Live performances at AOL Sessions

September 22, 2008 4:49 AM

AOL Sessions has live videos from more than 150 different artists specially recorded for the series. Here are just a few of the artists on offer: Paul McCartney, Mary J. Blige, Modest Mouse, Tori Amos, Robyn, Tom Petty, Rhymefest, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Natasha Bedingfield, Cat Power, Toby Keith, Lil' Wayne, Robert Plant, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kelly Rowland, Weezer and Brian Wilson. To the left of the videos there's a Q&A link that has short interview videos with the artists as well as behind the scenes footage and longer interviews.
posted by Kattullus (20 comments total)

The first Modest Mouse song is none other than Broke, the band's first ever single from back in 1996. Also, every once in a while I get shocked all over again that Johnny Marr is in Modest Mouse (incidentally, the Q&A section for Modest Mouse has videos of Johnny Marr and Isaac Brock).
posted by Kattullus at 4:54 AM on September 22, 2008

Went straight to Cat Power. Won't play. Then I remembered: "oh, right! This is America Online! How silly of me!"

So, I'd like to take this opportunity to reprint, from the comments on that page:

marina.kat
6/30/2008 10:33 am
i'm from catalonia (spain) why this video is not aviable in my country?? why?? this is internet is free to borders?? or not??

Marina, to answer your question: NOT!!!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:58 AM on September 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

from their front page: their lead story is that guy from hootie and the bowlfish.

I rest my case.
posted by matteo at 5:03 AM on September 22, 2008

hootie and the bowlfish.

Best typo I've seen since Tower Records in Shibuya wrote "Eric Crapton",
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:19 AM on September 22, 2008 [5 favorites]

I will watch these after I go buy some Cascade® Complete All-In-1 Action Packs. Because it’s like adding the ultimate button to my dishwasher.*

*Not available in Spain.
posted by punkfloyd at 5:33 AM on September 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

I always assumed Tom Petty started out as a typo and then he just decided to go with it.
posted by three blind mice at 5:35 AM on September 22, 2008

Thankfully, Cat Power doesn't talk in this, unlike a previous AOL interview.
posted by unmake at 5:41 AM on September 22, 2008

WTF, it doesn't even have the courtesy to tell me that it won't play because I'm in Denmark. It just doesn't load. Boo!
posted by sveskemus at 6:41 AM on September 22, 2008

I liked 'Broke' on the Modest Mouse page, but was completely underwhelmed by Cat Power's videos (her band was overpowering her on songs where her voice should be the premier instrument.) The Yeah Yeah Yeah's acoustic was pretty awesome. Good find, this is pretty cool.
posted by schyler523 at 6:44 AM on September 22, 2008

Rather than find something to crap on I'll just go ahead and thank you for this excellent post.
posted by bondcliff at 6:45 AM on September 22, 2008

punkfloyd: I couldn't agree more. For those of you reading this thread who've never heard of them, just remember, For an 'Out of this World Clean,' NEW Cascade® Complete All-In-1 Action Packs!
posted by Turtles all the way down at 6:51 AM on September 22, 2008

Nice post. I actually used a John Mayer video from AOL Sessions yesterday as part of a presentation I had to give.
posted by allkindsoftime at 7:16 AM on September 22, 2008

I love the REM ones.
posted by willmize at 8:08 AM on September 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

The New Kids on the Block session was surprisingly as bad as I remember them. You'd think there'd be a little bit of nostalgia from having that music shoved down my throat during the 80's but no, not a drop.
posted by any major dude at 8:11 AM on September 22, 2008

The David Gilmour section is interesting and a bit bittersweet as Rick Wright is in several of them.
posted by Exchequer at 9:14 AM on September 22, 2008

Almost every song, about halfway through, Iggy Pop would slink his way out of his leather jacket. Then, as if by magic, the beginning of the next song would feature Iggy, jacket back on as if he had just arrived. Is he always in a constant state of dress and undress?
posted by robtf3 at 10:51 AM on September 22, 2008

You know, I thought you guys were just riffin' with the Cascade® line, but jesus that is pretty annoying. Hit me on the head with that commercial after every what, second video? I know advertising requires you see a certain message X amount of times, but I have to think there's a Z amount of times, which is X + Y, where Z = hatred of your product.
posted by cavalier at 11:38 AM on September 22, 2008

GOD THAT CASCADE AD IS ANNOYING!

Yesterday, when I watched all of this, there were differents ads, not nearly as annoying and most of them were only 15 seconds long. My mute button would have gotten a lot of stroking yesterday if I'd had to see that ad every second video.

Oh, and one thing hit me watching a the Beastie Boys videos again... that video really catches them at that awkward stage where they were morphing from perpetual adolescents into the respectable middle-aged hepcats of today.
posted by Kattullus at 2:20 PM on September 22, 2008

But you need GeoWorks to view the videos. Darn.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:48 PM on September 22, 2008

Great vids... would be better without the ads :)
posted by xypher at 9:05 PM on September 24, 2008