Music Video Relapse: "Too Little Too Late" by Barenaked Ladies

Posted by Adam Fairholm on June 14, 2013 in Music Video Relapse

Staff Post

bnltoolittletoolate.jpg

For a while in the early 2000s, bands were releasing DVD collections of their music videos and including DVD commentary tracks. There were a lot of good ones, but my favorite is probably Barelaked Nadies from 2002 where the Barenaked Ladies watch all of their videos from 1992 onwards in a hotel room.

It's hilarious (mainly because BNL has had a lot of weird music video experiences that they are more than willing to share), but it also reminds me of a time before Barenaked Ladies actively avoided making music videos, before they started opting for animation or videos where they don't appear. So today we're watching a Barenaked Ladies video from when they were super into making music videos - 2001's "Too Little Too Late", which is, interestingly enough, about the chaos of making a music video.

Phil Harder is a veteran BNL music video director, and took on most of the videos after the band's huge hit "One Week" in 1998. Looking back on this largely forgotten video, it's interesting to see how ambitious it is in scope, with a studio inside a studio, all the band members playing multiple roles, multiple location, several commercial parodies, and one crane. Not only that, but it is about making a music video. It's also probably the only time in BNL's career where they could all wear leather pants.

Sadly, while new BNL material lives in the modern world, a lot of Barenaked Ladies video catalog is stuck in 480p mode on YouTube. Until then remember you can still purchase it on Digital Video Disc.

Whoops, I almost forgot this clip.


barenaked ladies, phil harder

Adam Fairholm is the co-founder and lead developer of IMVDb. You can find him on twitter at @adamfairholm.



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