WE could probably keep running these lists of the best film clips of all time for all time - every week that we write another edition, more suggestions are made.
So here we go again with some more music videos that are fun, edgy, inventive and/or just plain cool.
Rock DJ - Robbie Williams (2000)
IT would have been great to be in the meeting where this film clip was pitched: "So Robbie, the idea for the video is that you dance in a room full of women, but they're all uninterested in you, so you take your gear off and they're still not interested, so you peel your skin off, and this gets them going a bit and so you pull your muscles off your skeleton and throw them at the women and they go nuts for it... what do ya think?''. No other mega-popstar would have had the courage to do such a bizarre and in-your-face clip, but that's what makes Robbie Williams such a great performer: his dare-to-be-different attitude, as also evidenced by his swing album, which came out before everyone else jumped on the swing bandwagon. Given the gore in the clip for Rock DJ it was not surprisingly banned or heavily edited by a lot of music video shows, resulting in it being listed in MuchMusic's 50 Most Controversial Videos. It was also voted in at number seven on MTV's poll of the most groundbreaking videos of all time.
Karma Police - Radiohead (1997)
LIKE their clip for Just, Karma Police works thanks to its air of mystery and the unanswered questions it poses. It starts in a 1976 Chrysler, where an unseen driver is on a dark country road. Eventually, out of the darkness, we see a man running, obviously fleeing the car. The man, played by Hungarian actor Lajos Kovacs, runs til he drops, but in a final act of defiance he stands and stares down the car. As the car backs up a little, the man notices a trail of petrol coming from the car, and by striking a match, he exacts his revenge. The unanswered wheres, whys, and whats had many people going back for repeat viewings in search of clues (which aren't there). The video's director Jonathan Glazer considered it an artistic failure but it won him the MTV director of the year award. Glazer went on to direct the acclaimed film Sexy Beast and the controversial Nicole Kidman flop Birth.
EMI won't let us embed the clip but you can watch it here.
Do The Evolution - Pearl Jam (1998)
PEARL Jam's first film clip since the controversial Jeremy in 1992 saw the band take on some suitably heavy issues to back the pessimism of the song's lyrics. The animated video was directed by Kevin Altieri (Batman: The Animated Series) and Todd McFarlane (best known for the comic book Spawn and Korn's Freak On A Leash) and the animation is a nice blend of both their styles. The clip opens with the evolution of life from single cells to dinosaurs to mammals to man, with brutality and violence featuring prominently. Then, once man takes over, the bloodshed really kicks in as the video tackles such light fare as war, suicide, the Holocaust, racism, vivisection, whaling, pollution and capital punishment. And who said cartoons were just for kids?
Sony-BMG won't let us embed this clip but you can watch it here.
Keep Fishin' - Weezer (2002)
GROWING up as a massive Muppets fan, I love this clip. It features Weezer on the set of The Muppet Show - their second TV tribute after their awesome Happy Days clip for Buddy Holly. The band are preparing to play this single from Maladroit on the show but unfortunately Miss Piggy has kidnapped drummer Patrick Wilson so Animal has to sit in on the drums. The video even features a typical closing comment from the stalls courtesy of Statler and Waldorf and the whole thing perfectly captures the upbeat vibe of the pop-rock number. The smile rarely leaves frontman Rivers Cuomo's face - obviously he was a massive Muppets fan too.
Geffen Records won't let us embed this clip but you can watch it here.
E Talking - Soulwax (2004)
DRUGS are bad, mmmkay? With that public service announcement out of the way, let's look at Belgian band Soulwax and their slyly humourous take on narcotics (both legal and not-so-legal) in the clip for E Talking. It's a clever video which makes you wonder why no one has done it before, especially given the close relationship drugs and music have shared over the years. The clip is an A-to-Z of narcotics set in a nightclub, starting with the guy who's just dropped acid and is trying to get in and finishing with the bored guy on Zoloft. There are some darkly funny moments, including the guy who appears to have taken a quarter of the alphabet and the Viagra-popping old guy who denounces designer drugs. For a much more kiddie-friendly clip, check out Soulwax's Much Against Everyone's Advice in which the band is chased by giant letters of the alphabet, which don't stand for the names of drugs like they do in E Talking.
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