My Ten Favorite Music Videos
Last night I was thinking about my favorite music videos of all time after looking at Michael Gondry’s list of his favorite 25. Since I am a huge fan of hip hop, it’s no surprise that many of them are from hip hop artists. So, here they are (links go to YouTube since some of them can’t be embedded):
Not only is this such a good song, but it’s a very creative video. The video shows the band performing in various positions and brings humor and simplicity to the video. Just the look of Amir “?uestlove” Thompson when he has his bandmates sitting on his shoulders makes the video well worth it.
This has to be the best posthumous Tupac video. It is a great tribute to a brilliant rapper, poet, and actor. With scenes from his other music videos, his movie roles, and interviews he gave early in life, it is a powerful piece of work. The icing on the cake is when the camera zooms out on all these images and TV screens to show a mosaic of Tupac. Great video.
Did you really think I wouldn’t include this one? Basically a mini-movie, this defined the epic music video. Great story, great song, great choreography. What else can be said?
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Mary Jane’s Last Dance
I remember seeing this video while I was in 7th grade. It is a very creepy video. The house on the cliff in the moonlight is very Tim Burton-ish. The ending scene of the video when the body floats to the surface… Sends chills up my spine every time.
This video wouldn’t be that great if it weren’t for the ending. I don’t want to spoil it so I won’t say much about this one. Just watch it. All the way through. Very good video.
This Tod McFarlane animated video is very powerful. It goes along well the song and show that even though we may become more and more advanced we’re still really just the same.
This is a really great video by Chicago rapper Common. The song is about love and features Common driving over to his girlfriend’s house and rapping to her from her lawn. He has large cue cards showing what he is saying because his girlfriend in the video is deaf. It’s a really good song and video.
This video is simply amazing. This video was banned from the music channels because of its violence. The video shows a kid being picked on and made fun of so much that he loses it and at the end of the video he shoots himself at school in the middle of class. The imagery, the colors, the stop motion of the direction makes it a very powerful video.
This video came out after 9/11 and is a great look at New York City. When I look at it my mind thinks Spike Lee. One thing that stand out about Spike Lee is how authentic his films look. That’s how this video looks. Authentic. Talib raps in various places in New York and the camera delivers great panoramic shots of the city. It truly is a beautiful video.
Bone Thugs N Harmony – Crossroads
This video came out when I was in 7th grade and it has been stuck with me ever since. It is a very powerful and moving video and helped propel this Cleveland, OH rap group to superstardom and a Grammy award. If you ask anyone who listens to rap what their favorite rap songs of all time are, this is sure to be on their list.
There you have it. There are many videos that I really like that aren’t on the list and it was hard to come up with my top 10, but as I think about it, these have to be them. At least for now.