# What have been some worthwhile music videos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 24, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393 "2002-09-24T02:20:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ersatz\_Shmoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ersatz\_Shmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ersatz_Shmoe)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/1 "2002-09-24T02:20:59Z")
I was reading [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=136197) when I thought, what have been some music videos that provoked thought, awe, or just plain made you forget about the myriad of “band-in-a-box” or dance-oriented videos? For example, I usually point to Radiohead’s video for “Just.” ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/2 "2002-09-24T02:36:03Z")
Ah Ha, “Take on Me.” The one with the 30’s style cartoon animation. Peter Gabriel, “Sledgehammer.” That’s all I can think of right now. I can’t even remember the last time I saw a music video. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/3 "2002-09-24T02:41:15Z")
“And She Was” by Talking Heads. It was made with objects photographed from different angles and then animated. (The same technique was relatively popular at the time, before everybody jumped on morphing and _Matrix_-style freeze-pans, and was used less effectively in one of Michael Jackson’s videos where he dances with the Elephant Man’s bones.) It’s probably my favorite video ever. Just about any Bjork video; my favorites are “It’s Oh So Quiet,” “Isobel,” and “Human Behavior.” ---
**Author:** ![IcicleFuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ba8739/32.png) [@IcicleFuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IcicleFuzz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/4 "2002-09-24T02:57:00Z")
Pearl Jam’s video for “Do the Evolution” freaks me out every time I see it. ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/5 "2002-09-24T03:02:41Z")
Michael Jackson’s **Thriller** Guns N’ Roses **Sweet Child O’ Mine** Guns N’ Roses **November Rain** for its excesses and its **Spinal Tap** ish edge to it ---
**Author:** ![Ersatz\_Shmoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ersatz\_Shmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ersatz_Shmoe)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/6 "2002-09-24T03:04:08Z")
Good call, **IcicleFuzz**. I also just thought of that one Replacements video where they just show the speaker for the entirety of the video. ---
**Author:** ![La\_Cosa\_Nostra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@La\_Cosa\_Nostra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Cosa_Nostra)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/7 "2002-09-24T03:07:36Z")
“Street Spirit” by Radiohead is my all time fav. Other include Enigma - Return to Innocence, Fiona Apple - Criminal, and Deftones - Digital Bath. Any of the videos above would be well worth your time and effort ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/8 "2002-09-24T04:03:55Z")
Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” with Christopher Walken and the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”. Spike Jonze rules. And for the sheer awesomeness of the editing job, R.E.M.'s “Imitation of Life”. The video uses only a single 30 second snippet of footage of a huge outdoor scene. The video is zoomed in and out of, and played backwards and forwards and synchs up perfectly to the song. It has to be seen to be believed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@The\_Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tim)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/9 "2002-09-24T04:16:01Z")
The video for “Spark” by Tori Amos is really good. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/10 "2002-09-24T05:23:21Z")
The videos I currently find the most striking are “Strange Little Girl” by Tori Amos (all of her videos have a pleasant sureal quality to them,) which reminds me of Little Red Ridinghood and “Open Your Eyes” by Goldfinger which has elements parodying The Twilight Zone in it. I’ve only seen it once, but “Girl from Mars” by Ash has a pretty neat concept to it: a girl, probably 8 or 9, is in an art museum. Every time she looks at a painting, it becomes a window into a real scene, and adults rush her away so she can’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/11 "2002-09-24T09:52:48Z")
I can’t remember the song title but the video by U.N.K.L.E. with the cars that keep hitting the man walking through a tunnel is amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Ich\_Bin\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Ich\_Bin\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ich_Bin_s)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/12 "2002-09-24T13:28:50Z")
Aphex Twin While his video for Windowlicker is probably the most famous (you either love it or hate it, but that’s another debate (but at least see it)), I would say that the video for “Come to Daddy” does more in four minutes than 90% of most horror movies. It’s disturbing without being gratuitous; haunting and confusing, it’s one of the few videos I bother to own. It was apparently banned by MTV (I use banned loosely, because I have seen it on MTV once, on their banned videos show, go figure), for nothing other than being disturbing, which is testament to it’s power as it shows absolutely nothing. I have friends who refuse to sit through the whole thing. All Radiohead references, and everything elwoodcuse said. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/13 "2002-09-24T14:29:32Z")
As **Ich Bin’s** mentioned, Aphex Twin’s _Come to Daddy_ is truly disturbing. Great video, but don’t watch it alone at night. So many Radiohead videos also fit into this category: _Just_, _Street Spirit_, _Paranoid Android_ and _Knives Out_ just to start with. And the video **widdershins** mentions is _Rabbit In Your Headlights_. And although it’s basically novelty appeal, who can not love seeing Fonzie groove to Weezer in _Buddy Holly_ or their new muppet-laden video, _Keep Fishing_? ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/14 "2002-09-24T14:50:33Z")
I’d go with most Michel Gondry videos- Foo Fighters _Everlong_, a lot of Bjork’s stuff, the Chemical Brother’s _Star Guitar_, White Stripes _Fell in Love with a Girl_, and probably some others that I wasn’t aware of. I just saw the video for Basement Jaxx _Where’s Your Head At?_ and thought that was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/15 "2002-09-24T14:52:30Z")
I think Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” still has great emotional impact, although I have seen it roughly fifteen billion times (as did everyone else who watched MTV in the early '90s). ---
**Author:** ![murky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@murky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/murky)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/16 "2002-09-24T15:38:12Z")
These two are newer but I love them both: White Stripes “dead leaves and the dirty ground.” It’s rare that a video come out that makes me actually sit down and watch the story being unfolded. Except it’s on story, different time periods, told in one frame. Really, really interesting. Also: Underworld’s “Two Months Off.” Honestly, there is nothing groundbreaking about the video but they really capture the essence of the song. Just one guy, jumping around in the rain. Very simple but very effective. ---
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/17 "2002-09-24T15:39:40Z")
Going waaaaaaaaayyyyy back **Herbie Hancock** ’s _Rockit_ **Metallica** ’s _Unforgiven_ **Pink Floyd** _The Wall_ Not related to the OP: (I didn’t post this and you didn’t read it but…) I thought **The Spice Girls** _Wannabe_ was an interesting concept. Rapidly moving, colorful, 1 second shots of pure eye candy. I am still captivated by that video every time. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/18 "2002-09-24T15:46:27Z")
**Tool** , _Sober_ is a beatiful piece of claymation. As is the one with teh baby thing in the box. (Is it _Prison Sex_)? Most **Weird Al** videos manage to pack in even more laughs than the songs alone. ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/19 "2002-09-24T15:52:20Z")
Mark Romanek’s video for Nine Inch Nails’s “Closer.” Although it’s basically a moving-image Joel-Peter Witkin photograph, those images really stuck with me. Back in the proverbial day, I also liked Tears For Fears’s “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” with kind of the same look of “And She Was.” INXS’s “Need You Tonight.” And I can’t remember the name of the song, but that relatively new Coldplay video. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393/20 "2002-09-24T16:10:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Opengrave \* > (I didn’t post this and you didn’t read it but…) > I thought **The Spice Girls** _Wannabe_ was an interesting concept. Rapidly moving, colorful, 1 second shots of pure eye candy. I am still captivated by that video every time. And I don’t agree with you. Under the topic of “worthwhile videos”, I’d also add R.E.M.'s “Everybody Hurts”. Do they even make music videos anymore that don’t just consist of seizure-inducing flashing lights and spastic synchronized dancing? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-have-been-some-worthwhile-music-videos/129393.md?page=2)