Pitchfork

In Tom Ewing's last Poptimist column he talked about video juxtaposition as a form of pop music criticism, while discussing the now hugely popular ad for Cadbury chocolate showing "In the Air Tonight" being played by a gorilla. That spot articulated something about the song that all of us knew but never found a way to express. This terrifically fun and simple fan video for Pinback's "From Nothing to Nowhere" works in a similar way. The single for the first song from Pinback's new record seems tinged with yearning, nostalgia, and a sense of loss despite its generally upbeat rock nature. And seeing it beneath the simultaneously iconic and painfully cheesy dance sequence from The Breakfast Club you get idea of how our collective unconscious of pop culture arcana may have informed the sound. I think we can all agree, at least, that it is WAY better than the totally generic sub-Pat Benatar new wave-informed rock of the original-- one of John Hughes' most glaring lapses in musical taste.