"Kiss My Glittery Ass"— Erykah Badu
I held off on posting the Flaming Lips + Erykah Badu video, not because I am a prude and not because I'm lazy, but because pointless nudity in music videos is lazy. As is not replacing the green screen.*
Music videos have long been held to a slew of non-artistic limitations, one of them being network standards: If you wanted your music video to air on TV, then it had to fit the rules, which at various times meant you couldn't depict fire, guns, drugs, logos, etc, etc. Also on the list, of course, was nudity.
Thanks to the Internet, it's a free for all with lots and lot of nudity in music videos. There's little risk, other than some sites requiring a pointless "honor system" age verification, and the upside is you get to say it's NSFW, which probably generates more clicks than any other collection of 4 letters.
But, it's not so shocking anymore.
Now, that said, I'll give Flaming Lips the benefit of the doubt. They have a trackrecord of many amazing videos. They practically pioneered the whole "let's get naked" music video movement. Whatever it takes to achieve his vision, is all good with me. Especially if it results in enclosing a USB of your music in a Gummy skull.
Erykah Badu is not so understanding. And she is very, as in VERY, upset about her and her younger sister's very VERY nude presence in this cover of Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."
If you haven't seen it, you're probably too late. It's been pulled due to all the hubbub, although I'm sure a troll through the dodgier side of the Internets will turn it up.
But, you can read Badu's epic twitter that breaks the 140 character limit and lists grievances that range from not getting to see a rough cut, the perils of publicity, and how she'll never enter any liquid other than water.
Read the whole diatribe at Pitchfork.
* In fairness, The Lips say it was a rough cut that was mistakenly released, which would explain the fact that the green chroma screen remains untouched.
