Placebo – Ashtray Heart (directed by Robert Chandler)

I must say that I was very disappointed when the guys from Placebo announced that the single for Europe (excepting UK and Norway) & the rest of the world (holy macaroni, Europe and the rest, now how does that sounds?) will be Ashtray Heart. I mean, c'mon. I won't hide that from you – au contraire, I will admit to it. I don't like the song. Yeah, I know it's great for dancing and singing and yelling and whatever at a live concert. I mean, I experienced it myself. But that's it. No video for this one, no, no.

Well, that was their decision, not mine.

So, what does a fan do when that happens (that meaning something like "oh-my-God-how-could-they-ever-thought-of-that-song-I-hate-this-rawr")? There are two options. One: you refuse to watch that video and hope that next time maybe they will choose something better. Or two: you start thinking that maybe it is not that bad, and "hey, there's actually a good part, I'll see two videos from my favourite band, yaaaay!" Which is what I did – I am a very optimistic person, you know.

So the day came and I finally got to see that video. I had already watched the making of, so I kinda knew what to expect. The guys were there, with the green screen in the background (so I knew something was supposed to be put there later – actually, that was also said on the official site, quote: the kaleidoscopic and effervescent video contains state-of-the-art data-moshing techniques that combine to produce spectacular results - that sounded good, huh?). Oh, and Brian in a black outfit with his looooooooong hair (I hate that pony tail; thank God he doesn't wear his hair like that in videos!)

After I watched the video, I remembered that quote from before. Kaleidoscopic? Sure as hell, baby!

It's all about colours, colours, colours… and Brian Molko (of course, Stefan Olsdal and Steve Forrest are there too, but, as this is the first song wrote entirely by Brian, he has to stand out. Something like "Look what I did, isn't that cool?"). There's no story line. You just watch the movements; watch the colours changing from red to blue and then to black and white, and then "hold your breath and count to ten, fall apart and start again", as Molko himself stated in English Summer Rain. When I saw this video I thought someone had played with Photoshop. And did a good work, good enough to make me forget that I don't like (and that's a kind term) this song. Good enough to make Brian look like he is 25 and not, well, almost 36. Or maybe is it just me and my Molko-mania?

Some of you might not like the, uhm, the "state-of-the-art data-moshing techniques" from this one. You might have the impression that it's too much (colour/Brian, one of these two) and too boring (switching colours for three minutes and thirty seconds??? Pleaseeeeee...). But I will definitely watch this video again. I'm willing to forgive even that cenicero, cenicero thing. It's not my favourite Placebo video – that's for sure. But it is a nice one.