What you see above is what I believe to be the most ridiculous moment in music video history!
That still frame shot is of drummer Gregg Bissonette during the video for David Lee Roth’s 80’s hit “Just Like Paradise.” I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that this “most ridiculous moment” would come from the 80’s. Back in the day of Night Tracks and MTV actually showing music the world of music video was a developing art form that on many separate occasions fell off the wacky wagon into visual absurdity. But it’s this clip that zooms by in under two seconds during a fully realized 4-plus minutes of music video strangeness that wins the prize!
In many ways “Just Like Paradise” is a study in weird 80’s unnecessary music video shots. You have Steve Vai and his 478 neck guitar. You’ve got Roth rock climbing and in a makeshift floating boxing ring. You’ve got a levatating drum set and a jet-powered wire-suspended surf board that Roth rides off on at the end. But in the middle of all this is a brief, nearly subconscious scene, of a drummer inexplicably straddled sideways on an over-sized drum kit looking like Garth from Wayne’s World playing his heart out.
Here is the video in all it’s weird 80’s glory. The most ridiculous moment in the history of music video comes at around the 3:10 mark.
I know! Now I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of stage gimmicks and accompanying pyrotechnics etc. Under the comments for this gem on YouTube you’ll find many more “that was awesome dude” comments than “how stupid was that” replies. Despite my predisposition for being in the latter of those two groups I still stand by my belief that this is the most ridiculous moment in the history of music video.
Along with this brazen claim I offer a challenge for anyone out there to provide a better worse example. There is hours of hip hop video footage to choose from but I exclude any amateur clips because there are about a thousand Japanese folks that would own the drum straddling Garth dude 80’s clip.
Here’s one more screen shot just to remind all of you what you’re up against if you try to trump my ace.
