So I’m just reading this book with essays by an American journalist – one of them about the young Michael Jackson. When he hadn’t yet developed his iconic voice, when him, Janet and Randy just jammed for hours, when his nickname was “Smelly”. So then today, this lands in our mailbox: a new brilliant video by the most amazing Saint Motel who released a fantastic debut album earlier this year.
The video actually has sort of a nice story to it, here is A/J from the band:
“For the video, I wanted to play off of the messages of the song. I’m not sure if you are familiar with Benny Goodman’s success story, but it was at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, in his darkest hour, when his band was nearly broke, that they finally hit and Benny became the King of Swing. What could have been the end turned out to be just the beginning. So in the spirit of believing in yourself when no one else will, somehow my mind wandered to the story of the Jackson Four becoming the Jackson Five.
Finding the perfect young dancer was a challenge. In my mind I had envisioned someone almost impossibly talented and young that could pass as a young MJ. After scouring the web and dance agencies for days, I stumbled upon a video of Baby Boogaloo and jumped out of my seat in excitement, I had everyone in the production office come over and take a look. I knew he was the one right then and there. Luckily, Miles (his real name) lived moderately close to Los Angeles and was into the idea, because I don’t think it could have worked without him.
Derrick Tuggle auditioned to play Mile’s father in the video before any of us had realized he was the viral sensation from the “Lonely Boy” video.”
