As anybody who knows me can tell you, I am a compulsive list maker. And 'd just like to share my latest one, my list of the 30 greatest music videos ever. Feedback would be appreciated greatly.
30. Fake Plastic Trees- Radiohead
29. Losing My Religion- R.E.M.
28. Heart Shaped Box- Nirvana
27. Californication- Red Hot Chili Peppers
26. Hard to Explain- The Strokes
25. All is Full of Love- Bjork
24. Blue Orchid- The White Stripes
23. Knives Out- Radiohead
22. The Perfect Drug- Nine Inch Nails
21. Sledgehammer- Peter Gabriel
20. D.A.N.C.E.- Justice
19. Virtual Insanity- Jamiroquai
18. The Universal- Blur
17. Take On Me- a-ha
16. Subterranean Homesick Blues- Bob Dylan
15. Street Spirit (Fade Out)- Radiohead
14. Tonight, Tonight- Smashing Pumpkins
13. Fell in Love With a Girl- The White Stripes
12. Rabbit In Your Headlights- UNKLE
11. The Scientist- Coldplay
10. Hurt- Johnny Cash
9. Closer- Nine Inch Nails
8. Around the World- Daft Punk
7. Thriller- Michael Jackson
6. Just- Radiohead
5. Coffee and TV- Blur
4. 1979- Smashing Pumpkins
3. Karma Police- Radiohead
2. Sabotage- Beastie Boys
1. Weapon of Choice- Fatboy Slim
i've always liked bjork's pagan poetry film clip (and not becaue of the boobies). it's really artistic (and not in a wanky way). it would probably be my no#1 if i made a list. but really, i don't watch many video clips so it doesn't have much competition.
Great list Nick. Heavy on the Director's label directors, but that's appropriate. I could make a top-25 made entirely of Michel Gondry videos. My favorite of his is probably "Sugar Water" by Cibo Matt. If you thought "The Scientist" was cool, well, Gondry had the reverse video leading to a car crash thing down six years earlier, and upped the difficulty by a couple of orders of magnitude. It's a bravura split screen, double one-shot, in forward and reverse, palindrome of a video.
Other Gondry videos I really like are Foo Fighter's "Everlong" and Bjork's "Bachelorette."
Mark Romanek is sneaky good for someone who has created so many big budget videos. He is so great at using architecture and lighting to create a mood, whether it's the rave-up from "Are You Gonna Go My Way," the baroque acid trip of "The Perfect Drug," the languid sleaze of Fiona Apple's controversial "Criminal," or the portentous build-up of Johnny Cash's "Hurt." My favorite of his is a relatively small video for Sonic Youth's "Little Trouble Girl."
In the mid and late 90's I tried to keep up with all the newest videos. I taped 120 Minutes every Sunday night. These days, even with having Youtube at my disposal, I just have not been able to keep up. My sense is that there has been a real tamping down of the videos these days. Probably budgets are a lot less. I see a lot of animated videos. Some of them are good, but I like seeing the band or performer in my music videos.
Looking over my list of 30 videos it seems that I forgot some really, really good ones. Allow me to add some more deserving videos.
40. Scar Tissue- Red Hot Chili Peppers
39. Pyramid Song- Radiohead
38. Ava Adore- Smashing Pumpkins
37. Learn to Fly- Foo Fighters
36. Block Rockin' Beats- The Chemical Brothers
35. Everlong- Foo Fighters
34. Sunset (Bird of Prey)- Fatboy Slim
33. Star Guitar- The Chemical Brothers
32. This Is Hardcore- Pulp
31. Atmosphere- Joy Division
The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy
Tool - Sober
Prodigy - Smack my Bitch up
Pulp - Bad Cover Versions
Wu-Tang Clan - Da Mystery of Chessboxin
Rage Against the Machine - Freedom
