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120 REASONS TO LIVE

120 Reasons To Live: Frank Black

Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.

#4: Frank Black “Los Angeles”

The Pixies are dead—long live the Pixies. But when Frank Black, dressed like Mad Max, careens through the desert in a hovercraft, all you can think is “That’s badass.” The video for “Los Angeles”—which also manages to skewer then-dominant neo-hair band grunge acts via a parodic depiction of Soundgarden-alikes—was a huge coup. Not only were fans curious as to what Black’s solo career would produce, there were also rumors that his self-titled 1993 debut would be a covers album. (It turned out to be all originals, aside from a version of the Beach Boys’ “Hang On To Your Ego.”) Whatever your take on the legacy of the Pixies vs. Black’s solo stuff, “Los Angeles,” directed by They Might Be Giants’ John Flansburgh, is easily the best video Black has ever made.

5 replies on “120 Reasons To Live: Frank Black”

It’s great when I like both the skewerer and the skeweree. Kinda how I feel about Blur and Nirvana in re: “Song 2.”

as has been the case before with Frank Black solo and with the Pixies, this is a catchy song, a great video, and hilarious yet cool words and images…the serious look on his face while he’s driving a hovercraft is something only he or Badly Drawn Boy could pull off and make me laugh

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