Charting A Course Through The Mundane
Music video and film director Spike Jonze recently guest directed the opening introduction to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
The two and a half minute segment has no dialogue, just music and portrays Colbert as a vagabond, sleeping rough in Central Park. It’s an emotional short about hope and never giving up, with a surprise cameo from the blue muppet Grover.
Back in 1994 The Beastie Boys released a music video for their single Sabotaged which became an instant cult classic. Fast forward 17 years, (has it really been that long?), and the hip hop trio have teamed up once more with director Spike Jonze, (Where The Wild Things Are, Adaptation, Being Jon Malkovich), for the video of their latest single Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win, featuring The Beastie Boys as old school Action Men, a cameo appearance by Santigold as a Barbie Doll, a zombie Nazi horde, man eating sharks and just for good measure a Yeti in a helicopter.
He’s a writer, a skateboarder, an actor, a music video director, the producer and co-creator of Jackass, the director of VBS.tv, a photographer, the director of three Hollywood movies and has a plethora of alter egos including Richard Koufey of the Torrance Community Dance Troupe, who shows up in the music video Rockafeller Skank he directed for Fatboy Slim.
Spike Jonze’s music videography is enormous ranging from work with Weezer, Elastica and Dinosaur Jnr to the Beastie Boys, Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers and now he’s added Arcade Fire to that ever increasing list producing a bitter sweet video for their single The Suburbs, which you can watch above. It’s a large bag of everything, but mainly it’s about the innocence of youth and how it vanishes all too quickly.
So to mark this latest addition to his CV we’ve rounded up ten glorious examples of Spike Jonze’s work, (in no discernible order), as a tribute to one of the most imaginative directors of a generation. If you don’t find at least one of these videos entertaining then book an appointment with your doctor immediately.
Weezer – Islands In The Sun Official Music Video.
Levis Advert.
The Beastie Boys – Sabotage Official Music Video.
Gap Advert.
LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls Official Music Video.
The Pharcyde – Drop Official Music Video.
Wax – California Official Music Video.
How They Got There – Short Film.
Unkle – Heaven Official Music Video.
Kanye West – We Were Once A Fairytale Short Film.
HMS Friday 