Close Reading

Apologies for my recent absence. I've been extremely busy; a state of affairs which, unfortunately, looks set to continue. Nonetheless, there are certain things which simply compel one to blog, and one of them is this. It's the video for a song called 'Knives and Pens'*, by a band called Black Veil Brides. I've just discovered that it's gotten over 20 million views on YouTube, which disturbs me beyond the telling. To say that I dislike the song, along with the video, is a profound understatement. In the immortal words of Dr. Perry Cox, I megaloathe it.

Now, first I feel I need to address the band themselves. Wikipedia informs me that their genres are "post-hardcore, metalcore, gothic rock and glam metal". Note that the first term could refer to absolutely anything – "post-hardcore" could well refer to a band consisting of three teenaged Coventry girls playing ukuleles. Wiki also informs me that an offshoot of "metalcore" is "mathcore", which genuinely sounds like the most wonderful genre ever. I'm very tempted to form a mathcore band this very moment. Visually, the band remind of the weird, mutant offspring of KISS, Manic Street Preachers and Iggy and the Stooges, which is a rather eclectic mix (they sound like none of them, of course), though far from damning in itself. Wikipedia also reliably informs me that they've been through a number of line-up changes in their short lifetime, with the only constant member being the lead singer; my diagnosis is a severe case of Axl Rose Syndrome.

All right, time for a blow-by-blow account of song and video, which should hopefully go some way towards expressing my profound irritation towards both.



0.00 – The song begins with a recorded quote, which actually reminds me rather a lot of the aforementioned Manics (one of my favourite bands), who tend to begin songs with a relevant, thought-provoking quote. For instance, the song 'Yes', about the manipulation of the music industry, begins with a quote from a documentary about prostitutes. This, however, is what seems to be a description of the "emo" subculture. It adds nothing particularly to either song or video, since the subject matter is patently obvious anyway. Its only apparent function lies in the speaker's apparent disparaging attitude towards the subculture. As far as I can tell, the message is either a) "Look how marginalised we are! The world doesn't understand us! How terrible!" or b) "This guy hates us; we must be doing something right!" Either way, it's utterly nauseating.

0.35 – For no apparent reason, the band appear to be playing the song in various surroundings, wearing different clothing. What this contributes, beyond the assurance that the band have played the song more than once, I don't entirely understand.

0.50 – Ah, the inconsistencies of teenagers. Their notices simultaneously attack the young emo for his depressive nature (and make-up, which is, apparently, "for fags"), while also urging him to commit suicide. It probably doesn't bother him much, though; I doubt he can see much through his fringe. He rips the notices down and slams the door of his locker. That'll show them!

1.05 – I found the singer's voice profoundly irritating for the first couple of lines. Then he started into this bizarre heavy metal scream, and my ears wept blood.

1.18 – Why is this comfortably middle-class teenager wandering around these ridiculously dodgy areas? He's hardly trying to earn some street cred. If there were some implication that he's considering jumping in front of one of the trains, that might be genuinely moving. But no; he's just sitting around and scrawling on an A4 pad.

1.20 – "Poetry: always a sign of pretentious inner turmoil." – Xander Harris.

1.32 – The lead singer reminds me a lot of Matt Smith here, for some reason. I think it's the floppy hair.

1.41 – I assume the fact that this troubled young fellow is walking away from a church is meant to symbolise him turning away from religion. The fact is, though, that it rather implies he's just been inside, and it looks more as though he's just walking home from a Sunday service. Also notice the suspiciously static clouds.

1.55 – I haven't mentioned how much I dislike the lyrics, but really that's just because they're so banal they're not even worthy of comment.

1.58 – These next few seconds are terribly directed; it's almost impossible to make out what's actually happening. Another five seconds of footage would have done no harm, and God knows there are enough shots of the band in the video as it is.

2.01 – "NO! Don't throw my poetry over your completely stationary car! Then I'll have to pick it up!"

2.08 – A number of years ago there were all kinds of silly conspiracies about records manipulating adolescents into worshipping Satan or killing themselves or their peers. I'm becoming convinced, however, that this fellow's stupid scream-thing is actually a device to encourage suicide. I can see how it might work.

2.38 – These brief extreme close-ups are ridiculous. They serve a certain stylistic function, but the way they're edited together means they obscure the action (or disguise the lack of it).

2.58 – This is what made me write this post in the first place. Up to now, the video has been fairly ordinary, but suddenly comes a shock revelation - he's got a skull on his desk. What the bloody hell?! It doesn't look like some kind of mock-up, either; I'm fairly certain those are actual human remains. Here, the video takes a new twist; its subject is either a grave-robber, or a serial killer. The latter seems unlikely (although his parents are conspicuous by their absence...), given his meekness when faced with the bully; so clearly we're being asked to identify with an adolescent who desecrates final resting places just so that he can appear deep. Unless, of course, it's all some kind of clever, ironic, Brechtian device to satirise emo culture, but that seems sadly unlikely.

Also, he's watching the band on his laptop. Subtle.

3.02 – Have I mentioned how much I hate the drummer's stupid sunglasses? Apparently not. Well, I really do hate them.

3.20 – Presumably the bully is the protagonist's brother, then? Otherwise, he's committing some pretty serious crimes here, in somehow gaining access to keys to the house. Oh, and when did he pick up the A4 pad he threw away earlier? The hack director strikes again! Also, doesn't the fact that he gives the A4 pad back completely undermine the whole point of his character, if you can call it that? Is he a bully who has a change of heart? Why am I still watching this? Perhaps the bully is forcing our emotional friend to do his homework, but that doesn't exactly save the video, since it should really be a lot clearer.

3.22 – A brief glimpse of some more skulls, but these ones are clearly plastic, which just serves to make the real-looking one that much more disturbing.

3.25- Some of the worst guitar miming I have ever seen in my life. Why exactly is the guitarist strumming chords during his solo?

3.50 – He's writing the lyrics to the song. Genius. There are a few possibilities here: a) all that poetry that he seemed to be writing earlier was actually just the lyrics to this song, which robs him of any semblance of depth; b) he is in fact a younger version of the lead singer (as in the film version of The Wall, except in a much more knowing and self-deprecating fashion), but then why is he watching the band on his laptop? Or c) he WAS writing poetry earlier, but now the pure artistic genius of Black Veil Brides has convinced him that his own crap is meaningless, and he must dedicate his life to transcribing their transcendent words of glory.

4.10 – So now the lead singer is covered in blood. Delightful. Also utterly devoid of any meaning, apart from that he and the director are self-indulgent knobs who think that a symbol carries its own meaning regardless of context. Really, I could have guessed that at this point. As a counter-example, the video for Pearl Jam's Jeremy gives poignancy and horror to a similar image.

Actually, Jeremy is a very good counter-example of why this video is so poor generally. If you're not aware of the story behind the song and video, you can find it here. Both song and video tell a horrific story with subtlety, but without pulling punches. The quick cuts in the video are disorientating, but in a way that adds to rather than taking away from the point of the video; the story is still reasonably clear. As for the song itself, the lyrics fulfil a similar role to the video, in telling the story without ever being blatant (words like "gun" or "shot" never occur, for example). Plus, on a personal note, I infinitely prefer Eddie Vedder's wounded baritone (particularly his haunting howls in the final minutes of the song) to the whiny voice and screams of the gentleman from Black Veil Brides (whose name escapes me).

So there you have it. The song is banal and irritating, while the video is incoherent and more than a little pointless. You may notice that, apart from the signs on the locker, the subject of the video doesn't particularly suffer; if the bullying were kept up throughout, it might be a different story. I must finish this now, if only because I've expended far too much time and effort on this nonsense.





* - Nothing whatsoever to do with the song 'Guitar and Pen', by The Who, I hasten to add.