Apache
The NY Times has a sweet article about the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache":
Will Hermes' NY Times article on "Apache"
And Oliver Wang has some interesting comments on Hermes' article, as well as a link to a previous post on different versions of "Apache":
Oliver Wang's Soul Sides comments
(If you read the comments on Oliver Wang's post, you'll see a comment by yours truly. I had to restrain myself from mentioning that I have a sealed copy of the original pressing of the "Bongo Rock" LP. It was the ultimate score. I bought it 10 years ago for 80 cents, by going through boxes of records that hadn't yet been priced at the warehouse for a chain of used book stores. I've always thought that I'll be able to bribe Grandmaster Flash to DJ at my wedding by offering him my sealed copy of "Bongo Rock", as well as my "Impeach the President" 45. Along with lots of money, of course.)
And, of course, there's YouTube's contributions to our collective fascination with "Apache":
Pre-Ironic "Apache" Video
Post-Ironic "Apache" Video
Will Hermes' NY Times article on "Apache"
And Oliver Wang has some interesting comments on Hermes' article, as well as a link to a previous post on different versions of "Apache":
Oliver Wang's Soul Sides comments
(If you read the comments on Oliver Wang's post, you'll see a comment by yours truly. I had to restrain myself from mentioning that I have a sealed copy of the original pressing of the "Bongo Rock" LP. It was the ultimate score. I bought it 10 years ago for 80 cents, by going through boxes of records that hadn't yet been priced at the warehouse for a chain of used book stores. I've always thought that I'll be able to bribe Grandmaster Flash to DJ at my wedding by offering him my sealed copy of "Bongo Rock", as well as my "Impeach the President" 45. Along with lots of money, of course.)
And, of course, there's YouTube's contributions to our collective fascination with "Apache":
Pre-Ironic "Apache" Video
Post-Ironic "Apache" Video
posted by Charles P. Everitt at 3:37 AM
2 Comments:
I wonder why you say that the Tommy Seebach video is pre-ironic. Not to suggest that this Dane shares anything with that other one we're familiar with, but I find it hard to believe that this video does not betray an intentional kitsch. Perhaps they couldn't see the ludicrousness of having Danish hotties dressed up as American Indian hotties, but I think that would be to sell our predecessors short. To be sure, maybe Seebach was really into Native Americans, like the Germans are, what with their festivals and whatnot. I don't know enough to know whether Seebach had any career in the US, although he was famous enough in Europe to compete in Eurovision ('79, '81, and '93). Would it be going too far to conjecture that this was a bid for stateside popularity? In which case, might we not see some heuristic irony in the ludicrousness of the staging? What is Seebach doing in the woods, who are the rest of those guys? Where's their power source? Are the guitars and keyboard even plugged into the amps so purposefully presented? Where's the mic? Do they really think squaw danced with a combo of modern and stripper? Why does he have his back to the camera during the only lyrics of the song? While the squaw certainly aren't the more familiar cheerleaders for anarchy we met in '91, I'm not convinced that this vid is not without the smell of irony.
In south america, of course, none of the species pretend to be the same as their ancestors. There's nothing ironical about them.
I'm much more willing to believe that the Sugarhill Gang's "Tonto, get on it" is completely lacking in irony.
Seebach's use of women dancers dressed as Indians, as well as the forest setting, is explained by the song's title and ostensible subject: "Apache".
And that they're not plugged in is explained by the fact that that was standard practice for music "videos" of the day. Remember, Seebach's "performance" was filmed before MTV, before there really were music videos. It was some sort of promotional thing, one with an obviously small budget.
So I think it is going too far to suggest that the ludicrousness of the staging was intentional. Next thing, you'll be saying that the absurdity of their version of the song was itself intentional.
The clip from "The Fresh Prince", on the other hand, is, of course, mostly just sitcom goofery, but what's makes it mildly ironic is that they seem to somehow be imitating the Seebach dancers. I don't know how they would've seen the Seebach video, though. Maybe, just maybe, they're imitating the Sugarhill Gang's on-stage imitation of the Seebach dancers, but I've never seen any footage of the Sugarhill Gang performing "Apache" live to know.
Dude, I think your tendency to read ironic intent back into Seebach is understandable, but false. We've become so at home with irony that it's hard to imagine a world in which something like Seebach's performance could be meant un-ironically. But that world once existed, and continues to exist today in environments very different from our own. I'll have to try and collect examples to motivate this claim. But I'm pretty sure it's true.
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