I don't know if this topic has legs, but we'll see. I used to LOVE music videos when I was growing up. Being Canadian, we had no MTV (unless you had one of those giant sattelite dishes in your front yard), and had to make due with Muchmusic for a looong time. MM didn't get good until well into the '90s, when the CRTC loosened some of the Canadian content standards (or maybe the music directors just got smarter). Anyway, the focus of this thread is music videos. What do you think are the best videos of all time? I believe in some cases the video made the song better (pretty much every Madonna track ever), and in other cases the video itself could be viewed as a piece of art (no, really). So, for those of you old enough to remember, what are the greatest music videos ever made, and why?
Thriller by Michael Jackson, just for the Thriller dance (only Michael Jackson's, not done by some random)... My Favourite Game by The Cardigans. Shows everyone how to drive in the Mad Max universe, you know, because sticking to your lane isn't paramount... (it was banned for a few years on MTV, too, so you know it's awesome and hilarious)
Oh man! Good idea! So many of my childhood/teenage years were spent watching MTV that lots of videos stoke certain fires in the deeper recesses of my psyche. I was almost 5 and my sister was almost 13 so we were waiting by the set the day MTV launched (August 1, 1981) and I vaguely remember watching Video Killed the Radio Starfor the first time. It was a weird video and didn't make much sense to me then but my sister was ecstatic about it. It wasn't until I saw the gloriousness of a Rick Springfield video that I understood and boy, did I ever understand! Mmmmm! Off the top of my half-hammered brain, the first video that came to mind upon reading the focus was this: I could swear that the scene where he stabs the thing was longer, the thing was shinier (looked more like aluminum foil) and had packing peanuts spewing out or some shit. That video was followed shortly by Weird Al's version, also noteworthy, if for no other reason than the Greg Kihn cameo. I'm sure I'll remember more later. Many videos had little things that captured your attention, like the heart-shaped earrings from Madonna's Borderline video.
Midget Jester. Classic. Just look what it inspired: One hit wonders who managed to make overalls even more iconically white-trash than they already were. One of the original "Greatest Videos Ever", the man, the myth, the only guy weird enough to be kicked out of Genesis: Colin Hay is one weird lookin dude.
obviously: obviously: This one was cutting edge for it's time. Spike Jonze! I keep remembering new ones: Chevy Chase totally makes this one,great song though: Really catchy song and awesome video Watching this one in Highdef gets me hard. This is live but I consider it a music video because of the quick cuts. It's so awesome. Clever!
My pubescent self LOVED this video, still pretty solid though the song seems to have diminished slightly in quality...
Old-School Much better than the 1903 silent French film that inspired it. Newer Stuff Those crazy Japs... Sound quality is a bit off, not doing this excellent song justice, but it's a tremendous video, with an awesome ending.
Everybody and anybody knows that Thriller is and always will be the best music video ever made. It is the touchstone for every other video to follow. Another personal favourite is this marvel: This one's a feast for the senses (No, I do not watch House, this song was made 13 years ago): And we couldn't have this thread without an Adam Jones designed- Tool video, especially THIS one. Alex Grey's climax to this vid is the most spectacular animated sequence I have seen in my entire life (starts at 8:45):
One of my favorite Madonna videos. The colors are really beautiful, and it's a rare moment of softness/vulnerability for her. This video gave me nightmares when I was 12. Nightmares, people! My fav Janet Jackson. I love her 80's videos choreographed by Paula Abdul, but this was her first video all grown up and sexified. It's classic. One of my favorite songs and videos...I love the imagery and the colors. And, Common and Erykah Badu aren't too bad to look at either. Last one:
Guns N Roses November Rain jumped immediately into my head when I saw this thread. I was 12 when this video came out, and despite not being the biggest GNR fan, I was enthralled every time I saw it. Nine minutes long, interspersed "live" performances and movie-esque storyline...this is why MTV was actually good back in the day. I have to go find my old Appetite for Destruction tape now.
Most of these have probably already been posted, and I've gone through and seen that they are. But this is a mixture of reiteration and some new ones: This is the first music video I can remember: I'm into fake movies: Fake Tv Shows: And times gone by: I went so far as to learn the "dance moves" to this one:
Sorry Dcc001, but I love the song and vid: This video is one of the greatest EVER. Gorgeously shot, and a great song to boot: DISCLAIMER: This remarkably evil video by NIN was banned instantly when released. It stars S&M superfreak Bob Flanagan and it's pure, unflinchingly gory torture porn. Don't say I didn't warn you: NSFW
I forgot this one earlier. It's another one that got banned by MTV... I think the original is still banned, but, here it is. A bona fide classic... Definitely NSFW content. NSFW I do believe I just won this thread.
So do the majority of people here think that the 'banned' videos were the good ones? Does having explicit and/or controversial content make a video good simply by default? As for Thriller, I think that was the silver bullet (pun intended) for music videos and ensured that the media was ultimately doomed. Why? Because Michael Jackson hit it completely out of the park, and he did it when the medium was in its infancy. Thriller was, what? 1984? And look at the content: huge budget, hotshot (at the time) Hollywood director, an actual plot to the video, a remix of the song, plus the best choreography that has ever been seen. It could never, ever be topped. How was the art of videos supposed to keep getting better, when the juggernaut had already occurred? As for me, I can't NOT list the Queen of music videos, Madonna. Virtually every single female popstar that has followed in her wake has missed the point entirely; she used her sexuality to convey her power. She didn't use her sexuality to get her power. Listen to the lyrics of this song - where is the modern equivalent? And even when she's crawling on her knees, you know that she's the one in charge. If you want cool visuals, Gnarls Barkley is pretty good. The only video I could find for it has a shitty sound quality, though. You'll never see this these days: a video that the band actually RECORDED THE AUDIO FOR, LIVE!!! Plain video, but I would argue a killer version of the song and they sound great live. If we're posting banned videos, how bout a BDSM Michael Hutchence (before he died from it): And my personal favourite video for recent times...cool song, and awesome effects:
I am actually proud to say that my friends and I pulled off a Eurotrash party themed entirely around Alcazar, specifically the song "Crying at the Discotheque". However, I'm a bit disappointed no one has mentioned the greatest music video of all time: