Hot Chip : Not Male Models.
Quirky electro-dance act Hot Chip released probably the most bizarrely amazing music video of all time a few days ago. It almost instantly went viral all over the net, and has probably brought them more exposure in three days then they've gotten with all three of their previous CDs combined.If you haven't seen it, it's the video for 'I Feel Better' from their new album 'One Life Stand,' and can be viewed here. Go watch it.
So, you and me both know, that the four boy-band-looking model types playing Hot Chip in the video are not, in fact, Hot Chip, just a satire of over-produced boy bands, and apparently, a direct dig at British group JLS. Even if we didn't know what Hot Chip looked like, the sheer absurdity of the video and the constant pans to the nerdy-looking fellows in the crowd would tip us off.
But for some people, a giant, disembodied black man who shoots lasers out of his eyes is not a good enough give away that something is up.
All over the internet, on music gossip sites, forums, places like youtube and vimeo, and even in places that cater to a generally more 'in-the-know' crowd such as digg and reddit- people are coming away with from this video with the idea that Hot Chip are some terrible new English boy-band.
You know, it's not terribly surprising, if you really consider the video.
The whole thing is played extraordinarily straight. Up until the so called 'cancer jesus' starts spitting lasers, at almost a minute and a half, almost nothing truly weird has happened. If I hadn't been in on the joke the whole time, I probably would have backspaced out not long after the intro.
I'm sure the song itself has some impact. I'm an avid Hot Chip fan, and it took me several listens to get into 'I Feel Better' and not wonder if I accidentally turned on some millennial club mix. Expecting someone for whom this is not their type of music, to listen to it for nearly two minutes with very little payoff, is expecting a lot.
It's hard to tell what, exactly, the fall-out of this will be. Undoubtedly it's brought Hot Chip a lot of new fans, and those who are confused by the video probably don't matter much because they probably wouldn't like Hot Chip in the first place.
But it's an interesting case study in marketing gone wrong- I can't imagine any band wanting to achieve a few fleeting moments of internet fame, only to be mistaken for a bunch of prancing male models. Somehow, though, it rather fits Hot Chip's absurd nature.