Sex and Death Share the Spotlight

Sex and death are the twin concerns of both the highest- and lowest-rated music videos in this month’s edition of Sound & Vision. That aside, the two clips have little in common: Country singer k.d. lang’s superior video is a dour meditation on the tragedy of AIDS, while hard-rock band Warrant’s bottom-scraping entry is a silly, sordid saga about a rape-murder perpetrated by a couple of backwoods lawmen.

These videos are rated with equal sensitivity, of course, on Sound & Vision’s 0-100 critical scale.

Vid Clip Pick to Click: k.d. lang’s “So in Love” (director: Percy Adlon). Don’t look for this downbeat entry from the lowercase country thrush on MTV, VH-1 or any other music video outlet. It’s to be found exclusively on the new home video release of “Red Hot + Blue,” in which pop artists pay homage to Cole Porter, for the benefit of AIDS research.

In this visualization by Percy Adlon (“Bagdad Cafe” the movie), lang is seen in an obvious sulk, washing the clothes of what we can only assume is a dead or afflicted lover--interrupted by a few subtle flashes of an IV bottle. Adlon retreats from naturalism only at the end, when lang finally begins to lip-sync to the building ballad--Porter’s lyrics taking on tragic new meaning--and the hues grow more colorful. It’s coolly unnerving like probably no other music video you’ll see. 88

Enigma’s “Sadeness Part I” (Michael Guimbard). It’s nice to know that the music industry has sympathy for all the monks, seminarians and other devout seekers who struggle with unwanted nighttime visions of fleshly lust. No doubt the dichotomy hits close to home for the many musicians, record executives and even video programmers who would otherwise be leading lives of quiet contemplation, prayer, study of Scripture and service to mankind if not for diabolical visitations from nymphs, succubi and actress/model/whatevers. Touching, profoundly spiritual and, of course, deep, man. 60

Extreme’s “More Than Words” (Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Ferris). This shore is a purty melody the band’s two singers croon all acoustic-like, and it’s even a nice touch to have the uninvolved rhythm section of the band sitting across the room reading the paper and playing with a dog. But when said pair--in another witty touch--hold up matches, as if to call for an encore, you expect the song to be ending. It doesn’t; it goes on and on, to an unfitting extreme. 50

Cathy Dennis’ “Touch Me (All Night Long)” (Rocky Morton and Annabel Jenkel). Samantha Fox on SlimFast. 44

Divinyls’ “I Touch Myself” (Michael Bay). Once upon a time, back when she was singing vaguely feminist anthems like “Boys in Town,” Christina Amphlett had integrity as well as a sexual firebrand streak. But someone has finally persuaded her she’s the new Bardot and talked her into using her voluptuousness to sell records. The sad denouement to this sellout is that the folks involved apparently didn’t think even Amphlett’s ample cleavage was insurance enough, so they threw in two gratuitous video chicks as well to up the ante--what an insult. 28

Tesla’s “Signs” (Chris Painter). Tesla isn’t the first group of the modern era to trot out a rendition of the Five Man Electrical Band’s 1971 hit--complete with its dated chorus (dated when it first came out, that is) defiantly celebrating “long-haired freaky people” who won’t work for The Man--but it may be the first group to do so completely unironically . Sign-wise, this would have to be a signal that, unlike the band’s inventor namesake, Tesla has no lights on and absolutely nobody home. 18

Warrant’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (Meiert Avis). Pop quiz time: This single and video are titled thusly because (a) these hard-rockers have crafted a thoughtful, studied indictment of race relations, with a root in the historical H.B. Stowe novel or (b) Warrant thought it sounded neat.

Give up? Let’s just say that there are no African Americans in sight, but the singer does croon about an uncle named Tom who had a cabin. Seems he and this uncle were witness to a double homicide perpetrated by the local gentry. The tasteless reenactment hits bottom with a shot of a policeman pointing a pistol at a nubile gal crouching on a bed who presumably is about to be raped before her death. Boo to these knuckleheads for making this clip and to MTV for airing it.