At 98 we have Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat in 1984. This song is about someone from a small town coming into a much bigger city but the unfortunate thing is that he happens to be gay. Now, the reason I said the 'unfortunat' things is he is gay is because the song was released in the 1980s where homophobia was very much blatant and existent in society and it was not a crime at all, rather it was considered deviant if you where gay. This song tells a story as the boy was isolated due to his sexuality. It was an extremely brave thing to do to release this song because of the homophobia in society but the video actually makes you feel empathy for the boy and the video is more of a fiction piece of work rather than a music video. It makes you feel that this type of thing was actually happening in reality to homosexuals and this feel or empathy almost takes you away from the song but it also makes you like the song more because of the emotions you get from the song which consequently gives the song more value.
At 92, we have Rockit by Herbie Hancock in 1983. This music video is extremely important as it is widely considered to be breakthrough for black music. This is the period of the early 1980s and MTV has just recently been up and running. MTV to begin with did not put black people on their show because of racism. Racism was very much active around the 1980s so MTV where reluctant to put black people on their show because it would put people off from watching MTV. The song is an early form of hip hop. MTV did not want Herbie Hancock in the video because he was black so they actually had to sneak Herbie into the video. MTV actually liked the concept of the music video and agreed to broadcast the song under one condition that Herbie was not allowed to feature in the video but Herbie's management put him in the video as much as possible and the song was an absolute smash hit! The birth of black music came due to this song and then MTV where actualy forced to put black music on their show because of how incredibly popular Herbie Hancock's video was.
At 78 we have Cry by Godley and Creme in 1985. Godley and Creme where becoming a very very popular band around the time that this music video was released. They where previously in a larger band but the two of them broke out and decided to come together as a two to form a band. The pair made their own music videos which was quite rare in the 1980s as yoou would usually have a director. Godley and Creme notably made the video for 'Rockit' by Herbie Hancock which I spoke about previously, so they had displayable talent of making successful music videos. This video can be seen to be fairly simple but is is very successful and effective. The whole of the video is shot in close ups and this is because of the song title which is called 'Cry' therefore by the video being shot in close ups it makes the audience look deeper into the emotions of the individuals face. One thing to consider is the time that this video was made, which is 1985. At this time, this style of music video was completely unseen and this video is important as it is almost like a new form of music video technology in the 1980s.
At 66 we have Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan in 1965. At this time, Dylan was widely considered to be the greatest musician around. His style, energy and looks captivated audiences and simply made people want to emulate him. Dylan used to write amazing songs so quickly and effortlessly. When this music video was released, Dylan was touring London and of course everyone wanted to meet him as he was so cool and looked up to. This music video was taken in one shot and only filmed once. As I stated earlier, Dylan was considered to be the coolest man you would ever meet at this moment in time, he had the great looks, the hair and the nice clothes. In this video, Bob Dylan is has some of the lyrics in his hand and it is written so untidily and as the song is sang, he begins to just throw the lyrics away as the lyrics are said. The video looks almost careless with the way he throws the lyrics away. He even makes a mistake as he holds on to one of the cards for too long but because of how cool and popular he was at the time, people fell in love with this video.
At 48 we have Hurt by Johnny Cash in 2003. Johnny Cash who is considered to be one of the greatest musicians to ever live. Many people have actually argued that this video should be at least in the top 10 music videos of all time. This music video was done when Johnny Cash was dying. The song is about an addiction to Heroin and how the drug damages your life and also other people's lives around you. In the music video, Cash is looking back into his past and almost reminiscing. In the video you can see he was once a fit, young and cool man who always wore black but as the video progresses and we see how he looks now, he looks so fragile and weak. Cash was so ill at the time that this video was filmed that the whole music video was filmed in his house. His wife was also ill and she also appeared in the music video. Tragically she died before Johnny Cash and this proved to be his last song as he died 6 months later.
At number 35 we have Nothing Compares 2 You by Sinead O'Connor in 1990. I have written about this song earlier in my blog explaining why and how it is so effective. The song was originally written and composed by an artist known as 'Prince' and the song was for one of his side projects. When the song was released, it wasn't a huge success that many thought it would be. However after Sinead O'Connr had done a cover f the song and released it, the song began to rise in popularity and managed to top the charts in the 1990s. In the video, it mostly consisted of O'Connor's face as she performed the song. It reached No.1 in many countries and in Ireland it reached No.1 and managed to remain there for 11 weeks. O'Connor also received Grammy nominations such as Record of the Year and she won the Grammy for 'Best Alternative Music Performance'.
At number 24 we have No Surprises by Radiohead in 1998. This is one of my personal favourite music videos. The music video is often described as a 'performance' by Thom Yorke who's face we see throughout the music video. The music video was done in one take and one shot all the way through. I personally find this music video highly interesting. In the video, Thom appears to be casually singing in front of a black screen with the lyrics appearing on the screen backwards. Halfway through the song, it becomes a bit lighter and we see water beginning to rise. The water gradually rises higher and higher and then covers the whole of Thom's face. This was attempted many times by Thom before he actually did it for the camera and each time he did it, he struggled but finally when they did it in the one take, he just about managed to hold his breath but you can see he struggled to do it through his facial expressions which again adds some sort of feelings and emotion to the song because of his struggle.
At 16 we have Hey Ya by Outkast in 2003. In the band Outkast there are only two people but in this video you might have thought otherwise. Andre 3000, one of the members in the band Outkast is depicted to be so cool in this video with his looks, energy and style. He has the cool name, the great hair and great performance in this video. This video is incredibly clever, catchy and also considered to be postmodern. The video contains great use of colour, imagination and costumes. The song is very catchy and has old fashioned and new technology in the video which is why it was such a successful single.
At number 11 we have The Scientist by Coldplay in 2002 which is actually my personal favourite music video ever as I'm sure you already know if you have been following my blog posts. It is an amazing song and is incredibly choreographed. This video portrays a car accident but it is actually being shot backwards. So we see the journey of Chris after he is involved in the car accident and then it takes us back to the car accident. During the song he often makes the reference of "going back to the start" which in my opinion is extremely clever as it links in with the video very well. Another reason why this is my favourite music video is because Chris is actually lip synching backwards because the video is going backwards, so that is very impressive to me as he had to learn the song backwards in order for it to look effective. By the video being so good, it adds value to the song.
Finally at number 1 we have the greatest music video of all time. The King of Pop himself, Thriller by Michael Jackson. The single was released on the 30th November 1982. Michael was inspired by a film in London which he had watched. The film was called 'An American Werewolf in London' by John Landis. Michael Jackson then contacted John Landis to help Jackson direct the video. This video is the most expensive music video to date and it is also the best selling album of all time. The video is nearly 14 minutes long which allowed Jackson to make the song a short horror movie as well as a music video. When the video was first released, it wasn't shown on MTV or music channels during the day time as it was considered to be quite frightening and graphic. The video was only shown after midnight on a Friday so this was the only way people could watch the music video and many people did stay up because the video was getting so much attention which made people want to watch it. The song instantly rose to the number 1 spot in the charts and the record sold well over 60 million copies worldwide which to date is the record.
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