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?

Back to silverchair stuff