A track from the 1991 Momus album Hippopotamomus, visualised in Helsinki in 1993 by Hannu Puttonen as part of his preparations for the Man of Letters video. www.cherryred.c...
Just watching this song again. It came back to me again the other day, I think in a dream or half-awake in bed. It came in little bits, the voice, then some of the musical bits, then most of the words, then... "Marquis of Sadness"! Nice bit of blue-screen work at 1:55! That was hard work, back in 1992! Took technical equipment you'd have to borrow from a college! No computer video in them days, not even the most expensive production suites! I didn't hear this til Momus dumped all his old songs from his old label onto his website a few years ago. When this came out I was but a callous youth. Too young to appreciate the wisdom of dirty old men, even in young men's bodies, doing pop that was also pretty good art. Well not "art", something good. Good pop. But then yup he dumped his old albums a few years back. This is a better song on Hippopotamomus than the eponymous title song actually, which isn't so good, sorry, it's just ol' Mome singing about his time among the dinosaurs, or possibly early mammals, and generally trying to get a lot of shagging done. Reincarnation doesn't change who you are apparently. This uses the word "sad" in the early '90s sense too, right? Professor Momus (the character, not the real man) wrote books that were very confessional and heart-wrending andd "honest" and all that shite, I think they were big back then. So he thinks his feet are nicely under the table at whichever second-rate uni he's managed to shag his way into a job at as Artist In Residence. But while the staff, burnt-out, sold-out, and creatively spent, think he's the bees knees, the young 'ns think he really is "sad" and that's why the name suits him. They're not at all impressed by a middle-aged bloke (played by a too-young Momus) cruising college for easy student fanny. He thinks it's a genius scheme, they're not impressed by his scheme or by him. So they start off giggling but by the end they're giggling AT him, and calling him "sad", any reverence has gone. What a plan though, boning dozy students on a horrible pull-out Argos couch bed and seducing them with supermarket gin, and tales that alternately brag his modest achievements, and share his PAIN, opening his heart in the way that's impressed all his readers, who are also pretensious and stupid washed-up middle-aged fanboys, and whatever other arts fad their friends talk about. So really it's the hubris of Prof Momus that's being pisstook. If you want a couple of criticisms (and I realise it's not a big-budget production), one of the girls seems dressed more like a dodgy porno schoolgirl than an actual student. And Momus of course is rubbish as an alcoholic middle-aged washed up wanker, because of course he isn't one. Of course now we're all old enough that it seems like quite a nice idea, banging students and getting paid for it. Nah I still have some pride! Actually my mate did Art at Brighton Uni just a few years later, back when the newspapers still printed the Turner Prize for a laugh, all the YBA bollocks. And they don't teach you to paint, they don't teach you technique. They teach you *some* art history. But mostly modern. And mostly, to sum up, it's bollocks and blagging. "Everyone's an artist" and (bleurgh!) "Who's to say what's art?". That's what people in the late-90s thought modern art added up to, bollocks, blagging, and getting the Saatchi brothers to look at you so you could buy a house. They were bollocks too, bringing the philosophy of stocks and shares (the "bigger fool" theory) into art investment, particularly the idea that a new and untested artist could be worth millions overnight just because the right people said they were. Ridiculously incestuous, and it would be alright there being no talent but there weren't any ideas either. Everything ironical, that fucked up the '90s. TV and culture being full of twats behind arseholes on purpose, cos irony. That's all, irony an aim in itself. I'd have had those art teachers define art in front of me off the top of their heads at their annual review. If nobody can even say what Art is, why are they attempting to teach it? Seems a doomed endeavour surely. Anyway I don't like the 1990s culturally but I do like Momus! Yeah!
Another phenomenal Momus classic. I feel like this should have been a radio hit but Momus only appeals to smart people with good taste and the US, at least, is empty of good taste and smart people so Momus fans are precious and I think Momus will be considered a classic in his time.
That's how it's said in English. The Queen would say it that way. Were Momus trying to seduce her (and now she's single again I bet the dirty sod's been up there with a bottle of Lambrini and 20 Benny Hedges).
Excellent. I liked the little videos in the Man of Letters documentary. Do all the songs have full length videos or were they pretty much as we saw them in the film? In any case, any chance of seeing the unreleased The Sadness of Things' video up here soon? I remember you once said you had it packed away somewhere. :)
I suppose the interference lines running across the video aren't deliberate? There's some bits where it affects some people and not others. Rather than being terribly clever symbolism, I'm assuming it's just the limits of crap 1991 VHS technology. Any idea on who the girl singing is? She sings it very well, nervous and amateurish enough to sound like a naive 18-year-old student who ended up of Prof Momus's couch with a gobful of gin 'n' sympathy (#109 on the official IBA Cocktail list). Then they end up giggling at the end, at the poor old Marquis. He'll do alright though, couple of years and he'll never see her again. Fresh batch coming in by September.
Just watching this song again. It came back to me again the other day, I think in a dream or half-awake in bed. It came in little bits, the voice, then some of the musical bits, then most of the words, then... "Marquis of Sadness"! Nice bit of blue-screen work at 1:55! That was hard work, back in 1992! Took technical equipment you'd have to borrow from a college! No computer video in them days, not even the most expensive production suites!
I didn't hear this til Momus dumped all his old songs from his old label onto his website a few years ago. When this came out I was but a callous youth. Too young to appreciate the wisdom of dirty old men, even in young men's bodies, doing pop that was also pretty good art. Well not "art", something good. Good pop. But then yup he dumped his old albums a few years back. This is a better song on Hippopotamomus than the eponymous title song actually, which isn't so good, sorry, it's just ol' Mome singing about his time among the dinosaurs, or possibly early mammals, and generally trying to get a lot of shagging done. Reincarnation doesn't change who you are apparently.
This uses the word "sad" in the early '90s sense too, right? Professor Momus (the character, not the real man) wrote books that were very confessional and heart-wrending andd "honest" and all that shite, I think they were big back then. So he thinks his feet are nicely under the table at whichever second-rate uni he's managed to shag his way into a job at as Artist In Residence.
But while the staff, burnt-out, sold-out, and creatively spent, think he's the bees knees, the young 'ns think he really is "sad" and that's why the name suits him. They're not at all impressed by a middle-aged bloke (played by a too-young Momus) cruising college for easy student fanny. He thinks it's a genius scheme, they're not impressed by his scheme or by him. So they start off giggling but by the end they're giggling AT him, and calling him "sad", any reverence has gone.
What a plan though, boning dozy students on a horrible pull-out Argos couch bed and seducing them with supermarket gin, and tales that alternately brag his modest achievements, and share his PAIN, opening his heart in the way that's impressed all his readers, who are also pretensious and stupid washed-up middle-aged fanboys, and whatever other arts fad their friends talk about.
So really it's the hubris of Prof Momus that's being pisstook.
If you want a couple of criticisms (and I realise it's not a big-budget production), one of the girls seems dressed more like a dodgy porno schoolgirl than an actual student. And Momus of course is rubbish as an alcoholic middle-aged washed up wanker, because of course he isn't one.
Of course now we're all old enough that it seems like quite a nice idea, banging students and getting paid for it. Nah I still have some pride!
Actually my mate did Art at Brighton Uni just a few years later, back when the newspapers still printed the Turner Prize for a laugh, all the YBA bollocks. And they don't teach you to paint, they don't teach you technique. They teach you *some* art history. But mostly modern. And mostly, to sum up, it's bollocks and blagging. "Everyone's an artist" and (bleurgh!) "Who's to say what's art?". That's what people in the late-90s thought modern art added up to, bollocks, blagging, and getting the Saatchi brothers to look at you so you could buy a house. They were bollocks too, bringing the philosophy of stocks and shares (the "bigger fool" theory) into art investment, particularly the idea that a new and untested artist could be worth millions overnight just because the right people said they were. Ridiculously incestuous, and it would be alright there being no talent but there weren't any ideas either. Everything ironical, that fucked up the '90s. TV and culture being full of twats behind arseholes on purpose, cos irony. That's all, irony an aim in itself.
I'd have had those art teachers define art in front of me off the top of their heads at their annual review. If nobody can even say what Art is, why are they attempting to teach it? Seems a doomed endeavour surely.
Anyway I don't like the 1990s culturally but I do like Momus! Yeah!
This is simultaneously the best and the worst commentary on a music video i have ever read.
Wish you luck, good sir!
Another phenomenal Momus classic. I feel like this should have been a radio hit but Momus only appeals to smart people with good taste and the US, at least, is empty of good taste and smart people so Momus fans are precious and I think Momus will be considered a classic in his time.
Mar-kwiss!!!!
Love it.
That's how it's said in English. The Queen would say it that way. Were Momus trying to seduce her (and now she's single again I bet the dirty sod's been up there with a bottle of Lambrini and 20 Benny Hedges).
best video ever
I love this.
0:43 da face of purest sleaze, i love it lool
Excellent. I liked the little videos in the Man of Letters documentary. Do all the songs have full length videos or were they pretty much as we saw them in the film?
In any case, any chance of seeing the unreleased The Sadness of Things' video up here soon? I remember you once said you had it packed away somewhere. :)
I love this video...
why are all the new/great video's falling out of sync? is it me??
I suppose the interference lines running across the video aren't deliberate? There's some bits where it affects some people and not others. Rather than being terribly clever symbolism, I'm assuming it's just the limits of crap 1991 VHS technology.
Any idea on who the girl singing is? She sings it very well, nervous and amateurish enough to sound like a naive 18-year-old student who ended up of Prof Momus's couch with a gobful of gin 'n' sympathy (#109 on the official IBA Cocktail list). Then they end up giggling at the end, at the poor old Marquis. He'll do alright though, couple of years and he'll never see her again. Fresh batch coming in by September.
Any chance of the sync problems being solved? Silly tube.
wow, this really funny
Such a delicious filthy look