I don't watch music channels nearly as much as I used to, but I'm still a lover of good music videos. They are getting increasingly sophisticated and many are becoming a lot like mini-movies, even containing narratives that stretch across multiple videos (Lady GaGa being one recent example of this).
One of the great things about music videos, for me, is that I don't even have to like the song. Sure, it helps, but sometimes I can really love a video without actually digging the track itself. And sometimes the video actually helps me to like a track more. Go figure!
I also find that once I watch a music video - especially if it's memorable in some way - I will always imagine it when hearing the song on the radio.
I thought it'd be fun to post our favourite music videos here, or even to post videos that you want to discuss. I'll start and I'll put together a little suggested format for us to use, too. Before we start though, my main suggestion is wherever possible to use the HD version of the video. It just looks nicer and hopefully most people will be okay to load it. If you can't find an HD version, don't worry.
Also, as evidenced by the very first video I'm about to post, I understand that many music videos are not strictly PG-13. I have no problem with that, as long as you bear two things in mind:
- If you think the video is mature in nature, please flag it like I have done below, and;
- The video may not be pornographic. I'm sure many artists will have videos that contain some skin or whatever, but let's try not to let it become X-rated, okay?
I will monitor this as we go and so can the staff. If something is really objectionable, it'll be removed - but I think for the most part we should be fine.
TRACK TITLE: ALL THE LOVERS | ARTIST: KYLIE MINOGUE | MATURE: YES | COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: AUSTRALIA
Unfortunately embedding is disabled for all the versions of this video. Please feel free to watch it on YouTube.
So, Americans here may know a little of Kylie Minogue. I think she did relatively well in the U.S. for a very brief time. However, she has been quite a major pop star in Australia and Europe for more than twenty years now.
As far as pop music goes, I tend to think that Kylie's stuff is generally pretty insipid. It began to really border on light dance around a decade ago and now it's moved further into that general realm. I like maybe two or three of Kylie Minogue's tracks, although never for her voice, which seems to require substantial editing in order to actually sound reasonable (and even then, the end result is questionable).
I am giving this preamble because, while I think Kylie tends to stray on the safe side by default (her voice), she is also constantly in the business of re-inventing her image and general themes. All the Lovers is one of her newest singles, possibly on her very last album (although I think that's doubtful). The video itself is actually pretty cliche, but it's well-made and builds into a pretty interesting concept towards the end. It's feel-good, but not in an overly patronizing way.
And, yes, there's lots of skin here - although as far as I know, absolutely no nudity. So take that as you will. Speaking of Kylie Minogue, it is also true to say that my favourite songs from her library are ones that never really became particularly successful and most constituted some kind of collaboration. See next video...
TRACK TITLE: GBI (GERMAN, BOLD, ITALIC) | ARTIST: KYLIE MINOGUE | MATURE: YES | COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: AUSTRALIA/JAPAN
As mentioned above, this is one of Kylie Minogue's collaborations. She worked with Japanese DJ, Towa Tei (who does some okay stuff if you're into relatively minimal electronica). I mostly just like the video. The track is okay, but it gets old very quickly, even for me, as a fan of electronic music.
I personally think that Towa Tei brings a kind of officious straight-jacket quality to electronic music. In other words, it's not just minimal - it's almost anal. You can hear that it's Japanese. I think that sometimes prevents Towa Tei's own tracks becoming as big as his mixes, especially outside Japan.
In any case, I like the video because I think it's actually one of the few examples of Kylie Minogue's apparent acting ability. Er, well, if you can call it "acting".
TRACK TITLE: WALKING ON A DREAM | ARTIST: EMPIRE OF THE SUN | MATURE: NO | COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: AUSTRALIA
Unfortunately embedding is disabled for all the versions of this video. Please feel free to watch it on YouTube.
Empire of the Sun emerged just last year, representing a union between Sydney's Nick Littlemore (Pnau) and Perth's Luke Steele (The Sleepy Jackson). Again, if you are outside Australia, you may not yet be familiar with this group. You may have heard of Pnau...or at least heard some of their music. I'll be sure to share it with you at some stage, anyway.
Again, enjoying electronic music of some kind is really a must to like these guys. But if you do, you're in for a treat.
They certainly aren't high-budget at all, but I appreciate that from the very beginning, Empire of the Sun placed a great emphasis on costume and theater in their music. If you see them live, this becomes very apparent. Also, their more recent music videos show evidence of an ever-increasing budget (with ever-increasingly outlanding wardrobes and sets).
I would say, with some confidence, that Empire of the Sun are one of the very few "concept" groups within their genre in the world. If you like this track, I'd definitely suggest checking out the entire album (which is also called Empire of the Sun).
So there you go, the ball is rolling! I'd love to see a great video catalogue here. Maybe I will put together a proper contents section at the top with anchors so that I can link to each video from the beginning. Have fun and enjoy yourselves!
Edited by James, 24 August 2010 - 07:04 AM.
One out of three, not bad! :(
