Godzilla 98 Music Video Trilogy

At the end of this month the world will be treated to the hirty-fifth film in the Godzilla franchise. As someone who has seen all of these flicks you can safely assume I’m stoked for this newest outing, Honestly I’m feeling spoiled having so many great expansions to favorite series pop up this year be it Endgame, Glass, or the recent announcements of The Collector 3, and trailers for remakes of classic games like Medievil and Final Fantasy Vii. This got me thinking about how things were when I was still a kid which brought me back to one of the weirdest bits of Godzilla history.

The summer movie season of 1998 was an odd one for sure. Starting with the pre-game efforts we had a season full of both garbage and treasure ranging from Species II, Lost in Space, The Truman Shows, The Mask of Zorror, The X-Files, Lethal Weapon 4, and two separate movies about killer meteors. Thankfully it all wrapped up with Blade proving that comic book films could be awesome. Still the big lynchpin of Summer was Godzilla as produced by the guys who made Independence Day. This thing was everywhere with a massive advertising campaign, toys, fast food tie-ins, an upcoming cartoon, and that hallmark of 90s blockbusters, a licensed soundtrack.

Godzilla the album offered a selection of mostly alternative rock fare with all manner of bands you wouldn’t normally associate with a giant atomic lizard. We’re talking the likes of Ben Folds Five, Foo Fighters, Days of the New, and Rage Against the Machine. The selection of talent on display made no sense in relation to the film and was looked upon by twelve/thirteen year old me as lousy music. If that poor naive bastard only knew of the musical horrors that would exist in the twenty-tens I bet he'd have a different view. Anyway; a trilogy of tracks were released as singles with accompanying music videos and that is what we’re really here to talk about.

I’m going to cover these three videos in the order of least to most Godzilla visuals which means we begin with The Wallflowers cover of the David Bowie track, Heroes. According to wikipedia this was not the most successful of the singles but I don’t buy it personally. Maybe it’s a Michigan thing but I couldn’t escape this song back then and still here it once in a while at stores or on the radio. From a musical standpoint I never thought much of the track, it neither offends nor please the ears so much as it exists as a more digestible take on Bowie’s original. Frankly I like Peter Gabriel's take the best.

The video maintains the rainy and dark motif from the film that carries into the other singles as well. We open with helicopters buzzing through the New York skyline as a building crumbles and loud noises begin to sound. None of this is any concern to the Wallflowers who are focused on preforming their song inside an apartment. Lord only knows where in New York you could find an apartment this large and play music in it without a large sweaty man banging on your door but I guess that’s all part of the fantasy.

Somebody who isn’t enjoying themselves is a mopey girl in a red hoody, perhaps a girlfriend, I like to pretend she’s a doormat sister who lets her brothers band crash at her place. She walks out to the street in time to witness Godzilla come by with us only being treated to his feet and tail which he uses to bash out the apartment wall. Still unfazed She continues across the street to a convenience store to pick-up some milk. She leaves money upon realizing there’s no cashier then walks back to her place as the band wraps up the song and everything ends with Godzilla’s roar. The tacky version from the film that’s augmented with a falcon screech or something.

The entire production seems pricey for the time with the ruined street, constant rain, and all that jazz but one has to wonder why that money wasn’t backed up by some sort of storytelling. A band covers a song while a sad girl picks up some milk. Makes me wonder if this served as some inspiration for Cloverfield with pretty young people so focused on their own issues to be unaware of the giant monster coming to stomp on them.

Sadly unable to make photos of this one. At least this way you get your fill of giant hats.

Next up is Deeper Underground from Jamiroquai and I gotta admit that before diving into this topic I don't think I'd ever seen this. That being said it’s probably my favorite of the trio in the musical sense. Wouldn't purposely turn it on but it’s not something I’d run from either. Thematically both the song and video have slightly more in common with the film though we get about the same amount of big-G screen time. Even with the closer connection, things still seem kind of generic which makes sense as there's supposedly another version of the video that completely removes the giant beast.

We're introduced to a movie theater watching Godzilla in 3-D, complete with classic red/blue paper glasses. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, far more than if they were watching the real film, until Godzilla's feet bust through the screen unleashing a flood before he creates his own exit. From then on the theater continues to flood while cars and helicopters crash into it. In the midst of this chaos is front-man Jay Kay doing his usual nutty dancing. He walks along the backs of chairs, flops around atop crashed vehicles, and refuses to wear appropriately sized hats. Meanwhile regular folk are rushing to the exits. In a final twist this all turns out to be another movie being viewed by another theater.

Similar to Heroes this video is clearly expensive but little effort was made towards narrative. A disaster occurs only for some nutter to dance around. Even the space he dances in seems arbitrarily limited with him returning to the same chairs and cars again and again. It would have been much more interesting to follow him on an escape route. Even with such criticisms this is a step-up from viewing sad people with a thirst for milk.

Finally we come to the wildest installment of this collection Come With Me by Puff Daddy with backup from Jimmy Page. Supposedly this was the most successful of the three singles which I guess makes sense. Puff was rather popular at the time as he had yet to become a joke with a steady stream of changing names. And people seem to like Page for whatever reason. Even if you don't dig the music you can't deny the entertainment value of this big and stupid video.

It all begins strangely enough with Puff getting some loving while listening to the Isley Brothers. Maybe it's just me but you should never start your video by reminding people of better music. Turns out this is all just a dream when Puff awakens on his couch, fully dressed in black with crappy leather/vinyl pants mind you, to the sounds of chaos and Godzilla stomping about. Harry Shearer is on his TV as the reporter from the film and Puff approaches his window to see zilla face to face as the monster throws a bus into his apartment. Guess atomic reptiles don't dig 90s rap either. Puff decides to pose in the gaping hole in the wall and start rapping while fighter jets fly by and Jimmie Page footage plays in Times Square.

Eventually a jet explodes in front of Puffy throwing him backwards into a malfunctioning elevator that skyrockets upward as he continues the song. The elevator flies out the top of the building tossing Puff into the air when he, I shit you not, explodes into a flock of white doves. He reforms soon enough now fully dressed in a white suit and enters the slow part of the song as he free falls into Times Square and finally floats onto a lit stage complete with orchestra.

The final act of the video cuts back and forth between two topics. First is film footage of Godzilla rampaging through New York, offering full glimpses at the beast unlike the other videos. The other half is Puff attempting to dance while the song escalates with full orchestral backup. I must stress how bad Daddy's dance moves are. He's the guy you invite to a wedding reception to make everyone else feel better. His gesticulations give the impression he's suffering from some sort of neurological disorder. I know this all sounds mean but goddamn the man cannot dance. In the end his performance draws the attention of Godzilla and the two stare off while fireworks burst overhead (who sets off fireworks during a monster attack?) then Puff turns his back and walks away as the beast roars behind him.

While being almost totally removed from the subject matter of the film this song and video almost perfectly represent it. As noted earlier the Summer of 98 was a nutty time when hollywood seemingly used a dart board to make decisions. Notions like world-building or fandoms weren't part of the equation for tent-pole blockbusters so much as spending lots of money on loud nonesense and making sure Taco Bell had some toys to sell. Having a video this big and senseless perfectly illustrates the kind of film-making I'm talking about right down to having the musician walk away from the monster as if he's unimpressed. Such was the state of blockbusters at the time that Puff Daddy's own ego could outweigh a pop-cultural giant.

And thus closes one of the strangest pieces of zilla history. To look at how these films are treat now versus then is a total night to day shift. In the late 90s it was an absolute pain to see most Godzilla films, more so if you wanted to see the legit Japanese version. Our only solace was the promise of a big American production that turned out to be a lousy and generic big lizard flick. Now it's not that hard to get our hands on quality release of the movies and we've already had one decent U.S. Film with the second looking like a total knockout. In a way we have to thank that bloated late 90s version because it's hype and ensuing backlash were vital in altering the landscape so that we can now get franchise films that still come with a few product tie-ins but aren't totally watered down dreck. Let's raise a glass then to that disastrous production and the wacky, unnecessary music videos it spawned.