MVOTW - GANGNAM STYLE

MUSIC & MVOTW

Acronyms. This one? Music video of the week. Back when AllMoPs first began I would highlight a music video every issue (thus every week). I do not pretend to be a music buff, but being human is loving certain music. And so I do.

I do not keep up with "pop music," though my wife does a fine job and finds occasion to subject my ears to the drivel. Yes, that is what I consider most of the Billboard toppers to be. Luckily there are occasional surprises. I love listening to soundtracks from films and video games; I can praise those in their respective tomes. That said, I am not fit to compile The Music Tome (or anything close to it), but I desire to highlight certain drops of pop. Because I am so in love with the moving image it makes sense that I would latch onto the idea of music video. After all, music videos are just short films. With a strong 30 years of music videos and more each and every day I am sure I can find one a week I deem worth your time.

Here is a treat:

My Chinese wife is far more fond of K-pop (the popular music scene of South Korea) than those that grow from the Mainland. As I mentioned before, without her I would not have a respectable diet of pop music in the first place. Besides America's offering I get a far more secular palette with connections from the Far East.

PSY is a Korean hip hop singer. He is not a particularly pretty face (and more Cee Lo Green than Jay-Z at that), but that is part of the charm of his "Gangnam Style," the hit single from his sixth album. This song has created a wave from its country of origin earlier this month; this week it is infecting our stereos and screens. A beat-heavy diddy indeed, but the music video is the crowning achievement. You will be doing PSY's signature dance all day and the day after. This is a hilarious and stylish video that pokes so much fun at its Western counterparts (while clearly a product of years of American influence mixed with K-pop's own line-dancing staple) that you cannot help but smile at these hopping and popping Koreans.