Justin Bieber's Steampunk Christmas video

Cory, this is your fault.

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza

What, you thought we weren’t going to post it?
- marginwalker
  
  WWJD?
franko

i haz a sad. i still like steampunk, and now he’s RUINING IT.
- http://twitter.com/Flesh_of_Sadie Flesh of Sadie
  
  Lipstick on a pig, if you ask me.
- Heather Pratt
  
  It’s not so bad if you watch it with the sound off……and try to look more at the gadgets then bieber
- http://twitter.com/nesnora nesnora
  
  First they hijacked vampires with that twilight bullshit, then pirates with that Disney shit, and now this… you know I was thinking that I don’t get enough crap when I wear steampunk gear. Now I can be criticized more, but with the new slant that I’m emulating the Bieb.
  
  *throws goggles*
- robdobbs
  
  I think Will Smith ruined it first.
http://twitter.com/openfly ǝɔʎoſ ʇʇɐW

I feel like I just got rick rolled by a hipster burner metrosexual with a christmas fetish.
jennybean42

I think this means steampunk has jumped the shark.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I think this means steampunk has jumped the shark.
  
  Isn’t that the plot of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea?
- Anon_Mahna
  
  “I think this means steampunk has jumped the shark.”
  
  “Jump the cephalopod.” or “Irradiated the refrigeration device.” I think is the correct term.
- Mister44
  
  Beat me to it – but the answer is yes. It is officially uncool.
EH

Live by the sword…
eagleapex

It’s over!
theophrastvs

thanks for the proper ‘Bieber’ warning token. it’s as good as “#if 0 … #endif”
Dom Fletcher

I think the addition of CGI elves and bad break dancing is the next logical step for steam punk and that Justin should be commended for enhancing the medium.
- http://twitter.com/MTeson Marcelo Teson
  
  CGI elves, sure, but that’s not “bad” breakdancing. The windup girl was hella talented.
Fex

That’s it. Close down steampunk. It’s done. Also, dubstep is finished, since Bieber got his brass claw on that one too.

From now on, it’s all about Bollywood/film noir mashup aesthetics and we’re replacing the obsession with bass-heavy music with a fascination for tracks which have a time signature comprised only of prime numbers. (London Elektricity’s Syncopated City Revisited’s 5 13 structure is a good example – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEw5HwnFHuU ).
http://twitter.com/fractos Adam Christie

Speaking as a music producer – I think I’m going to throw up.
- bmcraec
  
  I blame the lateness of the evening, and the good trust I have always had in the proper use of sensation by BB editorial judgement.
  
  I suspect large cash amounts in high-value bills, in a manila envelope.
  
  And, if I was a citizen of those United States, a civil suit to replace the keyboard permanently fouled by gastric effluvia.
  
  There’s a John W. Campbell novella about Earth many generations after conquest by aliens, contemplating the results of the selective breeding program imposed by the conquering masters. Many current trends in popular culture remind me of that story.
Martin Liebermann

Lucky me. Video is bLocked in Germany.
bcsizemo

I’m liking that 80′s Corey Haim hair style…
- Donald Petersen
  
  Haim, nuthin’. That’s Eraserhead.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    That’s Eraserhead.
    
    Or his baby.
TheWiseFool

I just puked a little in my mouth.
spacemunky

He dances like the world’s laziest Michael Jackson impersonator.
- http://twitter.com/TownHallCoffee Tim Noble
  
  Oh, snap. That is SO on key. Almost salvaged the moment.
http://twitter.com/pablod Pablo Defendini

Michael Jackson is rolling over in his grave.
- Brainspore
  
  Don’t give Bieber any ideas about Jackson’s corpse. The last thing we want is a “Thriller” remake.
philipbarrett

Little homage to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang eh?
- M Carlson
  
  I don’t remember all of Chitty Chitty, but didn’t they visit a kingdom where children were illegal or something? Maybe we should send Bieb there.
Antinous / Moderator

Does he have some condition that makes it impossible to emit sound without lunging slightly forward?
http://twitter.com/valerieinto Valerie

This is why you MUST arrive late to see Arthur Christmas, which is a really nice movie as long as you avoid this running before it.
bo1ngbolnguser001

steampunk is so 2011 now
http://www.arkansawyer.com/wordpress/ John A Arkansawyer

It’s so nice when the mainstream culture validates us with their approval, isn’t it?
http://twitter.com/saywhatagain Chris Wade

“cory, this is your fault.”

Oooooooohhhhhhh nice burn Beschizza. Hear that? Your move, Doctorow.
Brainspore

If anyone here has any contacts in the music industry, please do your best to convince them that “repeatedly hitting yourself in the forehead with a claw hammer” is the hot new thing with young people these days. They’ve had it coming for a while now.
http://twitter.com/DreAmeoba Gordon Klock

Steampunk is unquestionably dead as an antique doorknob now….
Anyone else notice how Justin, Ga-Ga, Spears, etc all sound alike musically ( the Disney Sound ) & how this stifling aesthetic eventually crowds out &/or paints over anything even sorta interesting that catches the public’s eye ?
- http://profiles.google.com/rodaniel Rob O’Daniel
  
  They all sound alike because they’re all Autotuned like crazy! What you hear isn’t the “artist,” because even as bad as you think “The Beebs” sounds, you’d be truly horrified if you only heard his unadulterated vocals.
Ambiguity

I’ve heard of Justin Bieber, but never heard him before.

He’s really bad, isn’t he?
- PathogenAntifreeze
  
  This was the first time I’ve knowingly heard him sing too… and yeah, “this?” was going through my head the whole time. I muted it so I could get through the video. I had begun to think I was being overly cynical by dismissing popular stuff as universally crap before… but then I hear something popular and get confirmation galore.
  - http://twitter.com/gerhardmulder Gerhard Mulder
    
    Exactly the same here. I’ve avoided Bieber till now, and 50 seconds in I have to mute the song due to awful-overload. Then I notice his “dancing” and I have to stop the video completely.
- jackie31337
  
  His voice does appear to have finally dropped, though.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CDBCSJ67QEF6I5EBWZLVPZB5K4 william shannon

disney with softlens and angelic back lighting peachfuzzes the punk in steampunk… well at least the dancers are getting a payday..
Hubris Sonic

WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY IS THIS!
frankieboy

I was wondering where that Linotype I scrapped wound up.
LinkMan

I think Gawker’s headline pretty much summed it up:

Justin Bieber Ruins Entire Nerd Subculture With New Christmas Video
- Godfree
  
  I love how they describe him as “musical haircut.”
Red Robot

Even as my eyes bleed, I laugh and can’t help but think “Good Lord, are those supposed to be PANTS?”
- tw1515tw
  
  Agree – You’d think with all his money that he’d be able to afford a pair of jeans that weren’t ripped and torn.
SeeChao

Did steampunk just die? I know a small part of me just did…
Philipshade

At least Cyberpunk had the good sense to be co-opted Billy Idol.
KBert

OK, yeah, he should be in jail, ‘specially for this.
http://profiles.google.com/rodaniel Rob O’Daniel

As much as Disney banks on their public (mis)conception of goodness and purity, I really loathe the teen-targeted offerings. Between the white trash trampy-ness of Miley Cyrus and the digitally augmented vocals of, well, every teen star they have, it’s all just repulsive and offensive crap. I refuse to believe this is what Walt would’ve wanted.
p96

I couldn’t help expecting a department store announcer to pop in and tell us about holiday sales at [insert store brand here].

It looks like a multitude of talented dancers, prop artists, and animators put a lot of effort into this; which makes its bland mediocrity even more depressing.
- http://evilbobdayjob.blogspot.com/ Deidzoeb
  
  p96, there might not have been a department store announcer in the video, but the commercialism was clear with the clips from Arthur Christmas pasted in with zero transition or relevance. This song is used in the movie, so they have to use scenes from the movie in the music video. It’s like two commercials having a circle jerk.
http://twitter.com/txhoudini Eric

Yes to everything that has been said before. Also, I don’t understand the poppin’ and lockin’ that is totally not in beat with the “music”.
http://twitter.com/meepmeepmeep Alex Kim

Oh the glorious, glorious schadenfreude! It feels as if millions of corseted steampunks–wearing spray-painted goggles, bronze octopus pendants, and watch gear rings–cried out in butthurt (but have yet to be silenced).
http://twitter.com/MichaelSenkow Michael Senkow

Am I the only one thinking, “Well it could be much worse.” Maybe some young Disney kids will see this and go oooo bieber…but whats that cool other stuff? And have their mind’s blown when they look up steampunk. Shrug….I’ll like Bieber more in 10 years when he comes out as Gay.
- Carl Berglund
  
  Gay Talese?
suzette smith

Also ruined by the man at my sister’s wedding who insisted I call it, “Steam.”
lucero

Musically, it’s like the worst of the 1980′s is back upon us, visually, the worst of a never-been 1880s…
http://twitter.com/hogshit hogsh.it

Yeah, but steampunk was always self-congratulatory dogshit
Palomino

A few gauges doesn’t make it Steampunk, it’s not even Steampunkish. The “factory” workers are tossing boxes around like feathers and no one has a bit of gear oil or sweat droplets. They should all be dancing around in a clean room wearing white lab coats.

This is the first time I’ve seen JB look close to being high-shcool aged. I think they are trying to counter act that.

And what’s up the 1.5′ crotch vs. floor clearance?
- chaopoiesis
  
  Not a bad call – those old Intel TV ads are far enough gone for cleanroom suits to trend retro. Cleanpunk or something…
  - http://evilbobdayjob.blogspot.com/ Deidzoeb
    
    Cleanpunk = DEVO in cleanroom suits?
adonai

The goggles! They do nothing!
Bill Walsh

This video has the death of Bieber, Poppin’ and Lockin’!

I’ve never seen such crappy poppin’ and lockin’.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_W7USBS4MVWFILTMPBQSBVJRYQI David

This is really no different from Wal Mart stocking and selling fixie bicycles to late-arrival hipsters.
i_prefer_yeti

Wow, who knew he was a drummer?
social_maladroit

This needs a Rammstein chaser. Something along the lines of Zerstören (lyrics).

Ahh. That’s better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylJwLz8oflQ
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=754639578 Alex Rains

gross
Antinous / Moderator

It’s a shame that he didn’t take the video to its natural conclusion.
Muse-Thalia

How fun! Gosh that takes me back to the era when pop stars headed up variety shows and you got numbers like this. Cheesy as all get out, but fun at the same time.

Rock on Star Wars Holiday Special!
Muse-Thalia

Lighten up and see the funny-side, snobs :P
retepslluerb

Now I’m conflicted. Should I thank GEMA that they blocked the video in Germany or not?
NealJMD

heheh y’all are such haters. that video makes no sense sure but that dancing was badass. besides, just cause the guy who was tapped to direct the video is into steampunk and someone decided to approve his idea doesn’t mean you can’t like it anymore.
- gerardwhelan
  
  i GUARANTEE that a large marketing group had been planning a steampunk vid for him WELL before they found a ‘director’. no offense, but these folks are well versed in stealing from the sub-cultures. they are incapable of original thought, and have admitted that to themselves years ago. you also should learn a little more about how the h-wood star machine works – I worked on a big film once that was ‘directed’ by a 27 year old with some history, but nothing on the multi-million dollar scale. he ‘directed’ exactly what they told him to… and if he didn’t, he wasn’t getting another picture.
  as for the theft, it’s like Heisenberg’s principle (paraphrased): if you keep looking at something, that will change its’ behaviour. steampunk or hip hop or any underground swell is always betrayed by its followers, who simply want to share the love, but end up selling it out to the Man.
  remember those Cialis ads with the Ukelele playing housewives? that came from agency-drones sucking life out of BB also
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    if you keep looking at something, that will change its’ behaviour.
    
    So you’re saying that we should expect Biebz next video to have a banana theme?
    - M Carlson
      
      If it did, would we be forced to ‘look at it! Just look at it!’ ?
monopole

And I was hoping that he would cover “Christmas with the Devil” instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KneOdEDwDEc&feature=related
- http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt
  
  Thanks for the link. Now I have an X-mas song that I like!
Garrett Eaton

Uh, I could be way off here, but I’m pretty sure Will Smith did this like 12 years ago… or am I dating myself?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEaX4ApC_EU
- M Carlson
  
  I’m sure I’ll probably have my BoingBoing membership and decoder ring taken away, but I loved that movie and love the music video even more.
Cowicide

Someone teach Beiber what the term “overproduced” means.
Melanie

The creative team for that video has obviously seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which has a wind up dancer on a stand with stiff movements, and clown/jack-in-the-box in a dance scene.
http://youtu.be/yBMLpyyZHik
http://twitter.com/Verse1968 Verse

Someone please pass the brain bleach.
danieloneill777

Actually this video does, indeed, constitute ‘Steam Punk’. The clockwork gears, the little leather vests, that bionic hand contraption thingy, and especially the fact that there are four guys dancing simultaneously while all wearing pointless metal rimmed goggles.

Goggles.

Yep. It’s Steam Punk all right. I say bring it on; Steam Punk dies with the “Christmas Season” 2011. Good riddance. I do, however, feel sorry for all the artists on Etsy.

Maybe all things tentacular will die with it.
- sarah shevett
  
  Steampunk died with the marketing from The NIghtmare Before Christmas. Yes, before it even was discovered by the masses.
http://thornacious.wordpress.com/ Thornacious

Aaauuugh! Burn it! Burn it with Fire!
Antinous / Moderator

His singing is actually better than it was a year or two ago. Give him two or three decades and he might have something.
gothicgeek

I am not watching that Pap!

Try this instead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=7Dci1iet9kc
Otherdave

I made it all the way to 41 seconds! Can anyone beat that?
- http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt
  
  Heck, I watched the whole thing. But then, I am also proud of having been able to watch an entire hour of the Donny and Marie Show……
Jeff Erickson

Check out the OK Go homage at 3:05.

Truly, everything is a remix.

(And yes, I watched the whole thing. Facepalm.)
tw1515tw

I found this video clip can be improved enormously by one simple action – hitting the mute button.
bo1n6bo1n6

Bieber Kills Steampunk. Next year he’ll ruin Burning Man.
- freshacconci
  
  And that would be a bad thing?
- sarah shevett
  
  Burning Man killed Steampunk the minute that goggles became the fashion. And BM is dead like Woodstock killed the hippies.
iCowboy

Dear god and I thought I already hated that song – nope, he’s opened up a whole new sub-basement of hatred.

And why does he sound like he’s singing through a pneumatic tube (just to keep the steampunk motif)?
Just_Ok

more like steam bubblegum
freshacconci

No worse than Springsteen’s version.
- Donald Petersen
  
  I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I have to agree. They’re both unlistenable.
http://bestdesignwebgallery.com bdwg

more like steam bubblegum
StudioCreations

A silver lining to this article is that the steampunk artist, Skinz-n-Hydez, was the one who made that SP gauntlet that Bieber wears in the beginning of the video. JB helped pay a crafters rent this month. :) http://skinz-n-hydez.deviantart.com/
Julio Carreon-Reyes

Is the Biebs down with the Machine Elves?
Chuckhazard

There’s actually some fantastic dancing in there. Also, seems like Beebs is “nick”ing some Michael Jackson moves.
Sofia Ortiz

Guys, what if this is comeuppance for all the fun we’ve been making of the poor guy? Maybe we should start being nicer. He he armies of 11-year-old girls with piercing screams. Honestly, he’s got the worse end of the deal.
Steampunk doesn’t “belong” to anybody. It was a thing before any of us were born. Bieber noticing that hardly constitutes ruining the genre.
(That’d be like saying a bad Disney cartoon about dragons has “completely ruined” the concept of dragons forever and ever.)
- Elmo Adams
  
  Well observed- lots of hate out there – so be careful
http://evilbobdayjob.blogspot.com/ Deidzoeb

I saw a steampunk craft magazine at the fabric store. Dolls and clothes and jewelry incorporating gears and wires. I suppose we shouldn’t blame or write off the whole genre just because some people do a lazy job of it.
- sarah shevett
  
  You have seen the marketing from the NIghtmare Before Christmas, right?
  Genre? The whole thing has been a craft project.
Guest

The heartbeat move just after the beginning is pure Park Jin-young and who knows where he got it from.
http://twitter.com/nesnora nesnora

Someone get Sam Neil and a broadsword, stat. Hollywood needs a purgin’.
ZikZak

All those years of creativity, labor, imagination…all those makers and fashion designers…thousands upon thousands of die-hard convention goers, writers, musicians and LARPers…

All that work to provide commercial entertainment scum with a fresh gimmick for their latest video.

Let this be a reminder to all of us: you may think you’re an aesthetic renegade, on the cutting edge of what’s underground and original. But really you’re just an unpaid worker for the entertainment/marketing industry, tirelessly grinding away to come up with the next authentically cool trend that they can turn into cash.
- sarah shevett
  
  All those “makers” and “designers” that were influenced by those that came before THEM.
  There is no such thing as original thought.
  
  Move on, create your own movement. come up with the next trend.
Rich Keller

The little kid reminds me of the cymbalist from Marimba Ponies.
http://twitter.com/writebastard Ian Wood

So what’s the over/under on meth-smokin’ head-shavin’ skank (or twink)-bangin’ implosion?
sarah shevett

Just like Woodstock killed the hippies.
http://twitter.com/DiegoV_Mx Diego Hernández

Somehow I only saw “Steampunk Christmas video” before clicking. Yup, skipped right over the first two words.

Picture my surprise….
DMStone

The first, ”Don’t mind me, I’m just a regular person minding my own business… tricked you! I am a break-dancer!” was pretty impressive.

By the seventh time, I had caught on somewhat. You have to admire the director’s persistence.

I didn’t really mind the music industry co-opting another punk movement or the fact Will Smith did it better. Personally, I thought the most off-putting part of the video was the Bieb pantomiming a Motown studio drummer, then throwing his sticks at the camera right before finishing the little drum outro. James Brown (RIP) would have told him you have to hit it then quit.
- http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt
  
  Uh, actually it turns out that he is not a bad drummer.
http://halfbakedmaker.org Robert Baruch

Oh, I liked the intro, it had a good sound. And the set looked good, too. Then Bieber opened his mouth, and that, combined with the suddenly happy upbeat music made me die a little inside.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5275XMMKPDDVVWWDATSTQGWA2M geoff

I think what makes this travesty worse is that it is more than Jackson’s moves that he has borrowed. Go to YouTube and watch the Jackson 5 perform I Want You Back. You’ll notice Bieber has slowed it up a little. Listen to ripped off bass line and the lead counterpoint.
http://twitter.com/Skyhawk1 skyhawk1

Bieber killed steampunk.
michealpaige

you know, I actually really like Justin Bieber. I think he’s a good kid that sings well, and he got lucky enough to become a pop star.

…. but someone should be fired for this. someone in the line of people that approve things should have said, “no. I will not let this make it all the way to the internet.” I can’t decide which part I hate more – the extremely outdated haircut, the cheesy 90s feel of the arrangement, or the part where he emotionally pulls off his jacket like he’s singing about anything but santa claus.
Bailey Heath

Well, I personally like steampunk for reasons other than “no one’s heard of it,” so I’ll continue to do so despite the sudden popularity. It is what it is; one misguided music video is no reason to suddenly hate a perfectly good genre.

But on another note, if any of you must sell all of your steampunk stuff because it’s too cool, let me know because it’s hard for me to find time and materials to make it.