#10 Beck : E-Pro
Kicking off the list, a strange yet brilliantly done music video in which Beck is in a world full of vectors. Cue what must've been either incredibly embarrassing or freaking hilarious for him to film as he navigates the world, doing many different things such as digging and jumping atop a series of musical notes. The ending is fairly unexpected too.
#9 Gorillaz : Stylo
The first of two Gorillaz music videos to make the list (they've always had excellent music videos), Stylo sees the crew in a newly CGIed form, which manages to stick amazingly faithful to their cartoon forms, being chased by first a large policeman, then a Bruce Willis. Amazing stuff.
#8 Fischerspooner : Get Confused
There's always a brilliant quality to Fischerspooner music videos, I find. Unfortunately, some of them tamper with the songs a bit too much in the process (Emerge is particularly affected by this). Get Confused remains relatively intact, though, and the music video itself is great.
#7 The Prodigy : Out Of Space
Some of The Prodigy's videos are kinda samey - Liam Howlett shouting at the camera and doing an odd dance, occasionally with added black & white. Out Of Space benefits from being an old song. The music video, which is about as '90s as '90s can get, is different... and a couple of dances performed in it are to die for!
#6 Gorillaz : 19/2000 (19-2000)
The second of the two Gorillaz music videos in my top ten shares some stuff in common with the first - the band is in a vehicle on a single road. Yet this and Stylo are ten years apart. 19/2000, possibly Gorillaz's most well-known track and often misquoted as "Got the Cool Shoeshine", "Shoeshine" or similar thanks to its distinguishable Noodle-sung segment, has one of the most memorable music videos out there. It even has a flash game made after it!
#5 Fatboy Slim : Weapon Of Choice
Christopher Walken dancing in a deserted hotel. Yeah. As a sidenote, "Right Here, Right Now", also by Fatboy Slim, would have made the list had it been a top 11. Had it been a top 12 "Praise You" would probably have also made it.
#4 Franz Ferdinand : Take Me Out
AKA "how you make an entrance". Stupidly addictive song, stylistic, memorable music video. Obscure, yes, but brilliant nonetheless.
#3 OK Go : Here It Goes Again
Single shots are always gonna be impressive. OK Go's "Here It Goes Again" is a music video filmed in a single shot in which the band do an impressive "dance" on a set of treadmills with alternating directions. Apparently it took them 17 takes to do right - a figure that's actually fairly good. Another one for the memorable pile.
#2 Röyksopp : Remind Me
A video displaying a woman's average day in the style of an informative/instructional video/booklet/whatever. The video is done axonometrically and is, in general, fantastically made. Either a downside or upside depending on which you prefer, though - the version of the song is actually a remix, not the original tune. Whereas the album version of the song (and presumably the single version too) is a fairly downbeat, sad song, the video version is upbeat and jolly.
#1 Coldplay : The Scientist
Sometimes when making lists I'll struggle to choose a #1. Not here. The Scientist is a saddening, perfectly-done look at how a couple, driving in their car, had to swerve to dodge oncoming traffic, were swept off a cliff, the woman killed in the accident and the journey of the man, played by Chris Martin, subsequently. The catch is that the entire thing is shown backwards. Martin learnt how to sing the entire song backwards so that, in the reversed video, he was still apparently singing along to the proper track. A beautiful song with a perfect, fitting video. For a slightly haunting take, but to also make full sense of what exactly is happening, here's a reversed version, which of course shows the actual shot footage the right way round.
Anyway, that's it. Feel free to comment on my choices, music videos you personally love etc. Until the next entry.
~Andrew
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I wondered how they managed to get the singing forwards with all the action backwards - thought it must have been some computer trickery until I read this.
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