Julian Casablancas Releases 'Human Sadness' Video

05/28/2015
. (Radio.com) For some people, the '80s will never be over. Today those people are Julian Casablancas + The Voidz and their new video for "Human Sadness." There's a lot going on in this epic-13 minute video, but not in any discernible order or invoking a particular storyline.

Each band member gets their own homage of a story: Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Stop Making Sense, Guitar Hero and, um, "November Rain" (skip to 7:30), which was approximately as long as this video

The viewer is supposed to leave with some future-past sense of tragedies to come born of tragedies that have already occurred. It's the kind of trick really good science fiction writers are adept at pulling off by invoking technology and a fear of the unknown. The director tries to create a nostalgic feeling by jumping between '80s-style video, down to the square screen and fuzzy filters applied.

The problem is, this is still a 13-minute clip with no storyline. In this world there is no hero or anti-hero. No mind-blowing revelations. Only self-loathing, on and on. There are so many morals, addressing racial inequality, the military industrial complex, domestic abuse and even global climate change that it's hard to leave this video feeling like you can do anything and so, like Julian Casablancas in a junkyard with spray-painted white sunglasses, you will sit and do nothing. Watch it here.

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