100 Best Music Videos: 10 To 1

10. “Hurt” (Johnny Cash, 2003)

Sometimes, the simplest of ideas evoke the biggest reactions. When Rick Rubin rejuvenated Johnny Cash’s career in the 90s, it ended up being the highlight of a long career. The apex was this touching and haunting cover of Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt”. A sparse acoustic guitar and a hesitant piano achingly map out a life of much regret.

Then came the video, where Johnny and June, just at the end of their lives, sit and evoke so much just by being there.

Breathtaking.

9. “Bastards Of Young” (the Replacements, 1986)

It’s a speaker. Rocking out. Again, simplicity can be genius.

8. “Sledgehammer” ( Peter Gabriel, 1986)

Sometimes, though, ridiculousness is genius. The claymation filled, massively cluttered “Sledgehammer” video is one EVERYONE remembers, even if one hates Peter Gabriel ( I don’t, I love Peter Gabriel’s solo work. I hate Genesis, though). It may be a little too on the nose sometimes, but it’s clever, and clever is always a good thing.

7. “Thriller” (Michael Jackson, 1984)

Most people would have it at number one. Sure, I can concede why. It’s big, expensive, and creepy, with great dancing and a storyline and whatever else.

Too bad that I find the storyline dull and think MJ’s dancing was better in “Beat It”.

That being said, the video holds up, even now, and I must give it it’s due. I can’t put it at number one because I still think others are better ( or at least amuse me). But I can put it in my top ten.

6. “Baggy Trousers” (Madness, 1984)

This one amuses me. The saxophonist flies. It’s Madness. It’s charming and humorous in that totally inexplicably British way, like Benny Hill. It makes me feel alive when I watch it.

5. “Cry” (Godley and Creme, 1985)

Early face morphing technology teamed with interesting looking people miming the lyrics to a great song. Godley and Creme were once with 10cc, and would later be the go to video directors. Thanks God they took the time to record this song, then give us this video.

4. “Like A Prayer” (Madonna, 1989)

Yeah, we can go on and on about having sex with the Black Jesus and the burning crosses and the Pepsi deal and whatever else Madonna did in this video that offended you.

Or- we can look at the real message. The point of the video was that when one witnesses a crime, one must step up and tell the police what you saw. Do not let justice escape.

Okay, now talk amongst yourselves about the sex with the Black Jesus, the burning crosses, the Pepsi deal, and whatever else Madonna did in the video that offended you. It’s in my opinion her best song and her best video and you can all just bite me.

3. “Take On Me” (a-ha, 1985)

It blew my mind when I was eight, it blows my mind twenty-five years later. the fact that this concept has never been done better is amazing. But “Take On Me” remains the best use of animation and real life ever in music video history.

It would be inexplicable if it weren’t so obvious why.

It’s not the song. Most people would credit a great pop song as the reason. It’s not here, since the song had already been released and sank without a trace. But it is a really great pop song, it didn’t capture the imagination at first. Fine, that happens all the time.

The video was cutting edge, to be sure, but the storyline is kind of silly. And what girl would read a comic strip about motor cross. WAit, I know a couple, but really, not many would. The effects and use of the animation and the real life were seamless. Great.

So, it was a combination of the song and the video. But what specifically did it?

The obvious answer is Morten Harket. The man was fine. Still is fine. All sweaty and gorgeous at the end… mmmm…

2. “Everybody Hurts” (R.E.M., 1992)

Stuck in a traffic jam, where everyone is thinking multiple unhappy thoughts, Michael Stipe gets out and walks, all the while singing “Hold on”.  It’s another simple idea well executed, and remains their most elegant moment, as well as their most touching. They are one of my favorite bands, I’ll give them a pass on a lot ( “Shiny Happy People”… ugh). But when they get it perfect, I’ll give them everything. Except…

1. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” ( Nirvana, 1991)

I know. It’s not elegant, it’s not creative, it’s not even particularly well shot. It’s grungy like the music, and it’s anarchic.

That’s why it’s my best video of all time. Because I responded to it in a way so visceral, that it means more to me than any of these other videos.

It’s easy to forget just what one feels when they hear the music that populates the soundtrack of their lives.  Mine is filled with a lot because music was my way of escaping a life I was never happy with. It’s the Beatles and Harman’s Hermits my mother played, the Johnny Horton my father played, the early R.E.M. and Replacements I discovered. It’s Nirvana and Pearl Jam, the Clash and the Ramones, the music of my teenage years when I felt like I was drowning. It’s the Bob Dylan and the Neil Young i played when I wanted to scream.

As a child of the 80s and 90s, before the internet changed everything, music videos struck me as the ultimate way to get the idea of a song across to a mass audience. and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” told me that yes, it was okay to hate everything prosaic about your life, to seek out solutions via any means necessary. And for God sakes, you could do it in flannel and torn jeans.

I’m one of those people who never quite got over Kurt Cobain. It’s a ridiculous thing to try to explain. I was fourteen, for christ sake. But Nirvana, in addition to being perfect parent annoying music, also got me through several rough years. Nevermind takes me back to the brief moment where everything was almost okay in my head, before everything started to go so wrong. The video gives me that summer before grade nine back as well. It was my one tenuous link throughout high school, before Kurt’s suicide and other issues came crashing down on me. Those two and a half years were probably the happiest I ever was, even if it was high school. The love I have for Nirvana has always coincided with the better things in my life, and the death of Kurt Cobain was coupled with personal losses that I never could come to grips with. Music is subjective and personal. Which is why lists like these are sort of self congratulatory exercises. “Look, I’m so cool. I have Nirvana at number one.” But I continue to make these lists, like everyone else on the planet, as a way to try and explain myself. That is ultimately what these lists are.  Someone trying to explain, using what is important to me, what exactly makes me tick.

Plus, they tear shit up at the end.

Give me anarchy.