lilyj. net » General

My Top 50 Music Videos

lily — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:16:34 +0000

Remember when the M in MTV stood for music? Yeah, me too. I still love music videos as an art form and wish MTV would come to its senses, or at least have the decency to change its name. However, I doubt they’ll return to the music video driven format any time soon, so I will attempt to help keep the concept alive. To that end, here’s my list of the 50 best music videos ever.

My choices have very little to do with the songs themselves; these are videos that I think made either the genre better through innovation or made the songs better by capturing something or adding another dimension to it or to the artist. I allowed myself only one video from each artist or group because certain artists tend to be more video oriented. That made it harder on me, hell, keeping it to 50 nearly killed me, but I managed to make it! Thanks to Lisa and Koudelka who made suggestions and allowed me to bounce ideas off them.

Here they are, in no particular order. I hope you have as much fun with them as I did.

The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8BWBn26bX0

Thom Yorke and UNKLE – Rabbit in Your Headlights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3ClCwcCvdQ

Weezer – Buddy Holly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiIC5qcXeNU

Art of Noise – Close to the Edit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxidefcsjDc

Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiSkyEyBczU

Pulp – This is Hardcore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BmL-7Y1kw8

Portishead – Glory Box
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF-GvT8Clnk

Jamiroquai – Virtual Insanity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJmX1z1NY2c

OK Go! – Here it Goes Again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI

Fatboy Slim – Weapon of Choice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZbckwYY9r4

Billy Joel – Pressure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGksmlTWCFE

Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12spb_talking-heads-once-in-a-lifetime_music

Outkast – The Whole World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5UJjQt3bkM

Fiona Apple – Criminal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTpvjNn2BUM

Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK7Ai9dWrRQ

Kaiser Chiefs – Everything is Average Nowadays
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYj7-YMGqA

Timbaland and Magoo – Here We Come
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ial3ZY0rtpw

Madonna – Like a Prayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uORcKfgVJaE

Chemical Brothers – Let Forever Be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmpxsk3dHaA

Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqyc37aOqT0

Genesis – Land of Confusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oepXF2B5NK4

Beck – Loser
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1513185/beck_loser/

Beastie Boys – Intergalactic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDS83yrM30Y

Super Furry Animals – It’s Not The End of the World?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUoc6Wv72cs

Garbage – Push It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDtU_ofJzus

Madness – Our House
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p4RWBCEFRo

Jane’s Addiction – Been Caught Stealing
http://www.guba.com/watch/3000045834

Smashing Pumpkins – Tonight, Tonight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEvVIgCm1zg

Radiohead – Street Spirit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPX3u0XJzKM

REM – Losing my Religion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB3VTX0pxoE

2Pac – California Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWOsbGP5Ox4

Blur – Coffee & TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCe5yiMWPbA

Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Two Tribes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTOQUnvI3CA

Bjork – All is Full of Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAoBKagWQA

Tool – Sober
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y697CvJdMBA

a-ha – Take on Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIvAsPlm8es

Pink Floyd – The Wall (The whole movie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_bvT-DGcWw

Laurie Anderson – Life on a String
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0KvspW3LDo

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – Parents Just Don’t Understand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O4sSZc2WCU

The White Stripes – Fell In Love With A Girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q27BfBkRHbs

Herbie Hancock – Rock It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK0Pi4wC8Hk

New Order – True Faith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og1HAkjOuL0

Metallica – One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzgGTTtR0kc

Adam & The Ants – Stand and Deliver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPgHbt0ODr4

Cake – The Distance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__PU5CVSegg

Chris Isaak – Wicked Game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oaHHrNQVrg

Dire Straits – Money for Nothing
http://www.veoh.com/videos/e178381Gmta9Kdw

The Cure – The Lovecats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwPhbsz-QKQ

Michael Jackson – Thriller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8

Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues (It’s technically not a music video. It’s a segment from a tour documentary, but it’s so often imitated that it seemed wrong not to include it.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-xIulyVsG8

Ugly Doll, Sweet Guy

lily — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:29:29 +0000

Eivind (zytta) sent me an Ugly Doll the other day (he’s called Jeero). Contrary to its name, it’s really cute. Thanks, Eivind *hugs*

So Long, Mr. Coren

lily — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:24:49 +0000

Satirist, writer, humorist, broadcaster, and Sage of Cricklewood, Alan Coren died of lung cancer on Thursday (October 18th). To say he was brilliantly funny is somewhat of an understatement, and doesn’t do him justice. He was brilliant and brilliantly funny–a master wordsmith with an incredible sense of humor, and masterful humorist with an extraordinary talent for prose. The distinction being that you could remove his facility for either writing or humor and still be left with a brilliant man.

While he primarily made his living through the written word, to me, his genius shone brightest on The News Quiz, where the spontaneous nature of his wit was most evident. He had a seemingly endless capacity for identifying news items, no matter how small, and an even greater aptitude for making mundane stories entertaining. The most banal article could spark his imagination and would beget a flight of fancy that took you along with him. You might have no idea where you’d end up (neither did he), but you could rest assured it would be a wonderful, chortle-filled journey through absurdity that ended in a big laugh.

The same capricious and absurd nature filled his writing, though due to the nature of the medium it lacked the edge of his quick wit. He could somehow squeeze out several hundred hilarious words on the subject of what he had for lunch, and while the humor was fanciful, the construction of the story was the work of a meticulous, master grammarian and writer who could construct thoughts so well you’d reread a sentence just to fully appreciate how well crafted it was.

Alan Coren was one of my favorite people and will be sorely missed. If you feel the same and would like to pay tribute to him, petition the OED to include “peripolitan” in his honor.

Uhh…k…

lily — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:58:10 +0000

From my trip to the store last night:

Is it art for furries, art by furries, or art of furries?

I thought this was the weirdest product I had seen, or at least the weirdest product name, but then while I was resizing the image to upload it I noticed that the package next to it says ‘Expands to fit 5″ to 12″ in circumference.’ Now I wonder what in the world is in that box.

Just Something Interesting

lily — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 18:20:19 +0000

I was reading In These Times this afternoon and ran across this article. It’s by Vonnegut, and is nothing ground breaking. In fact, most of what he says has been said many, many times before. I just like how he said it.

Worth1000

lily — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 14:05:53 +0000

The fine people at worth1000.com sponsor photoshop contests as well as some other art contests. The other day one of their photoshop challenges was titled “Mamsects and Insmals 5“. The rules were simple, you must meld an insect and a mammal while remembering that arachnids are not insects, and that amphibians, birds and such are not mammals. The people that compete there are spectacular at what they do. One day I hope to be half as good as they are. Anyway, they inspired me to create a mamsect of my own. I used a lynx and a butterfly. I think it’s cute, even if it does need a bit of work.

Speaking of sap

lily — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 22:56:06 +0000

So umm, yeah…there seems to be a tree on our house.

I’m such a sap.

lily — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 19:18:33 +0000

We have mice, or at least a mouse. In figuring out how to get rid of him, I’ve realized what a sap I am. These were my first indicators. A) I think he is really cute, but even so, I know he can’t stay because he is destructive and carries disease, B) I have mentally named him Rupert, and C) I can’t kill him, and the thought of doing him harm just because he’s sought refuge in our house mortifies me. Oddly, if he were a spider he’d have been smashed flat the moment I saw him. So let that be a lesson to you. If you want my sympathy, grow fur.

Anyway, I now know more than most people need to know about mice– their habits, food preferences, mating cycles, etc…all so I can get rid of him without harming him. Along the way I found a humane trap called the Tin Cat (I linked to Amazon in order to promote the continued employment of friends ) that comes highly recommended, and is even PETA approved. I would link to them, but the only time I care about PETA’s opinion is when it comes to things like this. The rest of the time I generally think they are militant dumbasses with screwed up priorities. Also, I already give a shit about animals. Why does PETA seem to think that showing me monstrosities inflicted upon animals is going to get me to give them money? All it does is make me curse PETA for showing it to me…ahem…to continue…

Regarding the trap, it looks pretty cool. It holds 30 mice, in case you want to have a little mouse party, and doesn’t have to be baited, but it helps. As a side note…bait the trap. It isn’t a humane trap if you let the mouse starve to death, and mice can starve to death really quickly. If they have no food source, they will freak out and try to do whatever they can, including killing themselves, in order to get out and get to a food source. The trap also comes with a window in case you want an easy way to see if a mouse has been caught. Or, if you are like me and want to treat it like a little habit trail until you can take the mouse somewhere a good distance away.

The biggest reason I know I am a sap is that I wish it were practical for me to attach one end of the trap to a little habit trail where he would be able to move into happy little mouse land. Instead, I will just make due with treating him as kindly as possible while getting rid of him. The irony will be that I will take all this care to gently release him and he will be eaten by a stray cat within hours…

Happy Birthday Georgi

lily — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 19:45:43 +0000

Today Georgi is officially as old as she thought she was last year. This makes it an ideal birthday because she gets to have a birthday while not feeling any older. I hope it is a great one, G.

Word

lily — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:06:51 +0000

I posed this question to koudelka last night, “What do you think is the most subjective word in the english language?” He answered, “me.” Good one. My own answer is “hope.” What is your answer?