Best music videos ever
These songs are not necessarily my favourites to listen to, but ones where the song is at least catchy and the video is stunning. Warning: there are lots of music videos, possibly even famous ones, I haven’t seen.
Best of the best
- a-ha’s Take On Me
- A nice little story told with a combination of live action and animated drawings.
- Cibo Matto’s Sugar Water
- Directed by Michel Gondry. Astonishingly filmed backwards.
- Fatboy Slim’s Weapon Of Choice
- Directed by Spike Jonze. You didn’t think Christopher Walken could dance? He can do anything.
- “Praise You” is also worth a look, directed by Jonze and Roman Coppola. Jonze and others are dancing ridiculously.
- George Michael’s Freedom! ’90
- He burns his old outfit from when he pretended to be a heterosexual man.
- Lady Gaga’s Born This Way
- A fantastic message, along with her unique costumes and dance style.
- “Bad Romance” is also full of beautiful nonsense.
- Madonna’s Express Yourself
- Directed by David Fincher. Amazingly, an homage to Metropolis.
- “Vogue” is also directed by Fincher and has a great message.
- Michael Jackson’s Black or White
- A beautiful message, delivered with people’s faces morphing into each other.
- “Smooth Criminal” has astonishing dance moves, including the moonwalk.
- Taylor Swift’s Shake it Off
- A fantastic message delivered in an endlessly entertaining way.
- “Blank Space” also takes aim at her detractors in a more visceral way.
- Weezer’s Buddy Holly
- Directed by Spike Jonze. The way they insert themselves into the Happy Days universe is stunning.
Runner ups
- Best Coast’s Our Deal
- Directed by Drew Barrymore, this Romeo and Juliet-type story features Chloë Grace Moretz, Miranda Cosgrove, Donald Glover, Shailene Woodley, and Alia Shawkat.
- Bruno Mars’ The Lazy Song
- Leonard Nimoy stars as a grumpy old man who doesn’t want to talk to his neighbour or the mailman. The best part is when he keeps seeing William Shatner on TV.
- Genesis’ Land of Confusion
- Both the band and political figures are portrayed by puppets. It helps if you know who Ronald Reagan is and what he looks like.
- Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation
- Impeccable synchronized dance moves.
- John Batiste’s Freedom
- Formerly Stephen Colbert’s band leader, he is a brilliant musician, hilarious, and kind. This video is pure fun.
- Johnny Cash’s Hurt
- This video is amazing in a way that’s different from the others — near the end of his life, it was made in his own home.
- Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer
- The use of stop-motion animation makes this stand out.
- Pharrell Williams’ Happy
- A bunch of happy people dancing in their own unique ways.
- Prince’s Kiss
- This video is worth it for the moment the guitarist smiles at Prince.
- “Raspberry Beret” has a nice combination of live action and animation.
Honourable mentions
These are videos I hadn’t seen before but are intriguing.
- Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire
- He gives us a history lesson, showing us that things weren’t actually better in the “good old days.”
- Björk’s Human Behaviour
- Directed by Michel Gondry. It’s weird, but I guess humans are weird.
- Britney Spears’ Toxic
- The story might be a tiny bit nonsensical but it’s fun — she’s not a flight attendant, she’s a spy on a dangerous mission.
- Janet Jackson’s Got ‘Til It’s Gone
- This video recreates a lounge in South Africa during the Apartheid era — when Black people were not allowed to go certain places.
- Kylie Minogue’s Come Into My World
- Michel Gondry directed this one. It answers the question: How many Kylie Minogues can you fit in one video?
- OK Go’s Here It Goes Again
- Startling choreography involving treadmills.
- Outkast’s Hey Ya!
- Features Andre 3000 in multiple roles as the band is introduced like they’re the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Dani California
- The band looks and plays as if they were Elvis, the Beatles, Prince, and more.
- The version of “Can’t Stop” that’s in Love, Death & Robots season 4 is directed by David Fincher and reimagines the band as marionettes. It’s a great video, it just didn’t belong in that show.
- Sia’s Chandelier
- Features 11-year-old Maddie Ziegler dancing in a way that is remarkable.