A deconstruction of the music video Poison Heart by The Ramones.

1. Poison Heart – The Ramones (1992,
Radioactive Records)
Music Video Deconstruction

2. VIDEO HERE.

3. Goodwin’s First Feature
 “Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (eg
stage performance in metal video, dance routine for
boy/girl band).”
 This video obeys this rule well, as the generic video
for punk-rock bands are performance based, but The
Ramones also use an injection of story based
elements to back this up.
 The dark setup of the lighting connotes the idea of the
band being slightly darker than some, which is
another common stereotype.

4. The Second Feature
 “There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).”
 The song talks of ‘everybody having a poisoned
heart’, whilst the narrative within the video
focuses on a small boy being corrupted from the
path of God by a strange demonic looking figure
(here). This illustrates the idea of the lyrics, and
the use of the young boy connotes that innocence
is easily corrupted when we are little, giving the
song more of a message to it.
 The repetition of the chorus is often accompanied
with shots of the narrative sections of the video,
allowing it to play alongside, or amplify, the lyrics.

5. The Third Feature
 “There is a relationship between music and visuals
(whether illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).”
 The flashing light in the video corresponds to the
music to amplify the guitar and drums. This is denoted
by the way the light flashes on beat with the drums
sometimes, or whenever the guitarist performs a
certain riff (see 0:24-0:26 in the video, or next slide).
 When the chorus or other enthusiastic playing kicks
in, the video often illustrates this with showing more
action on-screen in the narrative, either with the
young boy struggling or the demon-like creature
fighting back or lashing out. This reflects the beat of
the music and makes the video seem more
aesthetically pleasing.

6. 0:24-0:26, band
member
0:43
(Demonic
Figure)
0:15, band member
close-up
0:19, religious imagery
in crosses, priest etc.

7. The Fourth Feature
 “The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of
close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which
recur across their work (a visual style).”
 There are lots of close-ups of the band themselves (here),
despite the dark backlighting. These shots are mostly of their
faces or instruments, highlighting the popularity of certain brands
or showing the viewer what the band looks like, perhaps to
promote certain fashion ideas.
 The song is taken from the album “Mondo Bizarro” (1992), which
has a strange album cover that relates to the video in that it uses
the same sort of colours and has the same connotations of
‘crazy’ behaviour or attitudes.

8. The Fifth Feature
 “There is frequently reference to the notion of
looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc.)
and/or particularly voyeuristic treatment of the
female body.”
 The idea of the demon watching the little boy or
following him follows this rule, and connotes an
unsavoury feeling about the character.
 The band also seem to ‘watch’ the narrative
sections sometimes, though this could just be
because of certain editing techniques such as the
eyeline match.

9. The Final Feature
 “There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV
programmes, other music videos, etc.)”
 The video gives as lot of denotations towards
religion, (here), possibly the catholic religion, with
the use of crosses, the priest and the demon-like
character, connoting a right and wrong style ideal
within the video.
 It is possible that the video also relates to the film
Pet Semetery II directed by Mary Lambert, as it
was used in this film. However, without watching
the film, the intertextual references are hard to
pick up on completely.

10. The Video As A Whole
 Overall, the video is stereotypically mostly
performance-based, although it does contain an
interesting narrative that prevents the video from
being boring.
The use of shots of the band promote the band
themselves and the ideas of mystery and unique
ideas are denoted heavily with the bizarrely
staged narrative creating an almost
uncomfortable feeling in the audience. This is
very generic of punk-rock bands that wanted to
stand out and be a little bit different.