SAXON VS. EDGUY: A LESSON IN CHEESE

When I saw that Edguy had made a video for the song “Robin Hood,” I got really, really excited. Not because I’m an Edguy admirer — I’m not a virgin, and am therefore ineligible for their fan club — but, rather, because I assumed the video would be cheesy as hell, and therefore hilarious.

Unfortunately, it’s not. I mean the costumes look like they were made by someone’s mom and there’s a really cheap version of the arrow P.O.V. shot from the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood, but the band is clearly in on the joke, and that’s no fun for mean-spirited bullies like me. ‘Cause all we’re left with is a not-especially-funny comedy video for a generic power metal song. Booooooo.

Now, Saxon, on the other hand… THESE dudes know how to make one ridiculously, laughably cheesy video.

The trick, you see, is to remain completely, 100% sincere at all times, despite having a complete lack of budget or vision. I mean, these dudes wrote a an insanely melodramatic-sounding slab of gouda, took five bucks, handed it to a director who has no regard for things like focus or lighting, asked him to make them a version of a video we’ve seen eighteen thousand times before with old stock footage and new footage that is unconvincingly made to look like old stock footage, and then they fucking committed to that video like they were De Niro filming Raging Bull. Awesome. Just awesome.

-AR