Rolling Stone (May 30, 1996) p.46

THE VIDEO FILE

WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC LIKES HIS TARGETS DEAD serious: fun-loving icons like Sting 
and Nirvana were tailormade for Yankovic's brand of absurdist parody. In theory 
his "Amish Paradise," which owes nothing but its tune to Coolio's "Gangsta's 
Paradise," seems allwrong. The target here isn't Coolio but those sober, hard-
working Christians who have been making us laugh for more than two centuries. 
Face it: the Amish are funny, jokes about the Amish are funny, and Yankovic 
makes all of them in this simple, sunny, green-and-gold series of goofy 
vignettes. Maybe he has a deeper point, one about outsiders creating their own 
Edens. Or maybe not.

There's an alternative-video-by-numbers kit out there somewhere, and Marilyn 
Manson have bought one. In the band's video for its droning, unnecessary cover 
of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams," the freaky, Iggy Pop-thin singer - made up with 
an unwholesome, insectoid look - is filmed with colored lights (everything's 
nuclear green and pylon orange), writhing about in an abandoned space filled 
with debris. Meanwhile the film performs cute tricks like pretending to be all
scratched up. This is an example of a jumped-up novelty act getting a little 
cash - and blowing it.

Hype Williams is the hip-hop director to beat, and the gorgeous, silly and scary 
look of his video for Busta Rhymes' "Woo-hah!! Got You All in Check" is so fresh 
it's still flopping around on the hook. Shot almost entirely in nerve-racking 
close-ups, the video creates an interior nightscape ofdeep primary colors, 
ominous or twisted spatial effects, and the sight of Busta himself, 
gesticulating vigorously and wearing a number of puffy outfits. Props are few 
(candles in one scene, a slamming red ride in another), hats are big, and, like 
the song's irresistible refrain, the whole feel is as extravagant as it is 
menacing. 

By Arion Berger