east coast girls are hip
This post is about the video shown above, that being David Lee Roth's rendition of the song California Girls.
About the song itself
The Beach Boys may have done it first, but Roth did it best. It's probably Roth's best studio performance. The is one of the very few songs he recorded where he doesn't "belt" it out. Rather he actually sings normally. In addition, the song has a timeless quality to it even though the recording is 22 years old.
And don't tell me for one second you won't find yourself singing along to this song. It's unavoidable. 🙂
About the video
The tourists are all stereotypes. Every single one of them. Now for anyone who watches this video they'll just see it as it is: A campy show with some crazy characters. But if any "watchdog" agencies saw this it would be taken off the air in a heartbeat if it were released today.
At the lyric "The Midwest farmer's daughters.." you can see a cow in the video. A real cow.
The girls at the end of the video are all standing mannequin-style and do not move. I always wondered why the director chose to do that. My adult self thinks the director was trying to purpose show the girls as things rather than real people... maybe? No one knows.
Unless I'm mistaken, every single "California Girl" shown is white. And as anyone knows, California girls do come in different colors besides white.
The director chose to show the California Girls what I call classically beautiful. You will notice most of the girls used aren't very buxom and that was a good choice. Instead they picked girls who wear a bikini well, and that's exactly what you see. That was smart.
Interesting things to note
Assuming all the girls were all the age 21 at the time of the shoot, they'd all be 43 today.
Three U.S. Presidents have held office since this video was introduced.
Many of the California Girls in the video are wearing sunglasses. That has never gone out of style and today's Hollywood starlets still wear them. The shades may be a bit rounder today but in essence still look the same way they did in the 80's.
Many men in today's age do not want a stereotypical "California Girl" because it assumes a girl who's made of more plastic than flesh and has a shallow personality or none at all.
Only David Lee Roth could get away wearing a tangerine-colored suit.
