Plenty of nods to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in this music video from The Weeknd. For the properly trippy stuff, skip to 2:36. The Weeknd licks a toad and 10 seconds later some beautifully rendered visuals emerge.
I’ve enjoyed a variety of profound privileges in my life, and I’m thankful. I’m very proud to have written for The Daily Psychedelic Video. There was a period a few years ago when I came to develop a wider appreciation for art. A handful of psychedelic videos were key in this, and they led me to make a hobby of “collecting” videos and showing them to friends. Many of them I found on this website.
Lately I haven’t had as much time as I would like to put together quality posts though. I don’t get to research the artists as much as I want to, and in turn have less to say about the videos I share. I missed my deadline on a couple occasions. And I’m sorry for all of that.
So, with this post marking the end of a full year of posting for the DPV, I’m stepping down from my weekly spot. Not without sharing a few more favorites though. I’ve wanted to share them with you for a long time.
The music is by a Chinese post rock band called Wang Wen, and they are quite possibly my current favorite musicians. The video is footage of a family’s trip to Thailand a few decades ago. This music video helped me realize that there was much that I needed to see Asia. I wish I could share the memories that this music and these visuals bring to mind for me and the feelings they stir. I come from small towns in the American Midwest, and I’ve fallen in love with another side of this world.
I’ve said before on this blog and frequently enough in conversation among friends that I have a deep love for motion. Cars, motorcycles, planes, roller coasters, snowboards, and now skateboards. This video showed me something about what it was like to ride one that I had somehow never understood before. I’ve taken up this hobby, and I can tell you that I have difficulty stopping and coming inside for the night. I just want to keep feeling the ride.
I always tell people I think this video is about the weekend, starting with Friday afternoon and working it’s way through to Sunday night. Some of my favorite nights with friends looked an awful lot like the parties seen here. Again, I wish I could share these memories for you, but I suppose this video will hopefully call your own memories to mind. So maybe that’s even better.
And for these last two, I’ll let their messages speak for themselves.
Thank you, Jared, for showing me this one.
Now here’s why I’ve selected all these videos. I’m afraid that I must admit that I can’t really call any of them truly psychedelic, which is what has prevented me from posting them thus far. But psychedelia is a twist of our reality. Often beautiful, sometimes terrifying. Many times enlightening.
And the theme of my weekly contributions was “What You Should Be, MTV.” These videos and the feelings I’ve described are what I would want MTV to be. Imagine that videos inspired our teenagers to want to see another part of the world. To be find passion for a hobby. To enjoy the company of friends and strangers. To love oneself. To embrace endings and live joyfully. That is the MTV of another reality, and what a beautiful twist it would be.
Thank you, Ido and co-contributors. Thank you, those who have shared videos with me.
Thank you, readers, fellow trippers of the Youtube galaxy.
