Most music videos, especially modern ones, are pretty boring.
Aha - Take On Me ...such a mesmerizing video. A girl reading a comic is sucked into a world in between the two realities. Really cool artistically and you can't help but wish you could see more of the story.
Dire Straits Money for Nothing was amazing at the time. Turn Down for What is amazing in its own way. Smashing Pumpkins Tonight, Tonight. Michael Jackson had a few good ones.
Labyrinth.
Sure, they call it a movie, but it's really just an hour and a half long David Bowie video.
That cod piece. What the literal fuck was going on with 80s kids movies?
The totally unnecessary tiddies in neverending story come to mind.
Beastie Boys - Sabotage My favorite music video of all time, probably
A few directed by Ritchie Cunningham, he often collaborates with Aphex Twin and Björk.
Prodigy's "Smack my bitch up" That video just had excellent camera work and a surprise twist at the end.
Pretty much all videos of Daft Punk's "Discovery" Album.
Jamiroquai "Virtual Insanity" Simple setup, but great execution.
A few from Peter Gabriel come to mind as well.
I don't think anyone has appreciated what Coldplay did with their MV for The Scientist. In which Chris Martin really had to learn to sing the song backwards for the MV.
Here's what Director Jamie Thraves said on his interview with MTV way back on 2003
"I had this idea that I wanted to do a story that's tragic but starts off happy and ends happy, and the video is about rewinding to that happy ending,"
Thraves needed to find a new way to tell a narrative story that moved forward even as the action moved backward.
"The original idea was a straight narrative without the lead singer in the video," said Thraves. "But Chris wanted to be in the video and he was really excited to learn how to sing the song backward."
"He got a tape of the song recorded backward and he listened to it over and over. He's a very passionate guy, so he got really into it. What we learned later on is about the problems with phonetics, because you have to be very careful with the lip movement so that when you end on a sound your mouth is formed in the right way."
I think this would be always the most impressive music video in my book, ALWAYS. The dedication Chris Martin put man, I cant even think how he learned all of that.
nah, The Scientist will always take a backseat to Drop by The Pharcyde which did the same thing, but years earlier in 1995 (and a rap track no less)
like it's not even a competition in my mind
The Scientist will always take a backseat to Drop by The Pharcyde which did the same thing, but years earlier in 1995 (and a rap track no less)
Oh, I see. Today I learned, I was born in '98 and really not fan of rap. Haha
I quite like Around The World by Daft Punk (directed by Michel Gondry of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind fame). I guess "impressive" isn't the primary word I'd use to describe it but thought it was worth a mention
Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel is iconic, the claymation and dedication is insane for a music video from that time period
It's okay to envy by Takayan is impressive for how it plays with the subtitling, trust me turn on Closed Captions for this and enjoy
Loretta by Ginger Root for how perfectly it captures an atmosphere and aesthetics of those late 80s/early 90s East/South East Asian music videos, it's a vibe - plus him playing all members of the band/accompanying orchestra is also impressive in its own right
just a few off the top of me head
Impressive?
An Unkindness - Anything EASILY.
Why? Shot by one dude, all the instruments and vocals are one dude, shot through multiple seasons, and then you realize the lines on different season are keys on a piano/keyboard, playing the song.
Fuckin masterpiece.
Runner up: Turn Down for What, directed by the directors of Everything Everywhere All At Once.
First thing to come to mind is Childish Gambino - This is America. It's fairly simple on its face. Some people and a few props in a large empty warehouse. It mostly relies on Donald's presence but the filmography and post FX is pretty impressive.
Honorable mention to Radiohead - Paranoid Android just because it's cool.
The original Genesis Land of Confusion was very ambitious puppetry and had a great evergreen message.
Thatcher was the only person uglier in person than their puppet in this video.
