Someone else’s song
“Old Man” reaches the top of fictitious chart
Neil Young wrote it.
Corporate Rock sensation Redlight King was granted permission by Neil Young to sample [butcher] one of his finest works for the song.
The video features a skateboarder at the beginning, to rope in fans of Tony Hawk V or whatever’s next. It is cool.
Then, some undefinable hipster – wigger hybrids get in a fight, signifying the dissonance between the last generation’s ways and the pressures of today. So basically a confrontation between two irrelevant groups of people takes place, and you’re supposed to feel something. If your parents are white trash, then you can probably relate to what you see on-screen, maintaining the status quo.
Following this, a distraught-looking Weezer fan enters a bike shop and is confused by tires on the ceiling. The wheels in the sky keep on turning, maybe, but his life is obviously at a standstill – as signified by the fact he is in a Redlight King video. He thinks the motorcycle will take him places, perhaps now through his own bastardization of Easy Rider, minus the weed, because not only is marijuana for old fogies, but Redlight King tests for that stuff now.
The camera then pans across our straight-edge hipster biker-wigger moping in his Detroit squat of an apartment, while the words Old Man, look at my life shamelessly echo off the walls, washing over this embarrassment of a manchild you instantly identified with before realizing what a pussy he is; but it’s too late now.
He reviews disconnect notices for his iPhone and FiOs internet over a bowl of cereal, surrounded by pictures of a disappointed step-father.
Seeking fulfillment and quick cash, the antagonist enters a motorcycle race. He takes off and now you’re finally allowed to see a musical instrument, implying that Neil Young samples were not the only thing used for this song – that someone did in fact pick up a guitar, probably under duress, and most likely enveloped in anguish at the notion of having to resort to use of a talent. The lights are dim and we’re only shown the brief vibration of strings before the manchild reappears in a field after [losing] his motorcycle race.
The video ends on a disturbing note. Viewers discover that not only has the antagonist reproduced, he managed to score with a beautiful woman, ultimately creating this abomination:
Redlight King promotes unsustainable childbirth and theft of intellectual property. Neil Young is neither referenced nor apologized to throughout the course of the video, and you are dumber for watching it.
Redlight King is the trailer park hero of the modern South.
Redlight King is brought to you by Lebal Drocer, Incorporated.
7 replies on “Redlight King releases hit single "Old Man" again for the first time”
it is impossible to watch the entire redlight king video without stopping it to watch neil young’s
I sat through it once. It was my duty.
Wow, nice hit piece, if you’re a rich elitist living in mom’s basement. Me thinks it’s time for you to dust off your dolls…I mean action figures.. instead of trying to understand modern music.
^Redlight King fan
Also, FUCK modern music.
Dude, your such a cool guy! You can bash on the computer and talk shit but your probablly still sitting in your mommys house while shes cooking you dinner doing jack shit with your life while hes actually covering (and doing a damn good job) and making his own music.
Wow. I happen to love both versions. I don’t consider myself a music snob, unlike the author of this article. Yes, Redlight King’s reinterpretation deviates a lot from the original, but if you actually analyze the lyrics and song instead of throwing cheap shots at the video, you might realize that while it is not a complex song, it has just as much depth as the original. I lost my dad when I was 13 and this song speaks volumes to me. It’s a song about personal struggle, trying to find yourself and the right path in life, while attempting to emulate your father (or a father figure) and follow in his footsteps, particularly when he is absent in your life, whether through death or desertion–which makes the emulation and motivation thereof more of a struggle.