Our 25 Favorite Music Videos Of All Time

The best made music videos, The best songs, the coolest of the cream of the crop. Music videos are a tool, a tool that can be used to improve a song, and many times it doesn’t help matters for the artist.  These are videos so chaotic, so beautiful, so cool, so original, so conceptual, and so innovative. This is the best of the best.

25. Rob Zombie
Dragula
Rob Zombie dressed in his demonic Charles Manson makeup and one hell of a costume bawls out his intense lyrics with this semi-horror music video of “Dragula”. This is not only one of Zombie’s best songs of since he went solo with the catchy lyrics, booming guitars, and just thunderous vocal ability but the video is also very cool with intense shades of blue and red as he and his minions ride in a hell mobile of a sorts through fire as his wife Sheri Moon dances in zombie garb alongside other demons from hell. This became truly one of Zombie’s most colorful and coolest.

24. Michael Jackson
Beat it
With a throwback to the old fifty’s gangster films and with a throwback to “West Side Story”, Michael Jackson creates one of the most catchy songs and one of his best music videos. As gangs along the neighborhood begin swarming through the streets preparing for a large gang war, Jackson, upset at the oncoming war puts on his signature red leather jacket and goes to the war to stop the fighting and gets them dancing. I like when that happens. Sure, I mock this video, but it’s one of the best ever made with an excellent guitar solo by Slash of Guns and Roses, the usual incredible choreography in which the entire gang war dances, and then there’s the energy presented here with Jackson’s charisma he once had.

23. Evanescence
Going Under
Evanescence is a band I could never get into heavily though I appreciate their Goth rock abilities and their lead singer Amy Lee’s incredible vocal ability. My love and crush for Amy Lee aside, this is a really good video, not for it’s originality only but for the statement Lee makes about how her fans are rabid and almost creature-like clawing and scratching at her as she attempts to entertain them and live up to what they see of her. The lyrics which speak of Lee’s feelings of being drown beneath the fame, fortune, and nonstop fan cheers gives us a glimpse into the band’s task at hand. We watch Lee immersed in water symbolizing her feeling of being drowned beneath the fans as she thrashes at a former lover and how he hurt her. A song with a resonant message followed by a video with a clearly resonant message that memorable for being so morbid.

22. The Pretenders
Brass in Pocket
The video that Lenny Kravitz ripped off in “See you again”, and Alicia Keys ripped off recently in “You don’t know my name”, rocking front woman Chrissy Hines plays a simple waitress for a rundown cafe whose dream man walks into the restaurant with his friends. So, smitten by him, she looks forward to his next visit fixing herself up for him attempting to catch his attention while she swaggers seductively around the cafe hoping to catch his attention. With a catchy chorus, upbeat rhythms and simple storytelling, the lyrics are up front giving listener’s her thoughts and feelings for this man and Hines wears her heart on her sleeve as she brings about feelings for her mysterious customer whom she hopes to catch the eye of, and she succeeds but alas it isn’t meant to be as he leaves with his friends while she looks out the window watching him drive off, lovelorn and heartbroken awaiting his return. This poignant video is a lot of fun to watch as in only five minutes we’re involved in a story.

21. Beastie Boys
Fight For Your Right (To Party)
Ah, the beasties boys, one of the only white rappers that have been accepted within the hip hop community though “Fight for your Right” is a bit more of a rock edge. Ripped off by many artists including Gwen Stefani and Eve in “Let me Blow your mind”, this video is just hard to top. As a young man hosts a party for his friends where all is boring and sluggish, the three beastie boys enter the room and crash the party with their friends amping it up more with their anti-establishment anthem about rebelling and partying. Come on, don’t pretend you don’t know the words to this song, because I know most of the lyrics. With most of the thugs ravaging everyone and ruining the party, the three rappers scream the lyrics while they incite a pie fight ala “The Three Stooges” where everyone is hit in the face including the young man’s parents who walk in much to their surprise shocked and wide-eyed at the carnage that has just ensued. It’s an excellent story with great antics and chaos and one of the best videos ever made.

20. Twisted Sister
We’re not gonna take it
“What are you gonna do with your life?!” Mark Metcalf from “Animal House” screams channeling his character Niedelmeyer, to which his son replies, “I’m wanna rock.” Then bursts Twisted Sister blowing the father out of the house as the wild, gritty anthem to teenagers everywhere begins. Deemed controversial from the usual stiff conservative groups for its call to violence when in actuality it was just a song to rebellion never intended to incite violent behavior, we watch Metcalf’s characters young kids turn into twisted sister as they gang up on the him screaming and knocking him all over the house. In a really funny sequence we watch the father getting smacked over and over the members of Twisted Sister smash through the door one by one. The video is powered by the foot stomping anthem to youth and music sung by the already twisted Dee Snider. Listen as lead singer Snider begins screaming quotes from “Animal House” in the ending of the song as Metcalf’s character is blown from his house. It’s truly a funny exciting video helped by Metcalf’s acting ability.

19. White Zombie
More Human Than Human
Rob Zombie is the closest these days to a rock legend, not Kid Rock or Fred Durst as hard and blatant as they try, no, Rob Zombie is a musician with a booming vibrating and loud voice that just roars like a lion from the gates of hell. Zombie, a hardcore horror fanatic and director of “House of 1,000 corpses” achieved great success with two careers, his career with White Zombie an excellent band that later disbanded and then Zombie achieved superiority with excellent solo career which allowed him to expand his horizons. In this video White Zombie lead the charge in a traveling circus of freaks as they astonish onlookers with their attractions. The gritty and fuzzy direction followed by the black and white and sometimes psychedelic video rocks as White Zombie plays in a train compartment rocking out hard with the booming “More Human Than Human” bursting through the screen. Clearly a memorial in the good days of White Zombie and one of the best videos I’ve ever seen.

18. Madonna
Ray of Light
Spokeswoman for the “religion” of Khaballa, the legendry Madonna creates a really interesting and sometimes rad music video called “Ray of Light”, a song whose lyrics I was never really able to decode, but regardless the video is really cool. With really cool time lapse photography filming the average everyday life, the mundane has never looked so extraordinary. Oh, and Madonna looks funny dancing to the time lapse photography whilst we see people shopping and cars driving on the road with the speeding of the pictures through the process of the film technique. Though I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Madonna’s after watching her films, I like this video a lot and it makes way for some intentionally spiritual but great imagery of the world being seen through Madonna’s scope.

17. 2Pac and Dr. Dre
California Love
In an ode to “Mad Max”, 2Pac, one of the most influential and charismatic rappers of all time, and one of my favorites, teams with Dr. Dre in this epic, thrilling, and rather exciting take on “Mad Max” as 2Pac and Dr. Dre, dressed in great armor and clothing rap in front of a large mob of onlookers in a stadium ala “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” where they show off their skills to a group of rebels and warriors who await their arrival. Later in the video, Dre and 2Pac are chased by a band of thugs in a very high speed chase scene in the desert dodging a kingpin and many other menacing characters. 2Pac known for his unlimited charisma, set a precedent and became the archetype for charismatic rapper manages to outshine Dr. Dre in sheer rap skills where the two are given solos. As Dre finishes his solo 2Pac bursts with explosive lyrics, in your face energy, and adds to the song. Though the ending of the video made no sense whatsoever, “California Love” is one of the best songs to come around in years and conveys 2Pac’s appeal and Dre’s presence.

16. Red Hot Chili Peppers
Californication
Presented in the format of a video game we watch the members of Red Hot Chilli Peppers battle and travel through the landscapes of California. California natives, their song “Californication” is a commentary on the society in California, a society in its own of Hollywood filmmaking, older women getting plastic surgery, poverty, and porn while lead singer Anthony Keadis slips in some of his own references to his favorite artist Leonardo DaVinci. Presented in the template of a video game, each of the band members go through the course of California riding down bridges with a snowboard, Anthony Keadis running through collapsing buildings, riding through the highway on a fast car and much more to the great tune of Californication all ending with a great closing shot of the members huddled together like video game characters.

 

 

Our 25 Favorite Music Videos Of All Time Part Two >>