When I was growing up, after a hard day’s school, there was nothing I loved more than flopping out on the sofa with the remote, flicking through the music channels looking for my favourite videos. Everyone my age now used to do it, back when MTV actually showed videos. There are some right good videos around and some of the best, in my humble opinion, are set in supermarkets and malls and stuff. I don’t know what it is about them, but going to the shops or nipping to Tesco always makes me feel like bursting into a big song and dance number too. So these are my top 5 videos that are set, or at least partly set, in some kind of supermarket or department store.
5. “Haven’t Met You Yet” by Michael Bublé
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AJmKkU5POA
I work in a large DIY retail store, and the majority of my days are spent listening to the cheesiest cover music you will ever hear. Imagine having to listen to the same poor guy crooning away to Dean Martin, rapping to Vanilla Ice, and doing his very best Stevie Wonder impression. It’s even worse than it sounds. But in the afternoon, at the same time every day, they play this hit by the Bublé, and I like to imagine that he’ll pop into our store one day and get everyone swinging along. And maybe, just maybe, like in the video, the lights will start to flicker and our eyes will meet, and we’ll have a good old cuddle on a bed that’s sliding down the electrical aisle. And there’ll be the big finale, with the confetti in the car park and everything. The best bit of the video is obviously the ending, where it turns out old Bublé was in a world of his own all along. Whoever thought of that is a comedy genius.
4. “Been Caught Stealing” by Jane’s Addiction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrwjiO1MCVs
A few years ago this probably would be top of my list, but I guess I’ve just seen it too many times. It’s still a catchy little tune though, and the video features people from all walks of life, including one very dodgy looking transvestite, walking through their local store shoving all manner of groceries- everything from pineapples to brooms- up their jumpers and walking right out the door. In the middle there is a Grease style dance off, the highlight for me being when the fat security guard really gets into it. It’s a crime don’t you know.
3. “Day ‘n’ Night” by Kid Cudi vs Crookers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVb_t_ao9gw
Not usually my type of music, but back in my clubbing heyday, I used to bust some moves to this tune. The video’s pretty decent too, if you like lots of scantily-clad girls spanking each others’ bottoms in front of some wash powder. That cheeky Kid Cudi is left in charge of a 24hour shop for the graveyard shift. And lucky for him, lots of attractive young ladies decide they need groceries at that time of night, leading to various different sexy scenarios. The most plausible, of course, being where he obtains some kind of magic pen- one of those where you click it and the lady loses her clothes- which makes all the girls in the store lose their clothes, too. Don’t fear though, it all works out well for Cudi, as they feel like having a little dance with him. Then, in a familiar story, as he dances away he bumps into his hot manageress and it was all a daydream after all. Haven’t we seen this somewhere before?
2. “Dance The Night Away” – by The Mavericks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M81ph3BslqQ
I LOVE this video. Just recently, my boyfriend and I were talking about music videos, and I was saying how there was this song, a one hit wonder, and the video was set in a supermarket with a portly gentleman rocking out on his guitar singing something about dancing. He knew straight away which song I meant, but neither of us could think of the name. So when I got home, I of course Googled it, and found a string of threads all asking the same thing. “I cant remember a certain song i want to find, and all i can remember is that it was a one hit wonder supposibly and the video was set in a supermarket with a quite large guy singing the vocals and playing a guitar” wrote ‘dwoodsy90’- my thoughts exactly! It turns out it was by the Mavericks, and watching the video made me feel like a little girl again. That little happy chappy singing away in front of the oranges, the granny dancing down the aisles, the young African-American breakdancing with the frozen goods; what a party. This is the ultimate supermarket video, and if it weren’t for the next video being so awesome, it would be number one.
1. “Love in an Elevator” by Aerosmith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Yrhv33Zb8
Okay, so it’s not technically a supermarket, but if you read the intro I did say department stores were allowed. I love this video. Steven Tyler is such a legend. For the cooler individuals amongst you who follow him on Twitter, you will already know that everything he writes is in capitals, as if he’s constantly shouting. What a dude. At the beginning this video showcases some of his finest acting, from acting all nonchalant with his entourage to his cheeky camera glance at “going down?”, we see Tyler as the true thespian he is. Something I particularly enjoy in the video is the variety of characters, everyone from scout leaders to grannies, Dorothy and the tin man, and little and large lovers all enjoying the excitement of the elevator. My favourite moment, however, is about 40 seconds in, when one of the band members has a brief cameo mouthing “Oh Yeah” to a rather unimpressed looking posh bird. Look out for it, it always makes me smile.
MrsSparkle 