Well, the title pretty much explains it all…what music video (or videos) is (are) your favorite?
Mine include:
“November Rain” - Guns and Roses
“Weapon of Choice” - Fatboy Slim
“The Reason” - Hoobastank.
Yeah, I know that last one might elicit a few :dubious: from the audience, but it’s actually kinda cool. It’s a robbery that’s neatly planned out, but we don’t know that from the start, so we just see some super-hot chick get hit by a car, then all sorts of crazy stuff happens. It kind of reminds me of Ocean’s Eleven.
Not to besmirch the greatness of “Take on Me” or “Weapon of Choice”, bu you’re all forgetting Offspring’s “Pretty Fly for a White Guy”. or Weird Al’s “One More Minute.” Or pretty much anything Peter Gabriel ever did.
“Take On Me” was directed by Steve Barron, the greatest director of music videos there ever was.
His videos were perfect three-minute mini-movies, not an eyeball-rolling slicing and dicing of individual frames of video.
Some of his other classics:
Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean”
Human League, “Don’t You Want Me”
Thomas Dolby, “She Blinded Me With Science” (with Dolby)
Dire Straits, “Money For Nothing”
Eddie Grant, “Electric Avenue”
Madonna, Toto, ZZ Top, Bryan Adams
and perhaps his greatest, Joe Jackson’s “Stepping Out”
He fit his style to the video, not vice versa, so you can’t immediately identify his work as his. It’s all worth seeking out, though.
Tom Petty’s Don’t Come Around Here No More and lots of others from the eighties. Too bad it’s unlikely I’ll ever see them again. When I’m listening to the radio with the kids, I’m always saying, “Oooh! Great video for that, I wish you guys could see it.”
I’m willing to bet it was Baby Snakes. I got the Baby Snakes DVD and it was like you described, only a full concert. I’ve got to admit, though, it was kind of odd seeing Zappa on stage for the first time. I knew what he looked like, and how he sounded, and I’ve seen him moving around in 200 Motels, but until then I never had the full Frank experience. And I’ve been a Zappa fan for at least 12 years.
Now, my favorite videos:
Rammstein - Amerika
Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice (It’s Christopher Walken dancing. How can you not like it?)
Devo - Anything, particularly Peek-A-Boo and Girl U Want
Marilyn Manson - Dope Hat
Ever since it was out (1994 I think), I’ve always immediately responded Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden to this question. It’s also one of those where the song just doesn’t seem complete without the video playing.
Also:
Army Of Me - Björk (surreal)
Without Me - Eminem (funny)
Girl From Mars - Ash (works really well with the song)
(You’ll laugh at this one) Fever For The Flava - Hot Action Cop
I always thought Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” was massively overrated. While there’s no denying that it was a tremendous technical achievement, I just didn’t enjoy watching it.
I can’t remember the song, but I liked the U2 video shot on a rooftop in LA. The police shut down the production right at the end of the song, or at least it’s edited to appear that that’s the timing.
The police told the band they were going to shut things down, but granted the band enough time to get through the song a couple of times and amass enough footage for a decent video.
Mr. Suit-n-tie lays down in the middle of a busy sidewalk. People notice. People trip. People ask if he’s OK (subtitles only, the only audio is the song). He just wants to be left alone.
People start screaming at him to tell them whats wrong. He says they don’t want to know, and can’t they please leave him alone?
A large crowd has formed. Crowd demand he tell them what’s up.
“God forgive me,” he says, and tells them. But you don’t find out what he says, all you see are his lips moving, with no subtitles.
Cut to the band, then cut back to an overhead view of the sidewalk. Everyone is laying down. :eek:
Its the only video I ever bothered to search out and download off the net.