History UncannyValley / Music

[[redirect:UncannyValley/MusicVideos]]

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[[quoteright:350:[[Music/{{Soundgarden}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_hole_sun.jpg]]]]

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[[folder:Alternative]]
* The music video for Serj Tankian's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CxKA1uETxE Empty Walls]]" features the lead singer parading around a CircusOfFear with a bizarre, sociopathic look on his face, while various small children play happily... or, as some people have interpreted it, re-enact the War on Terror.
* Intentionally used in the music video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg Black Hole Sun]]" by Music/{{Soundgarden}} (which provides the page image by the way), which features an eerie "off" suburb populated by clearly insane grinning people. It's actually a relief when they all get sucked into the sky. One magazine actually called it the best horror movie of the year!
* The masks in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhC48yyMic0 this]] Music/SoundHorizon video. At least the witch is supposed to be scary; Lafrenze (the girl) is supposed to be beautiful, though, not ''incredibly fucking creepy''.
* The ConceptVideo for Music/{{Weezer}}'s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDIzMGh94vo (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To]]" features an entire small town made up of Weezer members. Mostly this just means the members of the band dressed up in different costumes, but there are four children with the heads of the band members pasted onto them. While the effect is more natural-looking than the similar Music/AphexTwin and ''The Love Guru'' examples, they're still at least a little unnerving.
* 2D of Music/{{Gorillaz}} is described in-universe as a {{Bishonen}} type, but he's decidedly creepy. His arms and legs are just slightly too long for his movements to look natural. According to the backstory he has eight-ball fractures in both eyes, rendering them totally black, but if you don't know this it looks like he has no eyes at all, and his name doesn't help -- he was nicknamed 2D, short for "Two Dents", after he suffered the two car accidents which [[EyeScream wrecked his eyes]]. Add to this his missing two front teeth, and his smile is pure horror, made worse by the fact that he ''is'' still kinda cute. It's particularly noticeable in the videos for "Feel Good Inc" and "Dirty Harry".
** Underscored in the video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9vAOzYz-Qs&feature=channel Stylo]]. 3D Murdoc, 2D and malfunctioning cyborg Noodle are creepy as hell. Then again, Cyborg Noodle is creepy under the best of circumstances.
*** Don't forget the Boogie Man. The way he nearly glides over the earth to get to the cop....brrrr.
** The Superfast Jellyfish's unchanging smiles and balloon-like movements, even after being microwaved, are [[LetsMeetTheMeat weirdly frightening]]. The side-to-side flopping motion is somehow reminiscent of a hanging victim, and the crazily-smiling guy eating them in the video really does not help.
** Cyborg Noodle just became even more frightening. The Uncanny Valley has ensured us that this monster will never leave our heads. Why? It's Murdoc's fault. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81lAa3kqgCc&feature=channel This is completely Nightmare Fuel for unattached face and creepy as fuck smile.]] DO NOT WATCH IN THE DARK. And as of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9thjgHGS38k Melancholy Hill]], the Superfast Jellyfish are no longer emotionless jelly bags, and express fear as they rather quickly get sucked up into the jets of the Gorillaz submarine. Even that though has its own creep factor.
** The music video for "Tranz" starts out innocently enough, but as it goes on, it starts to feel... off. The usually stoic Russel is wearing a big, happy grin, GenkiGirl Noodle is unusually subdued, and 2D? His face goes from emotionless to ''annoyed'', which is quite a shift after his happy behavior in "Humility". In the end of the video, we get treated to some DerangedAnimation from the minds behind "WebOriginal/Don'tHugMeImScared", featuring a floppy computer-animated 2D swallowing himself, a lumpy Claymation 2D head with snot coming out of his nose, and finally, 2D ''melting''. It's creepy enough on its own, but when you remember that 2D is implied to either be possessed or have had his soul harvested...
* In the video for Music/PanicAtTheDisco's song "Emperor's New Clothes", frontman Brendon Urie slowly transforms into a demonic version of himself throughout the course of the video. The demon looks just enough like Brendon to the point where this could be qualified as an example of this trope.
* The cover art of the Music/{{Eels}}' ''[[http://nobrasil.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/0817.jpg Beautiful Freak]]'' album.
* The scary puppet in the video for Music/{{Interpol}}'s song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C5Eipt8xn0 "Evil"]] is a weird example. It's very, very puppety. It almost looks like a Muppet, and it moves its hands like they're on strings. But there's no visible strings and the thing's got a very expressive face, enough that you still get this effect. And apart from that its teeth are all identical, they're very realistic and humanlike. Plus, it's depicted bleeding and being treated in a hospital, which creates a creepily lifelike effect.
* Any of Music/LadyGaga's videos.
** ESPECIALLY "Music/BadRomance" and "Alejandro", in which she uses computer effects to enlarge and shrink her eyes. It's really unsettling to see her with [[http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/2/4/9/36249.jpg these huge bug eyes]] in one video, and [[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/2d/bd/0c/2dbd0c1cc1e5cc0a6e71d5d3e41e80d3.jpg these squinted tiny ones]] in another.
* Music/{{Bjork}}'s strange angular motions in her music videos.
* The fully {{Inten|dedAudienceReaction}}tional look for the music video of "[[https://youtu.be/MKk1u5RMTn4?list=PLjACqN5i5sDWIIpg-5EB4WcitMMqnXhFP Carnival of Rust]]" by Music/PoetsOfTheFall, revolving around a CircusOfFear carnival and its surreal, menacing denizens.
* Music/{{Sparklehorse}}, in both the albums' artwork and the songs themselves, which often have a decaying, rummage sale-like quality that's very off, as if Linkous himself is a faulty clockwork puppet.
* The video for Music/TheSmashingPumpkins' song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uWwvQKGjLI Ava Adore]]" feature Billy Corgan looking like Nosferatu in that creepy black mu-mu of his moving around in unsettling, jerky motions throughout.
* Music/LinkinPark's music video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60lmDCGgW9k Pts.OF.Athrty]]" (a remix of their earlier song, Points of Authority) has stunning CGI of an apparent war between aliens and robots commanded by disembodied human heads. All of this is rendered in a quasi-realistic style... up until the close up shot of one of the aforementioned heads' face (the lead singer). Beautifully-textured skin... ''flat, unshaded cartoon eyes reminiscent of VideoGame/TheSims''. The rest of the video is difficult to enjoy.
* Music/KateBush's acting in her music videos, with wide eyes and odd, flowing movements, looks very off.
* The music video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHS3qJdxefY Bat Country]] by Music/AvengedSevenfold has weird stuff happening all over, although none of it is over the top. Justified in that it's a song based on ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'', which is about drugs.
* Music/FKATwigs effectively applies this to her music video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFtMl-uipA8 Water Me]]. It displays FKA twigs with her face edited to have eyes slightly too large and too close to the nose and lips, while her head ticks side to side to the beat of the song, quite jarringly. She also displays this in her other works, including a commercial for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99YyWeqHaBo Google Glasses]].
* Music/{{Radiohead}}'s "song" [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=laoq1eeIUxQ 'Fitter Happier']] uses a cold, monotone computer-generated voice to read off the lyrics. The lyrics alone are depressing but the voice makes it even more offputting.
** Thom uses a vocoder in the song [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DP006CpKUPE Kid A]] as well, which is unnerving to some listeners.
** Furthermore, [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RU8slEG-OtM 'Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box']], the opening track of ''Amnesiac'' has a lot of autotune. It's barely noticeable at first, as the only purpose it serves is to make Thom's voice sound cold and emotionless, but after a few listens something just feels... off.
* The dancing apes in Music/{{Coldplay}}'s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtXby3twMmI The Adventure Of A Lifetime]]" look really bizarre when bipedal and very unnatural when not.
* The masked children in Pink Floyd's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U Another Brick in the Wall]]" who get grinded into pink goo. You almost feel relieved when they rip off the masks towards the end of the video.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Childrens]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVV4h38wnMI This video]] from Music/TheWiggles. Those puppets are incredibly unsettling, especially with those dead, crystalline eyes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Christian Rock]]
* The puppet-people in the video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHhVSJUvGwo Falls Apart]] by Thousand Foot Krutch.
* The masks used to have the background dancers playing senior citizens toward the end of the music video for Amy Grant's 1984 track "[[https://youtu.be/V4cV3xfwJ3k It's Not a Song]]" easily qualify.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comedy]]
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic intentionally creates this effect for his "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss_BmTGv43M Perform This Way]]" video, a parody of Music/LadyGaga's "Born This Way". The video has a female dancer wearing a bunch of outlandish outfits, with Al's face digitally superimposed over hers. Not only is it obviously fake in and of itself, but it's also disturbingly out of sync in some places.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Country]]
* The music video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HflDc7PUT2g Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy]]" by Music/BigAndRich features a creepy-looking Asian "mannequin" that ISN'T a mannequin. Just...the eyes...
** The "mannequin" is actually singer [[http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/darling_sarah/bio.jhtml Sarah Darling]]. (She also isn't Asian.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Disco]]
* Audio example: Adriano Celentano's [[http://youtu.be/ulDQdikjSSE Prisencolinensinainciusol]], a standard 70s funk song written by an Italian artist to sound like English. The thing is, to a native English speaker, it can be pretty disturbing, because it keeps ''almost'' sounding like English and then failing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Electronic]]
* Lower-quality instrument samples, such as those used in cheaper MIDI synths, can evoke this effect. Obvious synthesizers sound cool since they aren't trying to resemble real instruments, and high-quality piano/string samples can fool trained pianists, but crappy imitations of real instruments can fall squarely into the uncanny valley of synthesis.
* Music/DaftPunk's videos invoke this trope a lot, mostly in the ''Human After All'' and ''Homework'' eras. Of particular note is the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoPplpBPQxQ&feature=channel weird robot baby thing from the Technologic video.]] It's the teeth behind those wireframe lips...
* The music video for Basement Jaxx's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rAOyh7YmEc "Where's Your Head At"]] stars a bunch of [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys adorable monkeys]]... with the band member's faces. The faces just look ''wrong''.
** Not to mention the singing baboon... or the mutated dog.
* Just about any Music/{{Vocaloid}} song that doesn't have to do with happiness and ice cream involves a mix of this trope with MindScrew (see ''Wide Knowledge of Late, Madness''; ''Alice Human Sacrifice''; and ''Dark Woods Circus'' for more details).
** As if that wasn't enough, a fan-made Hatsune Miku, the most popular Vocaloid, into HRI-1, a real-life "[[BlatantLies realistic]]" robot that doesn't even look like her (it's on the web somewhere). This shit is just ''overkill''.
*** You wouldn't happen to be referring to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FATP0hLt1g this thing]], would you?
*** That too, but it's beaten by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlVHwzliC_s this one]].
*** And then there's [[http://www.waukster.com/hatsune-miku-the-japanese-hologram-pop-star her live hologram concert]].
** Music/{{Vocaloid}} songs in general, regardless of the content, are ''just'' robotic and twangy enough to fall into the Uncanny Valley. For some songs, the voice sounds perfectly human (or close enough to be out of the valley), but then there is just that one note where the creator didn't ''quite'' tune the voice right...
** A special mention should be given to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2RFcrreoE8 Circle You, Circle You/Kagome Kagome (the Miku & Luka version).]] The images in the video are disturbing in and of themselves, but certain ways Miku and Luka's voice match up falls right into this trope.
** Miku herself (despite being real now) is also featured in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRd7gOfIS-0&annotation_id=annotation_128625&feature=iv this]] video, Machine Muzik. Watch and know the truth about Vocaloid...
** Also, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UIZAceYaEU the trailer]] for ''Hatsune Miku: Project Diva 2''. Realistically-moving characters with anime faces, rubber skin, and plastic hair are extremely unsettling.
** [[http://vocaloid.wikia.com/wiki/File:Vocaloid_kaito.jpeg KAITO's box art]] might be the closest to UncannyValley if compared to the others', most noticeably his eyes and [[NoodlePeople torso]].
*** To summarise, Vocaloids as an entity are polarising to the public, and as shown in things like 'Kids react to Hatsune Miku', this is primarily because they have trouble getting over the logic of something that is ''not human'' not only being the face of a performance, but being the principal reason people went to the concert in the first place. It doesn't help that Vocaloid voices are still very robotic and Auto-tuned, stopping them being human and dropping them into the valley for those who do not like or see the point of them. Plus the fear of a robot uprising, but that's a whole other kettle of fish ...
* The faces and almost anything else in Music/AphexTwin's [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs music videos]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P3Wc-37pC4 Just]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Az_7U0-cK0 watch]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tatccHVfuhA for]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3far9oHZOsI yourself]].
** And then there's Music/AphexTwin's ''Windowlicker'' [[http://images.junostatic.com/full/CS1322392-02A-BIG.jpg cover]], which is his face photoshopped onto a model's body ([[http://darksatanicmills.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/aphex-twin-windowlicker-original-model.jpg here's the original for anyone curious]]). If you've seen the album cover enough times to be used to it, the ''real thing'' can look like Uncanny Valley.
* And who could forget Music/{{Kraftwerk}}? They were defined by this trope!
** Case in point: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXa9tXcMhXQ "The Robots"]]. German version [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHEoMpMvz7A here]]. It's actually pretty impressive with their ability to stand ''that'' still during a performance.
** Not to mention [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0lIlROWro8 this]] very early (1986) attempt at 3D computer-generated human heads, which float in the middle of the screen in the video for "Musique Non-Stop".
** There's a story in Karl Bartos' memoir about the band being pulled over by a cop once while on tour, and the cop nearly having a heart attack when he opened the back of the truck and found the robotic dummy versions of the band members that were used in concerts, thinking they were corpses.
* Rwandan/Belgian singer Music/{{Stromae}}'s song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiKj0Z_Xnjc Papaoutai]] (a phonetic rendering of "Papa, où t'es?" or "Daddy, where are you?" in French) is based on his real-life experience of having lost his father in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, [[LyricalDissonance although it is obscured by a catchy EDM beat]]. In the video, a young boy representing Stromae runs around his neighborhood looking for his father, but all he finds is a StepfordSmiler DemonicDummy. That's creepy enough, but it becomes even creepier when one realizes that the "dummy" is ''actually Stromae himself'' wearing makeup that makes him look eerily like an [[Series/DoctorWho Auton]]. Hard to tell whether this is more NightmareFuel or TearJerker. Taken Main/UpToEleven in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3p43-Pxd6k live performance.]]
** His music video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aJw4chksqM "Quand c'est?"]] has him dancing in a very creepy, almost inhuman manner, and seen only in silhouette. There are even a few very brief and easy-to-miss moments when he has an extra arm or leg, which only makes it that much creepier.
* The album cover for Hybrid's [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/Hybrid_wide_angle.jpg Wide Angle]] has this in spades. The back is color inverted, which makes it worse.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8GQ91M4pmk The music video of "Rainbow Bubble"]] by Butterfly for the Taiwanese online game ''Fairyland 2'' has an unsettling method in deforming their live action members to the game's scenes. Just the RogerRabbitEffect in reverse plus the creepy deformations in conjunction with the game's cartoony characters.
* Mindless Self Indulgence's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0AX81gv5aM Shut Me Up video]]. Everything in the video is just a bit off, and the guy's movements are so exaggerated and such that it's like watching a cartoon with realistic people.
* Music/{{Covenant}} - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg7HRcRvpxQ Bullet]]
* The music video for ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXd6u9o6dYY&list=WLF68B772DC5F7928B Keep it Goin' Louder]]'', by Major Lazer, has four, *ahem*, ''women'', whose lips are enlarged and whose eyes are brought closer together and lowered so they they are almost touching their noses. Possibly PlayedForLaughs, as it helps give the video a "WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs" feel.
* The genre of "bubblegum bass" feeds off of this trope. All of the over-repetitiveness of some phrases, bright poppy colors and a background whine in some songs make you feel just a little off. Not to mention the vocals being pitched just a little higher than usual and the utter vapidity of some songs. A proper example of this trope and a big part of the genre, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc1H3BaMNLg GFOTY]] really lives up to this, or [[Music/PCMusic Lipgloss Twins]] who just don't feel right [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ43nlWmoeA in this song]] are true to this trope.
** Music/{{Sophie}}, one of the genre's popularizers (if not [[TropeMakers originator]]) is a master at this, taking a step further by designing all her sounds from scratch, designing bizarre synths comparable to rubber/plastic/elastic using waveforms and chaotically integrating them in her tracks. The end results resemble songs inspired by hyper-polished 2000's-era bubblegum pop, but as if entirely created by "hyperkinetic" aliens.
* The ending of the video of LFO's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3og0oFiDO3U "Freak"]], which is the [[NightmareFuel scariest]] part of an already very off video. After we see a group of little Asian girls dancing erratically to the song, another girl shows up and gets in a fight over a teddy bear that ends with that girl being thrown to the ground. The video ends with her sitting up, revealing a [[NightmareFace face]] that looks ''just'' CGI enough to perfectly encompass this trope, and [[SlasherSmile smiling directly at the camera]].
* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eglu23iGsU0 Spacer Woman]]" by Charlie features [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ILuhqnzs_Bk/maxresdefault.jpg blue, fish-like humanoid aliens with semi-realistic faces, large foreheads, and giant red bulbous eyes]]. The overall [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs weird imagery]] of the video doesn't really detract from the creepiness much.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Experimental]]
* Music/LaurieAnderson loves this trope. It's probably most notable in her video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeJwEB-qjrM Sharkey's Day]]," in which she wears an eerie ChromaKey mask with fake white eyes and articulated lips that move as she sings. Also, any time she uses the "Big Voice" (her own voice electronically treated to sound male).
* Some of the stranger music genres such as avant-retard and lowercase can invoke this seeing as they sound nothing like what usually springs to mind when you think of music, in some places not even conforming to the usual rules of music.
* Music/SteamPoweredGiraffe is a band consisting of three human performers portraying robots. They invoke this trope rather effectively through their movements, which are choreographed to look as convincingly robotic as possible. Or rather, choreographed to look like robots who are trying their hardest to look as convincingly human as possible, but are not quite managing it. This, coupled with their glitching and occasional outright breakdowns, can make them very jarring to watch if you aren't used to them.
** That being said, once you've adjusted and learned more about the world they're in and their backstory, these can become rather heartwarming, or even outright adorable.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Funk]]
* The robots in Music/HerbieHancock's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pERrVMbsCfg "Rockit" video]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Indie]]
* In the video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjecYugTbIQ "Two Weeks"]] by Music/GrizzlyBear, the band members' facial features and movements are digitally altered just enough to give them the deliberate appearance of singing automatons. Their unnaturally shiny skin, large eyes, and un-synchronized blinking are unnerving enough, but eventually [[spoiler: light starts pouring out of their mouths and sparks fly out of the backs of their heads]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:J-Pop]]
* Music/PuffyAmiYumi's video for "Hataraku Otoko" (the theme song of ''Manga/HatarakiMan''). We get close-ups of lips and backs of heads, but TheReveal comes in at 1:10 and scares you half to death. You can go [[http://www.puffyamiyumiworld.com/songs/hatarkuotoko.html here]] to see some pictures from the video.
** Even before then, you can just tell there's something...wrong with how the backs of their heads look.
* The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_os8HqfxHc#at=164 HEART]] by group_inou features animated characters with lovingly rendered detail but ([[StylisticSuck purposely]]) terrible anatomy.
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZbXHt3xPr8 music video]] for {{Music/Sakanaction}}'s "Bach no Senritsu o Yoru ni Kiita Sei Desu" has the main singer dancing with some pretty creepy life-sized replicas of himself.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Metal]]
* Music/CradleOfFilth takes this [[UpToEleven up to 11]] with their video for [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x25sj6_cradle-of-filth-from-the-cradle-to_music "From Cradle to Enslave." Danger, NSFW.]]
* The band members' costumes in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYDfwUJzYQg the music video]] for Wyona's Big Brown Beaver by Music/{{Primus}}. They were so cumbersome that they had to mime the song at half its original speed to get the performance down correctly.
* Any music video made by Music/{{Tool}} would qualify as Uncanny Valley-esque, due to the weird CGI and puppets they use in their videos.
* Music/{{Epica}} embraced this trope as its own on "Requiem For The Indifferent".
* The "mile-wide-grin" from Music/{{Warrant}}'s video for "Cherry Pie".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:New Wave]]
* The extensive use of cheap Halloween masks in Music/{{Devo}}'s early oeuvre apply, notably Booji Boy.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ndN_NXf3o Secret Agent Man]] video features the guys wearing shiny translucent masks that, combined with their performances style, make them look like mannequins that have come ''mostly'' to life.
* Music/DanielAmos' album ''Doppelgänger'' features photos of a department-store mannequin in the liner notes. In some of the pictures, he's wearing an eerily-realistic mask, then removes it to show that the too-human eyes are his.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pop]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Sd5c4o9UM The music video for E.T. by]] Music/KatyPerry ft. Music/KanyeWest. When they show close-ups of her face with the obvious CGI and makeup, it's CREEPY AS HELL! That scary albino alien dude also sends some chills. But the icing on the cake is when Katy removes her robe/dress at the end and inexplicably reveals that she has a FAUN BODY! It was frightening to see those thin hoofed legs. Who ever expected THAT?
* David Guetta's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVw7eJ0vGfM Turn Me On]]". It contains the trifecta of UncannyValley nightmares, including half formed, yet still animated, robots (a la [[Film/AIArtificialIntelligence AI]]), a terrifying amount of CGI, and truly abominable [[UncannyValleyMakeup doll-faced humans]]. Most likely one of the most terrifying music videos in existence.
* The remixed version of Mike Posner's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foE1mO2yM04 I Took a Pill in Ibiza]]". At the beginning of the video, Posner takes the titular pill, and the ensuing trip causes his head to appear as a giant, [[ThousandYardStare dead-eyed]], papier-mache head. However, this could be seen as a {{Justified Trope}}, as the song itself is about how Posner is desperately trying to appear cool, but whatever fame he has/had is just making him feel empty inside.
* In 1986, BBC Two released a stop-motion music video of Music/JackieWilson's 1957 hit "Reet Petite". The animators gave Jackie a puffy and pronounced face. Add the fact that he morphs into various objects, and the end result can be pretty [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CTs8a7dVa0 unnerving]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Prog Rock]]
* The "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LgcDpTH47g Supermassive Black Hole]]" music video for the band {{Music/Muse}} has people with digitally projected faces. You can just imagine...
** Also on the subject of Muse, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmwRQqJsegw Feeling Good]] may be even worse.
** The video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbB-mICjkQM&ob=av3e Plug in Baby]]" falls under it in certain parts. Hint: Watch the ladies, particularly near the end...
* The popularity of a certain “surrealistic realism” can elicit this response from certain Italian progressive rock album covers of the early 70s. Most notable candidates: ''[[http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/nuova_idea/clowns/ Clowns]]'' by Nuova Idea and ''[[http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/semiramis/dedicato_a_frazz/ Dedicato a Frazz]]'' by Semiramis (and its [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OSHxdIibNgQ/S-MRJ9cYz1I/AAAAAAAAB8w/ps04Z9hVP0g/s1600/Semiramis_-_Dedicato_A_Frazz-%5BInside%5D-%5Bwww%5B1%5D_FreeCovers_net%5D.jpg detailed inner gatefold]]) are the most prominent examples.
* Steven Wilson of Music/PorcupineTree is in love with this trope, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UoKIiw-p2g the video for his song Index]], from his latest solo album ''Grace For Drowning,'' proves it most of all. It IS the trope! Steven himself even seems to look like he's one of the mannequins surrounding him, given how unnaturally still he's sitting as he sings. The death-march-like beat and sadistic lyrics only add to the Nightmare Fuel..
* Music/{{Mastodon}}'s instrumental "Pendulous Skin" is a strange musical example. A casual listener would assume that the song features Troy Sanders and Brent Hinds {{scatting}} over the song's instrumental backing. However, the "vocal" sounds are apparently entirely synthesized, and there are no vocals on the song. The resulting product sounds uncannily like vocals, but a listener will strain to understand what is being said - because, of course, nothing is being said. "Bladecatcher", another instrumental with synthesized effects that sound like vocals, also gets this to some extent, although the "vocal" sounds are much stranger on this one, more resembling the work of a band like Music/MeltBanana.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Punk]]
* Enter Shikari's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAVne8dOzEA video]] for ''Thumper'' is a mix of a "regular" (albeit DeliberatelyMonochrome) PerformanceVideo and an exaggerated cartoon version of the band performing. It's... deeply unsettling to say the least.
* Does It Offend You, Yeah's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfX48mciYis Weird Science music video]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rap]]
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QfNvVbdrhg video]] for the latest Music/FloRida[=/=]Music/NellyFurtado cash in on that film {{G-Force}}. Even though the computer generated Furtado has obviously been animated using motion-capture, you can't help be creeped out by her movements. Plus the real-life Flo Rida himself has some kind of visual effect on him that makes his skin look plasticky and strange.
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m48GqaOz90 music video]] for the Music/BlackEyedPeas' "Boom Boom Pow."
* Coachella 2012 gave us a holographic version of Music/TupacShakur that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbrFmPBV0Y joined Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg onstage]] to perform a couple of his songs. The realness of the projection made it ''beyond'' creepy.
* The cover of South African rap duo Music/DieAntwoord 's ''Ten$ion'' album features Yolandi Visser done up like some [[https://img.discogs.com/5v1aEr5yscPFRrFIO6HS0NStyMU=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4154947-1357131663-7849.jpeg.jpg black-eyed, cannibalistic angel]].
* [[Music/{{OFWGKTA}} Tyler, The Creator]]'s video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lDqMx4rmFU IFHY]] gives us more human/doll people. And is creepy as hell.
* The music video for Music/KanyeWest's "Black Skin Head" invokes this by having most of the video focus on a realistic yet imperfect computer generated Kanye West model. It looks like him, but is ''just'' off enough to feel uncanny.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:R&B]]
* The three Christina Aguileras from the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ScjucUV8v0 Candyman]] music video, anyone? It's only really when they're all side by side, because they all look so animated, since they're supposed to be tributes to hand-drawn pinups, obviously, so what we essentially have is three identical three-dimensional ink people.
** Although they created the triplet effect by [[RealityIsUnrealistic filming Christina Aguilera]] three times from the same angles and compositing the shots together. The Uncanny Valley effect might be due to the fact that you don't expect three different people, triplets or not, to look ''exactly'' the same except for hair color, along with the fact that they could obviously only pretend to interact with each other.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rock]]
* ''[[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jcU3avQjWyc/Td2ZVAy30bI/AAAAAAAABi4/XWDtEM5r-kw/s1600/Queen+-+News+of+the+World.JPG News of the World]]'' by Music/{{Queen}}, based on the cover of Astounding Science Fiction (October 1953), features a disturbing childlike giant robot [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength holding bloodied, dead members of the band in his hand]].
** This was terrifying for Creator/SethMacFarlane from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', since the B-plot of one of the episodes revolved around Brian manipulating Stewie's fear of the cover.
* The animatronic Music/LouReed in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiyX70ZqsVQ "No Money Down"]]. [[spoiler: Pulling off the rubber flesh ''almost'' reduces the effect]].
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLeS8KoL1Zk Face Dances part 2]], by Pete Townshend. Good song, weird video. Almost as weird as the singer's nose.
* Music/{{Genesis}}' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pkVLqSaahk Land of Confusion]] is this.
* Purposely invoked via makeup and image manipulation with the photos of the various characters in the liner notes for Music/DavidBowie's RockOpera ''1. Outside'', as well as on the album itself with their spoken-word "segues" between songs, which are digitally tweaked to vary the voices further. It doesn't take long to realize Bowie is playing all of them, including the women; the low point of the valley here is Baby Grace Blue, the 14-year-old girl whose murder kicks off the story.
[[/folder]]

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* Intentionally used in the music video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg Black Hole Sun]]" by Music/{{Soundgarden}} (pictured above), which features an eerie "off" suburb populated by clearly insane grinning people. It's actually a relief when they all get sucked into the sky. One magazine actually called it the best horror movie of the year!

** Case in point: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXa9tXcMhXQ "The Robots"]] (which provides the page image by the way). German version [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHEoMpMvz7A here]]. It's actually pretty impressive with their ability to stand ''that'' still during a performance.

* Intentionally used in the music video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg Black Hole Sun]]" by Music/{{Soundgarden}}, which features an eerie "off" suburb populated by clearly insane grinning people. It's actually a relief when they all get sucked into the sky. One magazine actually called it the best horror movie of the year!

* The ConceptVideo for Music/{{Weezer}}'s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDIzMGh94vo (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To]]" features an entire small town made up of Weezer members. Mostly this just means the members of the band dressed up in different costumes, but there are four children with the heads of the band members pasted onto them. While the effect is more natural looking than the similar Music/AphexTwin and ''The Love Guru'' examples, they're still at least a little unnerving.

* The music video for Basement Jaxx's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiHefsYBnnE "Where's Your Head At"]] stars a bunch of [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys adorable monkeys]]... with the band member's faces. The faces just look ''wrong''.

** As if that wasn't enough, a fan made Hatsune Miku, the most popular Vocaloid, into HRI-1, a real-life "[[BlatantLies realistic]]" robot that doesn't even look like her (it's on the web somewhere). This shit is just ''overkill''.

** Not to mention [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0lIlROWro8 this]] very early (1986) attempt at 3D computer generated human heads, which float in the middle of the screen in the video for "Musique Non-Stop".

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