Everybody Wants To Be Naked And Famous

US Matt & Kim Start A Trend That Can't End Well 29/03/10

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When The Presidents Of The United States in 1994 sang Everybody Wants To Be Naked And Famous, they probably weren't thinking about punk/dance artists Matt & Kim stripping naked and walking around New York City's Time Square.

And Matt & Kim probably didn't think that their video would inspire Make The Girl Dance to film three young women walking naked through Paris to the dance track Baby Baby Baby.

Now, R&B artist Erykah Badu has created a video inspired by Matt & Kim, for her track, Window Seat:

Badu's video for Window Seat is the most provocative and subversive of the three videos.

She filmed her video in the area of Dallas where President Kennedy was assassinated. Instead of using the nudity as an end in and of itself, Badu uses it as a tool. And when she has completely revealed herself, she's shot down and "bleeds" the word "groupthink".

It's easy to imagine this viral video "meme" ending badly - with prog rockers stripping and walking through London to 7-minute keyboard solos in 7/4.

For now, though, Badu's video is inspiring a lot of discussion.

Some see it as crass and exploitive, others see it as heavy handed with its message. Others are happy to see a music video that has a message for a change.

What do you think? A win for creative freedom - or is it time for this trend to peter out before it gets ugly?

James Lewin
Twitter @podcasting_news