Music Videos

My friend Scott posted on his blog some music videos that he liked and asked what was everyone's top 5 music videos of all time. I gave my two cents on some of my favorites, and decided I might as well post it here as well:

It's really hard to say a Top 5, especially when I consider the number of years I've been watching music videos (those days are mostly gone, unfortunately), and all the music videos that have had a lasting impression on me.

So, just off the top of my head, here are some of my favs:

The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar

I like a lot of Michel Gondry videos. I love the imagery of this video and how the landscape matches up with the beats. Very creative. My favorite sequence is 1:39-2:25

Fatboy Slim - Praise You

I also like a lot of Spike Jonze videos. I think this one is hilarious. Spike is great in it.

Death Cab for Cutie - A Movie Script Ending

I like all the still shots. And I like seeing their day unfold in the song. The ending gets me every time.

Bright Eyes- Bowl of Oranges

I like how it's all crafty and DIY.

Bjork - It's Oh So Quiet

I love the dancing. I love how it's like old musicals.

Smashing Pumpkins - 1979

I'm also a fan of a lot of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris videos. This video was so iconic for me as a young teenager. It so perfectly captured youth and what it was like to be a young teenager. I remember thinking the video was just so...cool.

Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight

So beautiful. Come to find out I was being exposed to George Melies (it just doesn't look the same without the accents) in 6th grade and I didn't even know it!

Coldplay - The Scientist

The effects are cool and I like seeing the story unfold, and to see the end (beginning). It really took me by surprise.

Johnny Cash - Hurt

Beautiful video, makes me cry. A great montage of his life.

Weezer - Buddy Holly

This is a classic. I remember being so amazed, at the time, by the technology; to pull something like this off. I was easily impressed, I think.

Beastie Boys - Sabotage

Hilarious.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside (I couldn't find a good video on youtube, so here's the link for MTV, but there's an advertisement before)

Another really amazing looking video. The imagery reminds me of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris know their stuff. Also, I love what they use for their musical instruments in the video.

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Since leaving my comment, I started thinking about how watching music videos was so huge when I was growing up. At least for me. I would sit there and watch music videos on MTV. I would record them onto a tape and then watch them some more. I used to stay up late, sneak downstairs, and watch 120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield. Watching music videos on MTV doesn't really seem to be a part of teenage culture anymore (maybe downloading videos on their iPhones...but it's not quite the same). Hell, MTV doesn't even play music videos anymore, really.

With this in mind, I thought of some more music videos that were "iconic" for me and had a lasting impression. These are some of the memorable music videos when I was growing up (when I was "coming-of-age" musically, so to speak, in the mid-90s). They're not all beautiful and artistic videos, necessarily (though some are); and not all of them are necessarily songs I love, but the music videos take me back to another time.

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box, Foo Fighters - Big Me (the Mentos spoof!), Foo Fighters - Everlong, Nada Surf - Popular, Radiohead - Karma Police, Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give it Away, Michael Jackson - Thriller (this song is a little bit earlier than the music era I'm mostly referring to, but that video is so iconic), Pearl Jam - Jeremy, Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun (freaked me the hell out!), TLC - Waterfalls, Aerosmith - Crazy/Cryin'/Amazing (i.e., Alicia Silverstone videos), Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Tha Crossroads, REM - Everybody Hurts, Alanis Morrisette - Ironic, Blind Melon - No Rain, Lisa Loeb - Stay, Beck - Loser, Green Day - Basketcase, Collective Soul - The World I Know, No Doubt - Don't Speak, Nine Inch Nails - Perfect Drug, Nine Inch Nails - Closer, Tool - Sober, Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity, Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet with Butterfly Wings (Billy Corgan with hair!), Metallica - Until it Sleeps ("who threw the tomato at jesus?! who threw the tomato at jesus!?")