love long distance

The vid for Gossip's "Love long distance" out today,excellent choice for a second single.The song is simply amazing,the vid however I'm not too pleased by.Its quite obvious they're trying to downplay Beth Ditto's existence in the band-true fans would know that she's used to appearing at gigs dressed in rags,and often this lead to photographs of her sweaty crotch,sweaty armpits and other unsavoury body parts similarly covered in slime-but in their first single from Music for Men,they've got her draped in jewelry and looking like a modern-day cleopetra.Who is this woman?And now in their second video,the whole band covered in thights and their heads replaced with huge,animated blobs.What band is this?There's no doubting the album carries significant potential for mainstream success,and their producers prefer to not let Beth's public image (between her nude magazine shots and unabashed homosexuality,there's plenty you could disagree with) damage this-but as a consequence,I'm sure,they've put the band's loyal fans in a tight corner,wondering what's become of their original energy and unapologetic perverseness-dimming a band's real image,in favor of a more conventional,palatable front comes down to a simple equation-sex sells,and fat,crazy lesbians don't.Beyonce's new video,for example,I'm pretty sure she recorded it topless and had editors blur her chest area just slightly.The Shakira video (viewable here),is so lewd its tip-toeing on hardcore porn territory.These music producers need to see the big picture-in putting the Gossip to compete with all the Beyonces and Shakiras and Katy Perrys,is to confine them in a market where they'll go unappreciated-the right move,would be to just let Beth air her freak out.

So,not that was necessary at all (I suspect having just finished a couple readings for economics played a part in encouraging this useless banter),here's the video.The album,which I've had since more than a month ago-is still on very heavy rotation-and I assure you,it is fucking incredible.