TOO ROCK FOR COUNTRY, TOO COUNTRY FOR ROCK AND ROLL

-LONNIE MACK
DECONSTRUCTION

SONG BACKGROUND
Too Rock for Country was one of Ronnie Macks career, having been released as a single in 1988. The song focuses on experiences of Macks life, talking about the 1950s his family and his early career.

The song is also about his love for rock and roll.

The music video begins with newspaper clippings from the beginning of his Macks career, along with an old picture of Mack with guitar (seen above). This is to convey to the audience that this song is about Mack himself, rather than the music video having a specific fictional story. This is what Andrew Goodwin would call an illustrative music video, because the fact it is about Mack becomes clear from the start. Using a photo is sometimes more effective than video because it really gives the audience a Sense of the feel of the video, which is classic country, this can also be conveyed by the primarily guitar and base music. There is then close ups of a drummer playing at one of Macks concerts. The film grain effect on the film suggests to the aud ience that this takes place in the past, along with the lyrics talking about the 50s. The music at the beginning gives an almost i mmediate country feel.

There are many mid shots of people on motorbikes, and lots of close up shots of people driving them, this along with the heavy dominant guitar strings give the video a country feel, and gives a sense of nostalgia. This is clearly what Mack was trying to achieve because the lyrics are about the past and how much he has enjoyed his life. The use of these motorbikes is o illustrate and amplify Macks love for the past, according to Goodwins theory.

The video at points goes away from the nostalgic 50s photos and recreations, and Changes to mid shots of Mack playing his guitar, with extreme close ups of the guitar. Because Mack decides to do this, he uses part of Andrew Goodwins theory because he uses disjuncture and moves away from the story of the video and ignores it for some of it. Lonnie Macks clothing are typical country, because he uses elements from popular spaghetti westerns and the stereotypical country hat, and a rolled up shirt.

Whenever there are extreme close up shots of the guitar there is a small string solo which really enforces the country feel.

The continual use of several aspects helps Mack to convey the lyrics of the music on screen. The extreme close up shots of Mack singing helps to link the lyrics to the video because you can see him speak them, which makes the music video feel more real. The continual use of images throughout the video again give a sense of nostalgia, And help the audience to see the lyrics on screen, which is something that Andrew Goodwin said every good music video should have.

Generally the music video uses the same kind of extreme close ups and sepia filter on the shots means that the feel of the video is contained throughout the piece. The music and the video is clearly about Mack and his life, because the music talks about his love for rock, and the scenes with the close up shots of people dancing strongly suggest that song is about having fun. The costumes are very country style which is to be expected given the genre and the meaning of the song. The rolled up shirts and Macks hat makes this point clear. The sepia style filter was very effective with the fast paced shot change, and the extreme close up shots helped to back this up.

Andrew Goodwin stated that if the music video is a successful was if the lyrics are portrayed on screen, and this appears to be successful, judging by the way that the music video mostly contains guitar extreme close up shots and people in concert.