In 1894, sheet music publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various artists to promote sales of their song “The Little Lost Child”. Using a magic lantern, Thomas projected a series of still images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. In 1981, “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first music video played on MTV.
So, either 117 or 40 years of music videos.
But what’s the cream of the crop – the artistic peak – the perfect melange of sound and vision? Which one do you like most and why? Which is the most beautiful creation?
Whatever you think of the music on this one, the visuals are amaaazing!
I know how we all love clip-heavy threads, with nothing but copy and pasted links to YouTube, but maybe be sparing and select only your finest flicks, dew-picked and flown from Iraq, cradled in the finest quality description, lightly posted, and sealed in a succulent, Swiss, quintuple-smooth, treble-adjective envelope, and lovingly frosted with superlatives.
I look forward to watching and appreciating every one!
Beauty comes in many forms, and I think this one does my head in, which is kind of beautiful. It just builds and builds in its creativity and madness
Not just the most beautiful, but (possibly) the best video ever
And it’s a great song and performance too
Thanks, Dai.
I’m sure most others know this song and video far better than I do. I guess I’ve always dismissed it as a bit of a cliche, so it’s good to give it some attention.
Beneath the obviousness of a man at the end of his life looking back and singing a sad song, with pictures from his earlier life, there are some little details that reward attention – the complexity of expression on June Carter Cash’s face, the contrast of the vigour of a young Cash striding or leaping onto a train with the frailty of the older Cash’s fingers on the keyboard, and most of all the words towards the end of the song:
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
It’s not clear if he’s expressing regret, defiance, or just putting it out there as a statement of who he is, unfiltered.
It’s a cover version, so we could ask Trent Reznor, who as far as I know is still with us!
True, but I think Cash ‘made it his own’. Reznor is on record saying “It really, really made sense and I thought what a powerful piece of art.”
Probably pocketed a few quid too!
Which must have sweetened the initial feeling that “it was like someone kissing your girlfriend. It felt invasive”.
Yes, good points. When he closes piano keyboard at the end, that strikes me as a metaphor for a more final closing. He and his wife would both be gone within about a year
This is probably my “go to” example for everything a music video should. Let Forever Be by the Chemical Brothers, from 1999. Don’t let the vocal by N*el G*llag**r put you off: it’s a fine and catchy tune (as it should be, since they are just ripping off Tomorrow Never Knows). But the Michel Gondry video is superb, back when he was at the top of his game. It takes you a minute to work out what he is actually doing, but then when you realise that what appears to be flashy special effects are all just cheap in-camera set-ups and good choreography, and you really see the beauty in it. Always makes me happy, this.
There’s a pleasing flow back and forth between fx and the 7 dancers – trippy in a way similar to the Bonobo video above.
It’s a favourite of mine too. It also makes me recall the feeling of a really hot summer day in London. It does happen.
‘The Copper Top’ by Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat
That’s the one.
Yes, that’s the one.
Is it wrong that I think that coffin looks reet cosy..?
That’s definitely up there – understated, but unashamed – a straight descriptive monologue (and matching scenes), holding so much meaning in every line, underpinned by a repetitive piano riff, drawn out into melody by the sawing cello.
From the clips so far, beauty seems to be in mortality and eternity. There’s a certain unflinching regard held by Bowie’s eyes in this video that matches the uneasy tone in his voice. I guess beauty can discomfort as well as comfort, which this does to me.
Yes I know what you mean and I hesitated before posting it. I didn’t mean to bring anyone down it’s not beautiful but it is a thing of beauty.
I’m glad you did. It’s in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it? Every video, someone has put thought into, and I like the opportunity this thread gives to focus on the visuals, more than the audios. Beauty isn’t always pretty, but where there’s truth there’s beauty.
Not really a “music video” as such, but this is a contemplative hypnotic depiction of Felix Baumgartner’s jump from the edge of the atmosphere, around a decade ago. The music — Dayvan Cowboy by Boards Of Canada — fits the visuals perfectly.
Starting point here is at 1:20 after some preparatory preamble:
That tiny figure in white falling (and spinning so much) down onto that big orange circle – it hardly seems like earth at all.
I think this one rather speaks for itself.
I think you are right, and sings for itself, in at least two different keys.
At the time: Why is this past it pop singer embarrassing herself like this?
Now: Who is that sexy young thing?
I’m not being entirely ironic in my love of this video.
It’s a great drivetime rock tune, and just look what a great time everyone is having. Cher seems to really enjoy singing it, all the sailors are going mental trying to get her to wear their hats (!), and the whole thing has a crazed, misjudged joie de vivre to it which is simultaneously super of its time but also immediately recognisable as one of those moments in life where a large number of people decide to do something a bit daft and worry about it later.
To make it even better, the video has a brilliant back story. The ship is the USS Missouri; the location at which Japan signed its formal surrender, ending WWII. Cher hid her costume until the moment of performance (the navy would never have allowed it otherwise), hence the slightly fevered reaction of the crew. There were complaints that she’d desecrated the ship (lol), and the Secretary of the Navy seriously considered firing the ship’s captain as a consequence.
The whole thing is gloriously unhinged. Everyone is having a great time. Plus, that’s Cher’s 12 year old son playing guitar in a Hendrix t-shirt.
It’s exactly what music should be: fun. And that’s beautiful.
Sorry, but I hate it. In fact, I haven’t really listened to it. But I hate it. Couldn’t even tell you the name of the album. But hate it. HATE.
I’ll tell what is fun though. Yazz, that’s what. And she’s beautiful in this video. And her dancing exudes exuberance, so it does.
😂
The main thing is that you said sorry.
No hate on this thread, please! Thanks for the further explanation, Bingo. I wasn’t sure where the beauty lay in it until you explained, and now I can see that both 4-letter ladies demonstrate the beauty of exuberance, which is a fine balance to the beauty of morose old men further up the thread.
Yazz was, and possibly still is, brilliant. I don’t understand why she hasn’t had a career as successful as, say, Mariah’s. But this song, and People Hold On, will live forever.
I remember her doing a cover of Family Affair which, with her still being big news and it being the right time to bring that song to the charts, I thought was a sure-fire hit and when it wasn’t I thought “well, that’s not a good sign”.
Just checked and, apparently, it was never a single. It does exist, though – it’s even on YouTube..
I found that shoulder-shaking thing of hers intensely irritating. Totally irrational, I know.
The only award Cher’s video merits is that it’s more camp than its inspiration (quite an achievement)
What’s the video, @Junglejim? It says unavailable and there’s no title visible.
I’ll answer that as Jim’s probably fallen asleep in a hedge somewhere. It’s ‘In The Navy’ by Village People.
I just woke up!
Gary is, of course, correct.
This one to relax to.
My thoughts:
* That’s a very long signature, isn’t it?
* Like the funeral video above, there seems to be a lot of beauty in unadorned piano and cello.
* What a lovely way to convey sound in visuals – a gift for synaethetes! Blue and red seem perfect colours for the two instruments.
* The smoke fades away like the music does, leaving little traces in short term memory as it goes.
* What other songs, maybe with more (complex) instrumentation could be visualized in that way? I’m thinking AC/DC – Thunderstruck for a real percussive user of the smoke and powder.
* This does seem to be the first video to really aim for ‘art’. But that isn’t a call out for OK GO videos. I just feel they try too hard – spectacular though they all are.
I would nominate James – Moving On.
The animation is fantastic and – for me – almost always makes it seem like there is an awful lot of dust in the air.
I think you’d be right to, Pajp. I rather lost touch with James after Laid – the three albums up to that point I had absolutely loved, and seeing them at Glastonbury with the trumpet tooting out across Avalon was one of my best ever gigs. They seemed to have found a formula and stuck to it, becoming a bit formulaic. But there have been 11 albums since then, so what do I know.
What I don know is that the first watch I was a bit uncertain about the string thing – was it too obviously gimmicky – the thread of life? But on second viewing, I could really see the animation, the feeling, the interactions the artist had put into the models. And reading about the inspiration for the song, I do think beautiful is the right word for it.
What’s interesting, and probably shouldn’t be surprising, is how many of these videos are about the beauty of human emotion, relation and expression. There really is nothing finer.
Saw this thread earlier today and immediately thought if this. It’s beautiful, right?…
It sure is. Peel away the years and years of repeat viewing and hearing, and Sinead’s face is like almost no other for being a sky for emotions to cloud across on a windy day. No shielding from the flow of feelings.
The statuary was rather unnecessary – the camera could have rested on her phizzog for the whole song – there’s drama and movement enough to express Prince’s words. Has there ever been a bad cover version of a Prince song?
Yes. Both Jones The Voice and Age Of Chance’s ugly, galumphing covers of Kiss. Apparently, Sabrina (of Boys Boys Boys infamy) also did one in 1987, but I’m not going anywhere near that.
I investigated the videography of Sabrina extensively when I was a teenager.
Well you could at least pretend to be surprised.
Great song, great video. loneliness and vulnerability, socially awkward, better acting performance than many soap operas
I find it troubling because it is like he’s holding up a mirror to me – some of us just are socially awkward. The Richard Burton line made me smile though.
I found this video rather beautiful…
A lovely video for one of the most depressing songs ever. No wonder it’s one of my favourites.
That would have been one of my choices – one of my favourite tracks by Steven Wilson and the video is perfect.
Also his video for “The Raven That Refused To Sing” (by the same director I think)….
Two beautiful videos with powerful and affecting songs of love and loss – thanks both for posting. Beauty can be exquisite.
(I was joking; it scares the tits off me……)
Chris Cunningham is kind of a genius, but I do think he should be locked in solitary confinement with no access to any kind of video-making equipment for the sake of humanity. His motto would be “Do have nightmares”
My favourite clip and I think quite beautiful
Godley and Creme – Cry
Thanks for all your posts in all their forms of beauty. Here is a murmuration, which is not strictly a music video, is a video with music scoring it
I’ve always found this rather lovely.
That is indeed very lovely. I knew the song but I don’t think I’d ever seen the video before. Like Flashdance, only with more warmth.
Beautiful Kylie, surrounded by beautiful bodies, beautifully filmed.
Kylie, Rob C, Colin H and me – all 68ers and all beautiful.
Which one is you?
Sadly I failed the screen test.
Michael Rodd wasn’t impressed!
But the Children’s Film Foundation…
Abba – Dancing Queen
Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy
Clips not necessary
I prefer Safe From Harm to Unfinished Sympathy, but the latter probably has the better video. I think Super Trouper has a better video than Dancing Queen – but it’s a personal preference, I guess. Do you want to convince me I am wrong?
Well if it’s about beauty then DQ wins for the warmth and joy in the singer’s faces reflected in the dancers. Pure joy.
Excellent reply! Thank you.
The song is mopey proto-Coldplay bedwetter rock. The video is…
I first saw this in a hotel room in Sweden very alone and many miles away from home for the first time in my life in a strange* country. This video hit my very hard and I cried like a baby.
(*see ducool’s lists)
Quite affecting – the first time i watched it, I had no idea where it was going, but each scene played out slowly releasing clues, as first viewings often do – particularly the second time the dog turned round in the corridor and the final (reproachful?) look at the camera – powerful images.
Children and animals are a cliche for drawing out soppiness, a cheap ploy for tugging on the heart strings. But that is because they can illustrate bonds of pure trust and connection. unburdened by the weight of greater meaning or reference.
Thanks, Moose.
I think it’s this one. Knocked me out when I first saw it, and still does. Proof, too, that Chris Cunningham doesn’t just weld Richard James’s rictus-grinning face onto children or norky models.
Norky?
Crikey!
“Sex bot..
Sex bot..
Sex bot..
Sex bot. HOLD IT – Where do you think you’re going?”
“Sex bot?”
“No mate. You’re a crash test dummy. You go THAT way.
Well, go on then…
Sex Bot..
Sex Bot..
Sex Bot..”
I like Enya and I think she scrubs up well in this.
I always find there is a chugging locomotive feel to this song
https://rave.dj/Fd2_4Lg59RVgig
Plus, in that dresscoat, she looks like a station master, walking into a platform clock.
Sorry – I haven’t been very respectful of your choice.
Not at all. I’m in two minds myself. A part of me thinks the video is a bit vulgar in that Athena poster/Anne Geddes photo way. But that’s just snobbery. It’s a great video.