November, 5th, 2008
last updated July, 29th, 2010

Viewed 373 Times

Music Videos:

Concept Videos

by Chris Sunami

1. Hey Ya! (Outkast)

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   If you listened to any radio in the year it was released, you heard it. You may have loved it, or hated it, or most likely, loved it until they played it so much that you hated it. But you couldn't avoid it. It covered the airwaves unlike any other song in recent memory, hitting Top 40, black urban, the alternative stations, and even NPR. It was utterly, unbelievably eccentric, and catchy to the point of madness. The first time you heard it, you asked yourself "what the ??? was that?" It didn't sound like anything else on the airwaves, a wild hip hop parody of an old-school rock-n-roll number.
   
   
   
   
   A revisionist history answer to the British invasion, the video features a band entirely made up of Andre 3000 playing a London stage sometime during the 60's. There he is, digitally duplicated, as the bad-boy drummer, the cool hipster bass guitarist, the cheerfully nerdy acoustic guitarist, the mop-topped lead singer, and even the triplets-in-jockey-costume backup singers.
   
   Families watch at home on their black-and-white tv's as crowds of screaming girls obey the startling directive to "shake it like a polaroid picture" --after all, Andre 3000 is their neighbor. Even the skeptical middle-aged white woman in the audience (presumably the chaparone-ing mother of one of the young fans) is eventually won over by the gleeful enthusiasm of the lead singer (an apt symbol for the song's seduction of the "crossover" audience). As you see his face, you can tell that he loves the music, and that singing it makes him the happiest man in the world.

2. Everlong (Foo Fighters (dir. Michel Gondry))

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   Gondry's dream imagery combined with the trademark Foo Fighter sense of humor.
   
   

3. Honey (Erykah Badu)

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   A loving tribute to decades of vinyl.
   
   

4. Sugar Water (Cibo Matto (dir. Michel Gondry))

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   Goes both directions in time.
   
   

5. Star Guitar (Chemical Brothers (dir. Michel Gondry))

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   Technology-aided blend of audio and visual.
   
   

6. Like a Boy (Ciara)

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   It's a surprisingly subversive visit to androgyny and gender role reversal for the R&B songstress.
   
   

7. Pi (Hard 'N Phirm (dir. Keith Schofield))

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   A rare video that casts the singers as the villains, as the lovable Zap kids take on a pair of menacing mystics in an educational video gone horribly wrong.
   
   

8. Let Forever Be (Chemical Brothers (dir. Michel Gondry) )

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9. Deadweight (Beck)

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10. Nature Anthem (Grandaddy)

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    Repetitive and cutesy --but irresistible