But I thought I should speak out m opinion because people are making big deal about the new Beyonce "Formation" video. People, it's a music video. People will dress like members of the Black Panther party. People will get naked. People will eat raw animals. Whatever. The purpose of music videos is to entertain. If not that, then to commercially promote your music beyond using your actual music. In either event: Music Videos are FAR from important.
I kinda shrug my shoulders when I see videos making big bold statements. Not like they're bad, but they're usually super long and have high-quality directing. There's nothing wrong with that. I just never watch things for longer than 5 minutes. My favorite music videos are stupid. Because the artist making this video realizes the same thing I do: It's a music video. And music videos are stupid.
Now, I'm about to share My 15 Favorite Music Videos Ever! Yes, it basically is an altar for 90s worship. But it will fill your heart with the spirit of America. Feel free to turn back now.
Recipe for winning my music video heart:
-1 FFA jacket
-1 midget who kinda looks like me
-Add whatever the heck is going on in the picture below
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnIBBbWFJ38 |
14 Animal Collective- Who Could Win a Rabbit
The tortoise and the hare will never be the same. (By the way, this is a perfect music video band! I also recommend the videos for "Peacebone" and "Brothersport.")
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTbd0Ncsyus |
13 Beck- Loser
Beck was given a $300 shooting budget to make this video. In case that wasn't obvious.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgSPaXgAdzE |
12 Oneohtrix Point Never- Replica
D R U G Z
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiwi7d0f91Y |
Sometimes your band gets fired and replaced by attractive cool kids, which disappoints a random family. Sometimes your Lambo gets pulled over by an ambulance. Sometimes you lose a horse-racing bet. Sometimes you wear a yellow t-shirt over a blue long-sleeve shirt. Sometimes every other person in your friggin video is smoking a cigarette (or cigar). It happens.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT9JxkiLImU |
10 St. Vincent- Cruel
Being a mom is hard. Suffering from paranoia is also hard. Being a mom who's afraid that her family is out to kill her is a bad combo. You give your entire life's work to these people and it will never be good enough for them. So how does it end? You invite them to bury you alive. They'll then shrug their shoulders and agree like it's no big deal.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itt0rALeHE8 |
9 Avalanches- Since I Left You
That one time when you were mining in an old-timey, sepia-toned world and you magically appear in a modern, high-class dance audition. "I never saw Arthur again. But I bet wherever he's gone, he's having a damn good time."
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpqm-05R2Jk |
8 Bob Dylan- Subterranean Homesick Blues
Confession time: I don't know a darn thing about the origins of music videos. But I do know Bob Dylan made this in the 60s and it's freaking genius.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGxjIBEZvx0 |
7 Hot Chip- I Feel Better
The story of the neuro-vomiting killer of boy bands! And everybody dies in the end! (By the way, this is a perfect music video band! I also recommend the videos for "Boy At School" and "Ready for the Floor.")
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GOZjlwIwfk |
6 Dinosaur Jr.- Over It
I love Dinosaur Jr. They are the best at what they do. This includes both shredding on guitar and shredding on your skateboard. Still the best... after all these years. (By the way, this is a perfect music video band! I also recommend the videos for "Feel the Pain," 'Watch the Corners," "The Wagon," and "Just Like Heaven.")
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgTJtdn6VjM |
5 Pulp- Bad Cover Version
So it's bad cover version of celebrity musicians recording a bad cover version of a song titled "Bad Cover Version." Got it. Clever.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR5xGHPUEew |
4 The Replacements- Bastards of the Young
To me, this is the greatest music video idea of all time came in 1985: The Anti-Video. With their first major label album, Warner Bros forced The Replacements to replace a lead single with a promo video. So they sped up the album's best song one half-step and raised it a pitch (which kinda ruins it). As for the video? Well... let's just say it's extremely uneventful. PUNK ROCK.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl9KQ1Mub6Q |
3 Destroyer- Kaputt
I watched this video the week I got from my mission and it changed my life. The song did as well. The ultimate artistic representation of hopelessness. The old man dying in the desert, the anti-social young boy with bad internet habits, the whale who needs a balloon to fly... Watch it.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puu3IvKnSb4 |
2 Pavement- Gold Soundz
Pavement is my favorite music video band. Heck, they might just be my favorite band period. I mean, every corny band out there needs to look they're friendly and unified in their music videos. Pavement does this here by all dressing up like Santa Claus and bow-hunting frozen turkeys around Irvine, CA. (By the way, this is a perfect music video band! I also recommend the videos for "Cut Your Hair," "Stereo," "Shady Lane," "Carrot Rope," and "Rattled by the Rush.")
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPvhKV3Yg2k |
1 Yo La Tengo- Sugarcube
First off, shout out to my former co-worker Dillon for introducing me to this song in the Redfish Lake Lodge kitchen. I thought it was Sonic Youth. But I digress...
Limozeen, the fake classic rock band from Homestar Runner, makes fun of alternative rock bands. "Their bassist is a girl!" "Their drummer has short hair!" "The lead singer wears glasses!" This describes all 3 members of Yo La Tengo.
Now despite both sounding and looking like an anti-classic-rock band, YLT has paid ode to the genre in their lyrics and videos multiple times. The "Sugarcube" video is what my brother Keith has deemed "The Original School of Rock." Within 4 minutes, we learn what rock 'n' roll is truly all about. It's about getting chewed out by your manager and going to school. Once your band has read Rush lyrics like a children's bedtime story, released a live double-album, and found songwriting inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkein, you are ready to make "your first number one video!" (By the way, this is a perfect music video band! I also recommend the videos for "Ohm" and "I'll Be Around.")
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDgpQBaziy0 |
Overlong Honorable Mention List:
Outkast- Hey Ya!
Nirvana- Heart-Shaped Box
Grizzly Bear- Knife
Superchunk- Digging for Something
Avalanches- Frontier Psychiatrist
Fatboy Slim- Weapon of Choice
Every OK Computer music video
Anything from Aphex Twin
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