File this under the "six months too late" category: Psych-synth outfit MGMT have finally released a video for their jaunty jam "Kids" off 2008's solid Oracular Spectacular. Strangely, the official video only looks slightly more professional than the year-and-a-half old fan video (over 15 million YouTube views and counting), which starred a guy and a girl drenched in black-and-white face paint done up to resemble tigers, or giraffes, or whathaveyou. The fan video was a little strange taken on its own, but it doesn't even begin to compare with the new MGMT-approved video.
In the official clip, the poor, helpless, sure-to-be-traumatized-for-the-rest-of-his-life toddler of guest star Joanna Newsom is terrorized by a myriad of legitimately scary monsters: gigantic roaches, blood-colored zombies, and what look to be mutant castoffs from Zoobilee Zoo, to name a few. There's even a trippy animated interlude toward the end that needs to be seen to be believed. The glam-tastic band themselves don't show up until three minutes in, which is probably a good thing since they all seem to be (unfortunately) swathed in aluminum foil. MGMT claim on their website no children were harmed making the video, but I'm not so sure. Either that kid's tears were real, or we have the year's first serious contender for Best Performance by a Baby in a Music Video. Regardless, the song still rocks to the nth degree, does it not? Which video do you prefer, Mixers: The fan-made face paint one (after the jump), or the official Monsters, Inc. on acid version (below)?
"Kids" (Official Video):
"Kids" (Fan-Made Video):
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Comments (1-15) of 42 Add your comment
lol, oh man that video is really cruel to that baby.
lol, oh man that video is really cruel to that baby.
lol, oh man that video is really cruel to that baby.
lol, oh man that video is really cruel to that baby.
This video is crazy to say the least. What parent would let their child participate in something like this. They’ll probably use the money the kid got for the video for a lifetime of therapy. Awesome video though!
Camera tricks, people. Calm down.
I would NEVER subject my child to those horrifying images and real life situations regardless if the child were to remember them or not. It’s cruel and unusual and we don’t even subject prisoners to that type of treatment. I like the song but have a real problem with this version of the video. The fan video was MUCH better.
Am i the only one that loves this video?
its so good!
Camera tricks explain the video only until the 2:35 mark. After that, the child is actually walking in front of the monsters, dodging them, and crying.
This is appalling. It is not entertainment. It is exploitation and unethical treatment of a toddler.
The author of this article is as vacuous as the band and director that produced this vile crap.
Has the whole world become retarded?
Okay, I can accept that the writers at Entertainment Weekly are as poorly educated as its readership, but after reading the Guardian review and one from a local Fox News outlet and seeing not one of you caught the fact the band incorrectly attributed Nietzsche’ most famous quote to Mark Twain, I have to speak up. Hell, the google news algorithm figured that out and it’s a computer program.
Kill yourselves. All of you. You are useless bags of fat who all need to die for the sake of humanity.
It would only have been child abuse if the kid had to actually listen to MGMT. Here’s to hoping he didn’t.
Ok, I think our real concern should be….when did Joanna Newsom give birth to a baby!?!?! This is the 2nd article I’ve read that says this kid is her’s. Does anyone know if that’s true or not? I love the song…but the video is pretty terrible, for the baby’s sake of course.
This video is disgusting, it is sickening that they thought it was ok to inflict that on a baby. The parents of the child should be ashamed of themselves & MGMT are just sick for wanting a traumatised, screaming, terrified child in their video.
“Management” are a bunch of senseless tools. I love seeing a baby scared s***less…it makes for real good entertainment. Also, I’m glad to see all the money that they’ve made has inspired them to make new music.
This video is disturbing. It should be illegal to make a baby go through that.