It’s a timeless philosophical debate: What makes a video crappy? What makes a video great? Even the most ill-conceived and poorly executed video can make us nostalgic for a forgotten trend, or remind us of a song we used to love for all the wrong reasons. Twice a week, we dig in the MTV/VH1 archives for videos that we find noteworthy, resonant, or just unbelievably stupid. Is it crap or not? You decide…
“Right Kind Of Love”
Jeremy Jordan, 1993
A few things to consider during the 15 minutes it will take to get this song out of your head:
The dancers might be sexy, but we can?t tell
Anyone who went to high school or college during this era (early ?90s) will probably wince at the baggy, de-sexualized clothes in this video. Yes, every era has its fashion mishaps, and it?s fun to look back and point out how silly everyone looks in huge white button-downs and belly-to-knee shorts, but when you consider that this was followed, a few years later, by Britney Spears, trashy schoolgirl chic, and low-cut jeans, it?s not so funny anymore. So close, and yet so far away! Those of you who came up in the thong era should be shaking your heads in pity right now.
On the minus side, even his basketball is white
At the 1:11 mark, a shirtless JJ steps back and nonchalantly drains a 25-footer from the corner. Either this guy has serious game, or the Zapruder-like quality of the YouTube rip we?ve been studying is masking the fact that he misses by ten feet. Anybody got this on hi-def? Can we get some confirmation here?
If things had broken right, he could have been Lance Bass
JJ is the missing link in a boy-band tradition that runs from the New Kids on the Block to N?Sync. Five years on either side of 1993 and his album goes platinum (?Right Kind of Love? is at least as catchy as ?Backstreet?s Back?), but as it was the best he could do was a spot on the 90210 soundtrack. We?re currently in another down cycle for boy bands, so who is Jeremy Jordan?s 2007 equivalent? He?s industry-approved, thoroughly edgeless, very sensitive, and willing to take his shirt off for just about anything. American Idol runner up? Sounds about right to us.
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OK, I checked Wikipedia, and this guy is married to a woman and is presumably a heterosexual.
I honestly could not tell from watching that video.
Wowwwww. Best Stereogum series ever. I totally remember the video on MTV Asia back in the early 90s. Flannel plaid shirts! Backward baseball caps! You have to wonder what this guy is doing now…
With skillz like that it makes me wonder if he’s related to Michael Jordan.
“Jeremy Jordan, all right!”
(Please tell me I’m not the only one that remembers this reference…)
The slo-mo shots of the girls wearing Mom Jeans were priceless. Priceless.
so there’s totally a made-for-tv movie starring him and melissa joan hart where she plays this teen bitch who manipulates him into killing her parents. it comes on lifetime a lot. *shrugs*
> so there’s totally a made-for-tv movie
> starring him and melissa joan hart where she
> plays this teen bitch who manipulates him
> into killing her parents. it comes on lifetime
> a lot. *shrugs*
That’s HIM? I totally saw that movie. Or maybe I’m thinking of a different Lifetime movie where a girl manipulates some dude into killing her parents.
I believe what Carrie is referring to is the end credit sequence that 90210 used fairly frequently in those days: Kelly goes over to the Peach Pit’s juke box and her eyes light up as she sees the heart-throb/musical prodigy in question’s name. She can’t resist playing this song.
While this may seem silly in this post-9/11 world, transport yourself back to those innocent days in the Peach Pit, and I think you can see where she’s coming from.
I just…can’t…resist:
It was totally Donna at the jukebox. Her enthusiasm makes perfect sense, considering her love for all things David “Am I Precious to You, You’re So Precious to Me” Silver and his musical ilk, of whom Jeremy Jordan can consider himself a sterling example.
I believe he was also one of the rapists in Leaving Las Vegas.
Tori Spelling dated Jeremy Jordan, right? I believe I read that in my “I Hate Brenda” book….
Thanks for posting this awesome video. I don’t get why you’re calling it “crap” though. I suppose you also hate 90210, Gregg Araki, parties, blondes, and going to the beach, and everything else sexy and fun too, don’t you? What’s next? Are you gonna diss Shanice?
Hey! Nothing but love for Shanice. You know, I was one of those angry “if it’s on the radio, it sucks” guys at right about this time (though I was a Techontronic/La Bouche guy just a few years before). It’s fun to hear those old songs and realize how awesome they actually were…
then you come across something like this, and see that it was probably best to err on the side of caution.
The equivalents of Jeremy Jordan in 2007: Fall Out Boy, The Killers, 30 Seconds To Mars, Panic!, and such.
The Indie Rock equivalents of Jeremy Jordan in 2007: Cold War Kids, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Kasabian, Love & Reverie, and such. I’d rather listen to Jeremy Jordan than listen to any of these horseshit bands.
You’re totally right; it was Donna. How stupid of me! She was always the bigger connoisseur of the “finer things” in life: art, music, literature, getting thrown down the stairs by grease monkey troubadours, animal rights, confessing her virginity at Magic Mountain, et cetera.
DONNA MARTIN GRADUATES
DONNA MARTIN GRADUATES
DONNA MARTIN GRADUATES
he was in “never been kissed” as the popular dude who drew barrymore was in love with (until she realized she really wanted to just bang her teacher)
this was crap then and is crap now. It’s kitsch value is at best brief.
This is sorta sad, but I guess Jeremy got heavily into drugs, lost his mind and then found Jesus and now walks around Westwood shouting excitedly, “I beat the Devil!” When he’s on his meds he shows up at neighborhood parties and creeps people out. I’ve seen him and I don’t think he’ll be dating any 90210′ers anytime soon.
At a distance, the guy looks like my drug-dealing, ex-con, ex-roommate.
p.s. “Backstreet’s Back” is wayyy catchier.
No way that’s a 25-footer he makes. A 25-footer would be well out of bounds on a playground court and over a foot behind the NBA line. It’s from inside the college line, probably about 15-17 feet. Pretty crappy shooting form, but he looks like he knows what he’s doing enough to where they wouldn’t have to use camera tricks to get him to sink one.
the dancing looks like Billy Blank’s Taebo!
I think a threw up a bit