Skip Frontz Jr. and His Left Handed Luckies try to take music videos from a thing of the past to the future
Video killed the radio star, everyone knows that, but who in the hell killed the video star? If you are of a “certain age” (middle) then you were there to see the rise and decline of the music video. Sure, they’re still being made, but they aren’t nearly as ubiquitous and haven’t been for a decade or more.
When the “fad” first hit, every two-bit band coming down the pike had to have a video, it was as de rigueur as a demo tape or a publicity still. A good video might give some legs to a bad song, but a good video and a good song combined to make something altogether bigger than the sum of its parts and there was some real art in those days. The marriage of audio and visual offered a whole new medium of expression with nearly unlimited potential and the best of the best was something to behold.
It goes without saying that there was a wealth of awful material as well; the main thrust of Beavis and Butthead was ridiculing some of those efforts (then again, there has never been a shortage of terrible music either.) In one fell swoop Billy Squier, who was one of the biggest acts of his day, utterly destroyed his career with the epically awful video for “Rock Me Tonite.” Don’t take my word for it; go have a look if you need something to make you cringe.
Still, videos like “Thriller” made such an impact that 35 years later people still re-enact the dance moves. The list of “big deal” videos is extensive, albeit somewhat subjective and a video didn’t have to be the multi-million-dollar production. A lone guitar player under a spotlight in a small club could carry at least as much gravitas.
“Remember when MTV showed videos” is as tired a cliché as you’ll hear, but honestly, in this day and age MTV and its ilk are entirely unnecessary. With the rise of social media and the availability of cheap but effective technology, one would expect to see more local and regional acts putting some supplementary material out there.
I’ve written thousands of words about the untapped potential of local talent in Chattanooga. The realization that there were and are so many stellar musicians writing, recording and performing in the area is what motivated me to start writing about it in the first place.
Add to that Chattanooga’s emergence as a home for independent film makers and the marriage of the two seems inevitable. It is a very curious thing that we aren’t seeing more of it already and I sincerely hope it’s a situation that rectifies itself since the artistic potential is so great.
At least one local group is exploring the possibilities. Skip Frontz Jr. and His Left Handed Luckies have released their first official video, “One Dime at a Time.” Google the title or see it directly here: https://youtu.be/0Aqs8-qfyxY. As videos go, it’s a classic arrangement, some road shots interspersed with some up close and personal playing.
It isn’t an overly complicated presentation, but it doesn’t need to be. Its simplicity is its strength, the perfect video for the song and Viper House Records (the company that produced the video) has done an excellent job of producing a complementary visual to one of Skip’s kick ass tunes.
I will say that the entire Vicetown album lends itself to some very interesting visual storytelling and it will be exciting to see what they decide to do next.
For that matter I hope to see more of this “lost” art form from some of Chattanooga’s other artists. As a town we certainly have the musical talent and it is more and more apparent that we also have the filmmaking talent.
Coupled with some spectacular scenery and shooting locations, it seems a no-brainer that the scenic city ought to be the epicenter of next wave music video production.