Song of the Day 5/21: Alien Ant Farm, “Movies”

Is pop-punk still a thing? Twenty years ago bands like Green Day welded punk’s energy to pop’s accessibility for one of rock’s last hurrahs before the hip-hop deluge. “Movies,” released in 2001, was one of my favorite songs from that period. Alien Ant Farm scored a huge hit covering Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal,” prompting the re-release of this, its previous single. “Movies” was a bigger hit in the UK than the US, and though the band never reached the singles charts again, they’re still active.

Three different videos were produced for “Movies,” using increasingly expensive effects for each one. The one above was the second. The third, produced for the song’s re-release, is over the top, dressing the band as characters from various films and featuring a cameo from Pat Morita in the Karate Kid segment. The video ruins the song, pausing it for some screen shenanigans, but it’s worth watching just to see the band as oompa-loompas. Of course, that’s assuming you aren’t one of the people freaked out by the oompa-loompas.