Current Music Blog

Since we began shooting Common for Embedded, we have built a great relationship with him and his team. They came to us for Make Common’s Day because they knew Current had experience in doing these sort of viewer-created video call outs, and they wanted to take a unique approach to making a video for the song.

It was an opportunity with a big name artist that we couldn’t really pass up. It sort of plays off the VCAM initiatives as well as the Writer in Residence project, but seemed like a perfect way to bring Current’s filmmaker community together with Common to create something special.

From what Common’s team told me, he chose this one because it was overall a different vibe than your typical clichéd rap music video. It had a fun feel to it, and the use of clip art was simple yet effective, as was the way the producers integrated the green screen footage, and gave it a grainy clip art feel.

Watch Common’s pick for his favorite “Make My Day” video here, and tune in tonight just after our Embedded with Common special—so, about 11:30/10:30c—to see it make its TV premiere:

And check out these photos from when we shot the green screen footage:

Current teamed up with Common to give you the opportunity to direct your own music video with his track ‘Make My Day’ between September 14th and 28th, 2009.

From the many amazing videos, Common hand-picked his favorite, ‘Common’s Make My Day Music Video: Clip Art’, by Josh Milowe, Elizabeth Casal and Mike Potter, collectively known as Wealthy Pictures.

Check out the video above, and look for its on-air premiere Wednesday, November 4 at 11/10c during Embedded featuring Common:

For a change this week we asked Current Music intern Amy Williams to gather the worst cover versions of the best songs ever made. Consider yourself warned.

Kid Rock, “Feel like Makin’ Love”

For starters, to whichever tool posted this video: The song is called “Feel Like Making Love.” There is no “I.” Further more, Kid Rock’s voice sounds like the noise puppies make when you accidentally step on them. It’s painful and sad. Bad Company’s original doesn’t exactly stand out as music’s most technically impressive or intellectually stimulating songs; which is fine because they work with what they got and do it pretty well. Kid Rock’s version is just bad musicianship and terrible singing. I’m embarrassed for the audience being caught in this moment.  They must all be thinking to themselves, “God this is terrible,” or most plausibly, “I never want to make love ever again.”

Michael Bolton, “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay”

Corny. Cheesy. Soul-less. Michael Bolton does Otis Redding no justice here.  There aren’t many who can recreate the bluesy gospel voice of a true soul singer from the ’60s, but come on, at least give Cee-Lo a chance… or Alicia Keys for heaven’s sake.  Haven’t white men caused enough harm to African American culture already? This is just going too far.

Limp Bizkit, “Behind Blue Eyes”

Watching Fred Durst kiss Halle Berry in a mental hospital does not quite reflect the anxious and angry lyrics Pete Townshend wrote almost 25 years before. A smooth in to kiss a beautiful woman, and trade places with her, and what? Did anything actually happen in this video? And then the song just turns into a gross self promotion with some scary man brainwashing “L.I.M.P” into our brains. I had nightmares for days. This ruined the Who for me.