This document provides summaries of 20 iconic music videos from 2012 back to the pre-1980s. Some of the videos summarized include Gangnam Style (2012), Somebody That I Used To Know (2011), Bad Romance (2009), Single Ladies (2008), Here It Goes Again (2006), Feel Good Inc. (2005), Toxic (2004), Hey Ya (2003), and Bohemian Rhapsody (1975). The summaries highlight things like the videos' visual styles, narratives, popularity, cultural impacts, and in some cases whether the video or song was more influential.
1. 20 Iconic Videos
From 2012 back to pre-80s, with iconic
videos from the likes of
Madonna, Queen, Lady Gaga, Michael
Jackson, Beyoncé and Britney Spears.
3. Psy
Gangnam Style (2012)
O This video was astonishingly popular and stuck around
for a very long time. What made this video stick was the
dance; everyone was doing the Gangnam Style moves
at parties and everyone was singing along to the chorus
because that was the only lyrics they knew. I think that
makes it fair to say that in this case, the music video
made the song and made it so popular. This video was
the first ever YouTube video to reach 1 billion views and
just recently, his YouTube channel has exceeded a
monstrous 3 billion views. The video in general is
bright, colourful, flashy and is so close to being tacky
and bad but it scrapes through as packed full of action
(explosions), costumes and wacky dancers and
routines.
5. Gotye ft. Kimbra
Somebody That I Used To Know
(2011)
O A single reason as to why this video was so incredibly
popular, is to many, unknown. It was simple, it was
basic, it was a man named Gotye lip-syncing in the nude
whilst gradually being painted into the background as
„Somebody That I Used To Know‟. It‟s all the video is
and I believe that the message of being blurred into the
background was lost slightly – I know of many people
that have only just understood that. I think in this
case, the song made the video and not the other way
around. The shot is the same mid shot throughout apart
from a few CU‟s into the painting process.
7. Sia
Clap Your Hands (2010)
O I‟m a big fan of this video and it‟s ambition and creativity.
The artist Sia often uses very imaginative themes in her
video (before she has used puppetry and shadow
theatre). In this video her face appears in various small
puppets like the koala bear in the last slide. She lip-
syncs as two or three of the characters but some of
them are being humorous and acting out little scenes
instead. The back drop is black to make the near neon
colours stand out more. The use of UV looking colours is
very effective and all of the costumes are amazing which
surpass the basic sceneries. I think the video makes the
song (I have the video on my iPod, not the song) but
both are equally good.
9. Lady Gaga
Bad Romance(2009)
O This was a major video when it came out and was a real
breakthrough for Lady Gaga, whose videos up until this
point had been a mil form of her personality. In Bad
Romance, money was clearly no issue with wacky
costumes, big dance routines and a general theme that
was a bit „out there‟. This was an introduction to her
personality and her style as an artist. It was a statement
video. It stuck in people‟s minds and no-one could get
the song out of their head. It‟s hard to know whether one
made the other but Bad Romance was key for the artist
and vital in the new genre of videos without narrative but
a strong visual anyway.
11. Beyoncé
Single Ladies (2008)
O Possibly the most simplistic video in years. This black
and white video is shot in one place with two dancers
either side of Beyoncé. The costumes are black leotards
and heels and the entire video is the three women
performing a dance routine. This was probably a case of
the video being so popular that the song did well too.
Everyone was doing what moves they could from the
Single Ladies routine. A very simple video that was
known even among artists in the same business as the
best video of that year, at least.
http://youtu.be/NUHQpCM7yyY
13. Feist
1234(2007)
O Feist is an artist that tends to go unnoticed but in 2007,
her colourful and cheerful video for 1234 became a huge
hit. It shows a group of
around 50 people all
dressed in block colours
(purple, green etc). It‟s
brightly coloured and
shows Feist lip-syncing
throughout and them all
joining in a dance routine that is oh-so-simple. They play
with perspective but really it is just a nice, gentle, basic
music video. It would seem that less is more. NB: This is
one of my favourite videos of all time and well worth a
look.
15. OK Go
Here it Goes Again (2006)
O Here we have again this „home-made‟ feel to a video in
which the 4 members of the band (there are no extras)
line up 8 treadmills against a grey background. They
are not extraordinarily dressed and nothing else
happens in the video. This video essentially went viral as
the band weren‟t that well-known and this video
was, simply, genius. The idea has been remade many
times, even in adverts appearing on the television. This
video always seems to me like 4 guys messing about
and then having an excellent result to then film. It would
seem this way and that no choreographer was
necessary – if you look you can see them nearly falling
over on several occasions.
17. Gorillaz
Feel Good Inc.(2005)
O The first animated video on my list – but not on theirs.
The Gorillaz only use animation in their music videos
with the exception of a human face in one video. Even
though it‟s animated, this video has the animated forms
of the band members lip-syncing and playing the
instruments in time. Something that many modern
videos don‟t bother with. This video has a strong
corporate identity along with the album artwork and the
general image of the band. These colours and animated
characters stick throughout all videos and album covers.
„Dirty Harry‟ „Clint Eastwood‟ „DARE‟
19. Britney Spears
Toxic(2004)
O Britney Spears is one of the biggest names in music
videos because everyone she makes is a hit. Britney
dons more than three different personas or characters in
this video, all in different sets, different costumes and
make-up and all with their own separate narrative that
seem to interlink at the end. Something should probably
be said about Mulvey‟s male gaze when it comes to the
outfits we see and the random shots to females dancing
in underwear. However this is very much to Spears‟ style
and she regularly stole the show and inspired
generations of imitators and wannabes all wearing
outfits from videos like Toxic.
21. Outkast
Hey Ya (2003)
O Everyone born in the 90s or 00s knows the dance move
to this track (my first ringtone on a flip phone). They
know it from the video. It‟s a really simple video with the
idea that the band Outkast is playing to a live TV
audience and they end up getting the TV audience to all
shakes their hands (“shake it like a Polaroid picture”)
with them, thus creating this dance move we all know.
There‟s a strong high school theme which can be found
in this album and in other videos such as “Roses” but
does not extend past this album – presumably a fashion
change resulting in a band image change. There‟s also a
really strong colour theme (green) which has been put in
all over the place to keep the theme going. Lastly the
theme found only in their costumes; jockeys.
23. Fatboy Slim
Weapon Of Choice (2000)
O Weapon of Choice can frequently be found in „Best
Video‟ lists and is a classic. It features the ever exciting
and unexpected celebrity cameo from actor Christopher
Walken. It‟s really quite simple – Christopher Walken is
alone in a hotel-looking building before he begins to
dance and proceed to get so into it he begins flying
around the room whilst dancing (all in a suit of course).
As it‟s a Fatboy Slim track we never see the DJ or
singer, as per usual. In terms of which made which here,
the video and song go hand in hand on this one.
25. Daft Punk
Around The World (1997)
O Around the World is one of my personal favourites. One
room, around 30 people in costume performing a very
simple dance routine in a circle at different levels of
height. Around the world and around the circle the
dancers go. The song is one lyric repeated over and
over and the video is the same moves over and over but
it works and is so good. This one is all about the video.
27. Jamiroquai
Virtual Insanity (1996)
O Virtual Insanity is one of those videos I remember
watching when I was younger and wondering how they
did it. As an older, A-level Media Studies student I can
see that it was really a simple thing to do.
Jamiroquai and a basic room and three-wall structure
stay put (perhaps slightly held up from above) whilst a
treadmill like floor moves around forcing him to move
around and dance whilst lip-syncing instead of standing
still. Given that I can only think of the music to „Love
Fool‟ by Jamiroquai and can‟t actually sing or picture the
lyric „Virtual Insanity‟, I‟d say the video won this round.
29. Madonna
Vogue (1990)
O Voted the 6th best music video of all time (no pressure),
this video has been recreated over and over again and
not just by amateurs, such recreations have appeared in
televisions shows like Glee others, it earns it‟s „iconic‟
level. This black and white video is the epitome of
glamour and the era that ended the 80s and began the
90s. This was a piece of excellence in terms of editing –
each cut and each shot was cut and placed perfectly in
time to the beat. This is a great video to watch but was
extremely high budget and focuses on glamour, props
and costume, but the result is magnificent.
31. Peter Gabriel
Sledgehammer (1987)
O This is genius because here Peter Gabriel stands and
lip-syncs to his song whilst everything else goes on
around him. Not just that but it‟s stop motion. Something
I dreamt about doing but would never be to this
standard. It‟s this simplicity again and it really really
works. It‟s such a fun video too and it‟s just a little bit
zany with a train going round his head whilst he‟s
singing. It‟s so original and unexpected. It‟s not been
done before and I don‟t believe stop motion has been
used so effectively since.
33. A-ha
Take On Me (1986)
O There seems to be a theme of strong narrative and great
story-telling in 80s music videos. Together in Electric
Dreams, Hungry Like the Wolf and this, Take On Me. A
short story with diegetic sound at the beginning and end,
a really tense story that is like a short film during
instrumental breaks that seem to match the mood and a
clever and creative mix of cartoon and real people. It‟s
an original story of a girl reading a cartoon and being
pulled into the sketchy world by a man (the lead singer).
There‟s a real plot to the video with trouble, baddies and
a happy ending. Although videos nowadays tend to be
longer or with more film at beginnings and ends, none
have the same film feel as 80s storylines (and outfits!).
35. Queen
I Want To Break Free (1984)
O One of the funniest, yet weirdest videos of all time. The
members of Queen struck gold with the least video on
this list (Bohemian Rhapsody) and kept with the slightly
odd theme. Costume is key here – they are all dressed
as women; housewives, school children or grannies.
These outfits have been and will be imitated every
Halloween and fancy dress party throughout history.
This track isn‟t considered one of Queen‟s greatest hits
(not where albums are concerned) but as videos go it is
one of the best, one of the most creative and probably
the second best video they ever made as a band.
37. Michael Jackson
Thriller (1983)
O Generally considered the best video of all time (although
I do believe some think it is the first – it is not and is
about 8 years too late anyway). This was such a big deal
and it still is – after all, it was essentially a short film. The
video spans # minutes and walks the audience through
an entire story with plot, costume, dozens of extras (all
dressed as zombies), props and scenery. The quality
and the production effort in this is insanely
incredible, and there‟s nothing like it and there probably
never will be again. The dance moves also play apart
and everyone pulls out „the Thriller move‟ at parties and
millions of imitators and fancy dress goers will pretend to
be MJ for years and years to come.
39. The Buggles
Video Killed The Radio Star (1979)
O This feels like the first video to really experiment and I
think this video is so fun because it is just that. It‟s
playing around and seeing what they can do so you can
see examples of video merge that nearly cut someone's
head off in editing as well as filters and cartoon effects
over characters. Overlaying, imposing images on one
another. It‟s just iconic as it‟s the early editing of a music
video and it‟s so fascinating because it‟s all about
technology and the radio and video coming in – quite
ironic too.
41. Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)
O Everyone has seen this video and if not hey know the song,
even if it‟s from Wayne‟s World. What most people forget is
that this is actually a video of 3 parts or even more and that the
majority of the video isn‟t their faces famously in the shadows
lip-syncing but it is their live performance in those fab white
costumes that takes up most. There‟s also the effects such as
bottom left here and it‟s a 6 minute long video so there‟s a lot of
room to fill. This video is very old-fashioned in the sense that
early videos were mainly live performances found on shows like
Top of the Pops. It‟s also in a way, kind of ahead of its time with
the retro and colour effects that it uses. I‟ts the most iconic
video of all time.
