The Wombats My Interpretation

My interpretation of The Wombats 'Let's Dance to Joy Division' is that the song is ironic in the fact that they are seeking happiness by listening to a famous band (Joy Division) from the late 1970s whos lead singer suffered from depression and fits and famously committed suicide just before the band were about to tour America. 'Lets Dance to Joy Division' also references Joy Divisions most famous, 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' but changes the words to 'let the love tear us apart' showing the possible meaning of just taking life as it comes and trying not to get too down about what happens.

The simplest meaning that I can determine from the song is that he has learnt ('I worked something out last night') that to deal with life you have to just deal with the problems that you face and try to enjoy yourself, even when things are going so bad ('celebrate the irony, everything is going wrong but we're so happy'). The reference to Joy Division could have a deeper meaning, or could simply just be a band that The Wombats were inspired by and therefore enjoy listening to their music.

The Wombats Treatment

When we listened to The Wombats track, 'Let's Dance to Joy Division', my first initial thought for a music video was to pretty much stick to conventions of 'band music' video with a performance and focus on the band.

I would start with a shot of the band walking down a street in Liverpool ('I'm back in Liverpool') with direct address to the camera as the lead singer sings along to the song. As they walk down the street I want to cut to the band playing the instruments but in the same scene and time so it looks like the instruments are appearing and disappearing.

In the second verse with the line 'grab your purse and take a taxi' I will have a shot of the band getting into a taxi and then an elipsis to the band getting out in front of a small, secluded club in a 'darker side of town'. The singer will then grab a girl standing outside and 'lead you through the dance floor, up to the DJ booth' where she asks for Joy Division.

In the next chorus I would have the band on a stage performing to the song and a crowd of people coming onto the dancefloor to dance along to the band. With the line 'let the love tear us apart' I would have broken plastic hearts taped together with sellotape with music notes on it taped to the band appear and the crowd singing along with the band. The hearts would then disappear and the band jump in the crowd and carry on performing the song to the chorus. With the last line ('Yeah we're so happy') I would have a shot of the band with smiley face masks on and then they walk off down the street.

This is a video of a live performance by The Wombats of Let's Dance to Joy Division

Music Videos with a Narrative

Fall Out Boy music videos are well known for having unrelated narratives which are enjoyable to watch. Here are some videos for example:



Fall Out Boy - Dance, Dance
From Under the Cork Tree, 2005

In this video we see the band as two different people, playing themself as the band at the prom and also as 'geeks' attending the prom. Audiences enjoy watching this video because it is funny to see the band members playing geeks and the narrative is amusing, such as when the gym teacher shouts at Pete Wentz, "Hurry up powder puff". This video is also quite relatable, more to American audiences as the band are American, and therefore makes the video enjoyable to watch.
The video sticks mostly to conventions of a film rather than a music video except for the occasional direct address from the band with the camera when they are performing on stage.




Fall Out Boy - Sugar We're Going Down
From Under the Cork Tree, 2005

This is another example of Fall Out Boy's music videos with a narrative. This one, however, is different to the previous example as the narrative does not relate to the lyrics.
In this video we see the band in a room performing the track, a common convention of 'band music', and we have a separate narrative of the guy and girl that are falling in love. The video is strange as the guy has antlers and therefore the girl's dad does not want her to see him, but in the revelation we see that the girl's father has deer feet. This strange unrealistic narrative makes the video enjoyable to watch as the audience wonder what the narrative has to do with the song.
The video breaks conventions of a film by having the band's performance, but otherwise follows the conventions with the narrative as there is an equilibrium - disruption - equilibrium and follows camera conventions with no eye contact with the camera or unusual camera shots.


Although these videos are enjoyable to watch there is the problem of does the narrative become more important than the music? But that really depends on the invidual viewers.

Looking at Music Videos

Videos you want to watch again



Coldplay - The Scientist
A Rush of Blood to the Head, 2001

In this video we see a short narrative in reverse as the footage was shot as normal but the reversed for the final version of the music video. The lead singer, Chris Martin, even learnt the how to sing the lyrics backwards so that when they played the footage backwards he would be singing the song forwards. This means that the lip syncing is slightly off but it's still an amazing effort.

The narrative starts with Chris lying on a mattress on the floor and takes us back through where he's been eventually to a car crash in the forest with a woman in the car. The situation isn't explained to the audience, but this makes the audience want to watch it again and again. The footage all in reverse also looks really interesting, for example of the basketball as we don't often see footage in reverse. This technique breaks all conventions of a film and makes the music video really stand out as it is enjoyable to watch and each time you watch it you notice more things.

Looking at Music Videos

Videos you want to watch again


Radiohead - Just
The Bends 1995

In this video we see the band in a room playing along to the song and a separate narrative of a man in the street lying down on the floor. There is dialogue between the man on the floor and other characters that find him on the floor, which is written in subtitles at the bottom so we know what they are saying. The dialogue leaves the audience intrigued as we want to know why the man is lying on the ground as he says he can not tell the people in the street as he says "It wouldn't be right". However, when he finally tells them there are no longer subtitles so we can't understand what he says and then we see everyone else lying on the ground as well.

This video gratifies the need to repeat watching it as the audience try to lip read what the man is saying to understand why he is lying on the floor. The enigma of the situation interests the audience and makes it a good music video.