We got in a discussion last night on the ride home about some of our favorite music videos. The Guardian put out their list in 2005, but we here at Veritas Lux Mea have our own ideas about how things should shake out.
It's so difficult to choose a Top 5 or even a Top 10, but Felicia and I whittled it down into what we thought were at least some of the most memorable videos we can remember.
Aphex Twin - "Come to Daddy"
Excerpt from an article about "Come to Daddy":
Björk mentions on Chris Cunningham's Directors Label DVD that everyone who saw Come to Daddy knew this was genius. We didn't know who or what he was, but his video was madness. The television screamed "I want your soul! I will eat your soul!" Hideous devil children with the same face conducted urban techno-terrorist warfare, destroying everything and each other. Some alien creature just emerged from its television womb and is screaming bloody hell in granny's face. It's so fucking disturbing! And so fucking hilarious! And it was airing in the daytime!
"Come to Daddy" felt completely separate from the rest of our television. Today, it's mentioned in the same breath as Michael Jackson's "Thriller," long regarded as one of the best music videos of all time...[READ MORE]
Radiohead "Just"
Felicia's personal favorite from Radiohead and a pure classic.
About the video:
On the video for 'Just' Judge Garry Mulholland, a music author and expert, said: 'The film completely overwhelms the song and the band. A man lies on the pavement in New York. When people stop to ask what's wrong, he says he can't tell them because they won't be able to take the truth. After a crowd begs him for this truth, he finally whispers it to the nearest person. The last shot shows everyone in the street lying motionless, rendered catatonic by whatever he said...[READ MORE].
Radiohead "No Surprises"
A lot of people are probably going to argue that you can't have Radiohead listed twice. Well, you're right; I'm actually going to list them three times. No other band has put out such artistic and captivating music videos in my memory more than Radiohead. I don't know if it's because I love their music so much, or because of how the music mixes with the art, but for my money, they've put out some of the best clips in past memory.
From the Wikipedia entry for "No Surprises":
In the 2000s, live performances of "No Surprises", especially in the United States, have taken on an added significance not originally foreseen by the band. Though not directly a political protest song, "No Surprises" contains the lines "bring down the government / they don't, they don't speak for us." At many US Radiohead concerts, particularly since 2003, these lines have been met with cheers from the crowd and inspired the American audience to sing along, apparently in an expression of dissent from the government of George W. Bush (though in a few states the lines have also received boos). R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe has commented on this phenomenon as inspiring a personal epiphany for him when he attended Radiohead's 2003 concert at the Hollywood Bowl. In an interview on ITV, he even described it as "the most overwhelming moment" in his life...[READ MORE]
Radiohead "Paranoid Android"
Excerpt from an article about the video:
The video for "Paranoid Android" features Robin, an animated character, created by Magnus Carlsson, a Swedish cartoonist who stars Robin in his own 5-minute episodes of "Robin." Radiohead discovered Robin on Channel 4 and asked Magnus to do a video for them with Robin in it.
Magnus' first choice after listening to Ok Computer was 'No Surprises', but afterwards he was happy it turned out to be 'Paranoid Android'. Carlsson said, "when I first got the song I spent a whole day listening to it in my office. I have a window where I see a bridge with lots of streetlights. I tried not to listen to the lyrics, and after spending eight hours looking at the bridge, I started sorting out something. Later I got a fax from Thom where he explained the song, and the viewpoints matched."
Thom said, "Robin is great. He is so much more then that kid who showers with the cap on. In him I see the totally innocents. Defiance his bad habits and the tuff, big city he lives in, he is soft and gentle. And what ever happens he never loses his temper. Nothing affects him. He gets bossed and makes stupid things. People convince him to swallow things and dance naked. Next morning he wakes up anyway and feels rather okay and has forgotten last night. I wish I could be like that. Just forget. Never really bother. It never works in the real world. When we record can I live like that. Just get drunk till I forget. And when I get to the real world, there is nuclear weapon, unhappy love, people who don't recycle their cans. Everything that can't leave me alone, and things that always are going to disturb me. " Magnus also said, "I can understand that Thom identifies himself with Robin. He is rather an international figure. Me and Thom understand each other. We have never met, the connection is mostly by fax. Anyway I created the plastic Hollywood-world for Robin as Thom wanted the figure for "Paranoid Android" to move in." (from follow me around)...[READ MORE]
Smashing Pumpkins "Today"
No other video encapsulates the 90's more for me than "Today." The contrast between the happy, upbeat sounding melodies and the darker undertones captures so much of what the alternative era was all about. Every single time I see it I get a smile on my face, so it's definently worthy of a top five spot in my countdown.