Final Placement vs. VW Trainwreck in Battle of Awful Music Videos UPDATE

[jump] First up we have VW Trainwreck and the video for their song "VW ThemeWreck:"And the plucky upstarts Final Placement with their video for "Shine:""Shine" by Final Placement from sharity world on Vimeo.VW Trainwreck's video is like listening to someone laugh at their own bad joke for three and a...

By Michael Lopez

February 24, 2010

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18478561",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "16759093",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759092",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759094",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        }
      ]

First up we have VW Trainwreck and the video for their song "VW ThemeWreck:"

And the plucky upstarts Final Placement with their video for "Shine:"

"Shine" by Final Placement from sharity world on Vimeo.

VW Trainwreck's video is like listening to someone laugh at their own bad joke for three and a half minutes. Not only is the song their "theme song," but the video itself is two years old. The bassist in their video is no longer in the band, if we are to believe the band's website, so why the hell release the video anyway? Why even continue to record music? The questions about this band are endless, and any answer that will come will be lame, corny and probably make a reference to Family Guy. By the way, VW Trainwreck, you cannot rise from the "ashes of a stale and decayed Arizona punk scene" when your music is stale and decayed itself. Lobbing cheap shots at your local music scene won't help your band get any better. It doesn't work that way.

Final Placement...oh where to begin? The band is from Midlake, Texas, they are all teenagers (from the looks of it, I'm no detective) and they play Christian rock. That being said, I enjoy their video immensely more than VW Trainwreck's. It is that rare video that is so bad that its actually enjoyable. The singer, the guitar playing, the North Face fleece...it's all just one magical concoction of the perfect viral video -- making the rounds for all the wrong reasons. I'd rather re-watch this little doozy than subject myself to VW Trainwreck's abomination ever again.

So it begs the question: Which one do you prefer? Vote seriously, vote sarcastically, or don't vote at all. But I'd love to hear what you think in the comments, even though I assume the majority of you will vote for VW Trainwreck due to their confusingly large and fervent fan base. Throw out production values, dismiss any preconceived notions you may have and try to determine which video is actually more enjoyable to you.

If you haven't seen Final Placement's video yet, then you're welcome. Watch out for that guitar solo at 2:08 -- you've been warned. Need to see the solo on an endless loop? You got it.

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.