Eels vs. Goodshirt: The strange case of the strikingly similar music videos
Kevin Bronson on
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A funny thing happened on the way to Eels’ new video, which stars Jon Hamm, becoming a big deal.
The New Zealand indie quartet Goodshirt had released a video years ago with the exact same concept.
In Eels’ Greg Barnes-directed video, Hamm sits down on a couch, puts on headphones and blisses out to “Are We Alright Again,” a single from the new album “Earth to Dora.” Oblivious to Hamm, burglars enter the room in the background and steal just about everything in sight while the song plays on.
Which is precisely what happens to the young female fan in director Joe Lonie’s video for Goodshirt’s 2001 single “Sophie,” which reached No. 1 on the New Zealand charts in 2002.
After Goodshirt fans pointed out the similarity and charges of plagiarism flew (even sparking a segment on national TV in New Zealand), Eels’ Mark Oliver Everett issued a statement saying, basically, that it was purely unintentional:
“It’s been brought to our attention that our new video for the song ‘Are We Alright Again’ is eerily similar to one made by the New Zealand band Goodshirt. We were not familiar with the band or their video. It seems to be purely coincidental. Director Greg Barnes explains the origin of his concept:
‘It wasn’t a burglary to begin with; I wanted the protagonist to wear headphones and to make some toast, and put a pot on the stove, play the track and completely forget the world around him — then — in the background the toast would set fire, the pot would bubble over and the entire kitchen would burn and break behind him. After talking with the production designers they told me that was way beyond our budget. Then, in an email conversation with my producer, I came up with the idea that it would be so much cheaper to turn it into a burglary — where items needn’t be destroyed but instead simply removed.’
My sincere apologies to Goodshirt for the similarities. It’s a crazy coincidence that we ended up with something so similar. The nice thing about this being called to our attention is now I know the band Goodshirt. They’re awesome. Check them out.”
We did, and Everett is right. Even stranger, it sounds like these two bands could tour together.
||| Watch: The videos for “Are We Alright Again” and “Sophie”
||| Also: Stream “Earth to Dora” in its entirety
||| Previously: Eels’ “Baby Let’s Make It Real”
I’m surprised this did not happen sooner. From the moment Joe Berman introduced me to Goodshirt, I have been showing this video to bands and directors and telling them they should do something like it. There was a period in the 2000s where the New Zealand was on fire with their videos because of government grants and Goodshirt led the way. They also had a great video program or station there called NZTV. I can’t say this for fact, but directors of videos from Remy Zero to Coldplay MUST have been influenced by the Goodshirt videos and their director. I would go so far as to say Goodshirt was the most influential video band you never heard of…until now.
This one is legendary IMHO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT2bg0YTGzU
This one is a great concept https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh0lxU4tOxU