edit: Song titles are now links to videos on YouTube
10. Here I Go Again - Whitesnake: This video pretty much became the staple of hard rock. Sexy woman dancing provocatively. 20 years later people still talk about it, that is staying power.
9. Fell In Love With A Girl - The White Stripes: I am a sucker for Lego's. This was a cool video and must have took some time to continuously build the models and shoot them so they were in time with the song. He was probably glad the song was only 2 1/2 minutes long.
8. Take On Me - A-Ha: It was cutting edge for the time and still looks cool today unlike some other 80's videos. It took an otherwise sappy song and gave it a little extra staying power.
7. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand: I was mesmerized the first moment I saw this video. They took some Monty Python type cutout animation and made a bunch of random images fit the beat of the song, add to the lyrics and just be visually engaging. I still could watch this over & over and find little pieces in there I didn't notice before.
6. Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles: The Beatles were early pioneers in the ideas of music videos. Once they quit touring, the realized they could just make short videos to send to the states with their new singles to help promote them. It seems to have turned out to be a good idea. This one is visually stunning still today and really captured their image & the mood of the song very well.
5. Hurt - Johnny Cash: Probably more painful than the lyrics is watching the old man sing them. The direction is amazing. The scene with Johnny hanging his head at the table with June looking down on him from the stairs. Almost too much perspective. Add in some old footage of John walking around his old house and performing in his prime, and you ended up with a masterpiece.
4. No Rain - Blind Melon: The bee girl became a sensation and probably fell into the childhood star syndrome too. Good message in the video that was lacking during the early 90s.
3. Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan: Simple and to the point, that was how Dylan delivered a lot of his messages. This one is important because I see its influences or just flat out being copied still today. Anytime you see a video with someone pulling cards out to highlight the lyrics comes back to this one.
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana: This video put an image together with the sound of the grunge movement. The chaos happening in the gym was something the youth of the country could relate too. It wasn't too over the top and yet pushed it just enough to stand out and make the point.
1. Thriller - Micheal Jackson: I have come to terms a little bit with Micheal's legacy even after all he has done to screw it up (see upcoming worst list). This is the end all, be all of music videos. Actually you could probably classify it as a short musical. Everyone in the world knows the Thriller dance. This is what music videos were supposed to be: hot dance moves, an engaging story, good visuals and most of all representative of the song. Despite all else, nothing can take back this video and really the whole Thriller album which I am no longer ashamed to admit is an amazing piece of work. Heck, Billy Jean almost made it onto this list as well. But I didn't want to go crazy.
Honorable Mention:
Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz
One - Metallica
Whip It - Devo
Tonight, Tonight - Smashing Pumpkins
Video Killed The Radio Star - The Buggles
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