Cap'n Neruotic's Music Video LIst Honorable Mentions

While compiling my Top 20 Favorite Music Videos (In No Particular Order) I came up with quite a few videos that, while noteworthy, didn't quite make the cut. So, I figure I'd go ahead and do a quick follow-up post.

Best Bjork Song Not Done By Bjork: "Bedtime Story" by Madonna (lyrics by Bjork, natch)



Best Use of Freaky Puppets Caricatures of Famous People: "Land of Confusion" by Genesis




Best "What Were They Smoking?" Video: "Frontier Psychiatrist" by The Avalanches



Best "Who Knew David Fincher Was a Bob Fosse Fan?" Video: "Cold Hearted" by Paula Abdul



Best "Who Knew David Fincher Was a Fan of Roger Rabbit/Anchors Aweigh?" Video: "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul



Best Recursive Michel Gondry Video Not Included In the Other List: "Come Into My World" by Kylie Minogue



Best Dark and Twisty, Not What I Expected, Better Not Watch If You're At All Squeamish Or Easily Grossed Out Video: "Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams

Cap'n Neurotic's Top 20 Favorite Music Videos (In No Particular Order)

Co-worker and fellow SF/Comic geek Starlett has posted a list of her Top 10 Favorite Music Videos. And while I can't quibble with most of her choices, I can't help feeling that a Top 10 Music Video list that doesn't include an entry from either Spike Jonez or Michel Gondry -- even in the "runner up" section -- is missing something. So, I figured I'd go ahead and do my own list . . . of course, the problem is making sure I don't overload on Spike Jonez and Michel Gondry videos . . .

Anyway, here's my Top 20 Favorite Music Videos (In No Particular Order). As with Starlett's list, this is not a list of favorite songs, necessarily, but of those clever, original, inventive, entertaining, engaging, disturbing, memorable music videos that helped burn the songs into my brain forever. When possible, the videos will either be linked or embedded.

1. "Everlong" by The Foo Fighters: One of those cases where I'm not sure how much of my love of the song is just because I love the song, and how much is because I love the video and the love bleeds through. Always loved the Evil Dead homage, as well as Dave Grohl's dream warrior skills. Plus, the nice shift from woman in bed to man playing drums at the end is one of my favorite transitions of all time. The first Michel Gondry video on my list, and one that only touches on his love for recursive storytelling.

2. "Virtual Insanity" by Jamiroquai. Such a cool video; I remember spending so much time trying to figure out how they pulled it off back in the day.

3. "Take on Me" by Ah-Ha. A true classic, don't think this one needs much in the way of explanation.



4. "Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys. Prior to this video, I don't think I ever would have dreamed of linking The Beastie Boys to 70s police dramas, and yet Spike Jonze makes it seem like such a natural fit.



5. "Buddy Holly" by Weezer: Was a big fan of "Undone (The Sweater Song)" but it was "Buddy Holly" that firmly entrenched Weezer into my favorite bands list. This one always brings back memories of the Parker days.

6. "Praise You" by Fatboy Slim. While I had unknowingly been a fan of his work before this one, I'm pretty sure that "Praise You" was the video that really put the name Spike Jonze on my radar.



7. "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim: Can't go wrong with a dancing Christopher Walken, especially dancing to a song that references the sand worms in Dune. Again, thank you Mr. Jonze.

8. "Lucas with the Lid Off" by Lucas. Another video that's filled to the brim with Parker nostalgia, and another example of the stylistic mastery of Michel Gondry.



9. "Bachelorette" by Bjork. Out of all of the Bjork videos directed by Gondry (which is most of them), I think this self-referential tale best exemplifies his work.



10. "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel. Another classic video that probably doesn't need much explanation from me.




11. "Are You Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz. Don't know what it is about this video, it's not particularly clever or original, but somehow it just perfectly captures the energy of the song for me. Plus, I'm pretty sure that the girl that dorky kid from Dazed and Confused hooks up with is in it.



12. "Clint Eastwood" by Gorrillaz. Got to have at least one video from everyone's favorite animated band since The Archies, so if I'm going to have one might as well have the one that introduced them to the world.



13. "It's Like That" by Run DMC vs. Jason Nevins. Love the dance-off in this. 'Nuff said.




14. "Sober" by Tool. A bit freaky, to be sure, but darned if it didn't leave an impression on me.



15. "Around the World" by Daft Punk. Recursive and repetitive, like any good Gondry video, but endlessly visually interesting at the same time.



16. "It's Oh So Quiet" by Bjork. Look, a Bjork video done by someone other than Gondry! And look, that "someone" is Spike Jonez! And it's a paean to Broadway musicals! Plus, y'know, Bjork!



17. "Janie's Got a Gun" by Aerosmith. This video made a huge impression on me as a kid; guess I shouldn't have been so surprised that it was directed by the man responsible for a couple of movies that have made huge impressions on me, Se7en and Fight Club. That's right, before becoming a big name Hollywood director, David Fincher was a pretty prolific video director, handling work by Madonna ("Vogue," "Express Yourself"), Billy Idol ("Rock the Cradle of Love") and, most surprisingly, Paula Abdul ("Striaght Up," "Forever Your Girl," "The Way That You Love Me," and two others to be named later). The one thing that always drove me crazy in the video: what the heck was Janie spelling on the floor after shooting her dad?

18. "Don't Speak" by No Doubt. I always liked the way No Doubt was able to take their frustration and turmoil generated by the media focus on Gwen and transform it into one of their best videos.



19. "Freak on a Leash" by Korn. Magic bullet destroying stuff all over town, what's not to love?

20. TIE: "A Million Ways to be Cruel" and "Here it Goes Again" by OK Go. Yeah, they've probably been overplayed to death by now, but with good reason.






I'm pretty sure there are some videos that have just totally slipped my mind, and I'm sure Zinger will be the first to say "I can't believe you included that No Doubt crap but left out so-and-so." I welcome any and all comments and suggestions.

Let's Go to the Mall!

Due to travel and general family-fun time, my posting this week will be spotty, although I definitely have some entertaining Singles stuff I want to get posted soon. But until I get a chance to type some stuff up, please enjoy this musical gem from Canadian pop sensation Robin Sparkles

Cold Shiny Claws Pop Out From My Paws . . .

Yeah, I haven't felt all that bloggy the last couple of days for one reason or another; part of it is due to spending way too much time invested in the X-Men: Legends video game, which of course speaks to the geek in me on several different levels. It's actually made me want to go dig out all of my old X-men comics, which I haven't read in ages. So, in honor of my most recent obsession, I present to you a nice little song parody which wasn't done by the greatest musical genius of our time, but is funny enough that it probably should have been.

The 13 Clips of Halloween #13 : That's What Halloween Means to Me

And so our Halloween video parade comes to a close with yet another homemade music video. However, this one is a bit more creative than the other two with its efforts to capture the spirit of a song I've loved ever since I heard it on the Dr. Demento's Delights album, which also introduced me to the terrors of Camp Granada and bunny multiplication, but those are tales for another time.



BONUS CLIP

If Zinger had sent me this clip a few days ago, it probably would have replaced "Cry Little Sister" in my list: as is, it's just too creepy and disturbing (not to mention hilarious) not to share.

The 13 Clips of Halloween #12 : Joss Whedon Is My Master Now

You didn't think I'd actually make it through this without showing somethng from the Buffy musical, did you?




And now, a brief musicless interlude: Numfar! Do the dance of joy!

The 13 Clips of Halloween #11 : May I Now Present a Cultured, Sophisticated, Man About Town

Entering the home stretch now, boys and girls, so it's time to break out something that even the horror-shy among you should enjoy*.

This one's for you, ma.



*Unless you're Pooh or Flunky, who for some reason didn't like this comedy classic. No accounting for taste, I suppose

The 13 Clips of Halloween #10 : If You Like the Six O'Clock News, Then You'l Love . . .

Yeah, I know you're all probably getting tired of the movie clips, but I think we all know by now that my borderline OCD won't let me stop until I've fulfilled my 13 clip committment. This clip (which I meant to post last night) is another homemade YouTube vid, this time combining a favorite horror movie themed song by the greatest musical genius of our time, set to clips a relatively recent horror-ish film.

Let's call it "Nature Trail to Sleepy Hollow"

The 13 Clips of Halloween #9 : Cry, Little Sister

One of the interesting things to me about YouTube is just how many people there are who like to take songs and make up their own music videos for them, with varying degrees of success. This is one of the more straightforward ones, which takes a song from a horror movie soundtrack and splices it onto a series of clips from the movie. Loved the movie, loved the song, so it's a win-win.

The 13 Clips of Halloween #8 : The Set is Very Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Don't You Think?

You, know there are lots of good vampire-related songs out there, but most of my favorites (Sound of Urchin's "Fearless Vampire Killers," Crankcaller's "I Am Vampire") don't have any videos that I could find. However, this little video is for the song which first introduced me to My Chemical Romance, a couple of years before they hit it big with Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge

The 13 Clips of Halloween #7: Deadly as the Democrats that Empty Out Our Stores

I had really planned to post something in between each vid post, but various factors have combined to keep this from happening; at least 95% of these factors are laziness-related. However, while I have been languid and unproductive, I have not been under the influence of the horribly dangerous (and apparently zed-word causing) substance warned of in the title song of the recent movie musical Reefer Madness.

The 13 Clips of Halloween #6 : All Work and No Play Makes Jared Leto a Dull Boy

Here's another horror movie homage, with Jared Leto and his band checking into a version of The Overlook from The Shining; like the song, and like the video, but was very, very disappointed by the lack of creepy twin girl ghosts. I mean, what's a Shining homage without creepy twin girl ghosts?

The 13 Clips of Halloween #5 : We' re Comin' to Kill Ya, Comin' to Kill Ya

Along the same lines as #3 on the list, we have another humorous zed-word focused musical number, this time from Dead and Breakfast; as with the Shaun clip, this one is rated NP as well, mainly for the f-bombs sprinkled through the zed-word's country rap.

The 13 Clips of Halloween #4: Nosferatu! Nosferatu!

Saw this Lenny Kravitz video maybe once or twice back in the day, but it left quite an impression on me with its Nosferatu style vampire makeup, and was always disapointed it never got more airplay. So, thanks, YouTube.

The 13 Clips of Halloween #3: Kill the Queen

For our third clip, we take a small departure from the music videos for a music-oriented scene from a horror-comedy. The following is one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies; you just can't beat people beating zed-words to the driving beat of Queen . . . beat.

Warning: the following clip is rated NP* due to brief use of the f-bomb, zed-word violence, and recreational equipment related head injuries.




*No Prudes

The 13 Clips of Halloween #2: Evil Dead: the Music Video

The Mag recently informed me of a musical version of the cult classic Evil Dead currenlty playing off-Broadway; unfortunately, there are no good clips of it available online at this time. So, instead, I present you with a recent music video which serves as a homage to the film which is in a roundabout way responsible for how awesome the Spider-Man movies were.

The 13 Clips of Halloween #1: Rise of the Monstrous Music Videos

Well it's now less than a week until Halloween, and I feel like I've been neglecting everyone's favorite pagan holiday this year, especially compared to the massive amount of reviews I did last year, so I've decided to spend these last seven days posting some horror-tinged video clips. And what better way for me to merge my Cap'n Gorehound persona with my Cap'n Songburst persona than to focus my efforts on finding horror themed music videos? And what better way to kick off my odd idea than to start with the granddaddy of all horror music videos:

Just Blow Out the Candles and Have a Piece of Cake

In honor of the birthday of the greatest musical genius of our age, I present the video for the catchiest (and most educational) song off of his latest album.

What, No "Make Like a Tree and Get Out of Here" Reference?

A Song About My People, For My People

So, how many of you out there actually got the Star Wars Holiday Special joke? Anyway, for some insight into some of the inside jokes in the vid, click here