Long before Paul McCartney and Wings put out an album of the same name, the idea of a band on the run ties into rock’s rebel spirit as well as the earlier tradition of the bluesman with hellhounds on his trail. Although rock artists often sing of being on the run – from The Man, hellhounds, adoring fans, what have you – they rarely agree to be filmed running. Lately I’ve been scouring YouTube to find videos showing actual rock musicians in the act of running. It’s been tough finding all but a handful of clips that my fading memory could remember from the days when MTV and VH1 actually played music videos. Even that wildly popular OK Go video, although choreographed for treadmill, includes no running. The results are mixed, but I think the results of my survey will satisfy any lingering questions you might have over the marriage of rock music and running. Take your time with this one; we may need all weekend.
Let’s start this examination of bands on the run with arguably the greatest of rock running videos.
NEXT: Arguably the greatest of rock running videos!
I’d like to see a video for the Velvet Underground’s “Run Run Run” that shows them doing exploding plastic inevitably interpretive running, all wasted and artsty-fartsy like.
Wait a minute…no I wouldn’t.
This is wonderful stuff, mod.
The Beatles are miraculous runners. They manage to broadcast the same cheekiness while running that they are known for at post-trans-continental flight press conferences: more evidence that their deity-like status is well deserved.
very lame-assed pince-nez: isn’t the Christopher Cross song called “Ride like the wind?”
either way, i’m glad not to see him run.
Has ANYONE ever seen the ’60s Stones movie, Charlie Is My Darling? I was hoping to find clips of the Stones running away from fans for a separate Beatles-Stones analysis, but there was nothing on YouTube and the like.
There’s no better use for the Pince-Nez than something that lame. No need to apologize, Sat!
Thanks for your approval of my nez pince-ing.
I can’t remember if there’s any running in “Charlie is…”.
I saw it back in the early 90s, when potato still had no “e” on the end, if ya know what I mean.
Re Absolute Beginners: Will the awesomely stupid use of backward filming (the jumping out, then back into, the red smoke) be the subject of a future thread, or should we discuss it now?
food for thought:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COGQ3LBskR0&feature=related
“Lately I’ve been scouring YouTube to find videos showing actual rock musicians in the act of running”
I’m impressed that you have the balls to have written this line in a public forum.
The Beatles run kind of androgynously, no? Most rockers didn’t spend a lot of time in gym class, probably acquiring whatever running skills they might have by running away from bigger guys.
There’s lots of comical running in the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4PN7Xbexq4
I love the sound of the backing track on that one, the vocals and the video not so much.
How could I have overlooked “Sabotage,” one of my favorite videos ever? Thanks for bringing that one to the table, BigSteve. How’s Denver?
Denver yesterday was great — sunny and warm. Today there was snow, but you know it’s January, what are you gonna do? It has a surprisingly uncongested downtown, and many, many brewpubs. In general The West kind of creeps me out, but I’m hanging in there.
Mod, I’m sure everyone admires and appreciates the amount of work you’ve put in on this subject that, no doubt, we’ve all be pondering for some time now. Something I’m surprised that you didn’t note in the Jam running review: Buckler is wearing a shirt with racing stripes on it. Clearly, he came into the Jam Relay expecting it to be a serious competition, which probably accounts for why he’s so angry that Weller called a timeout to skew the race results.
Doing my part for the efforts here, I’ve gone back this morning and reviewed the pertinent running sections of A Hard Day’s Night. There are two scenes worth noting: the intro and the Can’t By Me Love interlude/track meet.
During the intro, we see that John has terrible form, running with his arms flailing about wildly. George has an arguably more unorthodox form than John: he runs with his left hand either in his coat pocket, or hovering just outside his coat pocket. I believe, in running circles, they call this a Half Napoleon. Maybe he had a pack of cigarettes in his pocket and was afraid they’d fall out. Famously, George trips and takes a header in the intro, wiping out Ringo behind him. Later evidence may suggest that Ringo is lagging by choice here. When we see the three of them making their final run for the train in the intro, Ringo displays a more natural runner’s form, while John continues to flail about. Note here that Ringo passes the other two and gets into the train first.
Paul sits out the first heat but shows up during the “Can’t Buy Me Love” events. Early note: a shot of Ringo barely jumping for comedic effect comes later, but when the Beatles all vault over the pile of junk at the bottom of the fire escape, Ringo displays a natural, almost animalistic pounce.
As they take the field, Paul is down for business, quickly shedding his jacket. Does he feel he has something to prove here, having been forced to miss the first round? In the same moment, John tries to throw off his hat and falls hard on his ass. Paul looks back for a second, spying weakness. Lennon immediately tries to compensate; he takes off for a long run away from the rest and sprints back, his hat now blowing off. About three quarters of the way down, he appears to get winded like Weller would find himself years later. As he runs back, his arms windmill, and he almost does a header face first into the concrete. McCartney strikes back, running at double Lennon’s speed, likely making fun of him as he windmills and does an intentional tumble to the ground. Is this the moment Paul took over as the leader of the band?
Next, the four of them line up for a relay. George and John are in traditional starting stances in the middle, while Paul and Ringo stand at the outsides, probably exchanging smirks. Paul doesn’t run, instead pretending to kill the others with an imaginary starter’s pistol. Ringo outruns the other two, even in fake death.
When we next see them, capering in pairs in the concrete square, Paul and Ringo have paired off again, while John and George are partnered once more. I think we’re seeing evidence of the Varsity and JV Beatles squads.
After they box for a bit, we see a full race. Paul disappoints here, sort of leaping in the back. He’s not going all out, perhaps afraid to lose face to Ringo. John is running at full steam in the lead, but his bad form costs him again, as he tumbles and Ringo is wiped out for a second time. George, having fallen earlier, easily navigates this Beatle bunch-up and sprints ahead for the win.
Next is the jumping competition. Ringo does his hop, having nothing to prove. George and John show considerably better form than Paul during their jumps, as Paul isn’t taking this thing very seriously. It’s a bit disheartening, as he makes a joke of the whole thing by bounding around quite a bit.
My take on the Beatles as runners, based on available evidence: Ringo is by far the best runner, with the surest mix of form and athletic skill, but a questionable drafting strategy. John may be the fastest, but terrible form and surprising clumsiness cost him greatly in the field. George seems to be the worst athlete early on. Evidence on Paul is inconclusive: he shows signs of speed and acrobatic skill, but he’s dogging it intentionally throughout. Conclusion? Paul and Ringo need to race each other in 2009, to determine once and for all which Beatle was the best runner.
No, No, NO, Mod! Look carefully at the scene where Buckler smashes the clock. Your explanation of what’s happening here completely misses the point, since BUCKLER IS NOT SMASHING THE CLOCK WITH A DRUMSTICK. He’s using a hammer! Yes, it’s true — a hammer! YouTube might not provide the frame-by-frame detail required to see this, but I assure you that’s what he’s deploying; I slowed down the DVD to analyse this moment in detail when I got the Jam DVD box set, so iconic a moment it is in the band’s video history.
This hammer-smashing-clock scene has gone on to acquire tremendous importance to me as I explore my feelings about this band. Am I disgusted by the fakery of it? Did they try earnestly to do the smashing with a drumstick and fail (and, if so, where are the outtakes)? Is this somehow a comment on the plight of the working man; an exhortation to rise up and smash the system that keeps you tied to the clock from nine to five… using the tools they give you to build their God-damned war machine? What’s going on here?
I appreciate your desire to examine Running In Rock, but, as I say, you’ve missed a crucial detail in this clock-smashing scene. Your carelessness threatens to up-end your entire analysis.
Sincerely,
HVB
give this a whirl Mr. Moderator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJg13-DdykU
you’ll wish you haden’t!
Kilroy, you’re a genius! You too, Alexmagic. HVB, my deepest apologies for missing the hammer, if I did indeed miss that. I’ll have to see if I can get a screen capture of that for the record. This may change everything.
it’s definitely a hammer.
The “Absolute Beginners” single preceded the release of The Gift, right? I was noticing that the split-screen graphic I created for this analysis seems to tie into that later album’s cover. Note, too, how the band members are organized according to the Olympic medals ceremony placement that would have followed the “Absolute Beginners” race!
http://i26.tinypic.com/2czdcle.jpg
One thing this thread is helping to prove is the apparently endless gaffe goldmine that is Mick Jagger’s solo career. Can’t he get Bill Cosby to buy all his old videos so they won’t be seen anymore?
trivia:
Let’s Work was the first commercial video produced using Hi-Definition technology.
I suspect a video for the Jam’s Running On The Spot went nowhere.
How about the video for The Pixies’ “Velouria?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHhox4_SeHQ
I recall that MTV only showed it once; they disliked it so much.
Great find, Doctor!!! Slo-mo rock running. Now that’s cool.
AlexMagic,
Great Beatles analysis, but don’t forget that the extreme high shots of the 4 Beatles includes a ringer Ringo. Ringo was sick that day of shooting, so it’s 3 Beatles and a stand-in for Ringo in the scenes where it’s too far to see their faces. For all we know it may be a marathon runner from Kenya portraying Ringo.
Don’t Costello and the boys run around like pigeon-toed dorks in Oliver’s Army?
Wow, Chickenfrank, Elvis takes off at the 1:25 mark but not the rest of the band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FOriRS63ao
It’s possible, though, that they all run on one of those other Help!-like videos they made at that time.