On August 1st of 1981, a brand new community premiered on cable known as MTV, and “Music Tv” quickly exploded as an unbelievable new means for listeners to have interaction with artists. Whereas music efficiency clips existed effectively earlier than 1981, MTV itself rewrote how artists offered and marketed themselves visually. Some labels considered it as simply one other type of product, whereas some artists beginning utilizing it as an entire new technique of expressing themselves.
Because the many years rolled on, music movies themselves was an artwork type, with pioneers like Michael Jackson and Björk pushing the format’s visible restrict. Music movies, if achieved proper, can develop into nothing brief of popular culture occasions, and probably the most high-profile administrators would take their clout within the MTV world and transition into correct movie careers, which is how icons like David Fincher, Spike Jonze, and Francis Lawrence all received their begin. MTV prophetically debuted with a too-appropriately-titled Buggles clip for “Video Killed the Radio Star”, and the controversy about whether or not video did that rages on to today. Music lovers, listed below are the 50 Best Music Movies of All Time.
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Bob Dylan “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (1967)
Report Label: Columbia
Probably the most well-known precursors to the music video format as we all know it, the clip for Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” is about as DIY as you may get. For this clip, Dylan is filmed within the alley of the Savoy Resort in London as he merely flips by means of cue playing cards on digital camera (sure, that is Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth rummaging round within the background). Synced with Dylan’s rapid-fire lyrics, the cue playing cards largely contact on the ending rhymes of every verse, however with so many traces packed into one track, even Dylan himself is having a tough time maintaining. Whereas The Beatles too have been merging the music and movie worlds with their very own multimedia empire, the simplicity of Dylan’s idea, itself shot for D.A. Pennebaker’s legendary “Do not Look Again” documentary, summed up every thing we wanted to learn about what music movies would quickly do: making us take into consideration music in a wierd new optical means.
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Michael Jackson “Billie Jean” (1983)
Report Label: Epic / CBS
Longer and weirder than you keep in mind, the precise clip for Michael Jackson’s legendary single “Billie Jean” has fairly a little bit of story. In a metropolis road, Jackson is attempting to satisfy up with scorching press merchandise Billie Jean simply as a paparazzo is attempting to get a compromising picture of him. Fortunately, MJ outsmarts him together with his magical skill to gentle up every thing he touches: lampposts, bedsheets, and even concrete tiles. Jackson strolling throughout these light-up squares is a memorable, lasting picture, and, amazingly, MTV did not wish to play it. For all the good moments that MTV supplied the world as a platform, their first few years have been largely dominated by white artists. When the CBS Information president found that MTV was refusing to play it, he threatened to tug their total roster off the channel and go public with such apparent, racist bias. MTV relented, and what are you aware: “Billie Jean” helped flip Jackson into one of many largest pop stars of all time. Helmed by Steve Barron (one of many first music video directing titans), “Billie Jean” is a star-making clip as there ever has been.
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Michael Jackson “Thriller” (1983)
Report Label: Epic / CBS
Usually cited as the best music video of all time, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is nothing in need of pure leisure. Taking the track’s horror film themes and giving it an appropriately epic therapy, John Landis’ clip for “Thriller” options Jackson attempting to scare his girlfriend with the verses to “Thriller” earlier than finally coming throughout a graveyard filled with the residing lifeless. She’s correctly scared however is quickly horrified to find that Michael has was a zombie himself. Whereas the manufacturing worth and storytelling are all top-notch (particularly given the total official clip clocks in at a then-unheard-of 13-minute runtime), the zombie dance sequence retains all of its punch practically 40 years after the actual fact. The choreography is unbelievably tight, the dancers have unbelievable precision, and we will rewatch it time and time once more and nonetheless be simply as thrilled as after we noticed it the primary time. When “Thriller” premiered, it was as big-budget as music movies may get; its impression on the shape was even larger.
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a-ha “Take On Me” (1985)
Report Label: Warner Bros.
An excellent feat of technical innovation, “Take On Me” pulled off the not possible job of utterly reversing a flop single’s industrial fortunes. The unique 1984 mixture of “Take On Me” was ignored in all places save for a-ha’s native Norway, however a stable rerecording of the synthpop quantity, when paired with a surprising live-action/animated hybrid video, result in it develop into not solely a worldwide smash but additionally a-ha’s signature track. Directed by “Billie Jean” mastermind Steve Barron, the video noticed a-ha frontman Morten Harket and actress Bunty Bailey attempt to escape from a hand-drawn animated world collectively, with every body painfully etched through a way known as rotoscoping. Eye-popping when it premiered, the video for “Take On Me” has taken on a life all its personal, parodied and ripped-off too many instances to rely. The track grew to become so standard that their follow-up single “The Solar All the time Shines on T.V.” was once more lensed by Barron and even has a cameo of Harket’s “animated” alter-ego. The band could not escape the legacy of “Take On Me”, so that they correctly went on to embrace it as an alternative and are nonetheless recording new music as much as today.
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Peter Gabriel “Sledgehammer” (1986)
Report Label: Charisma / Geffen
Usually rivaling “Thriller” within the dialog of what really is the best music video of all time, Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” is nothing in need of a visible tour de pressure. That includes a who’s-who of generation-defining animators (the Brothers Quay, Nick Park of Aardman Animations) and directed by Stephen R. Johnson, this really nutty stop-animation journey was achieved by having Gabriel lay underneath a sheet of glass for 16 hours as groups of designers labored on getting each body proper. Exploding with shade and magnificence, the visible element of “Sledgehammer” utterly rewrote the general public notion of Gabriel, who was usually considered because the art-rock weirdo in Genesis who took that weirdness with him when he went solo. Now, seeing his wacky faces and numerous animated poses recast him as an oddball pop star, “Sledgehammer” quickly turning into his solely U.S. chart-topper. Successful 9 out of the ten MTV Video Music Awards it was nominated for, “Sledgehammer” nonetheless hits like its namesake with complete inventive pressure.
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“Bizarre Al” Yankovic “Fats” (1988)
Report Label: Scotti Brothers
As MTV grew right into a cultural pressure, so did its sense of self-seriousness. There have been popstar goofballs that confirmed up now and again, however by the point Michael Jackson secured the companies of none aside from Martin Scorsese to take the reigns of his huge new single “Dangerous”, the road between MTV and Hollywood blurred to the purpose of disappearing fully. Fortunately, the accordion-playing “Bizarre Al” Yankovic knew learn how to deflate self-aggrandizing personalities (politely, in fact), and when it got here to his second MJ music video parody (his first being “Eat It”), “Fats” proved to be a game-changer. Helmed by his supervisor Jay Levey and that includes a customized fats swimsuit developed by Kevin Yagher, Yankovic’s lovely and loving skewering of Jackson’s leather-clad persona ended up being iconic in its personal proper, as “Fats Yankovic” would usually finish his dwell exhibits for years. Imitating every thing from the monitoring photographs to the assorted MJ strikes that set off sound results to Jackson’s too-dramatic intro, Yankovic had the time of his life proving that parody songs and movies could possibly be commercially viable in their very own proper. In stating that we should not take our pop stars too critically, Yankovic ended up turning into a pop star himself, and all as a result of he too knew the facility of music movies as an leisure medium.
Report Label: A&M
Because the artwork of the music video developed, some artists leaned a bit too far into the medium, attempting to make mini-movies with their narrative clips. Others, in the meantime, arguably prioritized wild visuals and intelligent ideas over high quality songs. But even previous to the MTV period, musicians all the time had the facility to interrupt by means of on little greater than their uncooked efficiency skill. Even with the heavy expectations coming from a pop music household, Janet Jackson proved to be engaged on a efficiency degree all her personal. Whereas clips like “The Pleasure Precept” and “Miss You A lot” confirmed how effectively she labored each solo and with group choreography, the navy precision that graces “Rhythm Nation” is a feat unto itself. Directed by Dominic Sena and shot in crisp black & white, Janet and her professional staff of dancers take over what seems to be a steam manufacturing unit to ship legendary strikes with astonishing uniformity. From the poses to the costuming to the ballroom-inspired dance break, Jackson proved that to be able to make a long-lasting impression on viewers’ eyes, typically all you want is a transparent idea and a few of the greatest dance strikes ever filmed.
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Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U” (1990)
Report Label: Chrysalis
As MTV was reaching its first decade of existence, the music video format had already developed numerous instances over, as much as the purpose the place labels have been budgeting for movies, and a few new acts have been dismissed as “MTV bands,” considering of their visuals earlier than their sonics. With such colourful extra, “Nothing Compares 2 U” served as a pointy distinction to all the noise, because the comparatively unknown Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor grew to become an instantaneous famous person with nothing greater than the facility of her face and voice. Shot by John Maybury, O’Connor’s cowl of one in all Prince’s best B-sides will get an appropriately dramatic visible therapy, as photographs of her strolling round Paris parks are juxtaposed towards her face wanting immediately on the digital camera towards a black backdrop. She sells each emotion of Prince’s dramatic ballad as much as the very finish when precise tears roll out of her eyes. A clip with no digital camera methods, no caveats, and nothing else occurring felt like a daring, rebellious transfer as MTV closed in on its first decade of existence, and for that cause, “Nothing” stood out all of the extra. Such a easy and efficient supply helped flip the track into a worldwide #1, even netting the Video Music Award for Video of the 12 months within the course of. This idea has been imitated a number of instances over, however not often has it ever been bettered.
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Madonna “Vogue” (1990)
Report Label: Sire / Warner Bros.
Within the MTV period, each Michael Jackson and Madonna usually got here down because the artists who greatest understood learn how to persistently current their songs in a visible medium. Whereas Jackson was all about massive units and elaborate manufacturing numbers, Madonna was an unquestioned provocateur, usually pushing the boundary of what could possibly be thought-about each acceptable and industrial. (Heck, when the horny clip for “Justify My Love” proved too risqué for video networks, she made a fortune promoting it as a VHS video single.) Whereas lots of her clips are iconic, “Vogue” is arguably her crowning visible achievement. Shot in hanging black & white by director David Fincher and given a “basic movie” sheen of the 20s and 30s, “Vogue” works as a result of she is casting herself as a legendary blonde bombshell, implying her magnificence is basic and everlasting, all whereas nailing each pose and dance-move within the course of. Beginning a dance craze by letting the world see what ballroom dancing was all about, “Vogue” has gone by means of numerous copycat makes an attempt that could not presumably dwell as much as Madonna’s unique murals.
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Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)
Report Label: DGC
Shot for a little bit underneath $50,000, Samuel Bayer’s clip for Nirvana’s first major-label single is fairly easy: what seems to be a highschool meeting devolves right into a moshpit from hell, full with fireplace pits and glad-happy janitors swaying to the chaos. With gratuitous quantities of slow-mo and a hazy, washed-out shade palette, what “Smells Like Teen Spirit” captures greatest is much less an optical illustration of the track and extra of the angle of a whole technology. The spandex-clad stars of hair metallic meant nothing to a disaffected technology of children, so seeing dudes in button-down shirts, Kurt Cobain in his striped sweatshirt and unkempt hair, and Krist Novoselic rocking out in blue denims and naked ft let these children really feel like they have been being represented for as soon as. This was a band that seemed genuine, and when coupled with a rock quantity as catchy as “Teen Spirit”, the track grew to become a disruptive pressure, immediately making the complete hair metallic business seem like a joke. Very like the track itself, the video grew to become immediately iconic, with the band and extras’ trend all turning into the brand new go-to within the newly rising grunge motion. Even the guitar Cobain performed within the video hangs up on the Museum of Pop Tradition in Seattle, Washington. Nobody anticipated “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to develop into a generation-defining hit, however in seeing the music video, it is simple to see what set Nirvana aside from each different band that got here earlier than them.
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Beck “Loser” (1993)
Report Label: Bong Load Customized / DGC
Following the revival of big-budget blockbusters within the Nineteen Eighties, American cinema within the Nineties was renewed afresh with an unbiased spirit. As cameras grew to become cheaper, an increasing number of individuals started experimenting with the instruments of filmmaking on their very own time. The debut album from Beck Hansen featured a slapdash cut-n-paste type that combined genres in beforehand inconceivable methods, which itself would come to outline most different music within the ’90s. Beck’s debut single was the proper instance of this: “Loser” combined hip-hop drum beats with sitar, nation guitars, and whiteboy rapping to create a sound nobody ever actually heard earlier than, and the accompanying video, directed by Beck’s buddy Steve Hanft, was equally unusual and no much less hanging. Reportedly made on a price range of lower than $15,000, Hanft relied on outrageous concepts to create a memorable visible, starting from negative-image footage of two ladies doing aerobics in a graveyard to the grim reaper giving a blood squeegee on a automotive windshield to a coffin shifting itself throughout the town to Beck strumming an acoustic guitar that is on fireplace. It is DIY as hell, completely non-sensical, and nonetheless managed to open the doorways to an entire new technology of filmmakers. It is nearly as if MTV’s very existence allowed a blurred-helmet fever dream of a visible like this to occur. Because it turned out, crisscrossing wild visuals collectively helped create a generational touchstone of a second. “Loser” proved that you just solely want huge concepts, and never an enormous price range, to make a long-lasting impression.
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Software “Prıson Intercourse” (1993)
Report Label: Zoo
Unsettling in nearly each potential means possible, Software’s music video for “Prıson Intercourse” makes use of haunting cease movement puppetry to deal with the harrowing topic of kid abuse. A severed porcelain doll faints each time a big shadowy determine approaches it, and after the determine carries out its actions on the doll a number of instances, the doll begins doing those self same actions to itself, as if carrying on a cycle of abuse by internalizing it. Banned and scrutinized when it was first launched, the video, like a lot of the band’s visible output, was helmed by guitarist Adam Jones, who has a background in Hollywood visible results. Whereas Jones is a superb musician, he is an artist at coronary heart who absolutely understands the which means behind singer Maynard James Keenan’s lyrics. For that cause, “Prıson Intercourse” is the band’s visible zenith, utilizing horrific imagery to interpret a horrifying state of affairs. With a lot care given to all features of the video’s design, not solely did “Prıson Intercourse” assert the band as a metallic pressure to be reckoned with, but it surely additionally pushed the very limits of music video craft itself, elevating the shape whereas additionally pushing a story that was extra akin to a horror film. Unquestionably groundbreaking, few movies since have rivaled “Prıson Intercourse”‘s unnerving energy (save, in fact, for all of Software’s different movies).
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Beastie Boys “Sabotage” (1994)
Report Label: Grand Royal
In relation to forming the Nice Corridor of Music Video Administrators, there are just a few assured names that’ll be there: Diane Martel, Michel Gondry, Mark Romanek, Sophie Muller, Hype Williams, Melina Matsoukas, Chris Milk, and so forth. But earlier than turning into the Oscar-winning oddball that he’s, Spike Jonze made his identify by directing a few of the most ingenious clips of all time, a number of of which seem on this listing. “Sabotage”, the thrilling hard-rock single by the Beastie Boys, already feels just like the soundtrack to an motion film, so depart it as much as Jonze to show it right into a three-minute intro to a ’70s cop present, with all the Beasties donning faux mustaches to play ridiculous caricatures. There’s motion, there are dummies being thrown off of bridges, there’s one man tackling one other right into a swimming pool: all of the top-notch clichés delivered right here with manic comedian vitality. Immensely interesting, the Beastie Boys by no means performed to 1 single viewers, however extra critically, their buy-in to each wacky video idea is what finally elevated the comedian worth of “Sabotage” to masterclass ranges. Hear all’a’y’all: it is “Sabotage”.
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9 Inch Nails “Nearer” (1994)
Report Label: Nothing / TVT / Interscope / Atlantic
The refrain to 9 Inch Nails’ breakthrough single incorporates the road “I wish to f— you want an animal,” which signifies that it might not be appropriate for airplay in its unique type. When director Mark Romanek started collaborating with Trent Reznor on a video idea, he too wished to do one thing that will not get performed on the standard music video channels, which resonated deeply with Reznor. As such, “Nearer” was born as a haunting nightmare of a imaginative and prescient, and the track and video labored in tandem to convey industrial music to a mainstream viewers. Opening with a sensible coronary heart beating on a chair, the broken movie reel promo carries a litany of provocative photographs, starting from a crucified monkey to a spinning pig’s head to Reznor singing right into a microphone with a nipple on the tip. Unsettling however not unpalatable, “Nearer” learn extra like a residing, respiratory Hieronymus Bosch portray, literate in the way it unnerved its viewers. With feminine nudity and fetish tools sprinkled in, the clip was met with each acclaim and controversy. Sure scenes have been edited out fully earlier than making it into MTV rotation, with these particularly graphic moments as an alternative changed with a title card that reads “Scene Lacking.” An unlikely hit, it set Reznor on the course of being fairly a provocateur, proving that irrespective of how grotesque your idea, presenting it as excessive artwork could very effectively be the factor that sneaks it into the cracks of the mainstream. That is the type of video that some individuals base their total personalities round.
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Weezer “Buddy Holly” (1994)
Report Label: DGC
An absolute technical marvel, “Buddy Holly” feels so forward of its time that it is exhausting to consider it got here out over 25 years in the past. Cluing into the era-specific namedrops within the refrain, this Spike Jonze clip featured the beforehand unknown band Weezer play on a reproduction set of Arnold’s Drive-Inn, the primary location from the Nineteen Seventies sitcom “Joyful Days”. Merging new cameos, archival footage from the present, and blended photographs of the band and the unique TV stars collectively on the identical time, “Buddy Holly” was ingenious, goofy, and the type of watercooler popular culture second that was nearly not possible to disregard. Between this and the comedic slow-mo clip that Jonze additionally helmed for “Undone (The Sweater Tune)”, Weezer shortly grew to become often known as music video stylists, skyrocketing them to fame so shortly that they quickly made a coverage towards having visually stimulating clips distract from their music (a coverage that, in brief order, they deserted). Pushing music movies as an artwork type to a brand new technical restrict, “Buddy Holly” feels prefer it hasn’t aged a day.
Report Label: Virgin
The Smashing Pumpkins have been significantly deft at combining alt-rock’s self-seriousness with attractive inventive temperaments, resulting in a litany of visually gorgeous (if solely considerably pretentious) music movies. King amongst all of them is “Tonight, Tonight”, a gorgeous retelling of Georges Méliès’s silent 1902 masterpiece “A Journey to the Moon”. Lensed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (who additionally have been behind the Pumpkins’ “1979” video and later the movie “Little Miss Sunshine”), and starring the person who would later voice SpongeBob SquarePants (Tom Kenny), a litany of movie methods are used to convey singer Billy Corgan’s orchestral rock quantity to life. Telling a full “silent” narrative whereas inserting the band as celestial beings within the prop stars, “Tonight, Tonight” is nothing in need of a visible feast, marrying movie’s storied previous with what was then thought-about the way forward for rock music. It was a daring gambit, however the result’s a music video dripping with visible splendor, practically each body portrait-worthy.
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The Pharcyde “Drop” (1995)
Report Label: Scrumptious Vinyl
Oftentimes, music movies with intelligent ideas do loads of heavy lifting in turning an everyday recording artist into a real blue famous person. But typically, a music video’s cleverness could very effectively outlive a band’s legacy. Whereas the Pharcyde will all the time have a spot in rap historical past for his or her 1993 hit “Passin’ Me By”, the Spike Jonze-helmed clip for 1995’s “Drop” is a stunner. On this joyously enjoyable backward-motion promo, the quartet of MCs managed to convincingly spit their verses backward as they bounce nice heights, roll up a flight of stairs, and ship water flying again into the sky. Whereas the shot-in-reverse idea is considerably of a staple at this level, the sheer degree of visible inventiveness on show here’s what elevates it to greatness standing, to say nothing of the truth that a linguist helped the band discover ways to enunciate all their complicated traces backward so it seemed like they have been rapping in time within the last product. Endlessly rewatchable, The Pharcyde’s “Drop” was the type of video that confirmed how rap teams did not have to stick to 1 explicit style aesthetic to get their work throughout. As gangster rap exploded in 1993 and lingered within the years that adopted, The Pharcyde used their ingenious clip to chop out their very own lane and stand out from the pack.
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Björk “It is Oh So Quiet” (1995)
Report Label: One Little Indian
Following the success of her faculty rock band The Sugarcubes, Björk launched her correct solo profession with a litany of visually gorgeous music movies, and even when she by no means reached the industrial heights of big-budget pop stars like Michael Jackson or Madonna, her full videography rivals (and a few would argue bests) them by way of iconic imagery. Nearly each main video director within the ’90s collaborated with Björk sooner or later or one other, and Spike Jonze could not presumably be extra suited to convey an oddball quantity like “It is Oh So Quiet” to life. The track itself is a brassy cowl of a 1950’s jazz quantity that segues from serene, romantic orchestral thrives to a loud, horn-driven refrain. Within the video, an excellent slow-mo Björk wanders by means of a metropolis with dreamy eyes, however when the music kicks up a notch, so does her environment: tire store staff get away into dance, a mailbox begins doing a little mushy shoe, and businessmen begin doing backflips. Impressed by the 1962 French musical “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, Björk and Jonze understood the project and gave a defiantly out-of-trend single a can’t-take-your-eyes-away therapy, rebranding Björk as an alt-pop oddball who by no means made the identical track twice, and one of many premier music video makers of her technology.
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Jamiroquai “Digital Madness” (1996)
Report Label: Sony Soho Sq.
“Digital Madness “is the uncommon type of music video that grew to become such an immediately recognizable piece of popular culture canon that it ended up defining the band. Brilliantly conceived by Jonathan Glazer, the clip exhibits Jamiroquai singer and songwriter Jay Kay dancing round a lounge-y sci-fi room. But as he strikes about, the furnishings strikes with him — besides when it does not. He dances on the sofa and subsequent to a chair, however the sofa can transfer and the chair cannot? When it premiered, everybody watched the clip asking, “How did they do this?” That includes in-camera visible results at their most eye-popping, Kay’s bodily duets with the furnishings seems like a up to date replace to a Fred Astaire quantity. Concurrently, hints of sinister parts (ravens, cockroaches, pooled blood) suggest one thing darker behind this manufactured aesthetic. A must-see occasion when it dropped, the “Digital Madness” music video propelled Jamiroquai into stardom but additionally outlined the band to such an extent that when it got here to their Video Music Awards efficiency, Kay was bouncing throughout shifting runways they put in on the stage as if recreating the video dwell. This video is so enmeshed within the band’s identification that regardless of many makes an attempt (and plenty of equally funky hats worn by Kay), they’ve by no means managed to outrun the iconography of Glazer’s clip. But that is a threat you run whenever you make one of the visually excellent clips of its variety.
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Cibo Matto “Sugar Water” (1996)
Report Label: Warner Bros.
Of all the artists on this listing, the Shibuya-Kei different pop group Cibo Matto is, with out query, the least identified. But that does not take away from the jaw-dropping brilliance of the Michel Gondry-helmed promo for his or her single “Sugar Water”. That includes members Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda waking up and going about their day, this exceptional split-screen clip has been timed out to the very second, with one facet going forwards in time and the opposite facet going backward, the 2 narratives assembly up midway by means of the continual take. One-half eye-candy, one-half “how the hell did they do it?”, “Sugar Water” signified Michel Gondry’s singularly offbeat type, as matching up moments the place one member is showering whereas the opposite is pouring sugar over themselves (which makes sugar water, you see) or having a cat reverse bounce right into a mailbox in a single timeline solely to come out of one other in excellent unison is the type of overthought miracle that might solely come from an intense quantity of planning and envelopment. A novel visible complement to Cibo Matto’s already-obtuse model of dance-pop, few different music video clips this decade are as daring or as satisfying as “Sugar Water”.
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Spice Ladies “Wannabe” (1996)
Report Label: Virgin
Everytime you’re advertising and marketing a pop group, the listening viewers should develop into instantly conversant in every member’s distinct character. With the clip for the Spice Ladies’ debut single “Wannabe”, you realized every thing you wanted to learn about Scary, Child, Sporty, Ginger, and Posh in lower than 4 minutes. Wearing outfits that got here to outline their total careers, the women stroll right into a highfalutin resort occasion and proceed to trigger mischief, from stealing hats and glasses to doing backflips on dinner tables. Introduced as a single take (however cleverly reduce from two separate ones), the superbly choreographed chaos of “Wannabe” combined effectively with the quick smack of that piano-pound refrain. In spite of everything, this was our first time seeing the Spice Ladies ever, and already it appeared like they’d been mates for years with absolutely developed stage personalities. Their enthusiasm bled by means of the display, and it did not take lengthy for them to develop into the largest lady group on this planet. Whereas the track was dynamite by itself, this simple-yet-effective video proved so good at its job that few teams have even come near matching its instantaneous star-making success.
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The Prodigy “Smack My Bıtch Up” (1997)
Report Label: XL / Maverick / Sony
“No radio station was gonna play the track, so we thought we would make a video that nobody would play both.” This assertion from The Prodigy frontman Liam Howlett sums up precisely why “Smack My Bıtch Up” grew to become a lightning highway for controversy. In a wildly express promo lensed by the good Jonas Åkerlund, we see by means of the eyes of a rave scene Londoner, going out to bars, getting in fights on the dance flooring, and perhaps committing a hit-and-run whereas attempting to sleep with a stripper. Typically feeling extra like a Gaspar Noé movie than a pop artwork piece of leisure, “Smack My Bıtch Up” proved polarizing. Whereas its informal violence and degrading therapy of girls have been understandably frowned upon, the last-minute reveal that we have been watching all of this by means of the eyes of a lady proved to be an excellent twist, as in such a male-dominated area as hardcore techno, girls too could possibly be messy contributors, and seeing her wanting forlorn in her house mirror on the finish of the video challenges all of our assumptions as much as that time. Banned throughout a litany of video networks however by no means forgotten, “Smack My Bıtch Up” proved that there is a distinction between “controversial” and “tasteless,” as a result of tasteless ideas are sometimes dismissed, however the one means one thing might be seen as “controversial” is as a result of there’s a worth to it value debating. Over 20 years later, we’re nonetheless debating it.
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Aphex Twin “Come to Daddy” (1997)
Report Label: Warp
In relation to nice music video administrators, Chris Cunningham is nothing in need of a stylist, one who merges his technical know-how with a grimdark worldview that elevates probably the most uncommercial of songs into cultural flashpoints. (Even Madonna employed him to lens the clip for her single “Frozen”.) But Cunningham’s most notable musical collaborator is Aphex Twin, the revolutionary ambient and techno provocateur who by no means knew a digital type that he could not assault with feverish depth. “Come to Daddy” is as violent a drill-n-bass track as you would think about, with the distorted vocals saying “I need your soul / I’ll eat your soul” over blistering hardcore electronics. The legendary clip that accompanies the track contains a bunch of youngsters carrying creepy masks of Aphex Twin mastermind Richard D. James’ face, inflicting chaos in a council property earlier than a horror-movie creature emerges from an deserted tv to shriek at an previous lady. With out resorting to gore or surprising imagery, “Come to Daddy” works as a result of it’s so very unsettling, with the movie-caliber manufacturing values elevating this terrifying observe as much as one thing that borders on digestible. There may be extra demonic chaos on this six-minute video than there’s in most two-hour horror motion pictures.
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Janet Jackson “Obtained ‘Til It is Gone” (1997)
Report Label: Virgin
As rap and hip-hop grew into a fair bigger industrial pressure within the Nineties, some criticism was directed at how Black girls have been portrayed in music movies. More often than not, they have been scantily clad dancers, mere objects for the predominantly male rappers to toss cash at or spray champagne on. This wasn’t the case with each hip-hop act, however the imagery was dominant sufficient to type a stereotype. For “Obtained ‘Til It is Gone”, the remarkably low-key single from Janet Jackson’s legendary album “The Velvet Rope”, Jackson and director Mark Romanek wished to serve an entire counterbalance to that narrative.
Impressed by the Apartheid-era Drum Journal out of South Africa, and particularly its attractive slice-of-life images as achieved by Jürgen Schadeberg, “Obtained ‘Til It is Gone” centered on celebrating Black tradition, particularly emphasizing the enjoyment of the events in South African townships the place each individuals with on a regular basis type celebrated in excellent concord. Jackson is singing however notably sweaty, not carrying any make-up. Girls are filmed underneath slow-motion showers of water however aren’t overly sexualized. Males look nerdy, males have bruised eyes swollen shut, males stand of their underwear, males get goofy after they flip flirty. It is a genuinely lovely and humanizing portrait of Black tradition at its best, and even with a beer bottle breaking within the clip’s last shot, we aren’t certain if revelry is out of hand or if the occasion is being damaged up by outdoors forces. Maybe it’s best if we do not know as a result of on the finish of the day, “Obtained ‘Til It is Gone” stays a transcendent and still-underrated masterpiece.
Report Label: Work / Columbia
Within the late ’90s, music movies began shifting in a brand new route, much less involved about erotic objectification and extra thinking about exploring sexuality. Fiona Apple’s “Prison” was an absolute flashpoint, because the video wasn’t express with its imagery however let its viewers suggest issues which will or will not be there. Lensed by Mark Romanek, the clip for “Prison” examines the comedown of what seems to be a wild occasion. Lit solely by a single gentle positioned on high of the digital camera, the complete clip of “Prison” has a voyeuristic really feel to it, as if we, the viewers, are seeing one thing we’re not alleged to. Stuffed with phallic imagery, half-naked our bodies strewn about carpeted flooring, and a provocative shot of Apple in a bath as two manly ft transfer round her head, “Prison” radiated sexual vitality and wasn’t shy about it, however correctly by no means crossed the road to develop into something express. Whereas the video generated fairly a little bit of buzz, Apple was apparently sad with simply how almost-exploitative the top product was, upset with Romanek for years earlier than lastly saying she’d come to just accept its inventive goals and would conform to make one other video with him in a 2005 documentary. So far, it hasn’t occurred, however no fear: “Prison” is a taboo-breaking recreation changer irrespective of which means you have a look at it.
Report Label: Jive
There are music movies on this listing which are extra technically achieved and artistically formidable than Nigel Dıck’s promo for “…Child One Extra Time”. But very similar to “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Britney Spears’ debut single grew to become an instantaneous piece of cultural iconography. With an idea that was largely Spears’ conception, “…Child One Extra Time” performed round with suggestive Catholic schoolgirl fantasies, however nothing overt or heated, as this was designed to play to the tweens rising up on MTV’s “Whole Request Reside” program. But the second these iconic piano kilos begin up, it is all Spears’ present: her on-camera confidence, her stable dance strikes (which solely received extra intense over time), and her palpable charisma. The knotted shirt was additionally a Spears’ choice. Within the many years that adopted, it might nonetheless be related as one in all her most iconic seems (subsequent to the motion flight attendant uniform from “Poisonous” and her crimson jumpsuit from “Oops!… I Did It Once more”, naturally). But much more than that, the cool professionalism of “…Child One Extra Time” signaled the beginning of the turn-of-the-millennium teen pop revolution, and amazingly, this was her very first video. If you are going to be iconic, it does not harm that you just’re iconic proper out the gate.
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Fatboy Slim “Reward You” (1998)
Report Label: Astralwerks
Earlier than YouTube got here into prominence, there have been a disparate quantity of web sites that had video gamers whereby clips may go correctly “viral.” Again in 1998, Spike Jonze’s film theater-crashing dance troupe flashmob set to the tune of Fatboy Slim’s “Reward You” was a must-see expertise like no different, it doesn’t matter what website you considered it on. In actual guerrilla-style, Jonze (together with co-director Roman Coppola) and a fictional group of newbie dancers undergo group theater-style choreography in entrance of a genuinely suspicious group of individuals lining as much as see a film, all filmed on handheld cameras and spliced collectively. So irritated with the spontaneous show, a movie show worker walks over at one level and turns off the growth field the track is blasting from. They get it again and full the quantity, however the giddy I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening thrill of a dance flashmob occurring proper in entrance of an unsuspecting public is what made “Reward You” a can’t-miss occasion. Unsurprisingly, the video went into heavy rotation on music video networks, which, in flip, pushed the track onto radio and gave Fatboy Slim his solely Prime 40 hit within the U.S. Not a nasty payoff for a promo that reportedly value solely $800 to provide.
Report Label:
The one factor that you must learn about a Missy Elliott music video is that it should be incredible. Probably the most persistently inventive music video makers on the planet, Elliott has collaborated with greats like Dave Meyers and Paul Hunter to ship charming, otherworldly visuals, along with her clips for “Get Ur Freak On” and “Lose Management” cementing her as a each a musical and trend pioneer. But her earliest clips include a few of her most recognizable imagery, and whereas the puffy black swimsuit of “The Rain (Tremendous Dupa Fly)” will all the time stick to us, it’s of our opinion that “She’s a Bıtch” took even larger possibilities. Directed by the king of music video set design, Hype Williams, “She’s a Bıtch” casts Missy in a futuristic gentle. Snatched bald one minute, in a light-up techno dice the subsequent, after which dancing in a sci-fi cowboy getup proper after that, there are lasting, highly effective visible moments all through this promo, however when a large “M” platform rises from a black ocean full with spiked backup dancers, it is clear that Missy was delivering on a degree that no different rappers have been even near touching on the time. Really, let’s rephrase that: Missy Elliott stays completely untouchable.
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The Chemical Brothers “Let Without end Be” (1999)
Report Label: Virgin / Astralwerks
With out query, The Chemical Brothers are maybe one of the underrated teams within the canon of nice music video makers, as their clips for “Out of Management”, “Star Guitar”, “The Golden Path”, and “Midnight Insanity” are all visually stimulating and sometimes completely praise the track in query. Whereas they care extra of a cult act within the U.S. regardless of being a heavy industrial pressure within the U.Okay., nobody on both facet of the pond can say a nasty phrase in regards to the psychedelic head journey that’s “Let Without end Be”. With a vocal take from Noel Gallagher and a clip helmed by the ever-inventive Michel Gondry, a lady wakes as much as go work at a mall however has frequent warped distortions of what her actuality is. With handheld video footage used to extrapolate large units for a area of lookalike dancers, “Let Without end Be” has a few of the cleverest set design and most gorgeous “how did they do this?” enhancing that we have ever seen. Encapsulating every thing nice in regards to the track and taking it to its most illogical extremes, “Let Without end Be” is a tour-de-force like no different, proving that even the brief run time of a music video is usually a breeding floor for countless innovation.
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Björk “All is Stuffed with Love” (1999)
Report Label: One Little Indian / Elektra
The listing of nice Björk music movies is rattling close to countless: the attractive simplicity of “Hunter”, the wild meta idea of “Bachelorette”, the distorted motion of “Military of Me”, the endlessly stimulating “Hyerballad”, and so forth. But her biggest clip could also be for one in all her most heartbreaking of songs: “All is Stuffed with Love”. An absolute marvel of particular results, the Chris Cunningham-directed promo for “All is Stuffed with Love” depicts Bjork as an android being slowly assembled, singing of unrequited romance. As one other android enters the image, they’re quickly seen kissing as machines proceed to assemble and tweak them from behind. Hauntingly portrayed, the video opens up questions akin to a Philip Okay. Dıck or Isaac Asimov novel: may robots love? What would intimacy be like for an A.I.? It is a bunch of huge questions posed by a four-minute promo, however its lingering aftereffects will stick with you for years to come back. Pushing the format to the next inventive airplane, “All is Stuffed with Love” is an impressive achievement.
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Blur “Espresso + TV” (1999)
Report Label: Meals / EMI
Within the nice Britpop revolution of the ’90s, many bands competed, however solely a choose few (assume Oasis and Pulp) managed to have precise, lasting careers. Sadly, most of their videographies have been fairly staid, filled with clips that have been enjoyable to have a look at however not often had a long-lasting impression, finally documenting this period greater than the rest. This all modified, nonetheless, with Blur’s legendary promo for “Espresso + TV”. Written and sung by guitarist Graham Coxon, this ambling tune tells the story of an anthropomorphic milk carton with a “Lacking” discover on its facet for Coxon. Whereas his household is simply too grief-stricken to do something, the milk carton ambles about his city, searching for him. Directed by Hammer & Tongs (a.okay.a. Garth Jennings), the cartoonish narrative bursts of actual sweetness, because the milk carton does finally discover Coxon at band rehearsal and convinces him to return to his household, however not earlier than ingesting the milk, which in impact kills him and sends him flying off to Milk Heaven. With playful puppetry and a eager sense of fashion, “Espresso + TV” was so engaging and welcoming that it quickly grew to become not solely one in all Blur’s most lasting visuals but additionally probably the greatest clips of the Britpop period.
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D’Angelo “Untitled (How Does It Really feel)” (2000)
Report Label: Virgin / EMI
D’Angelo’s profession has been nearly defiantly non-linear, careening from sugary candy neo-soul to pointed political activism and with years if not many years of area between releases. But for the discharge of his heralded sophomore album “Voodoo”, D’Angelo’s supervisor pushed for a revamp of his public picture, getting him to a degree the place he was figuring out for months and looking out completely shredded. Choosing the very Prince-esque “Untitled (How Does It Really feel)” as the one, the video idea was easy: what would the POV be of somebody getting intimate with D’Angelo? Directed by Paul Hunter, the single-shot clip does little greater than get intensely near D’Angelo’s sweat-covered physique. The digital camera is heat, inviting, and analyzing D’Angelo’s physique at its rugged peak. Sexually charged, voyeuristic, and turning the male gaze round on itself, the clip marked a change in sexual politics in pop music, sparking immense curiosity in D’Angelo’s profession and questions as as to if or not it needs to be censored (as a result of that digital camera drifts seductively near his v-line). Celebrated, debated, and parodied inside an inch of its life, “Untitled” nonetheless offers us all the nice emotions.
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Robbie Williams “Rock DJ” (2000)
Report Label: Chrysalis
In case you dwell in North America, you could or could not have heard of former boy band member Robbie Williams breaking out on his personal for a solo profession. In case you dwell in another a part of the world, you already know that Robbie Williams is a worldwide famous person. Whereas his industrial and important peak has come to cross, Williams’ unmistakable charisma and attraction are what allowed him to get a video as insane as “Rock DJ” on the air. Helmed by his frequent collaborator Vaughan Arnell, a room full of fashionable rollerskating women circle an elevated platform that Williams quickly emerges from, assured in his intercourse attraction. But the extra he grooves and dances to his disco-tastic pop track, the extra he realizes that nobody is gazing at him. He takes off his shirt to no avail, adopted by his pants and even his underwear. Completely bare and with no consideration, he decides to go one step additional by stripping off … his pores and skin. Abruptly, everybody desires Robbie: each blood-drenched piece of him. Grotesque, hilarious, and surprisingly darkish for what’s in any other case the smarmiest pop star in Britain, who knew that actually ripping your butt off may internet you a chart-topping single? An underrated gem.
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Fatboy Slim “Weapon of Selection” (2001)
Report Label: Astralwerks
It is Christopher Walken. Dancing. Then flying. What else may you presumably need? Fact be advised, even with the ace vocal help from Bootsy Collins, “Weapon of Selection” shouldn’t be a top-tier Fatboy Slim single. Nevertheless, Spike Jonze’s ingenious, hilarious, and surprising promo for the track is what elevated it to a very totally different airplane. Walken, who educated as a dancer in musical theater lengthy earlier than he grew to become an Oscar-winning movie actor, is greater than recreation to take part on this absurd idea, and per interviews with the crew, Walken added his personal little thrives to the choreography as he virtually takes over the empty resort he is sitting in. So standard this clip was, it impressed a litany of pseudo-copycats the place big-name celebrities stood in for musicians (together with a two-peat try by Elton John, whereby Justin Timberlake and Robert Downey, Jr. lip-synced for Sir Elton on the clips for “This Practice Do not Cease There Anymore” and “I Need Love” respectively). Even 20 years after it premiered, “Weapon of Selection” nonetheless seems like a pleasure injection.
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The White Stripes “Fell in Love with a Lady” (2002)
Report Label: XL
As The White Stripes breakthrough single clocked in at lower than two minutes, doing a music video for it was going to should be one thing that grabs you instantly. Fortunately, in working with director Michel Gondry, the result’s solely one of many biggest music movies of all time. Filmed one body at a time by setting up Legos to match a pose after which resetting, this animated clip for “Fell in Love with a Lady” relies on actual footage that Gondry shot of Jack and Meg, albeit with garishly overdone make-up so that every body would “translate” when translated into detail-restrictive lego blocks. The ultimate product is nothing in need of a marvel: watching a drum cymbal swirl in a Lego block format or seeing Meg and Jack White mouth the lyrics with eerie accuracy is a sight to behold, and in an period the place music movies more and more depend on CGI and inexperienced display results to inform their narratives, there’s something each acquainted and new about seeing one thing as fundamental as Legos getting used to create this phantasm. A must-watch promo the second it dropped, the buzzy clip helped break The White Stripes into the mainstream, the place they solely received larger and weirder and wilder. (Honorable point out: one of many Stripes’ different Gondry collaborations, “Lifeless Leaves on the Soiled Floor”, makes use of projectors to a somewhat astonishing impact.)
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Johnny Money “Harm” (2003)
Report Label: American / Misplaced Freeway
When director Mark Romanek heard Johnny Money’s heart-rendering cowl of 9 Inch Nail’s “Harm” for the primary time, he knew he needed to do the music video. Regardless of being one of the celebrated music video administrators ever, he nonetheless needed to beg Money to let him movie a video therapy. The getting old Money lastly was swayed, and each he and June Carter seem within the video. Whereas filming on the Home of Money museum, Romanek’s crew had entry to Money’s dense video archive, that includes every thing from dwelling motion pictures to his performing roles in movies. After placing collectively a tough reduce of the video with present-day Money, Romaneks’ editors dropped in a contrasting clip of Money from his youthful years, and the contrasting impact was chilling.
Paired with Money’s interpretation of the already-dramatic quantity, the visible element of “Harm” is deeply affecting, as we see an previous legend look again on his life and remembers all of the highs and lows earlier than seeing the place he’s now: on the finish. Fairly presumably one of the emotional music movies ever made, there’s a energy to “Harm” that feels otherworldly. Compacting visceral, religious energy into such a small area, the dramatic promo broke out in a robust means, introducing Money to an entire new technology of listeners. Whereas he was glad to be nominated for an MTV Video Music Award, sadly, each Johnny and June Carter handed away the 12 months it got here out. This clip solely added to an already-dense legacy that can by no means be forgotten.
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Britney Spears “Poisonous” (2004)
Report Label: Jive
At this level within the listing, we have talked about low-budget DIY clips with huge concepts, groundbreaking visible results, and challenges to the very type of music movies itself. But typically, you simply need that giddy rush of pure pop escapism. Fortunately the clip for “Poisonous” does that in spades. Filmed by Joseph Khan, the person you go to whenever you’re searching for big-budget sensation in 4 minutes, “Poisonous” casts Spears within the position of a horny spy, one who makes use of a number of disguises and her unbelievable strikes to interrupt in to steal a particular toxin to kill her ex-lover with. With a price range of over one million {dollars}, Khan crams each second of spectacle he can into “Poisonous”. In every of her outfits, Spears comes off as a seductress in full management of her energy. After all, all of this motion is anchored by one in all her all-time greatest dance-pop hits, and Khan proved to be the proper particular person to convey this clip to life. Typically, you simply need your popstars to dwell out their wildest indulgences, and within the case of “Poisonous”, the extent of indulgence approaches God-tier.
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Jay-Z “99 Issues” (2004)
Report Label: Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam
Jay-Z’s energy as a rapper lies in how he all the time reintroduces himself to a brand new technology of listeners. Though 2003’s “The Black Album” was billed as his retirement document (which did not find yourself being the case), he discovered a strategy to exit with a bang. Dissatisfied with the video therapy for the second single, “Filth Off Your Shoulders”, he employed wizkid, Mark Romanek, to provide his Rick Rubin-produced rap-rock hybrid “99 Issues” a clip that was visceral, distinct, and finally, probably the greatest rap movies ever made.
Filmed in black and white and nearly fully in slow-mo, every thing from canine fights to bike stunt golf equipment to funeral administrators will get woven collectively to craft a terse, highly effective visible that makes you’re feeling every one in all Jay’s muscled bars. Some lyrics are given full visible illustration, whereas others are left for interpretation and evaluation. But its most surprising second comes on the finish by which Jay-Z is murdered in a sprig of gunfire, which was a scene so surprising that some video channels carried a disclaimer earlier than airing it. To listen to Romanek inform the story, the footage they shot was nice, however the rhythm of the edit by no means hit that gut-punch impression he was going for. He employed three totally different editors to provide it a go and was nonetheless sad with the outcomes. The video price range was absolutely drained at this level, so Romanek requested his longtime standby editor Robert Duffy to deal with it professional bono. That’s the reduce that was finally used, successful Video Music Awards for Director, Enhancing, Cinematography, and Finest Rap Video. It is smart: it hits simply as exhausting now because it did when it first got here out.
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OK GO “Right here It Goes Once more” (2006)
Report Label: Capitol / EMI
It is of no mistake that YouTube was launched the identical 12 months that OK Go, a stunning however underperforming pop-rock powerhouse, launched the music video for his or her track “A Million Methods”. That includes the four-piece band in singer Damien Kulash’s yard performing a remarkably intricate dance routine, the clip went viral and introduced the band into a brand new type of web consideration. For the fifth and last single from their sophomore album, they determined to go the “viral choreography” route once more for “Right here It Goes Once more”. Whereas sequels to viral clips usually fail miserably, OK Go ended up utterly outdoing themselves. Elaborately staged throughout eight remarkably sturdy treadmills, the quartet feels extra assured of their performances, utilizing the shifting platforms and their distinctive charisma to convey the feel-good guitar romp that’s “Right here It Goes Once more” to life. Conceived, choreographed, and directed by Kulash’s sister Trish Sie, “Right here It Goes Once more” grew to become a sensation, quickly sending the track into the Prime 40 and even successful a Grammy for Finest Quick Kind Music Video. Whereas two quirky viral movies in a row would usually be sufficient for individuals to dismiss a band as nothing greater than stylish, the group as an alternative embraced the title and have continued to push what the music video format may do, utilizing every thing from Rube Goldberg machines to optical illusions to make massively memorable clips. To some, the band is gimmicky, but it surely takes loads of expertise to tug off improvements like this each time.
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Purple Sizzling Chili Peppers “Dani California” (2006)
Report Label: Warner Bros.
The factor in regards to the Purple Sizzling Chili Peppers is that it doesn’t matter what context they’re positioned in, they gentle up the room with their efficiency skill. Their dwell exhibits are overflowing with manic, groovy vitality, and their music movies usually seize the wild nature of Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, and whoever is their guitarist on the time. Working with a litany of music video greats starting from Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris to Anton Corbijn to Gus Van Sant to the good Stéphane Sednaoui, their clip for his or her late-era single “Dani California” could also be their crowning achievement.
Supremely entertaining because it rolls by means of rock historical past, all 4 members of the band are greater than recreation to rise up in a collection of ridiculous outfits as they carry out their track in quite a lot of filmed kinds: black-and-white British Invasion, MTV Unplugged acoustic, spandex-clad hair metallic, robotic industrial, and so forth. It is playful and surprisingly detailed, nailing the specifics of every period in a means that’s each mocking and loving. But the masterstroke of the clip comes on the finish, whereby the band, having achieved all of those kinds main as much as trendy instances, reveal that probably the most up to date musical “period” is themselves: Kiedis carrying a tie with shorts, Flea shirtless, Chad Smith sleeveless, and John Frusciante simply seems like a man you’d discover off the streets. They’re inserting themselves into rock historical past, and as grand a notion as it’s, the clip nearly convinces you they’ve earned it. Lensed by “American Historical past X” director Tony Kaye (allegedly after Mark Romanek was unavailable), the music video for “Dani” ended up pushing the track into the U.S. Prime 10 and scored a number of VMA nominations in addition to a Grammy nod. It was a late-career spotlight for the boys and stays one other nice entry of their remarkably robust videography.
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Beyoncé “Single Girls (Put a Ring On It)” (2008)
Report Label: Columbia
Today, there aren’t B-sides the best way there as soon as was. Not often do pop artists tuck away bonus little songs on the again of singles, largely as a result of (nearly) every thing is on the market for streaming. To introduce her third album, “I Am… Sasha Fierce”, to the world, her label determined to place out two singles on the identical time, type of giving an A-side/B-side really feel. The clear A-side was the dramatic ballad “If I Had been a Boy”, which was given a dramatic big-budget music video directed by Jake Nava. As Nava would later describe this era, “Boy” ate up all the price range, so that they did not have something left for the “B-side” track, the Sasha Fierce-featuring “Single Girls (Put a Ring On It)”. Choreographed by Frank Gatson Jr. and JaQuel Knight, all “Single Girls” does is present Beyoncé with backup dancers Ebony Williams and Ashley Everett on a plain white picture set, a last-minute idea if there ever was one. The digital camera strikes and the lighting modifications, however all we’re is the intricate, memorable, and finally era-defining dance strikes carried out by the trio — all whereas Beyoncé dons a jeweled metallic arm. Whereas it could not have been the promotional focus for the album rollout, “Single Girls” shortly overtook “Boy” to develop into not solely one other chart-topper for Beyoncé but additionally one in all her signature songs. “If I Had been a Boy” remains to be a terrific track with an emotional video, however all the cash on this planet cannot beat out a clip with a terrific idea and even higher execution, doubly so when the particular person executing it’s somebody as iconic as Beyoncé.
Report Label: Cherrytree / Interscope
When Woman Gaga’s debut single “Simply Dance” went to #1, some thought it was a fluke hit by an business plant. But the extra music that she dropped and the extra visuals she put out, it grew to become very clear that Woman Gaga was a real oddball who beloved embracing the lunatic fringe of pop music extra. Her confidence solely grew with time, and whereas her debut album was very a lot a label-friendly mixture of kinds and genres, “Dangerous Romance” signaled the beginning of a brand new period, one the place she had full management of her sound, her look, and her persona.
Directed by Frances Lawrence, “Dangerous Romance” was a mind-boggling visible spectacle, telling the story of working in an business the place you are compelled to carry out for the very best bidder. With a little bit of Kubrick-ian edge to the manufacturing design, “Dangerous Romance” seemed like nothing else on the time. Memorable visible parts? The place to begin: the crab robe, the enlarged bathtub eyes, the “Thriller”-esque choreography nods, the person with the gold chin, the stop-motion digital camera spin round cascading diamonds, the spark bra — it was the type of clip the place even in case you did not perceive what was occurring, your eyes have been nonetheless delighted by the sheer quantity of indulgence offered. Rapidly turning into one of many most-viewed gadgets on this newly-rising video platform known as YouTube, it helped give Gaga her first Diamond-certified single, tied the document for probably the most Video Music Award nominations in a single 12 months, and even received a Grammy for Finest Quick Kind Music Video. It was an absolute popular culture second, which in flip solely gave Gaga extra confidence to go larger and get weirder — which she did.
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Psy “Gangnam Type” (2012)
Report Label: YG / Common Republic
“Gangnam Type” could very effectively go down as one of the influential songs ever launched, and that is largely due to its music video. Whereas Psy’s dance-pop confection, like most of his singles, is quick, enjoyable, and supremely catchy, it is nonetheless sung largely in Korean, which as a default rule made it a tough promote for Western markets on the time. The music video for “Gangnam Type” finally gave it its worldwide attraction as a result of comedy is a common language. Directed by Cho Soo-Hyun, “Gangnam Type” jumps from one visible gag to the subsequent, as Psy appears greater than recreation to look ridiculous at any given second. From the visible gags of him resting on a seaside (which is definitely a toddler’s sandbox) to his wonderful “horse dance” to him doing deep dives in a scorching tub to its random motion film explosions, it feels that Psy’s intention with the video was to cram each second he may with a joke or ridiculous second. But Psy sells it together with his dedication to the bit, and his assured goofiness made “Gangnam Type” not solely go viral however develop into a worldwide game-changer.
“Gangnam Type” the primary music video on YouTube to cross a billion views, and its meme-ready recognition helped it even achieve traction on worldwide radio, hitting #1 in most nations and pulling off the then-unprecedented feat of hitting #2 in the US. This music video helped break down language limitations, particularly within the U.S., the place non-English songs not often acquired play on the airwaves. Since then, tracks just like the predominantly Spanish-language “Despacito” and an entire new wave of Okay-pop artists have managed to interrupt into the West in beforehand unthinkable methods. “Gangnam Type” pulled that off all by itself, and regardless of some worthy challengers, it stays the most-watched Okay-pop video of all time.
Report Label: RCA
You’ll be able to nearly set your watch to the time when a former Disney TV star goes into music and finally desires to begin their “mature” part. The examples are quite a few, however there’s maybe no iteration extra hilarious than Miley Cyrus’ 2010 bomb of a document “Cannot Be Tamed”. That includes a lead single the place she is a horny dancing bird-type factor, the clip was a horrifically misguided try to come back off as a severe grownup, swallowed in dramatic self-seriousness. Absolutely aware of the reception, Cyrus course-corrected somewhat correctly with 2013’s “Bangerz”, a rowdy occasion document that launched the world to the twerking Miley who all the time sticks her tongue out. Cyrus’s attention-grabbing methods helped push her out of the “Disney child” field and into one thing approaching official music fame. As a pop star now writing her personal rulebook, the visuals from this period have been genuinely a sight to behold.
Whereas the superbly outrageous and surreal home occasion of the Diane Martel-lensed clip for “We Cannot Cease” was a sight to behold, it was her controversial collaboration with infamous photographer/director Terry Richardson on the ballad “Wrecking Ball” that left the world shocked. It is a video which you can inform was based mostly round a easy picture of Cyrus driving an precise wrecking ball whereas bare. There’s some dramatic buildup to get to that second (together with a Sinéad O’Connor-referencing open the place Cyrus is tearfully singing into the digital camera with nothing else round). Whereas the video does produce other defining photographs (together with her tonguing a sledgehammer), this provocative clip put the brand new, mature, and sexualized Miley entrance and middle for the entire world to see. The video raised many questions on what is appropriate in as we speak’s popular culture market. Whereas there are sexier music movies on the market, not often would one thing this overtly erotic be pushed as far into the mainstream with out Cyrus’ identify connected to it. Like it or detest it, there is no such thing as a denying the facility that this “Wrecking Ball” had on the world.
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Sia “Chandelier” (2014)
Report Label: Monkey Puzzle / RCA
Sia’s profession has been full of wierd turns, as she’s transitioned from an indie singer-songwriter to a famous guest-spot pop vocalist and go-to co-writer on gigantic Prime 40 smashes. But as quickly as she placed on a wig that coated her face, that is when individuals began to concentrate to her — and that is when she dropped “Chandelier”. A tragic and longing pop quantity rife with vocal histrionics, one can not help however really feel that it might be successful it doesn’t matter what visible was connected to it. But fortunate for Sia, her instincts lead her in the appropriate route, and he or she determined to base a video round “Dance Mothers” breakout star Maddie Ziegler, who was 11 years previous on the time.
Dancing round a dumpy, deserted house with choreography by Ryan Heffington and route by Daniel Askill and Sia, the clip is a sight to behold. With no dad and mom round, it feels as if Ziegler goes by means of home motions, imitating issues she picked up from dad and mom or neighbors, starting from wagging of fingers to pounding the kitchen desk for meals to creepily curtsying on the video’s finish. The choreography carries loads of thematic weight, however all of that will be nothing have been it not for Ziegler’s dedicated efficiency and jaw-dropping athleticism. At instances dancing so frantically, the digital camera has a tough time maintaining her in body, there’s kinetic vitality contained on this video that’s exhausting to explain, with Ziegler’s exaggerated actions prolonged by the floppy Sia wig on her head. A shock viral second, the video helped energy the track to develop into a worldwide hit, and Sia was so taken with Ziegler that the 2 continued to collaborate a number of instances over the subsequent a number of years. It could possibly be argued, nonetheless, that this primary time their abilities combined was nonetheless their best.
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Kendrick Lamar “Alright” (2015)
Report Label: Prime Dawg / Aftermath / Interscope
In a remarkably brief period of time, Kendrick Lamar has was one of many biggest MCs alive, keen to take wild dangers together with his artwork whereas nonetheless sliding in on the occasional radio-friendly visitor verse. His third studio document, “To Pimp a Butterfly”, was a dense, provocative document about race relations in America. Whereas it was not his most industrial launch, it was thought-about one of many decade’s biggest rap data. As Kendrick received more and more assured together with his craft, he additionally received bolder together with his visuals. Whereas his wild run of images within the promo clip for “Humble” took him to the highest of the charts, it is his highly effective anthem “Alright” that left its strongest impression on us.
Directed by Colin Tilley and The Little Homies, this black-and-white therapy runs by means of a gamut of seemingly unrelated scenes and setups, however all of them are tied to the theme of black relations with white law enforcement officials. The attention-popping opener has Kendrick behind the wheel of a automotive with no tires, the digital camera panning down to indicate all of the axles are being held up, emperor type, by cops. Then, because the track kicks into excessive gear, Kendrick is sort of ethereal, floating by means of neighborhoods, dancing on streetlamps, hovering over his posse the wrong way up, tossing out reams of money whereas doing donuts round cop automobiles. It is surreal, lovely, and highly effective, however on the very finish, within the lifeless of daylight, a cop sees Kendrick standing on a streetlamp and shoots him utilizing solely fingers. There’s nonetheless a bloody exit wound, Kendrick taking a protracted fall to the bottom, earlier than reciting his frequent mantra: “I keep in mind you was conflicted. Misusing your affect. Typically I did the identical.” Because the track grew to become a chanted anthem in the course of the police brutality protests of 2015, the accompanying promo clip stays harrowing, celebratory, and highly effective abruptly. Once we see Kendrick’s smile within the final shot, it convinces us that regardless of the horrors occurring on this planet, perhaps, only for a second, we’re gonna be alright.
Report Label: 300 / Atlantic
We will hedge our bets and say that of all of the clips listed right here, that is most likely the one readers would be the least conversant in. Younger Thug’s “Wyclef Jean” was a minor hit on the charts, and it was initially granted a music video price range to the tune of $100,000. The one drawback was that Younger Thug by no means confirmed up for any of the shoots. Over a collection of explanatory title playing cards, director Ryan Staake’s music video for “Wyclef Jean” has little or no to do with the track itself, however extra has to do with the real looking challenges of filming a music video. Balancing out screaming label reps, Younger Thug’s needs for particular visuals, and the straightforward undeniable fact that when it got here to capturing his scenes, Younger Thug wasn’t there, “Wyclef Jean” will go down as one of many funniest music movies ever made. Staake’s textual content bumps are hilarious and self-deprecating, filled with jokes, wry observations, and an actual behind-the-scenes have a look at how movies are made (particularly when your star does not present up, you would possibly as effectively movie some outrageous B-roll with the fashions). Staake notes close to the top that one in all his pitches for the video was to gentle the manufacturing price range on fireplace, however none of that issues now. Apart from the truth that even by the point the track ends, we’re nonetheless watching, so perhaps it wasn’t all for nothing. The end result? Staake received the Video Music Award for Finest Enhancing, and we’re nonetheless laughing over the truth that this meta clip even received launched within the first place.
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Jay-Z “The Story of O.J.” (2017)
Report Label: Roc Nation / Common
“4:44” was a exceptional late-stage album from Jay-Z, as after years of audacious rhymes and thrilling braggadocio, “4:44” painted him in a humble gentle, as he was reflecting, apologizing, and making amends for this previous actions. The video for “The Story of O.J.”, co-directed by Jova himself and Mark Romanek, is finished within the early Warner Bros. animation type, particularly evoking an period by which Black individuals have been portrayed in horrifically stereotypical methods. “O.J.” embraces that type, casting Jay as “Jaybo,” who walks by means of numerous backdrops commenting on the Black expertise, all whereas driving on that beat based mostly on a beautiful Nina Simone pattern.
The ensuing clip is kind of harrowing, taking us from slave ships to cotton fields and utilizing the facility of cartoons to push forth hard-to-swallow metaphors, like how all of the cotton bundles loaded onto the Cotton Mill conveyor belts spit out nothing however hooded KKK members. We see Jaybo counting stacks of cash at one level and Jaybo being lynched by the clip’s finish. The animation type and the acts depicted throughout the clip are at odds with one another, giving viewers a brittle sense of pressure that by no means as soon as ebbs. Intensely controversial when it was launched, “The Story of O.J.” is an argumentative video that does not as soon as apologize for its worldview. At this level in his profession, Jay-Z does not even care about making hits a lot as with the ability to provoke and have interaction in a cultural dialogue. It doesn’t matter what you consider it, there is no denying that “The Story of O.J.” stays fairly the dialog starter.
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Infantile Gambino “That is America” (2018)
Report Label: RCA
Launched proper as he was ending up his duties internet hosting an episode of “Saturday Night time Reside”, Donald Glover’s clip for the Infantile Gambino track “That is America” took everybody unexpectedly. By a collection of elaborately choreographed lengthy takes, a shirtless Glover is seen doing many viral meme dances with a gaggle of younger children in a large warehouse that’s slowly descending into apocalyptic chaos. Automobiles are on fireplace, individuals are falling from rafters, horses are galloping by, and it is Glover himself utilizing a pistol to shoot a guitarist within the head after which an assault rifle to homicide a whole backup choir. Frank in its violence and wry in its tone, “That is America” is a clip that sparked large-scale dialogue the second it completed premiering. Talking about gun violence in America, this promo (directed by Glover’s frequent collaborator Hiro Murai) is rife with metaphor: why are the weapons being handled with extra reverence than the our bodies? Who’re the individuals chasing after Glover on the very finish? Why does all of the chaos cease when he decides it is time for a smoke? Endlessly debated even as we speak, “That is America” was a real viral sensation that pushed the out-of-left-field track to the highest of the charts, finally successful each Grammy it was nominated for. Then, when it got here to lastly drop his fourth studio document, “That is America” wasn’t wherever on the tracklist, making for a meteoric one-off in contrast to the rest on the market. So immediately iconic this clip grew to become, it is practically not possible to listen to the track with out fascinated by its visible counterpart.
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FKA Twigs “Cellophane” (2019)
Report Label: Younger Turks
Taking the teachings realized from a video innovator like Björk, FKA Twigs treats each promo as a problem to outdo herself and provides us one thing we’ve by no means seen earlier than. Following a tough expertise with having fibroid tumors eliminated, FKA Twigs wished to reclaim her physique and her physicality, discovering launch within the type of pole dancing. For the promo of her haunting ballad of unrequited love “Cellophane”, she labored with frequent Björk collaborator Andrew Thomas Huang to craft a clip that’s horny, unhappy, and delightful abruptly. Performing for an undisclosed viewers, Twigs’ dons stripper heels, and a stunning outfit reveal her muscular body. Astoundingly versatile, her pole routine leads her to satisfy up with a multi-faced creature from the heavens, and after placing her heel in its mouth, she proceeds to spiral all the way down to the underground earlier than masked denizens cowl her in clay.
It sounds unusual on paper, however when married to her heartbreaking audio, “Cellophane” proves haunting and gutting, poetic and pointed, proving that horny and unhappy can exist inside one’s self on the identical time. The track proved to be a vital breakthrough for Twigs, with the video even netting a Grammy nomination for Finest Music Video. In 2021, Lil Nas X launched his comedian and controversial clip for “Montero (Name Me By Your Title)”, which had a sequence by which he too rides a stripper pole all the best way all the way down to hell. He, FKA Twigs, and Huang all shared social media posts acknowledging the clear line of inspiration between “Cellophane” and “Montero”. Each clips challenged conventions whereas proving to be iconic within the course of. “Did not I do it for you?” Twigs pleads in her melody, however after watching “Cellophane”, it is clear that she did it for us.