Beta State not-so-subtly reference "Breaking Bad" in their "Start A Clean Slate" video.
San Francisco pop rockers Beta State are big fans of the AMC series "Breaking Bad." Durr, who isn't?! It's one of the most compelling dramas on television in, like, ever. But no, really, they're big fans. So much so that they filmed their new "Start A Clean Slate" video in the style of the show, packing in as many allusions to Walter White and his gang of love-to-hate-them meth dealers as possible. The results are a fanboy's dream.
Watch Beta State's "Start a Clean Slate" video after the jump.
In case you haven't seen "Breaking Bad," whose viewers will recognize this as the most obvious bit of advice ever, getting involved in the meth trade is not something you really want to try at home, kids. Unless you're into that whole "watching your life crash down around you" thing. The band certainly make it look like an efficient operation at first: meeting a group of ominous dealers in the desert, and beginning their drug running game. But complications arise, of course. Who would've guessed!?
"You make your own bad habits, wonder why you fail?" sings Matt McDonald over screaming guitars. "You can't outrun the past. Let's try and find the long way home."
The band, who just released their new LP, #FRIENDSHIP, know how hard it can be to shake off the sense of unease and frustration from watching a few too many episodes of "Breaking Bad" in a row. Drummer Adrian Robison explained the thinking behind the video in a release:
"The idea for this "Breaking Bad"-themed video came from me laying in bed, drifting into dream land, [and] dreaming about "Breaking Bad" and how good the show was. It then dawned on me: All of us in the band LOVE this show, and we NEED to do a tribute music video for it ASAP. Then I thought, why don't we have our band be the distribution chain for Walter White's "Blue Sky." I got out of bed and wrote the bulk of the treatment till about 7 a.m. I presented the idea to the guys thinking it would be shot down (I thought it was too crazy of a concept for them to approve of it), but instead they unanimously agreed that this needed to be our next video. After finding our director, Angelo Ibanez, we quickly brushed up on 4.5 seasons of "Breaking Bad" to see how many cool references we could put in there. There is a ton of very subtle and not subtle "Breaking Bad" references littered throughout the video. I think it would be fun to see how many references people can point out."
So far our favorite is the pizza on the roof! Recognize any others?
