TridCloudwalker Sigur 1 / Sigur 9 is the name of the dvd/cd combo EP on amazon.com . It has no name that I can read on the actual EP. The combination of the three videos is incredible dealing with
In three videos, and yet remaining both beautiful and even uplifting is a masterpiece.
I was going to say Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” but I’ve been beat to the punch. So, I’ll settle for ninth-ing it. Everyone I’ve talked to about it (mostly 18-19 year old guys) says something to the effect of “It’s the most depressing thing I’ve ever seen.” It’s almost painfully beatiful.
Metallica’s “One” always has more of an effect on me than I expect.
Radiohead’s Just and Pyramid Song top my list. The former is delightfully disturbing, the other drove me to tears.
Just a note: your life is not complete unless you’ve listened to the album Kid A by Radiohead. It just isn’t.
Just a note: you can watch ALL of Radiohead’s fabulous videos here. Definately worth your time.
I’m not a country fan, but Garth Brooks’ “Standing Outside the Fire” (I think that’s the title) is a very moving video to me. It basically tells the story of a high-school boy with Down’s Syndrome attempting to race at a track meet.
Sorry for the triple-post, but I want to add: Knives Out by Radiohead is… It’s nearly as disturbing as Just, and a lot stranger.
Another vote for that underwater Radiohead video. The depressing apocalyptic animated one.
Lots of good ones here…I would like to add The Offsprings - The Kids Aren’t Alright.
Bugger, I forgot the downbeat animation to the Tindersticks’ Dying Slowly.
I barely watch music videos at all anymore–whenever I turn it to MTV or VH1, they’re usually playing the same 3 or 4 things, half of which aren’t videos. A lot of these sound good (especially the Cash & Radiohead ones; I like their music as it is), but the likelihood of me running into them seems nil.
But I remember finding Soul Asylum’s Runaway Train video (w/all the shapshots of real-life runaway kids) very moving, though that was a long time ago. Also, there’s one video in circulation that I run into regularly: the entire video’s actions is backwards, though the lips of the male lead are in synch. He is seen wandring around and only at the end do we discover he was in an auto crash. I haven’t figured out what the song’s about (I always come in 1/2-way through), but the song & the video story strike me as quite sad.
The joy of Runaway Trrain is that as it was making its run through MTV, they had to make edits and changes to the real-life missing kids pictures since several of those kids were found. Don’t know if the video helped or not.
Man, don’t you just HATE coming into a good video about halfway through? The only thing worse, for me, is posting in a thread, and then later discovering that Bill H. or somebody like that has already covered the stuff I said. 
By the way, ArchiveGuy, a little digging on my part revealed that the video was thought up before the director found the song to put to it, and the song’s words don’t really relate to the video, except the phrase “I’m going back to the start”.
Stole - Kelly Rolands. It is a beautiful song and the Video is heart-wrenching.
How about “Everybody Hurts” by REM?
Another vote for “Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits. Great video.
That’s the one! Thank you Max, I needed to see that again. (If anyone else clicks the link it takes a LOOOOONG time to load so give it a chance.) It took about a half hour or so…I’m feeling lucky, so I’m going to attempt the Johnny Cash video now too.
Thanks Bill H. I’d missed your post and couldn’t think of the band or song name (The Philosopher? The Accountant? The Technician?). Still don’t know what the song’s about, though…
Okay, I went to Launch and watched “Just” by Radiohead twice and I can’t tell what the guy is saying. So why’s he lying there on on the sidewalk?
Nobody but the band knows the answer to this one. That’s one of the reasons I like it so much.
He doesn’t say anything; lip-readers have looked at and have stated that he’s just mumbling garbage. But that doesn’t matter. It’s the idea that he tells them something that will make them lie down and never get up that is important.
It’s a… whatever the word for that sort of thing is. Has something to do with Hitchcock.