Music Video
The music video was directed by Joseph Kahn and parodies hip hop and dance music videos. Scenes include Moby in garish fur coats and sunglasses, Moby and Gwen Stefani dancing in front of large neon signs of their names, and Moby "traveling" in a convertible with women and bottles of champagne, but the vehicle is not even actually being driven outside of the studio.
The video also parodies artful videos with scenes of Moby and Gwen Stefani in a bare room, wearing drab clothing and holding a potted sunflower, visually parodying the New York "brick and plant" type of set commonly overused in videos and film.
Other elements observed in the video include Moby expressing discomfort for the fake gold "grill" insert used over his teeth to make him look more "gangsta". Eventually, he grudgingly adjusts it and walks off the set. Gwen Stefani is shown in one scene in front of the neon sign with her name wielding three-inch fingernails. Later, she interrupts the filming (to Moby's feigned disgust) to answer and talk on her cell phone.
Instead of a band, in the background of the video, six "musicians" at translucent computer workstations are shown. The workstation users are visually boring and a poor substitute for the presence of an actual band. The workers act as if they are playing and adjusting the electronica music samples in real-time on their keyboards during the performance, with no apparent enthusiasm whatsoever for the actual music being created. At the end of the video it shows a pot of mayonnaise and burning clothes falling from a rack.
The music video won the 2001 MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video.
Read more about this topic: South Side (song)
Famous quotes containing the words music and/or video:
“To know whether you are enjoying a piece of music or not you must see whether you find yourself looking at the advertisements of Pears’ soap at the end of the libretto.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)