Best/Worst/Weirdest/Funniest/Craziest Music Video Thread

[Sgt Floyd]

I've had the idea for a while now

Anyway, discuss music videos (not the songs)

 

[King Rupert]

This fits into everything...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpGp-22t0lU

 

[dwmckim]

(Sigh) The music video - such a wonderful art form when it's at its best (though many use it as just a "I have to do it"-slap-something-together waste of film). At one time i actually wanted to be a music video director but by the time i was in college, it was clear the genre was fading and underappreciated.

Lots of filmic gems out there. The first video that ever caught my attention and left a lasting impression (before our cable company had MTV or i had discovered the late night music video shows) was Juice Newton's "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me" - i felt so sorry for the character she was playing in that video!

Cyndi Lauper deserves a place in the music video hall of fame for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" which took the idea of the song and exploded it into everything the genre could offer - unfortunately the video was SO powerful and well done that it later worked against her since people would remember her so much for that song/video that she got unfairly pigeonholed as a quasi novelty act and as lighthearted fluff when she's been so much more of an incredible well-rounded all-around Artist. She Bop also deserves accolades for managing to take a satirical look at adult themes (for a song that had an adult topic but presented it in a way that would seem innocent to younger fans) with multi-layers and references - and like the song did so in such a way that just seemed like innocent fun for the kids/tweens - all wrapped up in an over-the-top production number complete with white tuxes, dancing with canes, and glittery half moon. Amazing!

Eurythmics are largely cemented in the Artists of Music Video category largely for the striking images of Sweet Dreams - but they also had even more total lesser-known gems in the forms of Love is a Stranger, Who's That Girl? It's All Right (Baby's Coming Back), King and Queen of America and Beethoven (I Love to Listen To). (The latter two videos even received pretty good airplay on MTV despite neither song having been released as a single in the US)

Beastie Boys' "Fight For Your Right to Party" and Travis' "Sing" both were fun videos that both reflected the spirit of the songs and made them something more (and both proved one can never go wrong with a well-done food fight)

Almost every single video Duran Duran ever made were total art pieces sometimes fighting against while at the same time amplifying their image as a teeny boy-band.

REM's "Losing My Religion" - marvelous concepts, visuals and editing.

Finally i have to give a shout out to my all time favorite music video DIRECTOR, Sophie Muller - she creates some amazing images, cinematography, and she always manages to use editing to emphasize the dramatics in a song. In addition to being behind the aforementioned Eurythmics' "Beethoven", she's also done most of Shakespear's Sister's video (including the classic "Stay" - which also was brilliantly parodied by French an Saunderss!), several of No Doubt's videos (including "Don't Speak") and many others - i reccomend exploring her wiki page or doing a google or youtube search for "Sophie Muller"

 

[JJandJanice]

Ah, that a good topic for the time being.

I LOVED most Weezer videos, those guys are genius at the art of the Music video. In fact I even own the "Weezer music video collection" DVD. Some of my favorites included...

Buddy Holly (features the footage of "Happy Days.")
Island In the Sun-This one actually has two different music videos but I'm maily talking about the one with all those animals. You would have to have a "heart of stone" to not smile seeing all those animals and Weezer together.
Keep Fishin'- This is OF COURSE an easy one to like as it also features our beloved Muppets. One of the BEST music videos EVER! (at least in my mind). Again you would have to have a "heart of stone" or something to not get a kick out of this video. I've honestly seen this video maybe close to 100 times, as I own it on not one but two DVDs (Weezer music videos and the Muppet Show season 2 set) as well as bought it off Itunes to put on my Ipod.

Other ones I've enjoyed included...
Michael Jackson's Thriller- A classic to the "music video era."
Guns and Roses' November Rain- A bit overblown in some poeople's opinion, but I thought it was awesome.
Beatise Boys' Sabatoge- Those guys are characters, that's for sure.

As for "worst and/of funniest" (though I think in these cases they weren't meant to be funny) pretty much any "Hall and Oates" music videos were awful. Those were two stars from the 80s that WASN'T prepared for music videos and MTV to get so big and became a mainstay for music artists.

 

[Drtooth]

Cyndi Lauper deserves a place in the music video hall of fame for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" which took the idea of the song and exploded it into everything the genre could offer - unfortunately the video was SO powerful and well done that it later worked against her since people would remember her so much for that song/video that she got unfairly pigeonholed as a quasi novelty act and as lighthearted fluff when she's been so much more of an incredible well-rounded all-around Artist.

Had Lou Albano in it. Freakin' Super Mario. How can I not love that? (fully aware that he was her manager for a time).

Anyway, it's obvious my favorite ones come from Weird Al... other than "You don't Love me Anymore" (I'll explain later... plus it's my least favorite one of his songs). The parody ones he mimics flawlessly, and his own original ones have a very unique spin, though they borrow from other sources. but my absolute favorite was Jurassic Park. Claymation. Also rather liked Close but no Cigar, animated by Spumco.

Anyone who doesn't mention how amazing Thriller is in this thread is a heathen !

I have no love for music videos where someone's just singing, and they just show them playing without actually doing anything interesting. Like a boring concert in an empty room. Sadly, all the examples escape me.

HOWEVER, if you want WeIrD... you came to the right guy.

Here are some music videos of Italian and French dubs of anime shows from the 70's and 80's (after all, they got them first)

Italian "Lady Oscar" music video-Features a kid looking up a doll's panties and a guy with ugly glasses and an uglier beard.

French Saint Seyia music video.... to quote Jim and Pam from the Office "WOW! I haven't seen that since 1985[/url]

French Bioman music video featuring the same guy as the Saint Seyia opening, in forced wacky roughhousing with people in costumes.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

I never liked music videos with just the band in an empty room or even a band with a screaming crowd and concert footage inserted either

weirdest is a toss up for me. Ive seen alot of weird videos but I'll say one that I have seen recently. The Kids Arent Alright by the Offspring.

Craziest is easily I Wanna be Sedated by the Ramones.

Funniest...eh...any Bowling for soup. But I'll say No Hablo Ingles is one of the funniest

 

[HeyButtahfly]

One of my current favorites is "Thinkin' 'Bout Somethin'" by Hanson. It's a take-off on a scene from The Blues Brothers.

I really like most of Matchbox Twenty's videos, though they definitely had a couple of weird ones: "The Real World"--what was the point of the camel? "Unwell", and I never really got the point of the one for "Back to Good".

I also really like the video for "Haven't Met You Yet" by Michael Buble. It's right in line with his sense of humor. It's a lot like Toby Keith's music videos of the past-- just when you thought it was going to be serious or "typical," there was a funny twist ending.

 

[Kiki]

Seeing as I watch Rage almost every week at an ungodly hour of the morning, I should be able to come up with a few obscure ones. But I can't think of many at all, but I definitely have a few faves...

'Long Road to Ruin' -Foo Fighters.

'Learn to Fly' -Foo Fighters.

'Everlong' -Foo Fighters.

(Yeah, Foo Fighter generally have awesome videos ).

aaaaaand... 'I want to Break Free' -Queen.

I shall try to think up some more... >>

 

[dwmckim]

A lot of "worst" music videos would be ones where the entire visuals is of a concert performance of the song but the audio is the studio version. The final result always comes across poorly. The energy of the live performance gets swallowed and the song sounds weak. (Plus if they don't even have any cheering or crowd noises it really just seems off.)

If you're going to do a "concert" music video, do a concert version of the song - even if it's lipsynced to a live recording (i.e. if they use elements from several performances edited together to one audio recording). I'm sure there's way too many examples but one that sticks out in my mind is Eurythmics' "Right By Your Side" Quite an embarrassing video all in all.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

I take back what I said about hating "band in empty room" music videos...I found one thats awsome. Though, its more of a dome made out of florescent lights than a room...Cant get my head around you by the offspring.

And I found one even weirder than the kids arent allright, Stuff is messed up, also by the offspring (yeah, they make alot of weird videos) I just dont really recommend watching said video as it has potential to offend many people