I should post something to show that I’m back from vacation, and here’s an old music video that’s worthy of comment. Until recently, I didn’t even know Material Issue made a video for their cover of “Kim the Waitress” on 1994’s Freak City Soundtrack. It’s even more tragic to think the money was just wasted on what is clearly one of the most screwheaded videos in the history of rock. As you’ll hear, the song is a lovely pop ode. As you’ll see, the video is a paranoid Leftist fantasy.

Jim Ellison—who wrote plenty of great songs as Material Issue’s frontman—was then just a few years away from being a power-pop suicide. It’s a miracle this video didn’t kill him sooner. It’s a miracle that Jeff Kelly of the Green Pajamas (whose original version can be heard here) didn’t kill himself, as well. The video kind of has a happy ending, but you’ll marvel at how some idiot director heard this lovely tune and decided it was the proper setting for political allegory.

 

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