What is your favourite music video?

[Imperial States of Duotona]

Ever since they gained mainstream popularity in the 1980's thanks to the birth of MTV, music videos have become a staple of the music industry. Whether it be the artist trying to tell a story, show off how cool they are, or anything between, there have been some memorable ones and some... not so memorable ones. I'd like to hear which ones are your favourite and why they intrigue you. You don't even have to like the artist: just the concept or narrative the video expresses. Below are a list of my favourites.

Radiohead - Burn The Witch: The opening track of their 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool, Burn The Witch opens on a pretty upbeat sounding note, but the video more closely follows the lyrics' theme of groupthink. Reminiscent of the Trumptonshire cartoons of the 1960's, it recreates The Wicker Man (1973) with a level of charm that I don't think any other music video has been able to capture.

Daft Punk - Around The World: One of Daft Punk's most popular songs comes with an equally popular music video. With some of the most creative choreography in a music video ever, each of the crazy figures shown in the video syncs to one of the instruments, whether that be the mummies on drums, the small headed dudes on the bass, the swimmers on the synth or the robots on vocals.

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity: One of the most iconic videos of the 90's, this jazzy song has a pretty crazy concept that is nailed flawlessly. Featuring the lead singer Jay Kay, the set for the video was on wheels and was moved around in time with his dance moves, giving the illusion that he was on a moving floor. It's a pretty weird concept to look at, but it's pretty simple to pull off and leads to an iconic video.

[Anollasia]

Of course there are a lot but these are some creative ones that come to mind.

R.E.M. - Talk About the Passion: It shows some street scenes and homeless people. But what really makes it so great is the juxtaposition of a massive warship and a homeless person, as well as the message, at the end. It hits two birds with one stone by highlighting the prevalence of homelessness in the US while also bringing attention to its ridiculous military budget.
U2 - Please: It fits with the seriousness of the music and it also seems to tell some kind of story. I like the "standing vs on their knees" dynamic going on, as well as the religious undertones that seem sort of satirical to me.
Alvvays - Dreams Tonite: Not only is it really pretty archival footage of the 1967 Expo in Montreal, but it also sneakily has the band members edited into the footage.

[Ellbonnia]

Some highlights from my recent memory are as follows:

Chet Faker - Gold: A masterfully-choreographed video shot in one take at night, with the darkness punctuated only by the headlights of a car and reflections off of passing street signs. The obviously-talented dancers on roller-skates only accentuated the supple bass tones of the actual song with the way they flowed so effortlessly over the road; at first, I almost thought the entire scene was rendered on a green screen, so smooth were their movements.

Justin Timberlake, ft. Chris Stapleton - Say Something: Another one-take video (I must have a thing for these), made particularly impressive with the many instances of flawless camera work in cramped conditions, such as in moving elevators and staircases. The climax of the song is suitably emphasized with a brilliant cinematic flourish that must have taken quite a few takes to perfect. I also appreciate the specific building that was chosen for the video, since I'm a sucker for old American architecture from the Roaring 20's.

The Lumineers - Submarines: A sepia-toned video characterized by a combination of excellent rotoscope-style animation and puppet show-like 2D animation that emphasizes the fantastical subject matter of the song. The entire video is meant to evoke feelings of an old 1930s-1940s style film, and juxtaposes an unbelievable fantasy-like underwater conflict with the more realistic style of a grizzled man reminiscing about his experiences in a seaside bar.

[Indomitable Friendship]

https://youtu.be/aYDfwUJzYQg

[Nova Universo]

I love these music videos, there's just something in them that's memorable and entertaining to me. There are a lot more that I love but I can't post links to all of them so these three will do.

ONUKA - Vidlik

Il Pagante ft. M¥SS KETA - Adoro

PNAU ft. Kira Divine - Go Bang

Well this isn't strictly a music video, this is also a video advertisement for a brand of Ukrainian bottled mineral water. I love it still and I want to share it with you.

Моршинська, The Maneken, Onuka, ДахаБраха & Katya Chilly - Голос води

[Bendicion]

My first ever music video that I loved would probably be Fireflies by Owl city. And that has stuck ever since.

[Socialist Ancomistan]

Gangsta's Paradise, by Coolio (in the moment at least)

[Wampummariut]

Nigel Stanford - One Hundred Hunters comprises of some edited actual video archives of US nuke tests and lunar missions. It basically tells us of a "first encounter of the sci-fi kind", and the mechanical visitors kindly invited us to (presumably) their homeworld via portal on the moon. Initially I found it amusing that the visitor set off a nuke blast (edited actual footage of US nuclear corps or something) to propel itself into earth orbit, but as a whole it fits in quite well that I couldn't help feeling amazed.

[Bendicion]

Nigel Stanford - One Hundred Hunters comprises of some edited actual video archives of US nuke tests and lunar missions. It basically tells us of a "first encounter of the sci-fi kind", and the mechanical visitors kindly invited us to (presumably) their homeworld via portal on the moon. Initially I found it amusing that the visitor set off a nuke blast (edited actual footage of US nuclear corps or something) to propel itself into earth orbit, but as a whole it fits in quite well that I couldn't help feeling amazed.

Not gonna lie the shots were amazing.

[Bendicion]

Nigel Stanford - One Hundred Hunters comprises of some edited actual video archives of US nuke tests and lunar missions. It basically tells us of a "first encounter of the sci-fi kind", and the mechanical visitors kindly invited us to (presumably) their homeworld via portal on the moon. Initially I found it amusing that the visitor set off a nuke blast (edited actual footage of US nuclear corps or something) to propel itself into earth orbit, but as a whole it fits in quite well that I couldn't help feeling amazed.

It actually reminds me of this one. Which is also one of my favorite videos, music video if you can consider it that.

Hope you would like it,

https://youtu.be/ouzKl0oD6sU Charlie chaplin Let Us All Unite

[The Church of Satan]

I'd have to say "Around the World" by Daft Punk. It's incredibly artsy (you have to really pay attention to see the nuances) without being pretentious or needlessly complex.

[Bendicion]

I'd have to say "Around the World" by Daft Punk. It's incredibly artsy (you have to really pay attention to see the nuances) without being pretentious or needlessly complex.

Oh god. I think i have heard this song back in the day but never truly known its name. Around 1:12 secondish it started saying "Around the World", and I was like. Holy sh*t I Know this song!! And yeah, Its an amazing song even though there is not a lot of lyrics. Can't really say anything about nuances since I have no idea how to spot those lol.

[The Church of Satan]

I'd have to say "Around the World" by Daft Punk. It's incredibly artsy (you have to really pay attention to see the nuances) without being pretentious or needlessly complex.

Oh god. I think i have heard this song back in the day but never truly known its name. Around 1:12 secondish it started saying "Around the World", and I was like. Holy sh*t I Know this song!! And yeah, Its an amazing song even though there is not a lot of lyrics. Can't really say anything about nuances since I have no idea how to spot those lol.

The choreography! The mummies, robots, etc, all represent different parts of the music! And their choreography reflects that. So they're all moving independent of one another, and yet they all work together harmoniously! It's absolutely mind-blowing! The concept is simple, yet it really sets itself apart from literally every other music video in history!

Maybe I'm reading into it too much, but perhaps the symbolism in the music video goes deeper. I think the stage represents the world itself, the mummies in the center might represent the ancient past, the skeletons might represent the recent past, the swimmers might represent the ocean, the guys with the tiny heads might represent humanity, and the robots might represent the future, whose existence is determined by how the everything inside the circle progresses, this their existence revolves around the world.

[Free Ravensburg]

come on, you know why.

[The Alphabet People]

Cinamon toast song- meet me @ the alter

[Pineapple Territory]

Of course there are a lot but these are some creative ones that come to mind.

R.E.M. - Talk About the Passion: It shows some street scenes and homeless people. But what really makes it so great is the juxtaposition of a massive warship and a homeless person, as well as the message, at the end. It hits two birds with one stone by highlighting the prevalence of homelessness in the US while also bringing attention to its ridiculous military budget.
U2 - Please: It fits with the seriousness of the music and it also seems to tell some kind of story. I like the "standing vs on their knees" dynamic going on, as well as the religious undertones that seem sort of satirical to me.
Alvvays - Dreams Tonite: Not only is it really pretty archival footage of the 1967 Expo in Montreal, but it also sneakily has the band members edited into the footage.

Hey, I also like Alvvays. They have an upcoming album finally after years of waiting.

[Abarri]

Take on Me by a-ha, I guess. I'm trying to remember other music videos that I found pleasing to watch.

come on, you know why.

Despite being familiar with this radio hit, I have only watched this once, and I already forgot what happened there.

[Martenyika]

Possibly Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie by Colter Wall. Strumming a guitar in the cab of an oldass Dodge truck on the prairie, no frills or pretenses. Just hits different for me.

[Imperial States of Duotona]

Ok, so this thread just came back from the dead.

In that case, I would like to throw in both of the Royal Blood music videos directed by Liam Lynch (namely Boilermaker and Oblivion) as well as ANY music video by Gorillaz.

The Royal Blood videos have an amazing art style that I can't describe (mostly done practically by Liam in his own home) and the Gorillaz videos are just iconic at this point.

[PhilTech]

Definitely "I am blue".

So much childhood memories that I just can't forget.

[Pikachu Peoples]

Rap God by Eminem