Pumpkins Float in Search of the Lost Inner Child

Childhood lost and found is a popular media theme these days--but of course nowhere more so than among rock ‘n’ rollers, whose “inner children” are usually a little closer to the surface, waiting to be slapped upside the head.

Smashing Pumpkins’ tender yet bitter “Disarm” continues in heavy rotation on MTV after three months on the air, no doubt because its look back at a little boy learning how to be hard strikes a chord with viewers who’ve been there distantly or (considering the demographics) just recently.

This edition of Sound & Vision--where current music videos are reviewed and rated on a 0-100 scale--also extends downward to include less gracefully nostalgic fare, from Seaweed’s awfully funny “Kid Candy” to Enigma’s awfully cheesy “Return to Innocence.” Let the returnee beware.

Smashing Pumpkins, “Disarm.” Remember that Talking Heads hit “And She Was,” where the woman drifts up into the air out of her back yard for no apparent reason? That’s what comes to mind as Billy Corgan and crew get similarly float-atious here, though their ballad isn’t nearly so buoyant.

Corgan’s wrenching, string-laden anthem represents a sort of dead-end attempt at reconvening with the “inner child.” So director Jake Scott’s lighter-than-air design suggests that there’s a rush or elevation to these kind of therapeutic recollections of abandoned youth, but that the gravity of the compromised adult world never really loses hold. The foursome is seen in tight black-and-white close-up floating just over the gleaming spires of a city’s housetops, but they never get too high.

It’s not a terribly expressionist video--Corgan not being the type of guy to wear his heart on his sleeve in more than one medium at a time--but the pathos is still smashing enough. 78

Seaweed, “Kid Candy.” From childhood lost to childishness regained. . . . Here’s the first really funny parody clip in a long while, as Seaweed irreverently spoofs Soul Asylum’s award-winning “Runaway Train” video, which dramatized the tragic plight of abducted kids and runaways left to the streets.

This Sub Pop satire publicizes the plight of missing bikes , following an opening crawl that warns, “Over five zillion bicycles are stolen every year,” with a vivid dramatization of a daring ten-speed heist at a suburban mall. And, a la Soul Asylum’s milk-carton-like clip, the scenario is punctuated by still photos of totally boss two-wheelers with sad captions like “Missing since February.”

If you’ve seen this Schwinn, don’t call Dave Pirner. 73

Rollins Band, “Liar.” Henry Rollins never seems to fare too well whenever anyone puts him in a movie--they haven’t yet found a bit role that can realistically accommodate his malevolent masculinity--but his videos offer a better context for caricature. He’s as exaggerated as usual playing the role of “Liar,” flagrantly warning all comers that he’s just the type of gent who’ll tell women whatever they most want to hear and then laugh as he screws them over.

The tattooed one even puts on cherry-red body makeup, and the vaguely satanic guise seems to complete him, sort of the way Tim Curry really seemed home at last in his full “Legend” monster get-up. Subtleties be damned: He’s the devil inside, and out. 69

Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue, “Whatta Man.” This salute is intended as homage to the modern male at his strong and sensitive best--a corrective of sorts to rap’s usual gender wars--and fairly succeeds. But what the video ends up being an even bigger tribute to is Salt-N-Pepa’s personal trainers.

Competing with the trio’s newfound molten-steel midriffs, meanwhile, are Dawn Robinson’s phenomenal go-go bangs; there’s just enough glory in reinvention here to go around for Everygal. Did somebody say something about guys? 68

Ace of Base, “The Sign.” These Swedes have been labeled “the new ABBA,” which is heady--probably too heady--praise indeed, at least to those of us who still hold the Scandinavian superstars of the ‘70s dear as irreplaceable demigods. But “The Sign” is a good sign that Ace of Base might measure up in some way, and not just because they share an ingenuous fondness for the capital letters A and B.

Despite an obvious contemporary gloss, the women dance just as feebly yet sexily, and the men strike just the same kind of lovably pretentious poses, as Frida and Agnetha and Bjorn and Benny. And the irresistible production suggests what electronic bliss might have been if ABBA had lived past disco to work with Giorgio Moroder on a good day. 68

Madonna, “I’ll Remember.” Madonna--seditionist, or shill?

During her appearance with David Letterman a few weeks back, on her worst behavior, she played the rebel and gave her host a rough time for “kissing ass” with his guests nowadays. So whose butt is she smooching, then, when she lip-syncs an earnestly dull movie theme ballad in front of film clips from a Joe Pesci vehicle, of all things? Her own, maybe, since it was her production company that made “With Honors,” the movie being promoted?

She’s made a career out of her good cop/bad cop routine, playing the pop public like a violin, with a good, rhythmic sense for how to alternate her provocative and populist strains--until lately. On the Letterman show, Madonna played the bad lieutenant to the childish hilt; in this clip, she’s sweet and clean as a whistle, if still on the take. After the “Late Show” debacle, America may be finding the split-personality shtick just a little harder to reconcile. 38

Guns N’ Roses, “Since I Don’t Have You.” Amid many straight liaisons involving the band members, Axl Rose has two model chicks getting extremely chummy in GNR’s latest overheated, over-budgeted, typically nonsensical video. So, we suppose, he’s come a long way since the ballyhooed alleged homophobia of a couple albums back, but does his fondness for lipstick lesbians make him the Roseanne Arnold or the Bob Guccione Sr. of MTV? Only his newsstand operator knows for sure. 30

Motley Crue, “Hooligan’s Holiday.” The new, improved, in-Vince-ible Crue is taking itself awfully seriously these days. Either they or director Nick Egan have a bad case of Bono envy, as evidenced by this video, which heavily echoes the deliberately confusing “cut-up” style of U2’s future-shock-embracing tour and videos. The Motley variation of “Zoo TV” is just Boob TV; as affectations go, they should’ve stopped at hair spray.

Who should feel most ripped off by this silly jumble: Stanley Kubrick (band members dress up as Malcolm McDowell’s white-clad “Clockwork Orange” gang), visual artist John Baldessari (red stripes with printed slogans like “Control Your Enemies” and “Destroy Political Correctness” appear on screen), or U2’s tour designers? Even hooligans, it turns out, get highfalutin. 20

Enigma, “Return to Innocence.” Clearly Enigma was aiming for a return to Fort Knox with this latest mutt-like, multicultural blend of throb-rock and pre-pop archaism, now playing at middlebrow homes throughout the Hamptons. Meanwhile, director Julien Temple, who ought to know better, ends up running his reels of childhood-lost scenarios backward in an unfortunate bout of video literalism. Innocence never felt more cynical. 19

Chris Willman’s Sound & Vision column appears periodically in Calendar.