Music Videos

Video posts are a bit of a nauz when you're at work, I understand that, but my digital camera is fucked so I can't show you this absolute gem of a note I got handed while playing records this weekend until I get to my housemate's scanner in the morning. In the mean time, here's 5 types of music video that really work.

1. The 'hanging with my bros' video.

This is cool as you get to see what the performer's life is like, who their mates are and what clothes they wear -you can then go away and try and replicate their lives in detail. These obviously get cooler as they get older as it's like a window into another age. Rap artists do this most but sometimes a rock band will bust one out, there are a few videos by Rancid that I used to watch on MTV2 when I was 15 that used to give me total heteroboners over the clothes they wore, the people they knew and the places they used to hang out.



2. The 'celebrity' video

This is touch and go, depending on the celebrity, but when done right it's the best thing ever. It makes you wonder how the celebrity (usually unrelated to music) became friends with the band and what it's like when they hang out and what it must have been like when they came up with concept for the video. It sticks in your mind because it makes you think (about what it must have been like to party with Chevy before he got clean.)



3. The 'music video from a band that is from a genre that doesnt really do music videos' video.

This is always good for a laugh, because genres that don't do music videos usually take themselves really seriously but also don't have any money, so the video is a handycam quality piece of shit made by someone who once made a movie in sixth form, but the song is a deadly serious number about the occult or alternative politics or whatever. Imagine these guys standing around with their mate talking about what to do to look the most evil while they have to keep an eye on the camcorder battery otherwise they'd have to drive back in the Volvo in full make up and go wait for it to charge in their bedsit in Olso.



4. The 'everyone looks amazingly cool' video

This is a bit like the 'hanging with my bros' video except everyone is stunning and the life being lead in it is incredibly cool looking and everyone is having the best time. This is the type of video that doesn't just give me a heteroboner, it kind of makes me a bit gay as people look so cool in it I just want to be them/be with them sexually, but then I see the girls in these type of videos and they're incredible looking too and I just want them as well and it reassures me. I want to make love to this video (ok maybe not the fat bloke).



5. The 'filmmaking trick/gimmick' video.

These were popular in the eighties when music videos were pretty much all flawless (find me a shit eighties music video, try), and you had to do something really super special to stand out. They are compelling as you find yourself wondering how everything was done, how long it took etc. In general this is a great idea, that Dire Straits computer generated video dated really badly though huh?



Feel free to add your own suggestions to this list, maybe link to a few other good video examples etc. Special mentions outside of this list go to: any rap video shot in black and white (for some reason it always works, but I can't put my finger on why), any video with lots of cuts in it (so nothing gets boring), videos where they basically just make a short film with subtitles so it's like watching an actual film and you can follow dialogue, videos with extended looks at the fans of the band (metal videos are best for this, they become anthropology films and are really interesting) and any videos with really good dance routines (Backstreet Boys videos were really good).