Son of God, King of the Mosh Pit

March 17, 2008 10:20 AM

Godflesh Superstar [loud abrasive music, possibly NSFW].

We've discussed the Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz "synchronicity" idea here before (1, 2), but this is shorter and somehow much more satisfying (especially if you're a GF fan). For those who don't want to watch the whole thing, it gets really good right around the 3:30 mark.

posted by googly (29 comments total)

If neither the video or audio has had its timing altered, that really is pretty remarkable. Also, I really enjoyed that song. Stoner rock + Jesus Christ Superstar = someone spending too much time with their bong?
posted by Bookhouse at 10:38 AM on March 17, 2008

Jesu!
posted by sleepy pete at 10:46 AM on March 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

It's ashame Christbait Rising isn't a bit more danceable.
posted by The Straightener at 10:47 AM on March 17, 2008

Awesomer still: Night on Bald Mountain and Emperor's "I Am The Black Wizards".
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 11:11 AM on March 17, 2008

Particularly wonderful bits: 0:32, 1:45, 3:13, 3:50.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 11:22 AM on March 17, 2008

My thought exactly, sleepy pete. I almost went with "Jesu, Joy of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Desiring" as a title, but figured the reference might be too obscure.
posted by googly at 11:46 AM on March 17, 2008

Nah, googly, I like yours. Although the alternate is pretty good as well. Thanks for posting this.
posted by sleepy pete at 11:50 AM on March 17, 2008

I once sat down with the intention of writing some software that could scan through video files and audio files looking for instances of significant moments (sudden changes in pitch, tempo, or volume for the audio; scene cuts or the like for the video) and record the timing of each. Then you could comb through that data to find which soundtrack would most congruously match a given movie: voila, automatic stoner film generator!

Then I got distracted and ate spoonsful of peanut butter right out of the jar instead.
posted by ook at 12:02 PM on March 17, 2008

Crikey, I was going to express amazement that they were still together, then I discovered that they have disbanded. Fourteen years isn't bad going though!
posted by asok at 12:10 PM on March 17, 2008

You knew Godflesh had sold out when their music became melodic. Still..cool find.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 12:41 PM on March 17, 2008

These video clips breed... like rats!
posted by ph00dz at 1:09 PM on March 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

This really makes me wanna see Godflesh Semi-Star.
posted by hellbient at 1:41 PM on March 17, 2008

Decidedly not as awesomer - Black Metal Turkish wedding.
posted by hellbient at 1:56 PM on March 17, 2008

Everything JK Broadrick touches is gold. This was really neat.
posted by auralcoral at 2:01 PM on March 17, 2008

This is awesome.

I mean, you could put Godflesh over anything and I'm still gonna tell you it's awesome, but this was REALLY awesome.

Godflesh posts to me are like bacon posts to the rest of y'all.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 4:51 PM on March 17, 2008

> If neither the video or audio has had its timing altered, that really is pretty remarkable.

Yeah out of curiosity I checked against the original scene and it's unaltered. Play them side by side, if only for the supreme weirdness of hearing both audio tracks simultaneously.
posted by churl at 8:58 PM on March 17, 2008

If anyone's still reading this thread, I posted a related AskMe.
posted by Bookhouse at 10:32 AM on March 18, 2008

Are the people who actually like Jesus Christ Superstar religious, or are they Broadway fans who like the music but don't actually care enough about the subject matter to be as simultaneously offended/repulsed/entertained by it as I am? Don't get me wrong--I simultaneously think it's the most offensive thing on earth and the most awesomely bad and entertaining thing ever made. But does anyone here -- religious people included -- not prefer the Godflesh mashup version to the original?

Maybe I was just too young in the '70s to ever really "catch the fever" that was 1970s awesome badness, but I just can't even fathom how anyone would foot the bill for something as over-the-top horrible and expensive as Jesus Christ Superstar, and how it could possibly have made any money. Why are there not midnight showings of JCS right along side Rocky Horror, with the same crowd and purpose? (or are there?)
posted by The World Famous at 10:42 AM on March 18, 2008

To make churl's suggestion easier, you can use the youtube doubler to synchronize the original and the mashup versions.
posted by googly at 11:25 AM on March 18, 2008

Why are there not midnight showings of JCS right along side Rocky Horror, with the same crowd and purpose? </em

Because, honestly, the music is god-fucking awful. Camp only goes so far.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:27 AM on March 18, 2008

BTW, you have to start the original version about 20 seconds early to sync them up.
posted by googly at 11:27 AM on March 18, 2008

Umm, went overboard with the itallics there.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:27 AM on March 18, 2008

Because, honestly, the music is god-fucking awful. Camp only goes so far.

Have you seen Rocky Horror? JCS is a little bit worse, but how is it that Rocky Horror is apparently the absolute outer limit of camp and Jesus Christ Superstar somehow crosses that line into legitimate and respectable Broadway? If anything, JCS is worse than Rocky Horror -- so why is JCS a Broadway staple (of sorts), while Rocky Horror is a joke?
posted by The World Famous at 11:50 AM on March 18, 2008

Well, I guess opinions vary, but I find some of the Rocky Horror music sorta good, and to me the JCSS music makes me want to flee.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:57 AM on March 18, 2008

Yeah, that's exactly my take, as well. And that's why I don't get why Rocky Horror is a camp favorite, while JCSS, which I think is demonstrably more horrible, is considered legitimate and its composer is respected (by some). I don't get it. Are there really people out there who like Jesus Christ Superstar for non-ironic reasons?
posted by The World Famous at 12:28 PM on March 18, 2008

I don't think it has anything to do with quality. Jesus Christ Superstar is representative of a mindset that simply doesn't exist at all anymore in any recognizable form, while aspects of Rocky Horror still exist in bits and pieces of today's culture; we can still relate to it, if only as camp. JCSS just looks alien.

I mean, look at those dancers. When's the last time you saw anybody with a smile that big and that unironic?
posted by ook at 3:23 PM on March 18, 2008

When's the last time you saw anybody with a smile that big and that unironic?

John McCain?
posted by The World Famous at 3:25 PM on March 18, 2008

(of course, I missed the point you were making, which was that some people actually like Jesus Christ Superstar today; but in my defense my brain refuses to accept that concept as a possibility. Alien.)
posted by ook at 3:27 PM on March 18, 2008

As a huge Godflesh fan, and a fan of JCSS, I had high hopes indeed for this. The first time I watched it, I kinda thought it meh, but, on repeated viewings, there is something about this that works - more than simply syncopated arm movements. Perhaps the austerity of the desert, the columns, the Christ himself, silent and smiling, the crazed expressions...anyways, me likee. Whoever does this with old Jodorowsky clips could have a hit on their hands.

This song not only doesn't sound like most Godflesh, it doesn't even sound like most of the album it came off of (Hymns BTW, the last Godflesh record, and widely considered crap at the time of its release).

I must admit I fell off the Broadrick bandwagon when he started Jesu - after 15 or 20 years of buying anything he even produced, I'd finally had enough. No tempo changes, endless songs (and I loved Pure II), the same sound over and over. I get the idea that Broadrick had some kind of breakdown after Hymns, and ever since he seems stuck in a (very popular, critically acclaimed) rut. Good for him, I guess.

Finally, for all those who are blaspheming against Jesus Christ Superstar, check out WFMU's alternative version.
posted by stinkycheese at 4:22 PM on March 18, 2008