Videodrone #24: Sexx Laws

Videodrone is a weekly(ish) feature looking at music videos from the last half century. 

Sexx Laws (1999)

There was a lot going on in 1999. We were on the cusp of the new millennium and there was plenty of hype around the Y2K bug, which had everyone convinced all computer systems would go haywire once the clocks hit midnight on New Year's Eve. Needless to say, nothing happened.

Musically, it was an interesting year. The emergence of Napster on college campuses introduced the world to downloading and MP3s, which would lead to a seismic shift in the music industry. 

Alternative rock was still a thing, but it was nu metal and hip hop that got more attention from music fans: Limp Bizkit, Korn, Eminem, Dr. Dre and Kid Rock were leading the charge. In the middle of all that, the mercurial Beck was in the midst of a terrific run of albums. The previous year saw the release of the subdued but excellent Mutations, but Beck went in a completely different direction with 1999's Midnite Vultures. This time around, he leaned into funk and dance music with strong results. While it didn't reach the heights of Odelay, Midnite Vultures was a lot of fun, highlighted by lead single "Sexx Laws."

The song is an uptempo, horn-driven funk romp about gender roles, which the out-there video pokes fun at. Directed by Beck, it begins with a men's group called the Vision Warrior Men's Circle. The group's members include a young Jack Black, author Neil Strauss and Beck's bandleader Justin Meldal-Johnsen. After a group hug, a bunch of football players in day-glo uniforms crash through the walls and mayhem ensues, including Black getting smashed over the head with a bunch of drywall. 

Cut to Beck and his band playing the song, albeit with fake instruments (Meldal-Johnsen's playing a broom), alongside a zebra mannequin playing a banjo. Told you it was out there. Kitchen appliances come to life, much to the dismay of the men's group members, with a refrigerator humping an oven, and then a shot of Kenny G (played by Meldal-Johnsen) playing the sax in the background of the mayhem.  

There were a few different versions of the video, including an 18-minute version with extended scenes of the men's group (see a 13-minute version below). Beck also filmed a 6-minute video of "Kenny G" playing a smooth jazz version of the song; a session sax player handled the Kenny G part while Beck's band played the rest.

Midnite Vultures wasn't a smash like Mellow Gold and Odelay, but it still was certified gold. Beck followed it up in 2002 with the acoustic and melancholy Sea Change, another excellent album. That Beck likes to keep people on their toes. I've been less enamored with his output the last 15 years or so, but Beck's '90s and '00s work is undeniably strong.

Unsung: Map of Your Failure

Unsung is a feature in which I take a look at a pop culture phenomenon (be it music, TV, literary, whatever) that has been forgotten or underappreciated. In this installment, I look at the album Platinum Jive by Detroit sludge-funk act Big Chief.

The late '80s saw a proliferation of funk-rock bands getting various degrees of attention: the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, Living Colour and Fishbone were the most notable, but there were others like the Royal Crescent Mob and 24-7 Spyz (whose first singer Peter Forrest, aka P. Fluid, was brutally murdered in New York last week). 

Another act combining heavy guitar rock with funk was Big Chief, which was formed in 1989 by Michigan hardcore punk veterans Barry Henssler on vocals (formerly of the Necros), Mark Dancey (Born Without a Face) and Phil Durr (Dharma Bums, Motorhome) on guitar, Matt O'Brien (McDonalds) on bass and Mike Danner (Laughing Hyenas) on drums. The band was heavily influenced by Funkadelic's early work, as well as '70s funk and Blaxploitation movies. They generated some major label interest before they even released anything but released singles on indie labels before signing with Sub Pop for a Singles Club release. 

Big Chief compiled its early singles on the album Drive It Off, which was released in 1991 on the indie Get Hip. The band's debut album Face was released in Germany in '91 and on Sub Pop in May '92. The band combined Sabbath-esque sludge riffs with funk groove. Although the album didn't catch on with the grunge-splosion that was underway, the band scored an opening slot for the Beastie Boys, who were touring behind Check Your Head, an album that also explored funk and hardcore punk influences. 

For their next album, Big Chief tried to set themselves apart from the grunge hordes by embracing the '70s funk and R&B they loved with a concept album: 1993's Mack Avenue Skullgame was a soundtrack to a fictional blaxploitation flick about a pimp. Released on Sub Pop, the album presented the band as a more than just another guitar band, but it didn't get much attention. Which is too bad, because it was really good.

The band signed a major label deal with Capitol Records and released 1994's Platinum Jive, which was another high-concept effort. Subtitled Greatest Hits 1969-1999, the album was marketed by Capitol as grunge, but it actually explored a number of genres as it tracked "hits" from the various fictional albums made by the band (as well as from solo projects) over a 30-year period, including five years that hadn't happened yet. There's crunching riff rock ("Lion's Mouth," "Armed Love," "Lot Lizard"), hip hop ("Bona Fide," written and rapped by Schooly D), funk-rock raveups ("All Downhill From Here"), flute-driven funk whimsy ("The Liquor Talkin'"), rumbling grunge ("Locked Out"), some out-there instrumentals ("MD 20/20" and "Clown Pimp") and even a nod to '70s loverman R&B ("Simply Barry"). 

The fake liner notes perpetuate the concept, noting that the songs come from albums like 1999's Bright Future Behind You, Titty Twist Whitey (1969), Midwest Rules (1977), We Gotta Impeach Nixon (1973), Groove Factory (1995), Fool's Gold (1972), Inhale to the Chief (1974) and How the West Was Lost (1969), as well as solo albums like Barry Henssler: The Sexual Intellectual (1983).

I had heard of the band in '93 when a co-worker got a cassette for Mack Avenue Skullgame from Sub Pop, where his sister worked. A year later, I saw the video for "Lion's Mouth" on MTV's 120 Minutes and went and bought the Platinum Jive CD, which I enjoyed immensely. However, the general public didn't get the joke and the album quickly came and went. Big Chief supported the album by opening for the Cult.

The band split up in 1996, although it kept publishing a fanzine called Motorbooty, which was launched in 1987 and ran until 1999 and featured illustrations from Mark Dancey. The band backed up Thornetta Davis, who had provided backing vocals on a few of their songs, on her 1996 album Sunday Morning Music. Henssler worked as a DJ in Chicago clubs, and O'Brien and Durr played in other bands. In 2019, Durr died of a heart attack at age 53.

They weren't around for too long, but Big Chief provided some good genre-jumping hot rock in their day.