I saw a video on VH1 about two weeks ago.  It featured a sort of
skinny lead singer in a white catsuit slit down to his navel.  The
video took place in a spaceship and looked like sort of a spoof of the
glam rock videos from the late 70s/early 80s--lightning was even
shooting out of the singer's guitar at one point..  The vocals were
amazing--clear, high falsetto notes.  At the end of the video, it said
the artist was Barenaked Ladies, to my shock and awe.  It didn't look
or sound anything like them.  I am semi-obsessed with figuring out
what song this was and whether it was really by the Barenaked Ladies,
and how to get a copy of the video. I have no idea what the song was
about or what its title was.

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Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 03 Nov 2003 16:38 PST

aam --

I can identify the video for you and provide a link to a site where
you can view (but not download) it, as well as information on
purchasing the audio CD on which the song appears.  A DVD single of
the video is available for purchase from U.K. online sellers in "PAL"
format (incompatible with U.S. DVD players), but a U.S. (NTSC) version
of the video has apparently not yet been released.  Would you accept
this information (plus links and search strategy) as a fully
satisfactory answer?

markj-ga

---

Clarification of Question by aam-ga on 04 Nov 2003 04:58 PST

Yup, if you're 100% sure it's the same video, that's fantastic and
definitely acceptable.  I'm impressed.

aam --

Thanks for your clarification.

Based on your description, I am very confident that I have identified
the music video that you saw on VH1.   However, it is not by Barenaked
Ladies.  It is by The Darkness, a UK group.  The name of the song is
"I Believe in a Thing Called Love," and it meets your description
exactly.

Here is a link to the page on VH1's Web site that is devoted to
Darkness and its lead singer, Justin Hawkins -- the guy with the cat
suit and the falsetto voice:
VH1: The Darkness
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/darkness/artist.jhtml

The page linked above contains a link to the full-length video, as
well as links to other information about the group, which it describes
this way:

"Who needs Axl when you've got The Darkness' Justin Hawkins? The Brit
band explains what would happen if Boston wrote "Smoke On The Water,"
and Justin's falsetto wail is at the music's center. Hilarious hard
mock music."


The CD that contains this song is called "Permission to Land" and was
released in the U.S. on September 16, 2003.  The CD should be
available at most record stores and from the usual array of online
sources.  Here's is a link to Amazon.com's page that is devoted to the
CD:
Amazon.com: Permission to Land
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/music/B0000AZKM0/glance/104-4088947-0087109

A DVD single of "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was released in
Europe on September 22 and is available from Amazon.co.uk:
Amazon.co.uk: I Believe in a Thing Called Love"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000CC7GO/ref=/202-0244705-6299805

Unfortunately (if you live in the U.S.), this DVD is in a format (PAL)
that is incompatible with the U.S. television display format (NTSC),
and an NTSC version has apparently not yet been released.  Along with
searches at the sites of various online sellers -- including Tower
records, eBay, Amazon.com, and others, the Google search that led me
to this conclusion was:
darkness "I believe in a thing" single dvd pal OR ntsc
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22darkness%22+%22i+believe+in+a+thing%22single+dvd+pal+OR+ntsc

Since music videos often are released on DVD in the U.S. market, it
seems likely that an NTSC version will be available at some point,
especially since "Permission to Land," the CD on which the song is
contained, was released so recently and is getting strong sales.


Additional Site:

Here is a link to The Darkness's Web page:
Darkness: Men What Do Rock, Baby
http://www.thedarknessrock.com/


Search Strategy:

I went first to the VH1 Web site, viewed the Barenaked Ladies video
("Another Postcard") that appears to be the only one in the regular
rotation on VH1, and eliminated it as a candidate.

I then found a seemingly complete listing of Barenaked Ladies videos
here:
Music on Yahoo: Barenaked Ladies
http://search.launch.yahoo.com/search/lsearch/video?p=barenaked+ladies

I sampled each of them and found none that met your description.

I then went back to the VH1 Web site and perused their list of
currently featured videos at this page:
VH1: Music
http://www.vh1.com/music/

The description of "I Believe in a Thing Called Love," which I quoted
above, sounded very promising:
VH1: The Darkness
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/darkness/artist.jhtml

I then viewed the video, which met your description so exactly that it
was clear that this is what you are looking for.


As I said, I am very confident that I have solved your mystery. If any
of this information is unclear, or (heaven forbid) this is *not* the
video you remember, please ask for clarification and I would be happy
to assist you further.


markj-ga

Is the video you saw "Another Postcard"?

http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/barenaked_ladies/artist.jhtml

The album, Everything to Everyone is released tommorrow.
You can buy the album on the web site, or any record store starting
tommorrow.

I tried downloading and viewing it from the site given above, but was
unable to so I can not confirm this was the video you saw.