GENERAL OBSERVATIONS OF OLD AT THE DRIVE-IN VIDEOS
January 14, 2009 @ 4:15 AM - Mike O
Somehow this evening, tired of work, I ventured over to YouTube and came across some video’s of the old band At the Drive-In. I had started giving ATDI a listen in 1998 or so via the University of Virginia’s college radio station, but the summer of 2000 I was all but obsessed with the band. I listened to them non-stop, and they were my band of choice when I would go riding. Just like all bands I like a lot, they broke up shortly there after (early 2001 I believe)......I decided to throw up a few YouTube video’s of the band, and I have a couple of general observations based on them.
Lets start with an easy one. One Armed Scissor was arguably the most well known song by ATDI, they even perfomed it on David Letterman (which was pretty odd to say the least). This one is pretty hilarious. It was shot for some show that I think was on USA or some cable network. It is pretty obvious that the majority of the people in that crowd were not ATDI fans. They probably just got tickets to that show and would have shown up no matter who the musical act was. You can especially see this in the couple of quick shots they show of girls. Both are dressed up as if they were going to a club (the typical fan of ATDI was a ratty dude...ie: BMX’rs), one of them was dancing as if ‘One Armed Scissor’ was the latest chart topping rap song, while the other desperately tried to fit in by headbanging!
It’s also pretty obvious that the energy ATDI had at their live shows did not transcend into the mainstream. The majority of normal pop-culture society would have written them off after seeing this. This is a perfect case of experimental post-hardcore almost making it into the mainstream....but not quite....that would be too much for Nickelback fans. Had this been shot in a smokey bar with people who actually liked their music, their exuberant stage antics would have blendid in with the crowd that would have been equally excited about seeing them.
I was thinking about this post, and how most people who might read this would be like “oh yeah, at the drive in. they were cool, but nothing too big.” My assumption was flawed in the fact that I assumed people would actually know who ATDI is. Sure, the people who put Dig together do, but we are all old farts (not really, but in BMX years.......). Then I thought: they were big in 2000, which was 9 years ago. If the average BMX rider today is 20 years old, then they were only 11 in the year 2000.....so there is a good chance they have no clue who I am talking about, or only have heard about them in passing. Regardless, this thought made me realize that being 28 means I have quite a few years under my belt now......it’s all down hill from here.
The major one here, and it has to do with BMX. In 2000 (assuming this is when it was shot), BMX’rs were still wearing somewhat baggy clothes. Skin tight jeans, t-shirts two sizes too small and afro’s were still a couple years away as far as BMX trends are concerned. SO, to all of you 20 year old bike riders who wear tight jeans, insanely too tight t-shirts, and have crazy hair, and think you are being original, guess what? You have ATDI to credit, as they were before their time in the emo fashion world.....
All jokes aside, they broke up because half the band wanted to get more experimental, while the other band wanted to be more post-hardcore. When they split, they did just that. The offspring of At The Drive-In were the bands Sparta and The Mars Volta. Sparta was a boring version of ATDI, doing typical post-hardcore work that lacked the energy ATDI had. The Mars Volta was way experimental, doing music no one ever had, and probably will never be copied. What made At The Drive-In great, was the fact that it was a blend of both. It had the feeling of being post-hardcore, but had an energy and an edge that other bands didn’t. It combined post-hardcore with some pretty experimental rock, and together they produced great music and it would have been great if they had continued....but it’s music, what do you expect?
This was one of my favorite’s from them....this recording isn’t great (as most are not). Get the actual album recording and check it.....it’s sweet.
Edit:
Just found this recording of Cosmonout, recorded from MTV2? I didn’t know they were on MTV2 (I credit that to the fact that I didn’t watch much TV back then.....)
