1. Music Video Analysis
Artist – The Strokes
Song – You Only Live Once
Album – First Impressions of Earth
Genre – Indie Rock, Garage Rock Revival
Released – September 262006
Record Label(s) – RCA, Rough Trade
Video Length – 3:12
For my music video analysis, I have decided to analyse the video, “You Only Live
Once” by indie rock band, The Strokes. I chose to analyse this because the genre
is appropriate for the music video I will create, so I can take inspiration from the
video and apply some key themes to my music video.
According to Andrew Goodwin’s book, ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ he
points out that there are characteristics and features found in music videos to
establish the genre of the song, e.g. a
dance routine for a pop group, urban
settings for rap/hip-hop videos, stage3
performance in rock videos. This theory
is demonstrated in The Strokes video
for ‘You Only Live Once’ as throughout
the video, the members are all playing
their instruments. It is not just this
video however that The Strokes follow
Goodwin’s theory of music video
characteristics as they are seen
performing with their instruments in all
of their videos. This is usually very
common when it comes to rock videos,
particularly Indie Rock, as they frequently tend to include no narrative in their
music videos.
When it comes to setting and mise-en-scene however, the video for You Only
Live Once does challenge the stereotype of rock bands to some extent. It is
usually known that rock bands would be wearing dark clothing, in dark settings
and often in open spaces. In You Only Live Once, the band members are all
wearing white clothing that is almost identical to one another. The lead singer
Julian Casablancas is shown to have chessboard art on the back of his jacket at
the very beginning of the video. Along with this, the setting is in a claustrophobic
tight space, with bright lights on the ceiling.A fisheye lens showing the band and

2. the room in one shot shows this. So this music video subverts the stereotype of
rock bands by having the music video bright, similar to a pop video, but not very
colourful, so still maintaining a part of the stereotype.
For the first minute of the music video, it is just The Strokes performing their
song in the small enclosed room with no narrative but a series of close ups of the
members and their instruments, then later on there seems to be some narrative
forming when tobacco tar slides into the
room, slowly drowning the members.
As noted in the previous paragraph,
the band is just doing a stage
performance of You Only Live Once for
the first minute. When it comes to
Goodwin’s theory of characteristics
found in music videos, the lyrics to the
song would not be matched with this
part of the music video, making it look
like a contradicting music video.
However, later in the video, from the
large holes that are seen in the walls, tobacco tar slides out from the holes,
making puddles on the floor, and eventually starting to flood the room. The
further the song goes, the more tar comes out and quickly fills up the room with
the members getting closer and closer to being under the tar. They however act
normally, and keep playing their instruments as if nothing is happening, for
example, the drummer keeps playing the drums even though the drum kit is
underwater and there is only his head that can be seen above the rising tobacco
tar. When the guitarists are no longer seen playing their instruments, there is a
brief moment where they try to block the hole and stop the tar coming out by
using their guitars. They eventually stop and go back to performing in the tar. At
the near end of the video, the band members are shown to be completely
underwater, still trying to play their instruments. The video ends with
Casablancas’ floating body, showing the chessboard art on his jacket (like in the
beginning of the video). So in conclusion, there are elements of an illustrative
music video of You Only Live Once as the tobacco tar entering the small room
could insinuate smoking, with the room representing the lungs, therefore the
lyrics including the title ‘You Only Live Once’ do match the music video.

3. The target audience would be mainly for males with an age range between
approximately 16-35-year-olds. It could also appeal to teenage and adult females
through possible “eye candy” of lead singer, Julian Casablancas. The music video
is also a possible message to people who take drugs whether it is cigarette
smoking, substance abuse or alcohol consumption, making it relate to them also,
almost making them identify with the situation the band members are in the
music video.
Although the music video does show a series of close ups of all members, there
are mainly close ups on the lead singer of the band, Julian Casablancas,
cementing his star image. This may have been done to show that he is the
possible star of the band, the most popular or even could be the eye candy of the
band. However, the focus of the video may not be on Casablancas, but the
tobacco tar that suddenly floods the room a minute into the music video. This is
undoubtedly the most recognizable and remembered part of the whole music
video, mainly because this situation is very unusual when it comes to music
videos, especially for music videos related to Indie Rock bands.
In conclusion, The Strokes use a variety of unique features for a music video
with the genre of Indie Rock. Examples include the members wearing all white
attire; possibly to easily see they are covered in the tar. The video taking place in
a claustrophobic environment with lights shining down on them to show the
quickness from going to a bright room to a suddenly dark and flooded room,
representing the human lungs when tar enters.