It's Not Fun, Don't Do It is a Pandora's Box of items related to the cool Canadian duo. There's a Toronto concert (with nonstop commentary by the twenty-something twins), a collection of their own clips, and even an amusing documentary about their on-the-road silliness. If all you know about the Quin sisters is that The White Stripes covered their "Walking with a Ghost," this rich portrait is enough to turn you into a T&S zealot. We got the pair out of bed so they could tell us about their favorite music movies and DVDs.
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984)
Sara: One of the problems with live concert DVDs is that they're not as exciting as the show. This isn't like a live music DVD; it was filmed like it was a movie. Stop Making Sense is in a different category then like Sum 41, or me and Tegan playing on DVD. We're like bands saying "Here's a bunch of stuff we've done. Look at it." [The Talking Heads film] is in a completely different category because it has a storyline and an idea and it connects to all these different things. I love the idea of changing the set and making the live performance onscreen appear as interesting as a movie. It actually makes sense!
DiG! (2003)
Tegan: DiG! upsets a lot of misconceptions about how great it is to be in a band. In reality, we're all creepy musicians who spend an enormous amount of time basking in our own dysfunction. The whole movie is like "Holy sh*t." I had my mom watch it, and she was like, "Oh my God!" I thought, "I wish our band was like that film all the time," although I cringed when the guy from the Brian Jonestown Massacre kicked a fan. When we started touring a zillion years ago, my favorite part was bringing a camera to film the worst moments. I'd splice 'em into a funny little video -- there's actually one on our new DVD. Actually, when things get really heated, I am told to turn the camera off. We're family, so we have to get along.
Neil Young -- Greendale (2003)
Sara: It's the film that Neil Young made that correlated with the album. It looks like he made the movie in his backyard. We're drawn to that lo-fi aspect. It's absolutely senseless to spend $100,000 on a music video. Why not make something for $10,000? Even if it's not going to get played anywhere, it gives you more artistic freedom. By the same account, I don't want to see Prince making a Kraft dinner and combing his hair. I want to see Prince with flames and dancing and outfits and girls. I want to go behind the scenes with a band like Wilco; I want to keep the mystery with Prince.
Sonic Youth - Corporate Ghost: Videos 1990 -2002 (2004)
Sara: They talked to all the directors and people who were in the videos--like Kathleen Hanna of Le Tigre and Spike Jonze--about how they were made. That would have been interesting to put on our DVD, but almost everyone involved in our videos is shy and sort of strange. It was exciting to watch all these different people from 1986, talking about just renting house and making a Sonic Youth video. Nowadays MTV really influences the way that people make videos, but if somebody does something completely random sometimes it really bonds, like OutKast's "Bombs over Baghdad." There was a moment where the population would have been like, "This doesn't look like Puff Daddy."
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Tegan: My all time favorite! It was made in the early 1970s. Paul Williams did all the music, and he starred in the movie as well. It was almost like a serious spoof on Phantom of the Opera. It's an insane movie. It was made for people to watch on drugs, although funnily enough, we didn't watch it on drugs. My parents had the soundtrack, and we used to dance to it when we were kids. Williams did the music, too. It's in the same vein as the Rocky Horror Picture Show, rock music with a Broadway feel. He's kind of underrated. He did the music for Bugsy Malone with Jodie Foster and he did the Muppet Movie, too. He's Mr. Rainbow Connection! It's almost a prerequisite. If you're a friend of ours, you've probably seen it.
