Astaire Brings Sexyback

Prior to my days of owning quality production equipment, I’d experiment with video editing by creating random music videos that mashed up old movies with modern songs. The concept was somewhat inspired by “Dark Side of the Rainbow”.

With “Fred Astaire Brings Sexyback”, my concept was pretty simple. I realized artists like Michael Jackson had “borrowed” dance moves from legends like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Later, modern artists like Justin Timberlake and Usher had “borrowed” from Michael Jackson. Thus, what would happen if Fred Astaire danced to Justin Timberlake music? This was my silly attempt at finding out and bridging a 60 year gap.

Soon after uploading the video, it went viral on the internet and received close to a million views, but unfortunately it was pulled from YouTube as part of Warner Music Group’s blanket attempt to pull their music from the site. Oddly enough, there are still countless videos on YouTube that use the song “Sexyback”. Oh well.

Clips from:

-”You’re All the World to Me” from
“Royal Wedding” (1951)

-”Putting on the Ritz” from “Blue Skies” (1946)

Music: Justin Timberlake – “Sexyback” (FutureSex/LoveSounds) (2006)

Btw, after finishing it I observed that the video reminded me a bit of Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” video that starred Christopher Walken.