Tuesday 12 July 2011

-Music Videos on my Mind- Free Energy’s “Bang Pop”

Yes, I am aware this video came out over 18 months ago. Yes, I am aware that the actors playing adolescent students are 10 years too old to be in high school. Yes, I am aware that if Free Energy were still in high school they'd probably get the shit kicked out of them for looking like extras from The Hills Have Eyes.

But I'm still going to blog about it.

The American high school experience seems like such a glamorous affair compared to the dour comprehensive educational ordeal most of us British citizens had to endure. (No Hogwarts where I come from.)

Directed Josh Nussbaum and produced by Ben Nabors, Bang Pop sits comfortably with classic American high school themed music videos like Nada Surf's Popular and Deftones Back to School.

The video is equal parts homage and piss-take of an experience some of us have to piece together from the US movies and television shows we've seen. For those of you who lived through the American high school experience I'm sure you'll tell me it was more like surviving a gruelling drive-by.

Enjoy.

9 comments:

  1. ah, if you think British schools are bad, imagine the high schools in my country.
    But at least we don't have the overly competitive and almost warlike atmosphere as they have in USA and we don't have the rule of gorgeous kids over geeky ones.

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  2. This video is AWE-some!!!

    And whoa, whoa WHOA! "War-like competitive atmosphere"?! HA! What do you think the USA is?! All upper-middle white class Americans? Only the rich kids get that treatment. The rest of American high schoolers are simply passed along, from grade to grade without full understanding, have little to no funding in schools and don't know the difference between an adverb and an adjective.
    I on the other hand went to 3 vastly different high schools: 1. the private school where teachers got high with the students, 2.the public school where I taught 2nd semester algebra to my classmates (teacher included), as a student, and 3 the academy where girls were not aloud to show their ankles.
    Hence, this movie perfects American adolescence. Hoo Raa!

    Amber
    Ambersmouthwash

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  3. Great song, but this is totally a Hollywood musical version of high school. Some of the student stereotypes they used resemble a few kids that were in my classes, but this is more a combination of High School Musical meets the Breakfast Club with a dash of American Pie.

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  4. Middle aged people playing high schoolers is the American Way!

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  5. Public school in this country is a joke. Most American kids are terrible at math and science. Asian kids who come here are making us look like effing morons. I have learned more about the world by visiting fashion blogs than I did in my history classes. It's shockingly shameful.

    In other words, although the video was exaggerated, it was kind of spot on. :S

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  6. High school in America is actually pretty boring. Sure there's some bad ones in the more lower-class areas, but overall we're all just regular ass people.

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  7. Cool video. My high school experience hadn't been nearly as fun. The characters are spot on, but exaggerated.

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