Anthem: It is Indeed Time to "Get Out of Our Heads"
One of the great, unsung videos of all time is Eve 6's "Promise." It's nothing special in conception I'll admit, just another round of Max Collins playing with nonsequiturs to a catchy alternabeat while a cast of malcontents quit their crappy jobs.
It's a party tune, but that's like calling Vincent Van Gogh's the Night Cafe a picture of a bar. It's true enough, but it belies an undercurrent of vision and genius.
The Anthem... well, they're not quite that good. Their lyrics lack the subtleties of "Promise" and their video for "Out of Our Heads" passes the viewer exuberance mark with a stumble rather than a full-on run.
That being said, it's a time when we need a video just like this to latch onto, even here in Houston where things are relatively good compared to the rest of a still struggling country, and Anthem with director Merritt Fields delivers.
The song itself is Black Eyed Peas catchy, though in a modern-rock way that hinges on the strength of Micaiah Walker's voice and the power of a pop overproduction. It's an ode to the end of a work day, a battle cry to leisure and the explosion of built up stresses. Drinks, dancing, assorted tomfoolery, that sort of thing.
What did they say in Almost Famous about the Guess Who? They got the courage to be drunken buffoons, which makes them poetic. Right on Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs.
"Even if you love your job, that doesn't mean you have to love the people you work for," says Walker via email. "I think that in these times, most people just want to leave work, go home, take off their shoes and do whatever they want for the night. Sometimes you have to go and get out of your head, however you choose to do it."
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