Date posted: December 30, 2007

All Time Favourites

Below an incomplete list of some of MY favourite music videos, videos that influenced me or my work, or that I enjoy watching again from time to time. Please don’t write me to tell me that this or that video is surely “better” than some of the videos listed here. I know. This is not a list of seminal or breakthrough videos.

George Michael: Killer/Papa Was a Rolling Stone. Big city + dancing + beautiful bodies + (fake) commercials + restless camera + extreme close-ups = I love it.

Front 242: Headhunter, Depeche Mode: Strangelove, Depeche Mode: Enjoy the Silence. In the first few pages of Cinema 1. The Movement Image French philosopher Gilles Deleuze distinguishes between movement in front of the camera and movement of the camera. The early videos of photographers turned music video directors are often a sequence of still frames with moving people. The work of Anton Corbijn is a good example. Unfortunately YouTube keeps removing copies of the official Depeche Mode music videos due to copyright violation. When is this nonsense going to stop?

Massive Attack: Unfinished Sympathy. Directed by Baillie Walsh. The frame itself is moving. The camera remains centered on the main character as she walks on a street. There are all kind of things going on in the background. Beautiful ending when she turns a corner.

The Beastie Boys: Sure Shot. Directed by Spike Jonze. I love the aesthetic of this video. It is deliberately imperfect. It is self-conscious without being self-indulgent. In most films and videos the camera is invisible. In this video the camera is made visible through the actions of the actors.

Fatboy Slim: Praise You. Directed by Spike Jonze. What can I say? I love this video. It’s fun. It’s hilarious. The dancing is great. It radiates what many dance performances lack: enthusiasm and joy. Professional dancers can’t dance like this, because they will always make the movements too perfect.

U2: The Fly. Big city + restless camera + extreme close-ups + lens distortion + neon signs = I love it.

U2: Even Better Than the Real Thing. Visual overload for image junkies like myself. I love the interlude. Compare: The Fisher Account. Credit where credit is due. This is where I got my inspiration.

Orbital: The Box. London (again) and Tilda Swinton. Home is where the heart is. My heart is divided over London, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. I like the contrast between her slow movements and the fast movements of the traffic and people around her. The raincoat and shower cap make her look like an alien. Curious and slightly puzzled she looks at the world around her and at the lonely plant (nature) that emerges despite being suppressed by the urban environment. She is, of course, me...

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Scar Tissue. Directed by Stéphane Sednaoui. The desert of California + garbage + old car + empty roads = I love it.

The Rolling Stones: Anybody Seen My Baby? (this version has been taken down, I'll see if I can find another copy somewhere). Directed by Samuel Bayer. Or Alternative version. Big city + beautiful girl + old man + streets + traffic + saturated colours + dirty realism = I love it.

The Prodigy: Smack My Bitch Up. Directed by Jonas Akerlund. I love the camera work, the saturated colours and the dirty realism.

OK Go: A Million Ways and OK Go: Here It Goes Again. Dance is fun! You don’t have to be a professional dancer to dance.

Air: All I Need. Directed by Mike Mills. Brilliant concept. The music becomes the background to a documentary. Music, images and voice over blend together.

Talking Heads: Road to Nowhere and Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer. Both directed by Stephen R. Johnson. Surrealism lives on in music videos. I still love the visual logic of these vintage videos.