Stupid American Trash

I'm actually really surprised that the music video for "American Trash" by Innerpartysystem didn't make it into the rotation. It's a really interesting video that basically craps all over the industry, so I thought it might be something Leeper would be interested in. He said that he got used to music videos being pretty bad and cheesy, and "American Trash" is how our society eats that kind of thing up.

Throughout the video, there are what appear to be captions for the hearing impaired. However, these captions quickly go from saying things like, "[[POP MUSIC]]" to saying things like, "THIS VIDEO IS A LIE."

"THIS BAND IS FAKE."

"THE PROPS ARE GARBAGE."

"DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'VE BEEN LET DOWN? Again?"

For the video, instead of getting the actual band to perform, they hired a college professor named Ingrid and gave her three days to memorize the lyrics while juggling her job. Then, in the captions, they state that Ingrid could have been anybody, even you.

In the video, there are photographs that flash past the screen occasionally. Those photographs were purchased for 15 cents in a junk shop. People's memories. It only takes 15 cents to buy people's memories.

The video says that we are not the clothes we wear or the car we drive. We are not "American Trash," but if we continue with our "EXCE$$IVELY EXCE$$IVE EXCE$$," we will be. It's powerful stuff, and I recommend it.