VHS Review // Michael Myerz "Goofs" (Forever Bogus)
One thing that I really appreciate about modern technology that I don't really talk about is YouTube Live. I'll go on YouTube quite often just to see what is streaming live. The other night, I found this really bonkers skateboarding competition where the skaters were going over these really hard looking obstacles and for a few of them if they fell off they went into water. This has always made me wonder why I could go to a store and find a VHS (and then DVD) of what is commonly referred to as a "skate video" but I don't see them so much any more and even in streaming it's not like it once was.
Michael Myerz (along with Forever Bogus) have created this VHS which has skateboarding on it as well as music and other facets of life. It's probably one of the wildest things you will see on VHS, right up there with Tom Green's Subway Monkey Hour, though that didn't really have skateboarding in it. This also just makes me long for the days where we had not only more record stores but stores which sold music but also a mess of other different things. I'd play this video on a loop in a store like that. (If rent wasn't so expensive I'd love to have a store like that now)
To say that Michael Myerz is a musician is to say that Vincent Van Gogh was a painter. It's an understatement not only because of the level of music which Michael Myerz is operating at, but because of the other aspects of this artistic journey which are represented throughout this VHS that really does end up telling a story. While on the surface and through reading what I'm typing about it, the overall idea might feel like chaos but it is chaos with a purpose. By the end of "Goofs" you'll realize that. And just the amount of time it had to take to create something like this because of all of the smaller pieces which make up the whole needs to be noted as well.
Technical aspects out of the way, what you can expect to find on "Goofs" are three different things. There is music, both in the form of music videos and live performances. Sometimes these are noted before they come on, so you can know "Oh, I'm about to see the music video for Mall Rat" and sometimes you feel like Michael Myerz is doing stand up but then it turns into a live performance of the music. At first, you'll hear this almost rap-metal sound which reminds me of Limp Bizkit or ICP. Both of those artists are also referenced in here, so it kind of makes sense.
But by the end, when you start to hear songs such as "Friends", you'll get into this more care-free vibe that you'll begin to hear, musically, as something only Michael Myerz can do. The second aspect of this VHS is of course the skateboarding, which is just fantastic. I could watch skateboarding on a loop all day and sometimes I just might. The third part of this VHS is simply the "everything else" factor. Sometimes it's a skit where it's Michael Myerz pulling pranks on his friends and other times it's just Myerz talking about how he feels like Ben Stein is dead inside. But, ultimately, whatever this is about and whatever it is doing still all feels connected.
As an example of this connection, there are clips of a mall. I'm actually kind of jealous of this mall because it has a Hot Topic (which also brings out the song "Hot Topic Hootenanny") and I just feel nostalgic for the days when I'd go wander around my local mall. Maybe somewhere like Hot Topic or Sam Goody would have this video playing, but again, both of those stores don't exist in my local mall any more so it's not like I can just go somewhere and think "This looks cool" and then buy something and be open up to a new experience that changes my life. I think streaming over physical media has really taken that away from a lot of people.
"Goofs" is also a way to promote the physical record and zine (Duh Magazine) Michael Myerz has released, though there are also mentions of both "Mall Rat" and "TV Dinner" coming soon, which makes it more confusing as to when this VHS actually released. Your best bet is to go to the Instagram pages for either Michael Myerz or Forever Bogus and ask about this VHS, but again, I just feel like we lost something we don't talk about enough where I can't wander into a store and randomly buy this VHS because I think it looks like something I'd enjoy.
This all comes together with a Christmas music video near the end that reminds me of NKOTB and then just an interview with Michael Myerz discussing how he got into putting out his music on VHS (shout out Lunchmeat) and also just how he got into VHS in the first place. I think that's something that just sits with so many people (myself included) who grew up in the days of VHS and cassettes and kids today won't know about it. I still remember (and have) the first cassette I ever got. What's the modern version of that? The first album you ever streamed on Spotify? That just feels so wrong.
So if you think "Goofs" is going to be a bunch of music because Michael Myerz is a musican, you're right. It is that. But Michael Myerz is so much more than just a musician and this VHS is exactly what brings all of that together. All of those pieces which make this feel like so much more than just the music itself (and the music is such a great part of this as well) and it also feels like something that only Michael Myerz could do. It's not quite a scrapbook or a video diary, but it's a representation of a period of time through clips both short and long. It's not something you can just play a show and make some music videos and then create, but most artists aren't putting in the same level of work (and absurdity) that Michael Myerz is.
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