Comparasion of The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony, Massive Attack - Unfinished Symphony and Fat Les - Vindaloo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24-YFCp1FXI

The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony:
This is a classic video because of all the camera angles and also because  it is very simple. The most important thing about this video is the attitude towards life. At the end of this video you see 4 other people walking with him, which are his band mates, they have shown this because they all understand where Richard Ashcroft is coming from. The Verve took one step furthur and also showed an area of urban rundown, this is ironic because this is where he grew up so not is the attitude targetted at the audience the environment is also shown which i better for the marketing. The song also became famous for the legal controversy surrounding plagiarism charges. 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 "pavement journey" format was inspired by the music video for the Massive Attack song "Unfinished Sympathy", in which Shara Nelson sings while walking through a Los Angeles neighbourhood. The British comedy band Fat Les would later release a direct parody for their 1998 song "Vindaloo"; Paul Kaye takes the role of an Ashcroft look-alike who is mocked by a growing group of passers-by as the video progresses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmrfgj0MZI

Massive Attack - Unfinished Symphony:
This video have used ideas and conventions from The Verve's video Bittersweet Symphony. This video is important because of the setting which is also a snap shot of an urban rundown area. At the time of the release of the single, the group was pressured to change its name due to the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991. They were briefly known as simply "Massive," and it is the name which features on the cover of this single. It features Shara Nelson walking along the sidewalk, unaware or uncaring of her surroundings, which includes drunks, gangs, bikers and the three members of Massive Attack (Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Andrew Vowles). It was one of the earliest music videos to use one continuous shot. The video was later paid homage to in the music video for The Verve's song "Bitter Sweet Symphony".The art director for the video was Leigh Bowery.



Fat Les - Vindaloo:
The song was originally written as a parody of football chants, but was adopted as one in its own right and became a cult classic. Much of the song consists of the phrase "nah nah nah" and the word "vindaloo" repeated over and over by a mixed group, occasionally interspersed with lines such as "And we all like vindaloo" and "We're England; we're gonna score one more than you". However, there were rumours at the time that in a re-run of the events in 1977 surrounding the Sex Pistols "God Save The Queen" those running the chart kept "Vindaloo" off the Number 1 spot on purpose. The music video for the song is a parody of the video for "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve, which was itself inspired by the music video for "Unfinished Sympathy" by Massive Attack. The video is recorded in the same street, and features comedian Paul Kaye as a Richard Ashcroft lookalike forcing his way down the street. Unlike the original video, in which Ashcroft is alone, Kaye gradually gathers a large crowd which includes Fat Les, Edward Tudor-Pole, Matt Lucas, David Walliams, and the late Malcolm Hardee, sumo wrestlers, French maids, a French mime, a Max Wall lookalike (as Professor Wallofski), a priest, women dressed as girls from St Trinian's and many others who dance around him, some brandishing bags of curry. By the end, Kaye has joined in celebrating with the rest of the crowd.