Charlotte Gainsbourg, Beck Team in Trippy "Heaven Can Wait" Video

We thought Lars von Trier's Antichrist would be the strangest thing we saw this year that starred Charlotte Gainsbourg. Turns out, we were wrong. Up top is the new video for "Heaven Can Wait," the first from Gainsbourg's collaborative album with Beck, IRM. Beck co-stars in the clip, a two-and-a-half minute montage that seems to incorporate and visualize all the abstract, offbeat imagery he's documented about his native Los Angeles in his 15-year career.

The video, which debuted earlier today on Spinner, was directed by Keith Schofield, but watching it you'd think Gummo auteur Harmony Korine had a hand in it. Here's a small sampling of all the WTF?! you'll see in "Heaven Can Wait": Police arresting a dude in a SpongeBob costume, a backyard boxing match next to a merry-go-round, a wigged dinosaur enjoying a bubble bath, a skateboard with hamburgers for wheels, babies dressed as hot dogs and a giant bomb with the word "Nachos" written on it. You really need to just see it for yourself to get the total, awesome effect.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, IRM's title track was released as a free download in early October. "Heaven Can Wait" is now available at digital outlets, and the physical album is due January 26th.

When Beck isn't standing next to men with half beards like in the above video, he and his Record Club — presently featuring Wilco and Feist — are covering Skip Spence's Oar one song per week over at the Modern Guilt singer's busy official Website.

Related Stories:
• Flashback: Beck Performs With Charlotte Gainsbourg's Mom
• Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck Share New Song "IRM" Online
• Beck's Record Club Tackles Skip Spence's "Oar" with Wilco, Feist

• 
  MUSIC The Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments
• 
  MOVIES & TV 'Game of Thrones': The Show Vs. the Books
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Facebook IPO vs. Shareholders
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive: Garbage Rip Through 'I Think I'm Paranoid'

Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter