Coming off Lollapalooza and the strange Neil Young cover that came with it, Foster The People find themselves with the No. 3 song on iTunes. This seems to be a rare feat for the indie crowd these days, but it’s clear why “Pumped Up Kicks,” off their debut full-length Torches, was up for the challenge.
With a toe-tapping surf bass line, verses sung softly through an intercom, and a chorus so addictive you’ll find yourself whistling it three days later while folding laundry, the single is the perfect summer song. Those waiting for the next catchiest thing from MGMT or Passion Pit for their beach playlist have downloaded “Pumped Up Kicks” in droves.
The dark lyrics refer to a shooting spree-suicide at a Nebraska shopping mall in 2007, and there’s a fun contrast between the sunny, catchy-as-all-get-out tone of the chorus and the frank, violent words: “All the other kids with the pumped up kicks/You better run, better run/Outrun my gun.”
But beyond the hook and the dark subject matter, “Pumped Up Kicks” may have struck another nerve. The chorus can be, and often is, interpreted more as a mood-capturing revenge fantasy against the ever-vague hipster boogeyman than an ode to a mass killer. Indeed, part of the song’s popularity is due to its role as an outlet for the hatred and frustration felt by the masses toward the menace in the “pumped up kicks” in this particular cultural moment.
Perhaps in a consistent stand against irony, the song’s music video seems to be an earnest and honest attempt at showing a potential audience what they think makes them awesome, plain and simple. This is admirable in meta form, but problematic in reality.
What Foster The People choose to show of themselves in their debut music video, with the added knowledge that these choices were deliberate, makes them out to be the single douchiest band alive.
The convention of blending behind-the-scenes and concert footage, usually reserved for established acts, is employed here to groan-inducing effect. When a new band tries this move, they must be naturally cheeky and entertaining in order to carry the day. Sadly, this band wholly lacks cheek, and attempts to make up for it with cheekbone.
Attractiveness alone is not a bad thing. It’s shallow to judge a band on looks. But in the absence of anything else interesting, their looks seem to be the entire point of the video. It’s a four-minute long game of “If you’re hunky and you know it, look at the camera coyly (Looks at the camera coyly).”
Other than playing music, the band mates manage to stand around, gaze into the camera, walk into and out of rooms, dance a little, toss the ‘bee once, and go surfing. It’s a thrill-a-minute with this crew. It appears the director followed the band around for days with a really nice camera, and when it turned out these guys never do anything endearing, he edited together footage of them being “cool.”
And all of this is fine. The resulting music video is intolerable, sure, but a music video is not the song that plays with it—especially in 2011, when music videos are not a vital part of a band’s existence.
Unfortunately, it cannot be unseen. It taints the song on further listens. Certain images are recalled.
As this song continues to sell and get play, more people are hearing it and rushing to their computers with the question rattling around in their head, “What are these guys all about?” This video will be their first answer to that question. And it could turn out that what Foster The People are all about is that they’re assholes.
People generally watch YouTube music videos just to hear the song. It’s a fair estimate that few outside the band’s families have watched this video on full screen, despite the quality in which it was shot. “Pumped Up Kicks” is 100 percent sing-along goodness when in audio form, and the band is lucky for that. Because if an infinitely fickle Internet audience stops singing and allows itself to analyze the images onscreen, Foster The People will find their second album going the way of Contra: “Yeah, I mean it’s good, but God I can’t stand those guys!”
