great moving shot, especially in the days before drones.
4:59: Slash leans back in this scene so much I wonder whether his back needs chiropractic work a quarter-century later.
5:10:  Probably not a good sign for the future that as they are leaving their wedding the lyrics keep speaking of needing some time on your own?  Maybe?
5:37:  GUNS.
5:56:  Has anybody else wondered whether or not that glass is going to leave a stain ring on that piano?  Or am I just getting old and uptight?
6:23:  The wedding party looks like it belongs in a Guns 'n Roses video.  The rest of the guests look like they just stumbled out of a Christmas party at the country club.
6:41: Ominous stare into the sky by the priest.
6:48: Do sudden downpours happen in SoCal?  Or did they do this wedding here in the midwest?
6:58: Now that's just over the top.  Body checking the wedding cake?  C'mon, dude.
7:04: Remember my worries about the glass ring?  That's nothing compared to my horror at Slash scuffing the top of the piano over the next two minutes.
7:09: The wedding priest must not have been available for the funeral.
8:14: Ominous look into the sky by the kid.  Wait, rain ruined the reception, now it's gonna ruin the funeral?  COME ON.
8:33: If that dude running from the funeral flies into a cake, I'm done.
8:40: ROSES.  Ohhhhhh
9:05: "It's Red.  It's White.  Yeah yeah yeah!"