Guitar-Driven Nostalgia
Evoking the bluesy garage rock revival sound of the 2000s, the music video for Sacha Carlson and the Light’s Drive You Like A Cadillac spoofs the 1970’s genre of live music and dancing television shows. It’s having its world premiere at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival‘s Music Video Showcase on April 25.
In the video, a faux live show is stymied with a late cancellation—that is until a swaggering young man shows up in his Cadillac with his guitar at the ready and blows everyone away with his performance. It’s so good that everyone loves it, from the producers and crowd in the studio to a mother/daughter duo and a group of nuns watching on TV (and even a shop full of mechanics listening on the radio).
For the hard rock fan, this song and video may seem nostalgic: it’s a guitar-driven song that uses car innuendo to talk about sex, and the video is complete with an orange corduroy suit with beautiful women on both arms.
If you remember anything from this video, you’ll remember the lyrics “I’m gonna drive you like a Cadillac; love you so good you never look back” complete with a choreographed dance to go with it. The question is, would you ever have seen Robert Plant or Jack White doing a choreographed leap through the air for a music video?
Another question: When we eventually get to the best part of the song, why is the moment immediately cut by a skit? The humor is appreciated, but why does it have to interrupt the song just as it reaches its climax?
And the questions I want to ask the video’s directors Ryan Maw, Sacha Carlson, and Skyler Poiley don’t stop there. When will the rock genre realize that the ’70s are over—and the ’60s and the ’90s, and anything that isn’t today and tomorrow?
Besides some underground bands and the undying subculture of heavy metal, original mainstream rock acts have gone largely extinct, with most becoming an amalgamated cover of other bands that did it first and did it better.
Of course, music is pretty much always a rehashing of old ideas; every metal band ever will admit to ripping riffs from Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. And even Sabbath itself openly bastardized Holst’s Mars on their quintessential song Black Sabbath. But they, and many more too, bent and melded and reshaped old ideas into something completely new with their own personal styles.
Watching Drive You Like A Cadillac presents a final question: Is there more to come from Sacha Carlson besides a mash of The Black Keys, The White Stripes, and Rival Sons?
Carlson is an undeniable talent, and he never misses a note with his pipes. The song is polished and tight and the video is professional and well-produced. But if you’re trying to emulate the swagger of dirty, wild, rock ‘n’ roll, then shouldn’t the result be dirty and wild, not clean and polished?
Perhaps I’m simply a curmudgeonly soul. Perhaps my opinion would change if I actually saw this song performed live. Perhaps I’m just tired of seeing and hearing the same blues rock song that I heard a decade ago.
The screening of Drive You Like A Cadillac (World Premiere, 7 minutes, USA, rated PG, in English) as part of the Music Video Showcase at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival April 23-28 is sponsored by Music Roadtrip, also supported by KCPR.