Pop
Song For Us Rejects
Raise your hand if you like Pop Song For
Us Rejects. Okay, put it down. I like it - it's definitely one of my favorite
'chair songs. Well, recently an email pal and I were exchanging a few thoughts
on the then-upcoming Goo Goo Dolls video for Broadway (you may be able to find
it somewhere on the 'net...), and it occurred to me that the two songs have one
thing in common - they mention addiction in the singer's immediate circle of
friends or family (sample Broadway lyric: "You choke down all your anger/Forget
your only son/You pray to statues when you sober up for fun"). Well, I always
thought Pop Song would have made a good single, and as I was typing my reply and
thinking about that, I had another one of my weird little "visions." (Like I
said, I don't know *why* I have them, but anyway...) This one wasn't about
something that could actually have happened (like the
Daniel-reading-about-the-SPIN-poll thing). It was a music video for Pop Song,
and it went like this:
(*If you're trying to picture this, think somewhat
early in the Freak Show era - Daniel still has long hair, like in the Freak
video but dry, and Ben's shaved bald. Dan's wearing his old argyle sweater and
khaki pants, Ben and Chris are wearing their usual shorts and
t-shirts.)
As the song begins, Daniel gets into a clunky old car (even
worse than the piece of crap in the Smashing Pumpkins' 1979 video - the seats
have definitely seen better days and so on, and by the way, the driver's side is
on the left - bear in mind that I *am* an American) and is driving alone down a
dark, empty city street. On "Cause you're on a high again," the scene cuts to a
party where everyone is either drunk or passed out. Ben and Chris are there,
playing their instruments, but they are on one side of the room and Daniel and
his guitar are on the other. Starting at "Since your life was over," the scene
cuts back and forth between the party and Daniel driving, including a few very
brief shots of a scrawny, big-eyed drug addict girl in the passenger seat
(twisting sideways so she faces the driver - she's wearing a seat belt in some
of the shots). With "I tried to help you," we see Daniel playing and singing in
the car's back seat (it's anybody's guess as to who's driving!), intercut with
more shots of Ben, Chris, and the girl. Near the end of the song, Daniel is once
again in the driver's seat (and driving pretty fast for a city street). He slams
on the brakes. At the first "You died yesterday," the car skids to a stop.
Daniel jumps out and takes off running.
That's my music video idea. Since
there was never a video for Pop Song, I have no idea if it would have been
anything like what I pictured. I have no idea how the heck I came up with it in
the first place (I'm either psychic or psycho - hahaha), and if you have any
insights you'd like to share, why not email me?
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