"Astonish: remain thunderstruck*, then Highly amazed" (www.etimo.it)

*Thunderstruck: "left stunned by a lightning strike next to oneself, and in a more general sense by any other reason** (EH? Editor's note) Still and mute for wonder or another strong emotion" (www.etimo.it)

**Reason: cause for which I could go on indefinitely.

...I didn't want to start like this.

I was convinced that the "music video director" was just the younger sibling with a more limited vision (perhaps also constrained by the label's needs to enhance the artist's image) compared to the cinematic sibling, a sort of temporary contract where the director is called to engage in the visualization of the song, perhaps with the license to add some emotion depending on the genre or market expectations (see video with hot and super-hot girls), I was wrong.

Spike Jonze with his creation not only amazed me by making a video that has absolutely nothing to do with the song, combining a big beat track with breakbeat tendencies for break-dancers in the middle of the street with a floor gymnastics performance, but prompted me to reassess the track that at first superficial listen passed exactly as a track for break-dancers (perhaps the aim was to remind break-dancers that their technical foundations lie precisely in artistic gymnastics?), and subsequently ended up in oblivion. In any case, mission accomplished.

The video is indeed set within a competition where the role of the gymnast protagonist is played by Sofia Coppola (who would later become the wife and ex-wife of the director), and towards the end, it focuses on the little things that easily go unnoticed and perhaps hide an old and glorious story.

The track is a continuous succession of distorted bass mega-riffs performed by Red Snapper bassist Ali Friend, with vocal interludes by rapper Keith Murray and an epic stoner finale both physically and emotionally, the magic and power of the 4 strings... ...5 in this case.

PLAY!

(dedicated to Bartleboom and inspired by 42)

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