I fondly recall this video as another one of those inspirational artifacts from my childhood. I'd estimate I was in 4th grade or so when this video came out, and I was deeply mesmerized by the dynamic that plays out in the visuals. I saw things in the video that very few elementary school kids see. Again, I'm reminded of the future pyromaniac who has fleeting but memorable glimpses of matches during childhood. I was utterly fascinated by Crazy.

The lyrics of the song describe a woman who is a skilled tease-- turning men on, only to disappear. The narrator notes that this sort of behavior invariably leads to the enslavement and destruction of guys.

You turn it on,
Then you're gone
...
That kinda lovin, turns a man to a slave;
That kinda lovin, sends a man right to his grave...

The video starts with Alicia (wearing a private school uniform vaguely similar to the kind I wore at the time) skipping school. She, joined by Liv Tyler, jumps into a black convertible, and they drive off for a weekend of misadventure. While Aerosmith doesn't particularly interest me, inter-spliced with the clips of giant-lipped Steve Tyler singing, there are several delicious vignettes of the pair's hijinks.

Case in point: Alicia decides to enter Liv in an "Amateur Night Exotic Dance" competition. She convinces Liv, who promptly gets all dressed up in her finest . Alicia, meanwhile, elects to masquerade as a man in a business suit and sits in the front row of the audience. When it's Liv's turn on stage, she dances seductively while the guys in the audience look on in awe. Then, as her dance comes to its finale, Liv crawls over toward the "man in the business suit" sitting in the front row. Alicia suddenly comes to life and reveals herself to the audience, creating a stunning finish with not one, but two teen temptresses on-stage. In the last shot, we see the two scantily-clad girls sharing a bed, frolicking in the piles of cash-- the clear implication is that they are enjoying both their winnings and each other.

Later, the girls cruise past a farm, when what to their wondering eyes should appear but a chiseled guy, glistening with sweat, driving a giant tractor. The two vixens screech to a halt and yell something to the guy-- precisely what is said is left hidden from the viewer. The man, overwhelmed by their siren-song, looks overwhelmed with joy, and like an obedient dog, he instantly leaps off of his still-moving tractor. Without even wasting the time to turn off his tractor, he runs to the car and eagerly hops into the back seat. As the guy's tractor continues to drive on erratically, the three cruise off in the convertible--- the man has just thrown away his job (and his tractor) for a chance to be near the two goddesses.

Later, the two coax him into going skinny dipping in a lake. When the guy resists, the two girls just ignore him and jump in with each other, and splash each other as if they have forgotten the guy even exists. Of course, the guy instantly joins them, jumping into the lake. The scene ends with the girls, again fully clothed, driving away in their car. The guy's boxers are hanging from their rear-view mirror, and the naked man runs behind them, chases the car desperately, as the girls roar with laughter.

But the real highlight of the video is a scene in which the girls arrive at lonely gas station in the middle of nowhere. Liv pumps gas, as an old gas station attendant visibly ogles her. When she notices, Liv visibly laughs out loud at the guy's obvious state of arousal.

Meanwhile, Alicia has begun to explore the attached convenience store. She mesmerizes the clerk with a mere look, then she picks up a pair of sunglasses from the rack and tries them on, smiling seductively at the visibly shaken clerk. She sizes up the young clerk, and then, to the clerk's amazement, she holds the sunglasses directly over her open purse. She looks at the clerk as she obviously threatens to shoplift before his very eyes. The clerk, stunned by her beauty, is helpless to resist-- he sheepishly stares back, his facial expression utterly devoid of any sign of defiance.

So Alicia BLATANTLY drops the glasses in her purse-- again DARING the clerk to stop her. Instead he crumbles. He pathetically (and eagerly) nods a submissive consent-- giving her permission to take the sunglasses she has just stolen. Flushed with her newfound power power she has, Alicia steals another pair of sunglasses, and then another, and then another. She's soon joined by Liv, and the two of them both begin looting the store. They take novelty toys, snack food, lollipops, and magazines--- then walk out of the store without having paid a cent for any of the things they they took. Nor, I might add, do they pay for the tank full of gas they just pumped. As the two goddesses drive away into the night, they rudely drive over the gas station's orange cones, crushing them against the pavement. The two employees look thrilled to have been used and exploited by such beautiful women.

When I saw this video, even though I was only 10 or so-- I was OBSESSED with being like Alicia's character when I got older. I simply knew I would be just like her. In my pre-adolescent way, I even mixed the character and the actress, and developed admiration for both. For years afterwards, my mom had standing orders to buy me any of the deliciously trashy teen / glamour mags if Alicia Silverstone was featured in them. While my admiration for the character in Crazy is eternal, my admiration for Alicia Silverstone ultimately waned, and I was disappointed a few years later when she took the role of a ditzy blonde in Clueless. But by then, I had started to look to myself as my own role model.

Lastly, I must mention-- seeing this video was the first time I can clearly remember ever having any bi feelings. In the video, Alicia was clearly the person in charge, but she keeps Liz around, and eggs her on to wilder and crazier behavior. The two were visibly attracted to each other, and I can remember thinking that it wouldn't be so bad to have a female friend of this variety-- one who was in clearly love with me, easy to manipulate, and gorgeous. I was (and am) an avid diary writer, and I remember being sufficiently inspired by this notion that I composed a list of all the girls I knew at the time, and then proceeded to write numbers and symbols next to their names, thus summarizing how suitable I felt they might be for such a role. I remember being disappointed that, in my estimation, no one I knew would really be up to the task.