Goodwin Analysis - Never Miss A Beat

Never Miss A Beat - Kaiser Chiefs

Video directed by Goodtimes

This music video from the Kaiser Chiefs uses a track of indie-rock genre as shown by:

• Band wearing ordinary clothes
• Filmed on location as opposed to a studio
• Extras don't appear to wearing costumes (besides masks)
• Overall production value looks low
• The way the band performs the song

For the most part, the lyrics are amplified by the visuals. The song is generally about the anti-social gang culture of youths that was prevalent in the UK when the single was released in 2008 as in the chorus, "It's cool to know nothin'". The music video reflects this by showing seemingly anti-social behaviour of fictional gangs wearing matching masks and costumes (e.g. the "Eastside bird gang" who wear black capes and white bird masks as seen below). Furthermore, the chorus with the line, "...take a look / At the kids on the street / No they never miss a beat", the ending of the music video highly amplifies this as the various gangs perform a 'spontaneous' dance routine on a street, in time with the beat.

A few times in the video, the lyrics are illustrated by the visuals, for example:

• During the line, "Television's on the blink...", the visuals are of a malfunctioning television.
• At the beginning of the line, "Here comes the referee..." referring a to policeman, we see one on screen.

In the music video, most of the cuts are done to the beat, especially on each line of the lyrics. As the beat changes (during the chorus), the pace of the cuts changes accordingly to match the new beat.

Although no members of the Kaiser Chiefs have a solo in this song, when only the guitar and drums are playing, there are two short shots of them being played in rapid succession (see below).

I believe that the record company is trying to sell this track by appealing to a large audience with an almost tongue-in-cheek video. They are also trying to appeal to fans because the Kaiser Chiefs do not have too much presence in it and most people would probably not be aware of who they were unless they had heard their music before.

The band is being shown as being very proud of their British identity as they include certain distinctly British imagery such as:

• They perform in a pub
• There are several council estates in the video (in Thamesmead)
• The police officer is wearing a traditional British uniform

This video is like their other videos in that, they're all very different to each other. The only similarities I could find were the fact that it features the band and that they present themselves as an indie band (with ordinary clothing, etc.). Consequently, I think this represents a change in the band's image to more of a optimistic, feelgood style.

On several occasions, this music video makes references to looking, as in:

• In the video, many people watch the gangs as they run through the streets.
• There is a television screen which the band frequently watch in the first half of the video
• There is one part of the video with close-ups on the band members' eyes turning to look at something editing together very quickly.

This music video makes intertextual references to the news by having the lead singer on television as a presenter for the fictional "LS" news channel. This is because of themes raised in the lyrics about anti-social behaviour that was frequently discussed on the news in 2008.

This video is predominantly based around the narrative that various gangs are taking over the city however there are elements of performance at the end of the music video when the Kaiser Chiefs performing the last choruses and the gangs perform a dance routine.