Okay, Go: Dance Duo Edition (Justice and Junior Senior)

*Updated below!

You know, MTV has gotten a lot of (deserved) shit for not playing any actual music, but now it and its sister station VH1 have really abandoned music videos altogether. It's shameful, really, as some videos can approach works of art, like this one or this one.

For this edition of Okay, Go, my occasional post dedicated to the dying art of music videos and/or new artists you should hear, we will be distracting you with not one but two new videos. First up, French duo Justice are back on the scene and ready to dance. You might remember them as the winners at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards that provoked Kanye West to jump on stage, protest and generally lose his mind. "D.A.N.C.E." features hipsters walking around with constantly changing animated t-shirts. Simple concept, awesome execution. Oh yeah, and the song itself is pretty sweet, being sung entirely by a children's chorus and sounding as if could be pumped through your local roller disco.



I especially like when one t-shirt quickly flashes "Internet killed the video star." It's so true and yet...it's so not. The internet delivers music videos whenever we want them, on demand and ready at a moment's notice. But because they're so accessible online, MTV and its brethren seem to have completely abandoned them for the same reason. Thank you, Youtube! You give record companies and artists reason for pumping thousands, sometimes millions, of dollars into a single that has no chance of ever being seen on TV!

*(After winning the 2006 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video of the Year, Justice is now nominated for the US equivalent! It really comes out of nowhere - no other major nominations, they're not a mainstream band. And yet, with that kind of recognition for an actually good video, it's almost like MTV...has...taste...)

Next up is Junior Senior. This Denmark duo burst onto the scene in 2003 with the scarily peppy "Move Your Feet," accompanied by a hilarious early-Atari-graphics video. They're finally back with Hey Hey My My Yo Yo and its first single, "Take My Time." It's a Red Bull, tequila and crack cocktail of a song (wait, the song actually sounds kind of 80's, so what kind of cocktail would that be? Percocet, tequila and crack? Valium, tequila and Freezy Freakies juice?). There's not one but two key changes, culminating in a euphoric, almost hysterical climax (your speakers at work probably won't do it justice). Even better, the lyrics are belted out by none other than Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson of the B-52's. (The band is working on a new album, btw.)



In fact, I couldn't help but notice that the hand-drawn graphics in "Take My Time" more than slightly resemble the graphics for the B-52's own "Roam." Coincidence? Homage? You decide, then tell me. Okay, go!

Also check out: Okay, Go: Scissor Sisters.
And: Okay, Go: Mika.