We here at SFL.Media are huge fans of EDM music and culture. I, myself have been listening to DJs and the electronic sound since I was a burnout / ketamine kid in the 90’s when groups like Orbital, The Orb, Carl Cox and 808 State were the biggest of the big. (Forgive me, there are so many more; this was just a sampling)
My favorite DJ though by far was Apnex Twin aka AFX aka Polygon Window aka Richard James. Aphex Twin is one of the most influential and enigmatic figures in electronic music. If electronic music has its own mad scientist / trickster God, it’s him.
James was born in August 18, 1971, in Cornwall, England. His EDM genres include: Ambient, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), techno, acid, jungle, & drill ’n’ bass. He’s widely considered the single most important electronic musician of the 1990s, and his influence reaches far beyond dance music into hip-hop, pop, experimental, film scoring, and even modern AI music aesthetics. Basically, the man is a fucking genius.
Now you can go down the rabbit hole and look into all of his musical achievements. But it is his music videos that seem to get people really talking. And there is one particular music video that will be featured here that will BLOW YOUR MIND!!!!
The video is titled “WINDOWLICKER” (directed by Chris Cunningham) and I want you to watch this video in its entirety before reading on. So stop right here and watch. You will thank me or hate me…..It’s 10 minutes long, so crack a beer.
Cunningham is closely associated with Aphex Twin and directed several of his most famous videos, including “Come to Daddy” another masterpiece. His work is known for distorted human forms, uncanny realism, and body-horror aesthetics.
“Windowlicker” is often cited as one of the most influential electronic music videos ever made, both for its technical innovation and its satirical take on hip-hop and sexualized music video tropes.
Pretty insane, right? I mean WTF!?!?! What did you just watch? Will your life ever be the same? So, for the first about the first FOUR MINUTES (which is semi-skippable) you get two cliched West Coast gangsta types driving in their hooptie cruising for some hoochies to “snuggle up with”. There is tons of cursing. Tons of N-Bombs. Tons of the cliched, “I don’t give a fuck” exclamations, and more. This is the worst part of the video, but does set up what is about to come.
After all the bullshit, a stretch-limo comes through smashing into them, and this is the arrival of our boy…Mr. James!!!
It is at this point the video takes off. There is dancing, umbrella choreography, booties, limo flexin’, hairy chests, gold chains, hoochies, more booties, and completely surreal imagery, culminating with the sexy “buck-toothed” hideous girl that will take your breath away literally!!!!
Once she arrives the song itself changes gears from experimental EDM knob twitching into a guitar-like heavy riff that makes me want to get into y car and drive 200mph in complete reckless abandon!!!!! At this point of the video, it is just booty after booty after booty and champagne showers. Basically, the stuff dreams are made of if you like chocolate.
Now, here is the interesting thing about this video. This is the college course portion of the analysis. The video was met with a ton of controversy. And while it wasn’t officially “banned” worldwide, it was heavily restricted. MTV and other music channels refused to air the full “Windowlicker” video during daytime hours It was pushed to late-night slots or cut-down edits. Some stations wouldn’t play it at all in certain regions.
The video hit multiple red flags for late-’90s TV due to “explicit sexual satire” (the limo scene, exaggerated misogyny played as parody). Extremely uncanny CGI faces pasted onto women’s bodies, and a vibe that was intentionally uncomfortable, ironic, and hostile to typical “music video sexuality”.
MTV execs basically didn’t know how to contextualize it. It wasn’t straightforwardly sexual or moralistic. It was actually mocking an entire genre. In today’s world, it may even be considered racist, sad to say.
So the video was often aired on MTV2, 120 Minutes, or experimental blocks. Sometimes it was played uncensored late at night, and sometimes it was replaced with shorter edits or pulled entirely. Despite the restrictions, it still became one of the most famous music videos of the era. It won major awards. And it cemented Aphex Twin & Chris Cunningham as untouchable icons.
For me, this is one of the coolest, strangest, most interesting, remember forever music videos ever made. I was so happy to do this article because it gave me a change to watch the video another 20 times, even though I have seen it well over 100.
If this video or article did anything for you, check out more of Aphex Twin’s discography and music videos. I promise you it will be one of the top five greatest things you will ever accomplish in your whole life.
