The first of my music videos is ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ by the Verve who were an English psychedelic rock band, formed in 1989, before their split in 2009. The video was released in 1997 and was directed by Walter Stern, who has also worked with artists such as Madonna, David Bowie and the Prodigy. My second video is ‘All the Small Things’ by American pop-punk band Blink 182. This video was released in 1999 and was directed by Marcos Siega, who the band had worked with on other videos such as ‘Whats My Age Again?’ Immedietaly we can see contrasting differences between the two videos, in that both are of different genres and by bands from different continents. Due to this, we could expect the videos to be very different. However, as the videos were released in the same time period, roughly late 1990’s, some might expect the videos to be similar in reflecting the mood of society at the time.
The videos differ in style, as ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ by the Verve is a concept video, whereas Blink 182’s ‘All the Small Things’ is a mix of concept and performance. The video to ‘All the Small Things’ is also a parody, as the band mimic some other videos, such as ‘I Want It That Way’ by the Backstreet Boys, ‘Sometimes’ by Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera’s ‘Genie In A Bottle.’ This mickey-taking style for the video is in line with the band’s image and pop-punk genre, as it shows the band members ‘we’ll do what we like and get away with it’ attitude. This is reflected in the video when the three members of the band, Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker, run down a beach completely naked. It is also reflected in comments made by guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge who said of the video: ‘We want to do a video that's like, directly like a boy band video, because we figure we're just as hot and we look good wet and we dance and we can fit in tight clothes just like everyone else, you know?’
In contrast to ‘All the Small Things’, The ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ video is concept video which shows the Verve front man Richard Ashcroft lip synching the song, whilst walking down a busy London pavement, refusing to change his stride or direction throughout, apparently oblivious to what is going on around him. The genre of the video is alternative rock, but despite this the song is quite depressive, which is reflected in the video as Ashcroft repeatedly bumps into passers-by, causing one young woman to lose balance and fall over. He also narrowly avoids being hit by a car, and jumps on top of the bonnet of another vehicle stopped in his path, both without flinching. Some would describe the actions as ‘suicidal’ which may be in line with the mood of the song. The way that Ashcroft is dressed also shows the genre, as he is dressed in all black and is unshaven. At the end of the video, the rest of the band join Ashcroft, and the final shots see them walking down the street into the distance, which further shows the depressive nature of the song. This ending leads into the beginning of the video for "The Drugs Don't Work" which is another song by the Verve of a similar genre to ‘Bittersweet Symphony.’The two bands and videos also contrast when it comes to star image motifs. As mentioned before, the members of Blink 182 all have a very ‘f**k it’ attitude to life. The band consists of three members, guitarists/vocalists Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus, with drummer Travis Barker, and each seems as important to the band’s image as the next. The three are covered in tattoos and constantly abuse each other in the introductions to some songs. This image differs greatly to that of the Verve, where front man Richard Ashcroft is seen as the image of the band. Guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury make up the rest of the band, but it is Ashcroft who is fans’ favourite. The band has endured name and line-up changes, breakups, health problems, drug abuse and various lawsuits. Filter referred to them as "one of the tightest knit, yet ultimately volatile bands in history". This image is a lot darker than that of Blink 182, and this is reflected through the songs and music videos for ‘All the Small Things’ and ‘Bittersweet Symphony.’ The Verve are also seen to be very proud to be British, and this is reflected through the setting of the video. Ashcroft starts walking from the southeast corner of the intersection of Hoxton and Falkirk Streets in Hoxton, North London, subsequently proceeding north along the east side of Hoxton Street. The video was inspired by a similar video by another British artist, Massive Attack.