Thursday, July 21, 2011

70's Video Hell: Slik - Requiem

In which Miss Daiquiris turns a tongue-in-cheek gaze on some of the mercifully forgotten and regretfully remembered musical monstrosities that earned the '70s its reputation as 'the decade that style forgot'.




Starting off with chanting that wouldn't be out of place in Spinal Tap's Stonehenge, the pretentious mood is immediately set and while the camera pans over the band's bizarre sports attire, a face so earnest even Bambi couldn't help but crack up at the site of it is revealed.

While we gaze into the singers doe-eyes, eyebrows twitching with sincerity, the monstrosity of a song unfolds, with Midge Ure letting us know both that 'It's over' and 'we've come to the end now' (except that the end is unfortunately, an eternity away.) The level of genius we're dealing with is already established, but just wait until the chorus, when the self-satisfied clever punnery will bring a tear to Stephen Fry's eye and perhaps to Midge's Kermit-green trousers.

"Oh what a wreck / this is a wreck / this is our requiem". Never have I heard anyone make such witty use of a word they'd clearly only heard the day before. It's hard to say what impresses me most - their sense of style, the band's sparkling chemistry, the pure heart-wrenching poetry or simply the jaw-dropping wreckuiem that this song really is.

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