Greatest Music Videos

[ER]

In your exalted opinion, what band has made the greatest music videos of all time? We're talking overall contribution here, a canon of work in total, not the single greatest video itself.

In my opinion that title goes to The Smashing Pumpkins, but in this decade (the tens!) My Chemical Romance has done some impressive work in this regard.

Just curious what other people think.

[Zapranoth]

The answer is simple.  Zlad made the best music video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp_PIjc2ga4

[Killer Bees]

As much as I'm no fan of Madonna, I must say I'm rather partial to her clip for Ray of Light.  It's a good song too.

I also like Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel (as well as the song).  And Cloudbusting by Kate Bush (I love you Kate).

Mostly though music vids don't make much sense, especially these days.

[Trevor]

 

My favourite music video of all time is The Moody Blues' In Your Wildest Dreams featuring them and a woman that they all loved in their own way, especially Justin Hayward: the ending of the video has Justin's one-time love tracking him down at a concert, he spots her and cannot do anything as he is swept away by fans and bodyguards, leaving her in tears.

The follow-up I Know You're Out There Somewhere has the same person in and out of the video. All the Moodies try and locate her but they all miss her, until Justin is standing at a window, watching the Moody Blues as they were in the 1960's, he turns and his long time love appears out of the darkness, smiling at him.

I have these two videos on DVD: the final scene in the second video always gives me goosies.

[Sister Grace]

I'm not sure if you'd really call it a music 'video' but my fav is The Cramps- Live at Napa State

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-P1uWJ1d2c

[Jack]

For a total body of work, I'd have to say Pink Floyd.  The Wall is probably the greatest music related thing I've ever seen.  For stuff they showed on MTV, probably Pat Benatar.  I love all her early stuff, and she sure made plenty of videos. 

[Trevor]

 

I agree with you about The Wall, Jack.

Just btw: the album was banned in South Africa in 1981 for being "a rallying cry for the youth who are boycotting school classes". 

[Zapranoth]

As we learned the hard way in the States -- no surer way to make a thing popular popular than to ban it.  :P

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control

[odinn7]

Slayer- Seasons in the Abyss

[JJ80]

Just a few more:

                       Muse - "Knights of Cydonia" + "Sing For Absolution"
                       Manic Street Preachers - "If You Tolerate This"
                       Blur - "The Universal"
                       Pulp - "Disco 2000"

[Allhallowsday]

I'm not sure if you'd really call it a music 'video' but my fav is The Cramps- Live at Napa State

LOVED that!!  SisterGrace, thank you.     Don't listen to THE CRAMPS much anymore, but that's just a matter of having devoted hours to them long ago. 

...And Cloudbusting by Kate Bush (I love you Kate)...

You love KATE BUSH?  Me, too.   

I think if looking at videos, a pastime I have not done for decades, one should consider RICKY NELSON whose father, OZZIE NELSON is often credited with the first "conceptual" music video ("Travelin' Man," I think).  I also think that's debatable, but there's no doubt that RICKY NELSON was the first artist to marry the visual with the aural in the context of single song performance.  I'd also cite THE BUGGLES "Video Killed The Radio Star," the title of which says it all, and it was the first video MTV showed.  More importantly, the band was yet another studio creation, and not a "real band," yet video is not "real" either.  It was such a catchy little song and the video was fun to watch repeatedly (though now certainly dated, it is charming).   
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LB6Q_oycfQ

[Killer Bees]

I agree with you about The Wall, Jack.

Just btw: the album was banned in South Africa in 1981 for being "a rallying cry for the youth who are boycotting school classes". 

Is that just called "cutting class" or "ditching school"?  We call it "wagging school" over here and I did my fair share of it, but not under the influence of a music video.   

[Trevor]

As we learned the hard way in the States -- no surer way to make a thing popular popular than to ban it.  :P

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control

Is that just called "cutting class" or "ditching school"?  We call it "wagging school" over here and I did my fair share of it, but not under the influence of a music video.

The guy responsible for the Censors at the time said that he had never heard of the group Pink Floyd at all. Which makes you think, doesn't it?

The banning of this album is what gave me a lifelong hatred of censors and their doings: my Dad gave me money to buy the album and I went to the shop. I picked up a copy of the album and had it wrenched out of my hands by a shop assistant who told me that I could not buy it, as it had been banned. What does a 13 year old know about banning? 

[CheezeFlixz]

I agree with you about The Wall, Jack.

Just btw: the album was banned in South Africa in 1981 for being "a rallying cry for the youth who are boycotting school classes". 

Is that just called "cutting class" or "ditching school"?  We call it "wagging school" over here and I did my fair share of it, but not under the influence of a music video.   

It's called "playing hooky", "bailing out" in the US in addition to a few other regional labels. 

[JJ80]

In Scotland we tend to "Skip" or "Dog" school!