Today sees the release of a 3-DVD set of MTV's classic animated show, Beavis and Butthead. Ah, memories of middle school and high school filled with phrases like "Uh huh huh huh," "Yeah yeah!" and "Come to Butthead." Those were good times and I'm happy to see that this DVD set has (I believe for the first time on DVD) the segments where Beavis and Butthead watch music videos and critique them. This, in my opinion, was the best part of the show.
Sometimes they'd agree ("Yeah! This rules!" "Hell yes!"), sometimes they'd wince ("Oh no!" "Oh brother . . . ") and sometimes they'd really disagree ("Metallica sucks" "Shut up Butthead!") at a video's first sight, but almost always it was hilarious. The videos were usually holdovers from MTV's Sunday night speciality show, 120 Minutes, but sometimes they'd pull one out of the vaults (like Grim Reaper's "See You in Hell"). I was introduced to plenty of bands through this show and even one of them is featured in Post: Jawbox.
Yup, Jawbox's first major video, "Savory," was screened by Beavis and Butthead. The video's concept is that the band is playing a girl's birthday party and the girl receives some rather odd gifts (a gas mask, an axe and a dead dog). Sounds crazy? Well, most videos sound crazy on paper but it's all in the execution. From what I remember, Beavis was shocked and offended by the sight of the dead dog. You heard it right: Beavis, the same guy that offended so many people because of his pyro ways, was offended by this.
As the years pass, there seems to be a black hole in mainstream rock music between 1993-1997 (the same years that Beavis and Butthead was on). Major labels were squeezing grunge's nipples as hard as they could, pop-punk got really popular and nu-metal was just starting. I have to be honest: I remember these years very well. These were the years where I was finishing up middle school and going to high school. No matter how much someone can piss on a band like Silverchair or Candlebox, these were bands that kept me interested in rock music. For that, I'm grateful that Mike Judge is putting out this DVD set. I hope more sets come and more music videos are on them. It sure would be nice to see that "Savory" commentary again . . .
Sometimes they'd agree ("Yeah! This rules!" "Hell yes!"), sometimes they'd wince ("Oh no!" "Oh brother . . . ") and sometimes they'd really disagree ("Metallica sucks" "Shut up Butthead!") at a video's first sight, but almost always it was hilarious. The videos were usually holdovers from MTV's Sunday night speciality show, 120 Minutes, but sometimes they'd pull one out of the vaults (like Grim Reaper's "See You in Hell"). I was introduced to plenty of bands through this show and even one of them is featured in Post: Jawbox.
Yup, Jawbox's first major video, "Savory," was screened by Beavis and Butthead. The video's concept is that the band is playing a girl's birthday party and the girl receives some rather odd gifts (a gas mask, an axe and a dead dog). Sounds crazy? Well, most videos sound crazy on paper but it's all in the execution. From what I remember, Beavis was shocked and offended by the sight of the dead dog. You heard it right: Beavis, the same guy that offended so many people because of his pyro ways, was offended by this.
As the years pass, there seems to be a black hole in mainstream rock music between 1993-1997 (the same years that Beavis and Butthead was on). Major labels were squeezing grunge's nipples as hard as they could, pop-punk got really popular and nu-metal was just starting. I have to be honest: I remember these years very well. These were the years where I was finishing up middle school and going to high school. No matter how much someone can piss on a band like Silverchair or Candlebox, these were bands that kept me interested in rock music. For that, I'm grateful that Mike Judge is putting out this DVD set. I hope more sets come and more music videos are on them. It sure would be nice to see that "Savory" commentary again . . .
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