History Main / NotableMusicVideos

[[redirect:MusicVideos]

[[redirect:MusicVideos]]

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1629435021001410300 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]

''Music videos that had a major impact on the genre, or are just [[Administrivia/ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability notable]]. See also MusicVideoTropes.''
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!!Videos that have their own articles:
[[index]]
* Music/{{Bad}}
* Music/BadRomance
* Music/BestFriend
* Music/BubbleButt
* The Music/BTSUniverse
* Music/CatHairballs
* Music/ConfessionExecutiveCommittee series
* Music/{{Chieftain}}
* Music/ClamaviDeProfundis
* Music/DontPlayTheFoolAmerica
* Music/{{Friday}}
* Music/GangnamStyle
* Music/{{Genghis Khan|2016}}
* Music/GuardiansInferno
* Music/Havana2017
* WesternAnimation/AHerbAlpertAndTheTijuanaBrassDoubleFeature
* Music/HipsDontLie
* Music/HoldingOutForAHero
* Music/HowlinForYou
* Anime/{{Interstella 5555}}
* Music/KagerouProject
* Music/KnightsOfCydonia
* Music/LandOfConfusion
* Music/Lemonade2016
* Music/LikeAPrayer
* Music/LikeAVirgin
* Music/MaryJanesLastDance
* Music/{{Mean}}
* Music/{{Miserable}}
* Film/MichaelJacksonsGhosts
* Music/MichaelJacksonsThriller
* Film/MultipleSidosis
* WebAnimation/MysterySkullsAnimated
* Music/NandemoIukotoWoKiiteKureruAkaneChan
* Music/OnceInALifetime
* Music/PiesDescalzosSuenosBlancos
* Music/LaReginaDelCelebrita
* Music/{{Roses}}
* Music/SeasideWoman
* Music/SheWillBeLoved
* {{Anime/Shelter}}
* Music/ShineOnMe
* Music/{{Sledgehammer|1986}}
* Film/StLouisBlues
* Music/{{Telephone}}
* Music/ThisIsAmerica
* Music/TonightTonight
* Music/TotalEclipseOfTheHeart
* Music/TrappedInTheCloset
* Music/TheUltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny
* Music/UpUpDownDown
* Music/VideoKilledTheRadioStar
* Music/{{Waterfalls}}
* Music/WeFoundLove
* Music/YouBelongWithMe
[[/index]]

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Predecessors of Music Videos (1930s- 1960s)]]
* Lee de Forest's experimental Phonofilms produced starting in 1923 featured vaudeville performers, many of which had a musical element to their act, such as Eddie Cantor and jazz band Ben Bernie and All the Lads.
* With the arrival of talkies in the late 1920s, a lot of musical shorts featuring bands, singers and dancers were produced, notably Creator/WarnerBros' "Vitaphone" shorts, named after their sound-on-disc process which was a rival to the now-standard sound-on-film process. As well, musical film and comedies from the 1930s to the 1950s would often feature musical segments showcasing popular tunes of the day with little to no relevance to the plot (if any).
* Soundies were produced from 1940 to 1947 for use in a video jukebox called the Panoram. The list of artists who recorded them reads like a who's who of 1940s music: Music/EllaFitzgerald, Music/DukeEllington, Music/LouisArmstrong, Music/NatKingCole, Music/SpikeJones, Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, Music/LawrenceWelk are but a few of the many who made Soundies. As the Panoram became obsolete with the arrival of commercial TV, Soundies were repackaged as home movies, then syndicated to television, then reissued on VHS and DVD.
* Telescriptions, produced by Snader Entreprises from 1950-52 and by Studio Films from 1952-54, were like Soundies but made expressly for television, featuring much of the same artists. Telescriptions and Soundies were often used to plug holes in programming (such as the last few minutes in the time slot of a movie) or shown as part of a "video DJ" program (such as KTLA's ''The Gene Norman Show'' or WFIL's ''Bandstand'', which later mutated into ''Series/AmericanBandstand''), predating Creator/{{MTV}} by three decades. Music/{{Liberace}} got his big break with the help of Telescriptions. Like Soundies, Telescriptions were also repackaged as home movies then reissued on VHS and DVD.
* The video jukebox idea was revived in 1958 with the French-made Scopitone, which repackaged the Panoram in a more modern cabinet and now used color film. (Similar machines such as the Italian Cinebox and the American Color-Sonic were also made.) First becoming popular in Europe (particularly France, West Germany and England), it later spread to the United States where they were installed in cocktail lounges and other more adult establishments to deliberately avoid competition with jukeboxes for the teen audience, which is reflected by the U.S.-produced Scopitone films being relatively lacking in "rock" acts, especially [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion British Invasion]] acts. Scopitone films, especially the U.S. ones, are notorious for their disjointed editing style and the [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment random addition]] of scantily-clad female dancers for gratuitous FanService. One notable film name involved with Scopitones was Creator/RobertAltman, who directed a handful of Scopitone films in the years before his directorial BreakthroughHit with ''Film/{{MASH}}''. The Scopitone's popularity faded by the end of the 1960s, but video jukeboxes are still made by companies such as Rowe (one of their models was featured in a 1985 episode of ''Series/SaleOfTheCentury'', costing $12,900) and are rather common, now using [=Wi-Fi=] to download music videos into the machine.
* The film ''Film/BlackboardJungle'' (1955) became a huge success when Bill Haley and his Comets' hit "Rock Around The Clock" was used as the opening theme. Teenagers just went to the film theaters to listen to this hit blasting out of the speakers at top volume. Conversely, the film helped the song, initially just the B-side of the now-obscure "Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town)", become a smash hit.
** Music/ElvisPresley's films, especially ''Film/JailhouseRock'', had the same effect.
* The AnimatedMusicVideo dates back to the very beginning of the sound era, as most early cartoon series were based on characters cavorting to music. Disney's ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'' is the TropeCodifier, with many other studios [[FollowTheLeader following suit.]] Many cartoon series were made specifically to promote the parent studio's music library, such as ''WesternAnimation/ScreenSongs'' at Creator/{{Paramount}} and, in their early incarnations, the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and ''WesternAnimation/MerrieMelodies'' over at Creator/WarnerBros.
** The Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon gives us ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'', essentially a feature-length compilation of classical music videos. The "package features" ''WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic'' and ''WesternAnimation/MelodyTime'' follow a similar format, but with popular music (although some segments were originally conceived for ''Fantasia'' or its planned continuations). Individual segments were later released as stand alone shorts.
* Tony Bennett created a clip in 1956 for his recording of "Stranger in Paradise" by filming himself walking along the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London. The result was sent to U.K. and U.S. television stations for broadcast on music shows such as ''Series/AmericanBandstand''. Bennett claims in his autobiography that this was the first music video; in any case, this may well be the first case of an artist sending out a videoclip to TV shows in lieu of performing in person, much like Music/TheBeatles would do years later.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:1960s]]
* In the mid 1960s Music/TheBeatles started making films to promote their albums, much the way Elvis did. But they soon evolved from there...
** Their films ''Film/AHardDaysNight'', ''Film/{{Help}}'', and to a lesser degree, ''Film/MagicalMysteryTour'' and ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'', went a long way towards codifying a lot of the visual techniques and tropes of music videos that dominated TheEighties music scene.
** Later, once they stopped touring altogeter, they sent clips of their singles to variety programs such as ''Series/TheEdSullivanShow'' to "perform in their stead." Such singles included "Paperback Writer"/"Rain", "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" (both non-diagetic--i.e. not just [[PerformanceVideo the artist playing the song]] or of an audience as the artist plays) and "Hello Goodbye".
* Music/BobDylan's [[https://youtu.be/MGxjIBEZvx0 iconic video]] for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" from ''Music/BringingItAllBackHome'' was filmed in 1965, and was actually conceived by Dylan as a Scopitone video, though it ended up as the opening scene of ''Film/DontLookBack'' (the documentary about his 1965 UK tour—the actual title lacked an apostrophe). It too is one of the earliest non-diegetic videos.
* Music/TheMonkees: We actually owe ''A LOT'' to the "Prefab Four" for innovating and popularizing the music video genre. The Monkees' "music videos" or, "romps" that regularly aired on their TV show (1966-1968) was an early (and very successful) attempt to market music on TV in order to sell records. This new method put the Monkees on the top of the charts, and on the walls of every teenage FanGirl in America. How high on top? The Monkees had four #1 albums in the year 1967, and sold 35 million records in that year alone, beating out Music/TheBeatles and Music/TheRollingStones combined!
** And it doesn’t end there! Former Monkees member Creator/MichaelNesmith had created and produced music videos since the 1970’s, even winning the first ever Video UsefulNotes/GrammyAward for his Creator/{{PBS}} television special ''Elephant Parts''. Nesmith, along with longtime partner William Dear, created the first music video program, ''[=PopClips=]'', which aired on {{Creator/Nickelodeon}} from 1979-1981. As the series gained popularity, ExecutiveMeddling soon took over, and warped Nesmith’s concept into what is now known as [[Creator/{{MTV}} MTV and MTV Networks]].
* Music/TheWho and Music/TheKinks also released short-form music videos around this time.
* Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, that perfect example of '60s kitsch, had two of their songs set to animation in ''WesternAnimation/AHerbAlpertAndTheTijuanaBrassDoubleFeature''. This largely forgotten little cartoon was a TropeMaker for the AnimatedMusicVideo, being made at the same time that acts like Dylan and the Beatles were making them in live-action.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:1970s]]
* The fantasy (probably) scene in the surreal film ''Film/{{Performance}}'' where Mick Jagger's character Turner, taking on the persona of a LondonGangster, sings the song "Memo From Turner" to a group of gangsters. An influence on every ConceptVideo since, and used at the time as a video isolated from the rest of the film.
* The Swedish pop group Music/{{ABBA}} made videos of their singles starting with their first international hit "Waterloo". This was because they were unable for various reasons to travel to far off countries and sent film clips instead to promote a song. Most of their videos were made by future feature film director Lasse Hallstrom (''My Life As A Dog'', ''Film/{{Chocolat}}'').
* Music/DavidBowie:
** Bowie made [[https://youtu.be/v--IqqusnNQ a clip]] for [[Music/HunkyDory "Life on Mars?"]] in 1973-- 2 years after the song was released-- to help him break into the American market.
** At the end of the decade was the video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KcOs70dZAw "Boys Keep Swinging"]] off of ''Music/{{Lodger}}'' (1979), notable for being part of Creator/{{MTV}}'s debut broadcast (despite its accompanying single being a UK-exclusive); it was also Bowie's first video to be featured on the network.
* Music/{{Devo}} never intended to be a band, instead planning to make musical films for laserdisc. ''In the Beginning Was the End: The Truth About De-Evolution'', their first, with music videos for "Jocko Homo" and "Secret Agent Man", was filmed in 1975, and used as an opener at concerts.
** Their song ''Beautiful World'' is an interesting case, as the song was written around an idea for a music video.
* The early videos of Music/TheResidents, which are archived in the Museum of Modern Art.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRweyGHJ3bc A video from 1976]], intended to promote their Music/ThirdReichAndRoll album. [[note]]Don't worry about the costumes. According to them, that was the easiest way to cover their heads with a newspaper.[[/note]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvJiyOPmsJs The video for their song "Hello Skinny"]], starring an actual mental patient.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTJJb1UqjuA Four videos compiled into one]], for four songs off Music/TheCommercialAlbum.
* The music video for Roger Glover's song "Love is All" (1975) also became famous thanks to the animation short film in which a guitar playing frog gathers all the animals in the forest to come to the Butterfly's Ball.
* Music/{{Queen}}, "Bohemian Rhapsody" from ''Music/ANightAtTheOpera'' -- which experimented with innovative visual effects in the mid-1970s, was done mainly because of the fact that the song was so utterly complex musically (complete with a bridge section that, when the song is played live, is always played as a pre-recorded sequence via the stage's sound system due to its complexity making it impossible to replicate live) that Queen decided that it would be easier to just send the video for the song for play on TV to promote the song.
** Nine-part harmonies. That is all.
* Music/TheBuggles, "Video Killed The Radio Star" -- First video ever aired on Creator/{{MTV}}. [[OlderThanTheyThink ...Despite being from 1979]]. By the time the video made it on MTV, the members had pretty much joined Yes.
* CountryMusic: There are conflicting published reports about when the first "official" video of a country music song was produced and released. Those making the claim:
** "Galveston," a No. 1 country and No. 3 pop hit in 1969 by Glen Campbell. The original video has been uploaded to Website/YouTube.
** Buck Owens' 1969 No. 1 country hit "Tall, Dark Stranger." Video stills from the song, plus at least three others, were included in the liner notes to Owens' three-CD box set, issued by Creator/RhinoRecords in 1991. Both "Tall Dark Stranger" and "Big In Vegas," which topped out at No. 5 in early January 1970, have been uploaded to various video sharing sites and also have aired on ''Series/HeeHaw'' and the [=GAC=] family of networks.
** Starting that same year, various songs on the television series ''Series/HeeHaw'', with producer Sam Louvillo making the claim. However, these were not true music videos as they are known today, but rather compiled using filmed stock footage of rural settings and/or sped-up stop-action films of people dancing and/or acting goofy, and were used more for comedy than serious promotion of the song it was played under. When several prominent country singers began complaining that their songs were not being treated seriously (i.e., an instrument for comedy), the idea was later shelved. (Unlike Owens' "Big In Vegas," which played the concept straight and was, in fact, very influential in setting the style of serious country music videos that have been seen since.)
** Don Williams' 1973 single "The Shelter of Your Eyes," per country music historian Bill Malone, noting that it was a promotional tool used by JMI Records (later absorbed into what is today the Universal Music Group).
** In addition, other country music videos from the 1970s that have been seen on Website/YouTube and other video-sharing services include – among others – Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" (1975); "One Piece at a Time" by Johnny Cash, "Tracks of My Tears" by Linda Ronstadt, "Let Your Love Flow" by the Bellamy Brothers, and Olivia Newton-John's "Don't Stop Believin'" (1976); "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers and "You Needed Me" by Anne Murray (both 1978); and "Half the Way" by Crystal Gayle (1979).
** Before crossing over full-time to country music, Kenny Rogers filmed several videos with his group, the First Edition. These included his breakthrough hit, "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)," from 1968. Additionally, the war protest song "Tell It All Brother," from 1970, has a video. Rogers went on to make numerous videos in the 1980s.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:1980s]]
* Music/AdamAndTheAnts' "Stand and Deliver" and "Prince Charming" were early big-budget, glamorous, film-like videos with a heavy emphasis on image, all of which predicted the MTV era.
* Music/{{Aerosmith}}, "Janies Got a Gun". Its uncompromising depiction of a father sexually abusing his daughter and her subsequent violent revenge got it banned from MTV for a while. The stark imagery and direction still pack a punch even today.
* [[Music/{{Aha}} A-ha]], "Take on Me". A blend of [[{{Rotoscoping}} rotoscoped]] animation done in a sketch-style, line drawing and live action, telling the story of a FantasticRomance between a GirlNextDoor (played by Morten Harket's then-girlfriend, actress Bunty Bailey) and a handsome BadassBiker (Harket himself). [[spoiler: [[StarCrossedLovers It ends]] [[DownerEnding badly]] in the video for "The Sun Always Shines on TV", though.]]
* Toni Basil, "Mickey". Set a new standard in music video choreography, no wonder since Basil was a famous choreographer for films since the 1960's.
* Music/TheCars, "You Might Think" -- Possibly the most famous GreenScreen video, fondly remembered for all the video mutations of Ric Ocasek, most notably turning him into a fly.
* Music/DavidBowie (see above) has ''many'' good videos, but these deserve special mention:
** [[https://youtu.be/CMThz7eQ6K0 "Ashes to Ashes"]] from ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'' (1980) was one of the first great examples of the ConceptVideo. See also the videos from his 1979 album ''Music/{{Lodger}}'' ("Look Back in Anger," "Boys Keep Swinging,” and "D.J."). "Ashes to Ashes" is also notable for being the most expensive music video ever made at the time of its production, though in the decades since it's been thoroughly surpassed.
** [[https://youtu.be/E_8IXx4tsus "China Girl"]] (1983) from ''Music/LetsDance'': The ending (a ''From Here to Eternity'' homage) was so steamy it was censored. Winner of the Best Male Video award at the first [=MTV=] Video Music Awards in 1984 -- a mighty feat in that one of the other nominees was "Music/{{Thriller}}".
* The first successful country music video airing on MTV was Eddie Rabbitt's 1981 hit "Step by Step." Two successful cross-genre videos from the early 1980s were by Ronnie Milsap: "Any Day Now" (1982) and "Stranger In My House" (1983).
* Music/BillyIdol had a few, but the most famous is "[[https://youtu.be/FG1NrQYXjLU Dancing With Myself]]", taking place during the ZombieApocalypse.
* Music/DeepPurple had two cool videos during the 80's that are worth checking out:
** The first one was for their 1984 song [[https://youtu.be/G7GERh0sQzY "Knocking At Your Back Door"]] off their comeback album, ''Perfect Strangers''. It featured a Mad Max-like post apocalyptic future complete with motorcycle bandits, spliced in with footage of the band performing in concert.
** [[https://youtu.be/X0lerJp82Xw "Call Of The Wild"]] from their 1987 album ''House Of The Blue Light'' is very poppy for Deep Purple standards. The band was never a biggest fan of music videos in real-life and it starts out with the band "refusing" to the do the video. However, the "director" decides to go on and brings in over a hundred "extras" to try to lip sync to the song. HilarityEnsues. The video is a funny TakeThat to all the excess and style over substance that defined 80's music videos. At the end, it is revealed that ''[[TwistEnding the band was on the set the whole time]]''!
* Music/DireStraits, "Money for Nothing" from ''Music/BrothersInArms'' -- Had the same distinction in the UK as well as being an early experiment in computer animation.
** It was also one of the earliest [[TakeThat criticisms]] of the overload of music videos, as MTV's sudden popularity forced recording studios to have their artists reinvent themselves as video stars.
* Music/DuranDuran's "Girls on Film", "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Rio" -- early "cinematic" music videos that used both the letterbox format and [[SceneryPorn exotic locations]]. [[MissFanservice And very exotic ladies doing very exotic things]].
** Also notable was their video for "Wild Boys", where it's said that lead singer Simon Le Bon [[FatalMethodActing nearly drowned while filming]]. (Remember the bit where he's strapped to a windmill blade? According to some, at one point the wheel stopped turning while his head was underwater.) Le Bon has always denied the incident, though.
* Music/PeterGabriel's "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time" from ''Music/{{So}}'', which received massive kudos for its combination of claymation and live actors. Sledgehammer in particular was at one time the most-played video in MTV history. Probably still holds the record for most Video Music Awards.
** It still does... for now.. The closest any artist has come is Music/{{aha}}, for "Take on Me" (see above), and Music/LadyGaga for "Music/BadRomance".
* Music/{{Genesis}}, "Land of Confusion". [[Music/LandOfConfusion Has its own page]].
** "I Can't Dance", a hilarious video for a catchy as hell song, with the ridiculously memetic "Genesis Walk".
** Plus their ferocious and hilarious criticism of televangelism, "Jesus He Knows Me"
* Music/GoldenEarring, "Twilight Zone", which went through heavy rotation during the early days of MTV.
** Notable as one of the earliest music videos that actually attempted to tell a story - of a spy being hunted through a dark city and tortured for information - using cinema-quality camerawork and staging, and it proved influential to a lot of the videos that followed after it.
* Godley & Creme, [[https://youtu.be/KxtPRF6NG7I "Cry"]] — Four minutes of analog cross-fading (a precursor to morphing) between dozens of faces representing different ages, sexes, and races, including Godley & Creme themselves. Ends with separate shots of Godley, Creme, and Trevor Horn (of The Buggles fame), with a final fade to the face first seen in the video.
* Hall & Oates, "Private Eyes". Who could forget the detective gear? C'mon... it was parodied awesomely in a commercial for ''Series/{{Psych}}''!
* Herbie Hancock's "Rockit," which is... robots. Lots and lots of disturbing, dismembered robots. This came about because, according to rumor, MTV was apprehensive about putting music videos by black artists on the airwaves. Putting aside the UnfortunateImplications, the video is still considered incredibly innovative and cool, and was unique in that it actually edited the video to match the scratching of the song and employed a few editing tricks not seen in videos before.
** The documentary ''Scratch'', about "scratching", features several notable turntablists citing this video as ''the'' reason they took it up.
* Music/{{INXS}} generally made some good music videos, but the most "noteworthy" one was "Need You Tonight/Mediate", which won several MTV Video Awards in 1988 and combined various forms of animation and live-action, as well as an homage to Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (see above).
* Music/JanetJackson has made several notable music videos, the best arguably being 30 minute long "Rhythm Nation 1814". Originally released as a kind of telemusical, featuring several other songs from the album of the same name, Including "Miss You Much" and "The Knowledge" ending in the military themed "Rhythm Nation". Big brother Michael admitted it was his favourite of all of her videos.
* Music/MichaelJackson made some of the most memorable videoclips ever made. In order:
** "Billie Jean" from ''Music/{{Thriller}}'', famous for making Michael Jackson a mega superstar, its illuminating sidewalk dance sequences and (this is the important part) the ''very'' first video to be played in heavy rotation on MTV featuring a black performer. Michael's performances during the ''Motown 25'' TV Special popularized the "Moonwalk" dance and earned him an Emmy nomination.
** "Beat It", from the same album, in which [[BadassPacifist Michael prevents two gangs from fighting by leading them in a line dance]]. It was the first video by Michael (or any black artist) to gain massive airplay on MTV and was Michael's first hard rock song. Additionally, it gets credit for pioneering the line dance and turf wars as tropes of the music video.
** "Music/{{Thriller}}", from -again- the same album, who pioneered the Videoclip With Big Budget genre and one of the first that used a short film scheme. And that choreography! And Creator/VincentPrice's voice!
** "Bad", from ''Music/{{Bad}}'' The full video is a 15-minute short film, climaxing with the dance scene in the parking garage (an homage to "Cool" in ''Theatre/WestSideStory''). It's directed by Creator/MartinScorsese, written by Creator/RichardPrice, and features an early appearance by Creator/WesleySnipes as the gang leader.
** His ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}'' movie/music video also counts, though most people only remember the 1920s period piece music video "Smooth Criminal" and the stop-motion animation video "Leave Me Alone", which were segments of the movie (released direct to video due to Jackson not being able to find a studio to distribute the movie theatrically in the US) released as music videos.
** "Black or White", from ''Music/{{Dangerous}}'' who used morphing techniques in a very fluid style (though its use was largely a rip-off of Godley & Creme's "Cry").
*** The video had a controversial ending; after the song ends, Michael Jackson goes on a rampage on a nearby street, grabbing his crotch as he picks up a crowbar and destroys a car before morphing into a panther. While the "rampage" ending was immediately cut from all future TV airings of the video, for its VHS/DVD releases, hate group symbols were inserted via computer graphics onto the car in order to justify why Jackson would destroy a car with a crowbar.
** "Scream", where Jackson and his sister Janet performed the song in a really cool spacey environment. It still holds the record for the most expensive music video ever filmed: ''seven million dollars'' back in 1995!
** "They Don't Care About Us", which drew controversy over perceived antisemitism in its lyrics for the use of an infamous anti-Jew slur, has two equally stunning videos directed by Creator/SpikeLee. One was in black and white, staged in a prison; the other was full of color, filmed in front of a Brazilian ''favela''.
** "[[Film/MichaelJacksonsGhosts Ghosts]]" is nearly 40 minutes and currently holds the record for the longest music video ever made.
** "You Rock My World": Features MJ, Chris Tucker, Creator/MarlonBrando, with a catchy song and arguably the best stomp performance in a music video. Ever.[[note]]Also, the last video made in his lifetime to star him. "Cry", from the same album, had a video consisting of footage of poor children.[[/note]]
** For Music/TheJacksonFive, "Can You Feel It" featured the band as some sort of godlike beings spreading happiness and peace over the world. Back then the video had an enormous impact on audiences, because of the impressive computer effects for the time (which still look remarkably good today) and grand epicness of it all. It would be the forebearer to Michael Jackson's equally epic music videos later.
* Music/{{Journey}}'s [[https://youtu.be/OMD8hBsA-RI "Faithfully",]] the first video featuring "behind the scenes" tour footage set to a power ballad. Now it's rather obligatory for a band to have one of these.
* ''We Didn't Start the Fire'' by Music/BillyJoel, contrasting scenes of life in each respective time period with a [[ListSong list of events]] happening at the time, running from the [[TheFifties 1950s]] through to the [[TheEighties 1980s]].
* Music/{{Madonna}}, through her force of nature personality and chameleon-type adaptation powers, has produced many notable music videos:
** "Material Girl" from ''Music/LikeAVirgin'', with her {{Homage}} to Creator/MarilynMonroe's number "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", permanently labeled Madonna the "Material Girl", though many critics and fans utterly missed the point of the video, which had Madonna dating a poor guy and denouncing materialism.
** "Like a Prayer" from ''Music/LikeAPrayer'', with Madonna making out with Black Jesus, burning crosses, and stigmata wounds created a stir and cost her a lucrative Pepsi sponsorship deal, though the controversy helped make the video a worldwide hit.
** The various David Fincher-directed Madonna videos, most notably "Express Yourself" and "Vogue", which is widely considered Madonna's most popular music video in various "Best Music Videos Ever" MTV music video countdowns.
** "Erotica" and "Justify My Love"; both were banned by MTV due to their sexual content (with "Erotica" featuring Madonna in S&M gear and other footage from the making of her ''Sex'' book).
*** The controversy over MTV's ban led to ''[=20/20=]'' covering "Erotica" and ending the show with the video's American broadcast debut. To avoid this with Music/TheProdigy's "Smack My Bitch Up," it was shown just once, late at night.
** Her video for "Die Another Day", the theme song for the Film/JamesBond film [[Film/DieAnotherDay of the same name]], is second only to "Scream" for the most expensive music video of all time.
* Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" and "Simply Irresistible" were most famous for the line of identical supermodels performing as Palmer's band behind him.
** It would be subsequently parodied by everyone from rapper [=Tone-Lōc=] ("Wild Thing"), to Music/ShaniaTwain ("Man, I Feel Like a Woman"), to Ingrid Michaelson ("Girls Chase Boys"). Even "Music/WeirdAlYankovic" got in the act with the them song for ''Film/{{UHF}}''.
* Music/PetShopBoys' "It's a Sin" -- one of the highest-budget music videos of the mid-'80s. Directed by art-film auteur Derek Jarman, this little period drama includes [[http://www.geowayne.com/newDesign/lists/vidguests.htm Geena Davis's]] IdenticalStranger as [[SevenDeadlySins Pride]], and was filmed in the same warehouse used in ''Film/FullMetalJacket''.
** "Domino Dancing", whose (at the time unintentional) HoYay got it banned from MTV in several countries.
** "Liberation", which was pretty much entirely CG, and which toured the UK as a virtual reality ride around the time of the single's release.
* [[Music/TomPetty Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers]]' "Don't Come Around Here No More" raided ''Literature/AliceInWonderland''. It served to establish Petty's "mad-hatter" persona and was one of the first videos to resemble an LSD trip.
* Music/PinkFloyd 's 1982 film adaptation of ''Music/TheWall''. Can be summed up with "Telephone is for Lightweights". Can also be summed up with "Terrifying".
** "Learning To Fly" directed by [[Creator/{{Hipgnosis}} Storm Thorgerson]] was also a memorable video featuring a Native American who jumps off a cliff and turns into an eagle, cool nature shots, and scenes of the band performing that were filmed during the rehearsals for their 1987 tour. The band actually won the MTV Music Video Award for Best Concept Video the last year the category was around.
* Music/{{Queen}}'s "I Want to Break Free" featured the band dressed in drag in a parody of the British Soap ''Series/CoronationStreet''. While reaching number three in the UK charts, the video is thought to have contributed to the song's [[AmericansHateTingle poor performance in the US]], and a subsequent decline in popularity of the band. The video was initially banned on MTV in the US.
* Eddy Raven's obscure 1980 single "Dealin' with the Devil" was said to be one of the first country music songs to be promoted via music video. His label achieved this by shooting footage of him performing the song and sending videotapes to various radio stations.
* Music/TheReplacements' "Bastards of Young" just showed a stereo playing the song in the wrong pitch, before being kicked over by the person listening to it.[[note]]Paul Westerberg hated videos.[[/note]]
* Music/{{Rush}}'s [[https://youtu.be/WQgu0MpnKq8 "The Big Money"]] from 1985's ''Music/{{Power Windows}}'' used very early CGI in the video and it came out the ''same year'' as Dire Strait's "Money For Nothing".
** [[https://youtu.be/wziJqdq4LcA "The Enemy Within"]] from their 1984 album ''Music/{{Grace Under Pressure}}'' was famous for being the first music video aired on MuchMusic, the [[CanadaEh Canadian]] version of MTV.
* Music/BillySquier's "Rock Me Tonite" is famous, or rather infamous, for sending his career into a tailspin from which he never completely recovered. See his page for a more complete rundown.
* Music/TalkingHeads' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8 music video]] for [[Music/RemainInLight "Once in a Lifetime"]] became one of the first music videos to receive heavy rotation on the then-fledgling MTV. Its surreal imagery of Music/DavidByrne performing erratic rituals[[note]]Choreographed by the above mentioned Toni Basil, no less![[/note]] in a WhiteVoidRoom became a striking image to viewers in 1981, and can be credited with popularizing "Once in a Lifetime" to the point of it becoming Talking Heads' SignatureSong.
* Several of Music/VanHalen's videos became quite iconic. "Hot for Teacher" and "Jump" both became classic 80's rock videos. "Right Now" was also quite famous for its {{Anvilicious}} messages, although the song arguably gained more notoriety for its use in Crystal Pepsi commercials.
* Music/WallOfVoodoo's [[https://youtu.be/eyCEexG9xjw&ob=av2e "Mexican Radio"]] was not only a radio hit, but also had an awesome video to go with it!
** Line-up #2 had [[https://youtu.be/s6_YsP7u-JY Far Side of Crazy,]] which was about the band's stay in Sammystown.
* Music/{{Whitesnake}}'s "Tawny Kitaen" videos, most notably "Here I Go Again". Because, honestly. Tawny Kitaen on that car pretty much single-handedly invented the HoodOrnamentHottie.
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic created a number of iconic music videos that became so mostly by [[AffectionateParody parodying]] other iconic videos, often reusing sets and actors:
** "White & Nerdy" rocketed to the top of the charts, was packed with {{Troperiffic}} sight gags, and was affectionately promoted by "Ridin'" singer Chamillionaire, who proclaimed Yankovic "a real rapper".
** "Amish Paradise", another rap parody based on "Gangsta's Paradise", was less well-received by Coolio when people started to [[AdaptationDisplacement associate the lyrics]] to the song with the parody version. The video also featured backwards cinematography.
** "Eat It" received a massive amount of airplay at the same time that Jackson's "Beat It" video was also being played.
** "Fat", another direct parody of Jackson's song and video, and was especially notable for the makeup that turned Yankovic into a fat, white version of Jackson; Jackson himself lent Yankovic the sets from ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}''.
** "Smells Like Nirvana" probably didn't hurt Music/{{Nirvana}}'s position as the new voice of the alternative music scene. The video parodied the band's iconic video and reused the janitor character, this time putting him in a tutu.
** "Headline News", a hysterical parody of the Music/CrashTestDummies' "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm". Admittedly, it doesn't age as well as most of his videos, due to it being necessary for the viewer to have been around for the Singapore caning, UsefulNotes/TonyaHarding, and John Bobbitt incidents for it to make sense.
* Music/{{Yes}} turned their video for "Leave It" (1983) into an elaborate RunningGag, shooting 17 different versions of the five of them standing side by side in dark suits, singing the song, with some unique variation in each (e.g. all facing backward, one of them with a different color of tie, one not singing, etc). Wondering what they'd do in the next version to premiere on MTV became something of a CouchGag.
* MTV originally refused to air Music/FrankZappa's [[https://youtu.be/75DbkiZvxX4 "You Are What You Is"]] since it showed a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan lookalike--labeled "President From Hell"--getting the electric chair, and playing it for comedy.
* Any Music/ZZTop video from their ''Eliminator'' era featuring the hot rod of the same name, especially those which include Three Hot Babes who rescue some sad sack from his or her ordinary life: "Gimme All Your Lovin", "Sharp Dressed Man", "Legs" and others.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:1990s]]
* Music/{{Aerosmith}}'s trilogy from ''Get a Grip'', "Crazy" (Creator/LivTyler and Alicia Silverstone as femme fatales), "Amazing" (virtual reality, with Alicia Silverstone) and "Cryin'"(Alicia Silverstone getting a heartbreak, won a few [=VMA=]s... and features Sawyer from Series/{{Lost}}!).
* Music/MCHammer's music video for "U Can't Touch This" became far more popular than the single. Hammer's huge baggy pants and iconic way of dancing are still spoofed to this day.
* Music/{{Nirvana}} -- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from ''Music/{{Nevermind}}''. If one single event in pop culture can be said to have launched the mainstreaming of everything "alternative" in TheNineties, it is this video.
** "Heart-Shaped Box" from ''Music/InUtero''. The video for the single was almost as memorable and controversial as the song, with lots of WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic imagery of fetuses, crucifixion, a [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz field of poppies]], and a child in Ku Klux Klan getup which darkens into a witch's hat after landing in a pool of blood.
* Music/TheProdigy's "[[http://www.kewego.com/video/iLyROoaftJ5_.html Smack My Bitch Up]]" from ''Music/TheFatOfTheLand'' was banned from almost every television channel for its graphic video, which was filmed in first-person perspective and featured a long night of drunken revelry by the POV. Ironically, the video, with its TomatoSurprise ending, was created to counteract accusations of sexism against the band due to the song's lyrics. MTV even tapped Madonna to give the video her blessing on camera (though considering they were both signed to her Maverick record label, she might not have been the most impartial person to ask.)
* Music/{{Soundgarden}}. "Black Hole Sun". It's a combination of MindScrew and excessively disturbing imagery.
* Music/NineInchNails have a history of banned/censored music videos:
** "Down In It" involves front man Trent Reznor leaping off a building, and his decayed body. Police found footage and thought it was a SnuffFilm.
** "Sin" involves bondage gear and gratuitous gonad-piercing.
** The highly sought-after, unreleased ''Broken Movie'', which incorporates rather disturbing music videos for the songs "Pinion", "Wish", "Help Me I Am In Hell", "Happiness in Slavery" and "Gave Up", integrated into a disturbingly realistic torture-snuff-film.
** "Happiness in Slavery" itself gained worldwide controversy for featuring NSFW performance artist Bob Flanagan playing a masochist who gets violently torn to shreds in a machine, with several shots being un-simulated.
** "Closer" is creepy as all hell, with sexual and religious imagery all over the shop, and brought the MoralGuardians running faster than Madonna ever did.
** "Survivalism" had to be censored for MTV play as well, the original involving shots of a woman's naked breasts and a gay couple making love via [[SinisterSurveillance CCTV cameras set up in an apartment block]].
* Music/AphexTwin's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ827lkktYs Come to Daddy]]" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZT3gTu4Sjw Windowlicker]]" - both directed by Chris Cunningham - were infamous for their freakish imagery, including schoolgirls and strippers that all have Aphex Twin's head, and a giant screaming naked freak. Also, in "Windowlicker" alone, there are reportedly 127 uses of profanity (as a parody of gangsta-rap culture).
** You also can't leave out "[[https://vimeo.com/51672276 Rubber Johnny]]".
* Squarepusher had a very notable music video for [[https://youtu.be/4UAicXgT6AU "Come On My Selector"]], which talks about the escape of a young girl from a mental hospital. The video's actions are synchronized with the music.
* Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' "[[https://youtu.be/xmyuJZH3RAc Warped]]" -- Whips, Chains, Sex, Drugs, homoeroticism, and something vaguely resembling rock and roll (that and it's really creepy)
** Also, "[[https://youtu.be/Mr_uHJPUlO8 Give It Away]]" (silver-painted people doing crazy things in the desert), "[[https://youtu.be/YlUKcNNmywk Californication]]" (Chili Peppers video game!) and "[[https://youtu.be/rn_YodiJO6k Otherside]]" (weird [[Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari Calagari]]-esque, depressing video).
* Music/{{Weezer}}'s "Buddy Holly" seamlessly integrates the band into vintage footage from ''Series/HappyDays''.
** Their "Keep Fishin'" video casts them as guests on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' with Animal on drums while Miss Piggy chases Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson around in order to make out with him.
** "Pork and Beans," can best be described as a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover of [[MemeticMutation Internet Memes]].
** "Hash Pipe". SUMO WRESTLERS. FUCKED UP HARD ROCK SONG. SUMO WRESTLERS. FUCKED UP HARD ROCK SONG. [[RuleOfThree SUMO WRESTLERS]] [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs PLAYING A FUCKED UP HARD ROCK SONG.]]
* "[[https://youtu.be/6oqXVx3sBOk Coffee and TV]]" by Blur features dancing milk that seeks out one of the members of the band who ran away from his family, overcoming many dangers and meeting a female carton of milk, who gets squashed. When he finds the band member, he takes him home and then drinks him. Then he goes to heaven along with the female milk. Yes, really.
** The video became HilariousInHindsight a few years later when guitarist Graham Coxon, the band member who appears as the main human character (as well as the member who wrote and sang the song), quit the band. This was his last video with the band before he left. Ergo, he was now "missing" from the band; just like in the video, he'd eventually come back.
** The video for [[https://youtu.be/BrbxWOMpwfs The Universal]] is the biggest ShoutOut to ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' ever made!
* The song [[https://youtu.be/ITVME3VcU04 Joey]] by BOY has very bizarre happenings that go on the music video, all of which is [[RuleOfSymbolism very symbolic]]. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic Probably]].
* WebAnimation/{{Blockhead}}'s video for [[https://youtu.be/NhheiPTdZCw The Music Scene]]. Notable for being a very hypnotic case of DerangedAnimation. Also, it was hand-drawn and animated by '''one man'''.
* Music/MarilynManson's "The Beautiful People" from ''Music/AntichristSuperstar'', as well as the cover of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and the infamous video for ''The Dope Show".
* Music/KylieMinogue's "Come into My World", [[TheOner a one take video]] where Kylie walks around a block... and once she comes to the starting point, another Kylie (plus another of everyone in the background) shows up. Four times!
* George Michael's controversial "2D-TV" animation video for "Shoot The Dog", featuring Tony Blair as George Bush's poodle, drew much controversy within the UK and is said to have resulted in George being blacklisted in America.
** Don't forget "Freedom '90", which featured the hottest supermodels of the early 90's (Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington...).
* The Pharcyde's music video for ''Drop'', directed by Creator/SpikeJonze, in which the band ''performs'' the song backwards and then the video is ''played'' backwards, making everything look [[MindScrew slightly off]]. Also features cameos from Mike D and Ad Rock of the Music/BeastieBoys
* Most of Music/{{Blink182}}'s videos are fun incarnate[[note]]and the only ones that aren't are their more serious songs[[/note]]. You have "What's My Age Again" where they run around town naked, "All The Small Things" which is wildly immature parody of BoyBand videos of the time, "First Date" set in the 70s and establishing Tom's popular alter-ego Boomer, and "Rock Show" where they pretty much just filmed themselves driving around LA and giving people money that was supposed to be the video's budget.
* Music/{{REM}}'s [[Music/OutOfTime "Losing My Religion"]] features various arty religious imagery and frontman Michael Stipe dancing erratically, with the video boosting the single's high sales.
* Music/{{Eminem}} ones usually feature Slim Shady mocking various people by dressing like them.
** His video for [[https://youtu.be/8OFR4L2tHe4 ''White America'']] was a particularly interesting use of highly stylized animation.
* Music/TheSmashingPumpkins' "[[https://youtu.be/NOG3eus4ZSo Tonight Tonight]]", which was a remake of Georges Méliès's silent film ''A Trip to the Moon''. Billy Corgan remarked that he never saw people react the way they did to the video. 'Thirty-Three' was also shot entirely using still photographs, giving the resulting video a stuttery time-lapse quality that makes it quite memorable.
* Anything by Music/{{Bjork}}. When she's not a lesbian robot, she's turning an audience into plants, blowing up a museum, or squirting mucus out of her nose and eating it.
** "[[https://youtu.be/IKSoBJ8WirE?t=28 I Miss You]]", directed by Creator/JohnKricfalusi. Makes ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' look rational by comparison.
* Music/PearlJam's got a pair of really horrific videos. "Jeremy", [[spoiler: where the title character ends up blowing his head off in front of his classmates on an Angst attack]], is just a classic, made even more infamous due to the longrunning misconception that [[spoiler: Jeremy shoots his classmates instead of shooting himself, a notion caused by the crazy editing done for the video's ending in order to comply with MTV's demand that they couldn't show Jeremy put the gun in his mouth and fire).]] After Jeremy, the band refused to do any additional music videos until "Do the Evolution". An animated music video directed by [[Comicbook/{{Spawn}} Todd McFarland]] and [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Kevin Altieri]]... not that that's a sign of quality by itself, featured more of the same images as far as showcasing humanity's inhumanity in video form.
* The music video for Indian singer Dahler Mehndi's song "[[https://youtu.be/vTIIMJ9tUc8 Tunak Tunak Tun]]" has become quite popular due to MemeticMutation. This may be because it's so damn catchy, and there's the fact that ''everyone'' in the video is being played by Dahler Mehndi, [[ChromaKey even though they are frequently on-screen together!]]
* "Pure Morning" by Placebo; a four-plus minute video and song that covers about ten seconds 'real-time'. With about five of them happening in a single shot toward the end.
** Predating the Placebo example is the video for "Velouria" by Music/ThePixies. It was a quickly-shot video of the band running on rocks, slowed down to song length in a failed attempt to get around a restriction that only singles with videos can be performed on the BBC show ''Top of the Pops''.
** A recent example: "[[https://youtu.be/0lkIMZ6v6qU Unconditional Rebel]]" by Siska. The video is an astonishing 5-second shot slowed down to 3 minutes, and it's quite beautiful.
* The music video to Music/{{Metallica}}'s ''One'' was the band's first ever music video, after spending years proclaiming that they would never make a music video. Its horrific nature, with its amputation/war horror visuals and remix nature (as the band took the movie version of ''Literature/JohnnyGotHisGun'' and mashed up the song with clips from the movie to create a 10 minute "mini-movie" version of the film as the song's video), made it an instant classic. And while their second video "Enter Sandman" became an even bigger hit, for many fans of Metallica will contend that they haven't made a good video since "One", as well as opine that "One" was the moment in which the band jumped the shark via embracing the mainstream that they spent their early career avoiding like the plague.
** Not to mention that Metallica actually bought the rights to the entire movie ''Johnny Got His Gun'' in order to avoid any accusations of copyright infringement.
** The video also spawned a massive case of FollowTheLeader in the metal community. At least 1 in 3 music videos now have the band in a monochrome, abandoned warehouse.
** Also of Metallica note, the music video to their cover of Music/BobSeger's "Turn the Page" grew controversy for its sexual content, which included gratuitous female nudity and a rape scene involving a hooker and a John. (Is it any surprise that it was directed by the same guy who did "Smack My Bitch Up"?)
* From another metal band Music/{{Megadeth}} was the awesome music video "Hangar 18" with their mascot Vic The Rattlehead, working for an Area 51 type secret hangar prisoning aliens, all while Megadeth rock out in the background.
** One of their video "A Toute Le Monde" was banned from MTV due to being seen as "Pro-suicide" which it wasn't; they later made the 2007 version with Cristina Scabbia.
* Music/{{Radiohead}}'s video for [[https://youtu.be/R5X7HKxpiQA "Just"]] has a particularly nagging TwistEnding.
** Their video for "[[https://youtu.be/sgzeqwhNTDk No Surprises]]", where Thom held his breath for a ''ridiculous'' amount of time, even with the speed up.
** Their video for "[[https://youtu.be/8nTFjVm9sTQ House of Cards]]", which wasn't even filmed with cameras!
** "[[https://youtu.be/fHiGbolFFGw Paranoid Android]]". MTV thought it necessary to censor the nipples on the mermaids, but a man cutting off his limbs is alright.
** "[[https://youtu.be/pKd06s1LNik Fake Plastic Trees]]". The supermarket setting with all those fanciful characters isn't exactly easy to forget.
* Music/FooFighters have some amusing and interesting concepts, including the popular "Learn To Fly" video which consists of three Foo Fighters playing almost every character in the video. Dave Grohl plays a teenage girl who recognizes Dave Grohl himself and asks him for his autograph and also plays a gay steward who gives the eyes to - you guessed it - Dave Grohl, the pilot. Also, look out for the Music/TenaciousD cameo.
** There's also "Long Road to Ruin" where the band members (plus Creator/RashidaJones) play actors on a soap opera. It's quite funny.
** The music video for "Big Me" is a 2-minute-plus parody of Mentos commercials, which involves huge grins, the band moving a car, and Dave with pony tails and wearing a dress.
** The surrealistic "Everlong" video which takes place partially in dreams, but not AllJustADream as such. It involves giant phones, band members discarding false skins to reveal their true identities, and Dave Grohl (in-character) gaining a massive right hand with which to administer bitch slaps of death.
** They also have some awesome non-comedic videos, including "The Pretender", "Walking After You" and "Monkey Wrench."
*** Although, "Monkey Wrench" ''does'' have some distinctly absurdist elements to it (ie. multiple versions of the band, trying to break in/escaping from themselves)'
** You can add "Walk" to this list now. It involves an homage to ''Film/FallingDown'' with Dave Grohl walking to rehearsal and... getting into mischief.
* Black Metal band Immortal's music video "Call of the Wintermoon" is well known for being one of the most unintentionally hilarious things in human history.
** While it's possibly one of the worst videos in history, it is without a doubt the ''best'' video ''ever'' filmed with 3 hours and $50 to do it in. Though one wonders what led to the witch hat...
** Their video for Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms too, with many a message board containing members using close-ups of Abbath's face as avatars.
* Music/DaftPunk's ''Discovery'' album with its accompanying Creator/LeijiMatsumoto-produced animated musical film ''Interstella 5555''.
** While in the subject of Daft Punk, there's also [[https://youtu.be/JFwQoqbWgSs "Around the World"]], featuring robots, skeletons, swimmers and other assorted things imitating the song's musical pattern.
* Music/GunsNRoses had the {{Concept Video}}s for "Estranged" and "November Rain", as well as "You Could Be Mine", which featured [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} the Terminator!]][[note]]The song was on the soundtrack for ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay.'' At the end, the [=Terminator=] confronts the band after their performance, and rules Axl to be a "[[NotWorthKilling waste of ammo]]."[[/note]]
* Music/FatboySlim's "Weapon of Choice", featuring Creator/ChristopherWalken, has been called the best music video ever made by several people who spend their time thinking about these things.
* Those who were included in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directors_Label ''Directors Label'' DVD series]] were all creators of NotableMusicVideos, including some of the ones mentioned here:
** Creator/SpikeJonze ("Praise You" and "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim, "Sabotage" by the Music/BeastieBoys, "Buddy Holly" by Music/{{Weezer}})
** Creator/MichelGondry ("Around the World" by Music/DaftPunk, "Fell in Love with a Girl" the Music/WhiteStripes, "Knives Out" by {{Music/Radiohead}})
** Chris Cunningham ("All Is Full of Love" by Music/{{Bjork}}, "Windowlicker" by Music/AphexTwin, "Only You" by Music/{{Portishead}})
** Anton Corbijn ("Atmosphere" by Music/JoyDivision, "Personal Jesus" by Music/DepecheMode, "One" by Music/{{U2}})
** Mark Romanek ("Hurt" by Music/JohnnyCash, "Closer" by Music/NineInchNails, "Bedtime Story" by Music/{{Madonna}}, "Scream" by Music/{{Michael|Jackson}} and Janet Jackson)
** Jonathan Glazer ("Virtual Insanity" by Music/{{Jamiroquai}}, "Rabbit in Your Headlights" by Music/{{UNKLE}}, "The Universal" by Music/{{Blur}})
** Stephane Sednaoui ("Big Time Sensuality" by Music/{{Bjork}}, "Mysterious Ways" by Music/{{U2}}, "Give It Away" by the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers)
* Music/TomPetty's [[https://youtu.be/xqmFxgEGKH0 iconic video for "Into the Great Wide Open"]], starring Creator/JohnnyDepp, was shot during a break in filming of ''Film/ArizonaDream'' and the version of the song is unusually longer than the album version in order to accommodate more footage.
* Music/{{Tool}}: Any video from the 90s.
** Creepy "Schism" and its heavily ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}''-inspired disturbing visual imagery.
* Music/ToriAmos' "A Sorta Fairytale", where a leg lady (Tori Amos) and an arm man (Adrien Brody) fall in love, and eventually turn into full human beings. Also, "Caught a Lite Sneeze", which is more surreal than all of Bjork's music videos combined.
* Music/LimpBizkit has "Break Stuff," wherein the band members attempt to play each other's instruments and a plethora of random people and celebrities show up and mime the lyrics, all intercut with skaters doing tricks around the skate park the video happens in.
* While the ''VideoGame/UmJammerLammy'' game can be considered a series of music videos for the original songs, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=0&v=qiVPeMwzQTE an official music video]] was released via Gamespot for the version of "GOT TO MOVE! (Millennium Girl)" on its soundtrack album ''Music/MakeItSweet''.
* Music/TracyLawrence had a multi-video TimeTravel series of concept videos spanning several of his videos. These all featured him in a storyline that transported him to various settings and times.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:2000s/2010s]]
* Music/BritneySpears made some iconic music videos in the late 90's and early 00's, from "Baby One More Time"'s [[BareYourMidriff belly button bearing]] high school uniform, dancing in space, dancing with Madonna, killing her boyfriend in "Toxic", and "Slave 4 U" was very outrageous in its day.
* Music/{{REM}}'s [[Music/{{Reveal}} "Imitation of Life"]] is done entirely with PanAndScan, zooming in and out of various locations in an elaborate, looping party scene.
* Music/JohnnyCash's cover of the Music/NineInchNails song [[https://youtu.be/vt1Pwfnh5pc "Hurt"]]. Cash's heart-breaking epilogue and summary of his entire life, all done in under four minutes.
* Music/TheWhiteStripes:
** [[https://youtu.be/fTH71AAxXmM "Fell In Love With A Girl"]] -- notable for being filmed [[BuiltWithLego using LEGO brick animation]] and heavily pixelated video of the band, in order to simulate the LEGO footage.
** "The Hardest Button to Button", in which Jack and Meg go around town in a faux-stop-motion manner, popping up a few inches down their way with every beat of the drum (Meg leaving a trail of drumkits and Jack leaving a trail of amplifiers). The video is even parodied in a short sequence in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Jazzy and the Pussycats", where they guest-starred chasing Bart through Spingfield in the same fashion (with the song playing on the background, even).
* Music/{{Coldplay}}'s "The Scientist", in which Chris Martin sings the song as he's walking backwards... Until we realize that ''the video itself is playing backwards'', and Chris is taking a stroll after suffering a car crash in which he was launched out the windshield.
* "Go with the Flow" by Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge, featuring a rotoscoped black-and-white performance of the band at the back of a pickup truck against a red desert backdrop, mirroring the colour scheme used on the cover for ''Songs for the Deaf''. It ended up winning the Best Special Effects award at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.
* Music/{{Radiohead}} completely eschewed traditional music videos for ''Music/KidA'' in favor of a series of "blips," quick segments of animated (and sometimes live-action) footage set to seconds-long snippets from the album's songs. They'd briefly repeat the model for ''Music/{{Amnesiac}}'' before going back to regular singles and videos.
* Every single Music/{{Gorillaz}} video is a bizarre cartoon full of random weirdness. Does a [[HumongousMecha giant robot]] piloted by a [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys monkey]] racing down an infinite highway to blast a giant space moose with a [[MacrossMissileMassacre swarm of rockets]] make any sense? ''[[RuleOfCool It doesn't have to]]!''
** And when the videos actually attempt to evolve a story, GOD HELP US ALL. Just watch "Feel Good Inc." and its two direct sequels...
* [[https://youtu.be/jFjKALF454g 156]] by Mew was created entirely out of rather crudely-drawn (but well-colored) comic pages, especially made to resemble a certain strip lead singer loved to read as a child.
* Music/{{Muse}}'s video for "Music/KnightsOfCydonia" is so awesome, it has its own page.
* Music/{{Shakira}}'s video for "Music/HipsDontLie" was the biggest of its time.
** "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)", Music/{{Shakira}}'s theme for the 2010 [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup FIFA World Cup]], is the fourth most viewed Website/YouTube music video ever, incorporating African dance, lyrics and instruments. Yes, including the vuvuzela.
* Music/{{PSY}}'s "Gangnam Style" is a huge hit both in Korea and easily the biggest Korean song to hit the west. It was the most viewed video on all of Website/YouTube for nearly five years.
* The music video for [[https://youtu.be/I7UvbwCjXUk "Walkie Talkie Man"]] by Steriogram is a mix of stop-motion animation, live action footage of the band, and ''lots and lots'' of yarn.
* [[https://youtu.be/U8TsAh-zYFI "I'm Not Gonna Miss You"]], the final recording (though not final release) by country-pop legend Glen Campbell — a simultaneously touching and heart-rending account of his battle with Alzheimer's disease, combined with clips and stills from his half-century in music.
* Eric Prydz's "Call on Me" takes inspiration from Creator/JamieLeeCurtis as an aerobics instructor in ''Perfect'' to do some of the most suggestive ThreeMinutesOfWrithing ever filmed. The UK's Prime Minister declared that "The first time it came on, I nearly fell off my rowing machine."
* "Madder Red" by Music/{{Yeasayer}}. Embodying the sentimental aspects of the song itself, the video is one ''heck'' of a TearJerker that depicts Kristen Bell as the owner of an UglyCute EldritchAbomination, who comes down with a bad illness that leaves it spewing blood and [[spoiler:later dying. When she discovers this, her heart is practically crushed, but as she walks out of the hospital to bury it, she sees the "pet" in the clouds, resting peacefully, implying that it went to Heaven safely.]]
* "Sing" by Music/{{Travis}}. What starts out as a fancy lunch at a country house quickly evolves into a FoodFight. Notable for being re-enacted on ''Series/TopOfThePops''.
* Music/HilaryDuff's comeback single "[[https://youtu.be/Fj6MjDFD1Kw Chasing the Sun]]", where she plays a stressed office worker daydreaming about being on the beach. HilarityEnsues.
* Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' [[https://youtu.be/Sb5aq5HcS1A "Dani California]]" from ''Music/StadiumArcadium'' is a GenreBusting AffectionateParody of music acts all the way from Music/ElvisPresley, Music/TheBeatles, and [[Music/GeorgeClinton Parliament-Funkadelic]] to Music/{{Poison}}, Music/{{Nirvana}}, and ''[[InternalHomage themselves]]''.
* Music/OKGo's videos for "[[https://youtu.be/bav63MWNUKg A Million Ways]]" and "[[https://youtu.be/pv5zWaTEVkI Here It Goes Again]]" were recorded with ultra-low budgets and released directly onto the internet, where they quickly became two of the most viewed music videos ever.
** Also noteworthy is that both videos consist of [[TheOner a single take]].
*** The footage that became the video for "A Million Ways" wasn't intended to be viewed by the public. They were simply taping themselves in Damian Kulash's backyard (which explains why they look so disheveled, especially Dan). But they sent the footage to friends who sent the footage to other friends... and the rest is history.
** They did it again with "This Too Shall Pass", [[https://youtu.be/qybUFnY7Y8w featuring a massive Rube Goldberg machine]].
*** Actually, they did it ''twice'' with "This Too Shall Pass"; before the Rube Goldberg video, they posted [[https://youtu.be/UJKythlXAIY a one-take outdoor live performance guest-starring the Notre Dame marching band]].
** Then there's the one-take 99-cent-store acid trip extravaganza, "[[https://youtu.be/12zJw9varYE WTF?]]"
** There's also "[[https://youtu.be/V2fpgpanZAw End Love]]", shot in one take over a period of 22 hours. Look closely and you'll see the band being adopted by a stubborn goose.
** The boys are back with another epic one-take video and this time they brought a bunch of waggly-tailed pooches (and one goat) for "[[https://youtu.be/nHlJODYBLKs White Knuckles]]". It's possibly also the first music video shot in 3D, but the only way to view it as such is on the Nintendo 3DS.
** And [[https://youtu.be/IkYfB1C0Zgc&feature=relmfu Last Leaf]]. It's a stop motion video where the content of the music video has been shaped onto thousands of pieces of bread.
** There's their video for [[https://youtu.be/MejbOFk7H6c&feature=relmfu Needing/Getting]], which is an incredible spectacle where the band drives a car through a path with hundreds of musical instruments, including pianos, guitars, and garbage cans, while a stick hits a note on each instrument. And the band sings to it at the same time.
** [[https://youtu.be/JRI5z8jjYhM I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe]] is a fan-made video of such good quality that OK Go themselves like it.
** The band did it again in 2014 with "[[https://youtu.be/m86ae_e_ptU The Writing's on the Wall]]" and "[[https://youtu.be/u1ZB_rGFyeU I Won't Let You Down]]".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other videos]]

* Fujiya & Miyagi's "Ankle Injuries". It does for dice what The White Stripes did for Lego bricks.
** Their video for "The Hardest Button To Button" featured them in stop-motion style animation moving frame by frame with their instruments throughout the city.
* Sketch-comedy group WebVideo/LoadingReadyRun created its very own fake-white-80's-rap band for the sole purpose of making parody videos -- mostly about gaming. This includes [[http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/110/the_loadingreadyrap The LoadingReadyRap]] and [[http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/1/1337 1337]].
* [[https://youtu.be/qrO4YZeyl0I The video]] for Music/LadyGaga's "Bad Romance" has become rather infamous for its complete craziness. It's official; Lady Gaga proved to be more WTF-inducing than Björk.
** ''Telephone'' managed to up the crazy by being nine minutes long with a bare crotch shot and an extreme sandwich murder montage.
* ''Daytona 500'' -- Ghostface Killah makes a ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' FanVid for real.
* ''[[https://youtu.be/8RMr9atGZLY What They Do]]'' By The Roots lampshades and parodies the hell outta modern hip-hop music video tropes and cliches.
* Take a moment to watch [[https://youtu.be/lCHM1do5Vqw "The Parachute Ending"]] by Birdy Nam Nam. This is what would have happened if Salvador Dali made cartoons in TheEighties.
* Justice has [[https://youtu.be/sy1dYFGkPUE "D.A.N.C.E."]] which plays around with various t-shirt design tropes, and [[https://youtu.be/GiDsLRQg_g4 "DVNO"]] which uses various [[VanityPlate broadcasting logo styles]] (mostly from TheEighties) to animate the lyrics of the song. [=DVNO=] could probably fill a large trope page simply based on the references it makes.
* How can one forget "[[Music/TayZonday Chocolate Rain]]"?[[labelnote:**]]''I move away from the mic to breathe in''[[/labelnote]]
* The video for "No Rain" by Blind Melon, featuring the "Bee Girl" character. Pretty emblematic of TheNineties.
* [=Animelo=] concerts and the released videos of same. Combines many anison artists performing vocal music related to {{Anime}}.
* "Handlebars" by Flobots. A brilliant and highly disturbing animated video that shows just how horribly far apart two people can grow.
* The Lightning Seeds' video for their cover of "You Showed Me", a song originally recorded by The Turtles. The video for the cover is an incredibly depressing time-lapse window into the life of a Japanese couple, from sweet youthful romance to bitter old couple with withered hearts.
* "Hell Bent" by Kenna. [[TearJerker Heartbreaking]] [[AnAesop anvil-drop]] tale of (literally!) selling your soul for profit and success.
* "[[https://youtu.be/qOgFHMEJMeY&ob=av3e Monarchy of Roses]]" by the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers. Notable for its art style, inspired by California local [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Pettibon Raymond Pettibon]]; brother of Music/BlackFlag lead guitarist Greg Ginn.
** Also, "[[https://youtu.be/X6YbVCyXs98 Brendan's Death Song]]" was written about Brendan Mullen, a nightclub owner who gave the Chilis their first big break back in the 80's. Mullen died on the day the band welcomed their current guitarist, Josh Klinghoffer, so the song and music video reflect the celebration of birth and death.
* "[[https://youtu.be/JFZLq6R-ZtM Scenario]]" by Music/ATribeCalledQuest, which is being put together in progress with a computer program.
* For their comeback release, "Save Rock and Roll", Music/FallOutBoy released the Youngblood Chronicles, a long form narrative told over the course of 11 videos, one for each song on the album. Much to the collective delight/horror/confusion of fans, said Chronicles are considerably DarkerAndEdgier, BloodierAndGorier, [[AnyoneCanDie deadlier]] and outright [[MindScrew Mind Screwier]] than their videography before that point, throwing around {{Downer Ending}}s like they were candy...blood drenched candy! Compare to their previous attempts at [[https://youtu.be/Ew6x6sHiFaw Darkier and Edgier]] with "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me", [[https://youtu.be/eCV2h1uHx3o Bloodier and Gorier]] with "The Carpal Tunnel of Love" with WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends, and [[https://youtu.be/kzddyeXvbSE Mind Screwier]] with "America's Suitehearts".
** Music/FallOutBoy's [[https://youtu.be/Ew6x6sHiFaw A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me]] was a potential precursor to the Youngblood Chronicles, essentially being '80s VAMPIRE MOVIE: THE MUSIC VIDEO but different in that it was more long form (6:38 minutes of video compared to 2:50 minutes of song). Mentions of a '''20 minute''' version of the music video were made around the time of its release, but nothing has come of it since.
* "[[http://youtu.be/SG4cec5cR78 Invisible Light]]" by Music/ScissorSisters is a RealTrailerFakeMovie that takes the viewer on an acid-addled tour of 1960s/1970s-era European thrillers. See how many Freudian symbols YOU can spot!
[[/folder]]
----

* WesternAnimation/SeasideWoman

* Music/{{Clumsy}}

* Music/TalkingHeads' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8 music video]] for [[Music/RemainInLight "Once in a Lifetime"]] became one of the first music videos to receive heavy rotation on the then-fledgling MTV. Its surreal imagery of Music/DavidByrne performing erratic rituals[[note]]Choreographed by the above metioned Toni Basil, no less![[/note]] in a WhiteVoidRoom became a striking image to viewers in 1981, and can be credited with popularizing "Once in a Lifetime" to the point of it becoming Talking Heads' SignatureSong.

** "Fat", another direct parody of Jackson's song and video, and was especially notable for the makeup that turned Yankovic into a fat, white version of Jackson.

** "Happiness in Slavery" itself gained worldwide controversy for featuring Bob Flanagan letting a machine tear off his junk and impale his hands, all the while he reacts in pleasure, before he gets ground into bits.

** The video became HilariousInHindsight a few years later when guitarist Graham Coxon, the band member who appears as the main human character (as well as the member who wrote and sang the song), quit the band. This was his last video with the band before he left. Ergo, he was now "missing" from the band.

* Music/{{REM}}'s "Losing My Religion" features various arty religious imagery. "Imitation of Life" is shot entirely in PanAndScan.

* Music/{{Radiohead}}'s "blips" used to promote ''Music/KidA''.

* Music/DavidBowie made [[https://youtu.be/v--IqqusnNQ a clip]] for "Life on Mars?" in 1973--2 years after the song was released--to help him break into the American market.