You know that INXS video for "Mediate"? Turns out Bob Dylan did it first.
This just goes to show how out of touch with Rock history I am.
Back when I watched videos, one of my favorites was the video to the INXS song Mediate. I liked INXS a lot at the time; their concert in Kansas City in 1988 remains one of the best I’ve seen (of the 2 dozen or so I’ve been to - yes, I’m lame). If you don’t remember it (or never saw it), the video is the 2nd half of this video on YouTube.
Until I saw the Dylan - EVERYTHING EXCEPT COMPROMISE site (via iclicknation via daniela barbosa as delivered by media 2.0 workgroup) site, and the accompanying video (also on YouTube), I had no idea that INXS had, um, “borrowed” the concept for that video (as well as the concept for the song itself). In fact (and this would probably horrify my dad, who’s a big Dylan fan), Subterranean Homesick Blues is probably my favorite Dylan song.
Further Schlegel-Dylan trivia: I took my dad to see Dylan and Kris Kristofferson at the Filene Center at WolfTrap for his birthday in 1991. It was a good concert, but mostly because of Kristofferson, who was surprisingly good. Both Pop and I were disappointed in Dylan’s performance, which was without rapport with the audience and featured essentially unrecognizable renditions of Dylan classics - rhythms and syncopation so out of whack with what’s familiar as to force the listener to rely on the lyrics to recognize the song - which is a difficult proposition under the best of circumstances when it comes to Dylan’s singing.
Also, my son’s new music teacher is having them learn about folk singers and Dylan was one of their subjects - my son seemed to like the song they learned (Blowin’ in the Wind, I think) and asked me if I liked Dylan.
“Sure,” I said, “who doesn’t?”
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September 28th, 2007 at 8:51 am
So this comment is a little bit anticlimactic now, but I wanted to mention that I saw that Bob Dylan video a few years ago, maybe on some TV special, and I had the exact same reaction: “Oh so INXS got this from Dylan?” I always thought it was a cool INXS video too.
On a related note, I happened to be driving somewhere a few months ago and the radio was playing an hour of INXS with commentary about them, and I had forgotten how good they were, and how many hits they had. I guess Dylan is pretty good too though.
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:00 am
Yes indeed, INXS *was* pretty good, surprisingly (or at least surprisingly to me today).