'Classical conventions' subverted by Tool

I have decided to focus on an alternative metal band – Tool. More importantly, their aesthetic choices in producing a music video that tries to pull away from conventional music video mise-en-scene. Additionally, the significance of their subversion of classical conventions is a progression into having the ‘music’ take precedence over the ‘visual’.

First off, it is important to define, for the purposes of this blog only, what I mean by the ‘classic conventional’ music video. Music videos often follow certain aesthetic, and structural, elements in order to show-case the ‘star-quality’ of a band. ‘Classic conventional’ music videos use every technique, as a promotional medium, to give a band an identity, thus, giving an identity an audience can relate too. However, I believe the band Tool have identified the fallacy of have a music video conform to a ‘classic convention’. The fallacy is having the music video primarily concerned with the bands identity than the music-message, the band, produces through their music.

An example of the ‘classical conventional’ music video at play can be seen Michael Jackson’s music video ‘Bad’ (1987). (http://youtube.com/watch?v=PSWLKQMN34Y)

In contrast to Tool’s music video ‘Aenima’ (1996), it is evident which of these music videos is obsessed with their star-vehicle than the music itself. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dxk_wYeIv6I)

In the exert of ‘Experiencing Music Video: aesthetics and cultural context’, by Carol Vernallis, she comments on the ‘…elusive qualities of a character in a music video is to accept a music video as a short, almost mute form whose purpose is to show-case the star, highlight the lyrics, and underscore the music.’ I am likely to agree on most aspects of Vernallis’ argument; however, analyzing Tool’s music video ‘Aenima’ clearly subverts these conventions. ‘Anemia’ does not follow ‘Classical conventions’ it has a combination of live-action and stop-motion techniques. Vernallis continues, to analyze, that the ‘…image ought not to carry a story or plot in the way that a feature film might…otherwise the song would recede into the background.’ This is particular true, if Tool used ‘classical convention’ the focus on the band would be tantamount than the music, and their music would fade into the shadow of the stars that created it.

The aesthetic analysis of ‘aenima’ defines classical conventions of music videos and how the band Tool subverts it, or tries too, in order to bring their music to the foreground. First off, Most of Tool’s videos are animated: stop-motion, live-action experimental characters, or computer-generated. Adam Jones, the guitarist, attended the Hollywood Make-up academy in 1984, and he has worked on notable productions: Terminator 2, Predator, and Nightmare on Elm Street. He has even worked with the famous Stan Winston. However, his contribution to the music videos is seen in ‘Anima’. The aesthetics of the music video ‘Anima’ follow the same aesthetics of the great animators The Brothers Quay.

The Brothers Quay animated film ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh (1985)’ influenced ‘Anima’ in terms of aesthetic and theoretical temperaments. The Brothers Quay films ‘…films are highly reliant on their music scores’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Quay) as much as Tools music video aesthetics rely on the music to convey a medium of identification to the band, thus giving the music precedence over the images. In consequence, ‘Anima’ subverts ‘classical conventions’ of music videos by not showing the band members in the music video.

Tools music video for the song ‘Prison Sex’ clearly shows the parallels of The Brothers Quay ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh (1985)’, in terms with aesthetic similarity.
Prison Sex (http://youtube.com/watch?v=F5sIXUbMgF0)

The Epic Gilgamesh (http://youtube.com/watch?v=j0KgVWVOc9s)

The Brothers Quay is an alternative to conventional animation: Japanese-anime, Disney, and Warner Bros. It is significant to point out that, what the Brother Quay accomplished, in subverting classical animation convention, is what Tool has accomplished in subverting music video conventions. ‘Anima’ does not have a clear narrative structure, it is fragmented, in-sequential, and focuses on spectacle rather than narrative cohesion. It can be argued that the spectacle, of Tools videos, can detract from the music, the visual accompaniment compliments the beats, and emphasises the focus on the music itself. The band members of Tool are not present at all in the music video. Therefore the audience must identify with the band purely through the music, because the aesthetics do not point out to the identity of the band, but more the atmosphere of the music.

Tool has commented, in a Rolling Stones interview, that their choice of stop-motion animation rather than ‘classical convention’ music videos is because "…People start latching onto the personalities involved rather than listening to the music."(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_band) Thus, Tools use of animation avoids the dominance of the visual over music. The concentration of the bands identity gives ‘the visual’ precedence over music. Producing an aesthetic of stop-animation, that does not necessarily fulfill classical conventions: a coherent narrative, the character drive of the temporal story by the band itself, allows the music to drive the music video. In other words, all visual elements are created to accompany the music. The ‘aesthetics’ are the stage in which the ‘music’ can perform on. The music is the star-vehicle in which the audience identifies with.