The music video headline of the day comes from Bleachers, who got the idea to film a music video for the band's single "Rollercoaster" while performing on top of a rolling ice cream truck. Not using special effects or anything like that...the band was literally standing on top of the vehicle as it drove.
"The idea of getting on top of a car and playing on a highway felt distinctly '90s in a way that excited me about videos I saw growing up," said frontman Jack Antonoff according to Pitchfork. "Didn't think it would be acutely (actually?) dangerous --- the brakes ended up going out and we literally almost died. There's something special about almost dying for a video."
The videos gathered below by Music Times don't involve stunts nearly as dangerous as those explained above, but they go to show that ice cream trucks have always had a special place in music videos.
"Today" by Smashing Pumpkins (1993)
Any discussion on ice cream trucks in music videos has to begin (and could probably end) with Smashing Pumpkins' most classic visual piece, "Today." The biggest (and best) single from Siamese Dream was accompanied by a curious art piece where frontman Billy Corgan serves as the ice cream man, giving his product to kids and then driving his vehicle out into the badlands. He picks up a cross-dressing James Iha and swings by a gas station to meet Jimmy Chamberlin and D'Arcy Wretsky. The video soon breaks down into the group splashing paint all over each other and the truck in a Dead Poets Society-esque tribute to the freedom of youth.
"Ice Cream Truck" by Cazwell (2010)
New York rapper Cazwell wrote this 2010 single in a jiff for the soundtrack to his buddy J.B. Ghuman's film Spork. Despite the title, this video gets the least airtime for ice cream trucks. There is, however, plenty of ice cream-oriented sexual innuendo in both the lyrics and video. After all, Cazwell is best known for tracks such as "The Sex That I Need" and "All Over Your Face." This is one of the few rap videos by male performers that serve female (or gay male) audiences best: Most of it features sculpted men (including the emcee) grooving in their underwear.
"Bangarang" by Skrillex (2012)
The concept for Skrillex's huge 2012 track starts out innocently enough: Three young friends decide to carry out a Great Train Robbery scheme on an ice cream truck to make off with the sweets within. In the process, the driver is shot with a slingshot, tripped with marbles, cherry bombed and has his hand smashed in the door. Things take a drastic turn when the video flash forwards to the same boys knocking over an armored truck with similar methods and more lethal weaponry. The video manages to go out on a cute note however, as the main protagonist is seen giving the original ice cream truck driver a briefcase full of cash in return for a cone (although it's implied the driver lost his hand in the original attack).
"Ice Cream Truck" by CYclone (2013)
CYclone is a Christian rapper so you can bet that his ice cream truck won't be serving the same lewd content as Cazwell's. Instead, the emcee compares hip-hop and spreading the word as a hustle of its own, and references himself as an ice cream man trying to get his word out to the kids. The video tells the same story, flashing between the real CYclone driving his personal vehicle and handing out albums, versus an ice cream man CYclone driving a "Snow Dog" truck and handing out both albums and dairy treats from his vehicle. Low budget but still delicious.
"I Don't Sell Molly No More" by ILOVEMAKONNEN (2014)
ILOVEMAKONNEN is a more traditional hustle hip-hopper from Atlanta so you can bet that his ice cream truck will be serving product much worse legally than Cazwell's. Although the rapper claims not to sell molly anymore, he assures us that cocaine and weed are still on the menu. Fortunately the small children seen partying around his truck merely consume ice cream. This video quickly gets creepy however (you knew that a list themed around ice cream trucks had to have something creepy going on) as the song enters a psychedelic bridge accompanied by colors as warped and exaggerated as two scoops of the "Superman" flavor.
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