Donald Fagen: New Frontier
Talking Heads’ “Once In A Lifetime” was my favorite video when MTV debuted. Nobody’s been able to top it.
Honorable mentions:
“Big Me”, Foo Fighters
"Take The Skinheads Bowling", Camper Van Beethoven "I Can't Stop Smiling", Velocity Girl "Makes No Sense At All/Love Is All Around", Husker Du And the best video that never lasts very long on You Tube: the censored version of "Pop Song 89" by R.E.M. :cool:If you live in an area that carries Classic Arts Showcase, you may have seen this gem from 1930. It’s the original German-language version of “Happy Days Are Here Again”.
The one with Michael Jackson dancing on the illuminated squares was excellent, better than ‘Thriller’, Sledgehammer has to be up there in the top 5, but Take On Me hit me more than another other; I had a physical and emotional reaction when I first saw it, like a light was lit for the first time.
That’s the Steve Barron-directed “Billie Jean” I mentioned.
Barron did miniature movies with stories. I loved that. Most directors couldn’t do it and to be honest didn’t want to. The genre went elsewhere and, IMO, lost any chance to become art.
I forget to mention that the “Avalon” video was directed by Ridley Scott, the only music video he ever did.
Music videos are the most single-creator artform in the modern age. Their directors really should get the credit for the good ones.
“Losing My Religion” is great, but I love all REM’s videos. I never get tired of “Stand.”
Talking Heads were also very creative, my favorite being “And She Was.”
All time greatest video ever, though, is The Replacements’ “Bastards of Young.” Like a Michael Snow movie!
Oh yeah. The Comedian Harmonists’ll snap your stix, every time. Great performers!
If we can do oldies…I adore this 1960 Czech version of “Mack the Knife,” with the troupe of masked blondes doing jazz ballet. And I MUST HAVE the singer’s suit.
I’m going to go with Genesis’ “Land of Confusion”.
Ron Jeremy is in the video too for bonus points.
I’d go with most anything by Michel Gondry: Lucas “Lucas With The Lid Off,” Daft Punk “Around the World,” and Kylie Minogue “Come Into My World” immediately come to mind.
Pulp Bad Cover Version. Says it all really.
Got it bad, got it bad…
Well, well, well, well…(said like a newly-minted Constable Dim from Clockwork Orange)
Perhaps a little more upbeat than my el crapola video thread.
Awesome - a lotta great new shit I haven’t seen, and these two were especially absolute stand-outs:
catchy as stink, the continuity is great, ultra-re-watchable.
damn - that was fucking amazing
heh heh but this one:
(not 100% sure if this would be considered NSFW - maybe best err on the side of caution?)
and for the “You-Must-Be-Lacking-a-Pulse-If-You-Don’t-Dig” Prize:
Perhaps the most subtle video ever made: no, not really.
Another great one: Robert Plant’s “In The Mood”.
“Ana Ng”, They Might Be Giants
I’m a fan of the Tool videos. Also Death in Vegas.
Pink Floyd - High Hopes
I loved the otherworldly, utterly original atmospheres and landscapes evoked by such early MTV denizens as The Tubes in I Don’t Want to Wait Anyomore, Gary Wright’s Really Wanna Know You, and of course David Bowies’s Ashes to Ashes, which I won’t bother linking to because we’ve all revisited it in recent months.