Best Music Videos of All Time

avatar for Muddy
Muddy
USA
It's a lot to pick from, but there are some memorable one out there looking back, especially from back in MTV's heyday. What are some of your guys picks?


Back in the day pick when I was a kid, Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun was trippy and very iconic for the 90's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9…

Honorable Mention is Eric Prydz and his remix of Steve Winwood's Valerie, "Call on Me" Not just because of the girls and the yoga and the asses but the mus-Ok you know what fine yeah the asses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qetW6R9J…

And best all time for me, maybe lesser known, a Brazilian artist named Marcos Valle his exercise anthem "Estrella" from 1983. It's got everything, old school cool, cruising on the beaches of Rio, sunsets, sunrises, all those gorgeous Brazilian babes, and the song on top of it is fucking awesome. It's just the stuff I daydream about from cold, grey, ghetto ass NY. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbBUrpAq…

44 comments

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avatar for jaybud999
jaybud999
2 years ago
Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer".

Faith no More's "Epic".....that fish you know.

Madonna's "Open your Heart". I'd sit and time out my masturbation to that one. Yeah, I said that.
avatar for magicrat
magicrat
2 years ago
Chris Isaak Wicked Game
avatar for ElDuderino_AZ
ElDuderino_AZ
2 years ago
Chris Isaak "Wicked Game" was nice... thank you, Helena Christensen.

But best?


Take your pick from anything Michael Jackson ever did.

Guns N Roses "You Could Be Mine" and "Wicked Game" were rad.

Soundgarden "Spoonman" was killer.

Pearl Jam "Jeremy" and "Do The Evolution" were bad ass.

Coolio (R.I.P.) "Fantastic Voyage" was fun.

Snoop Dogg "What's My Name" was really cool with all the transforming into dogs.


Going back a little earlier, A-ha "Take On Me" and Pete Gabriel "Sledgehammer" were cool for their time.


avatar for Muddy
Muddy
2 years ago
*Estrelar I meant for the last song.

And Michael Jackson had a bunch totally. I agree with a lot the above. Sledgehammer for sure. Is anything more West Coast then Fantastic Voyage? Open you heart was cool and to be honest really on topic for TUSCL. I’ve never to a peep show set up like that.

avatar for misterorange
misterorange
2 years ago
Well this guy Robin Thicke is a doofus, Pharrell Williams I don't even know who he is except for this video, and Emily Ratajkowski might be the only woman on earth that I could set aside my political views, knowing she's a brainless progressive jackass, and fuck her anyway. (Okay, maybe there are a few hundred others.)

And the other two chicks are also hot AF. The blonde looks like she's showing SJG's goat what a good time really looks like, and the one with the braid I wish that bicycle seat was my fucking face.

Even though the video itself is a piece of crap that looks like it was made in about 15 minutes... I still can't stop watching it. The gratuitous nudity is just too irresistible.

Aside from all that, the song is pretty catchy too.

https://vimeo.com/73851503 I know you want it! Lol
avatar for ElDuderino_AZ
ElDuderino_AZ
2 years ago
Errrrrr Guns N Roses "You Could Be Mine" and "November Rain".
avatar for misterorange
misterorange
2 years ago
^^ ElDuderino - good call. Those are two great ones.
avatar for Icee Loco (asshole)
Icee Loco (asshole)
2 years ago
This is too hard. If we're just talking videos then daft punk. Michael Jackson.
avatar for whodey
whodey
2 years ago
A lot of great ones have been mentioned but here are a few that I would add.

"Hurt" by Johnny Cash - when I heard he was doing a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song I was skeptical but as soon as I heard it I loved it and seeing the music video took it to another level.

"Kiss" by Prince - Prince took music videos to a new level even before Michael Jackson and Madonna really took it to a new artform.

"Eat It" by Weird Al- really any of his comedic music videos deserve to be on the list.

"Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys - There was just something about doing it in the style of an old police TV show opening credits.

Gimme All Your Lovin" by ZZ Top - I could have included "Legs" or "Sharp Dressed Man" or other ZZ Top songs but this was the 1st to come to my mind.
avatar for motorhead
motorhead
2 years ago
Live on Dave TV!

David Lee Roth was a master showman during the golden age

“Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Jobody”



The Cars. “Drive”
avatar for SirLapdancealot
SirLapdancealot
2 years ago
Smack My Bitch Up by The Prodigy is my ATF video.

Honorable mentions:
Thriller by Michael Jackson
Close to the Edit by Art of Noise
The Dog Days by Florence and the Machine
Warpaint by Warpaint
One by Metallica
avatar for SirLapdancealot
SirLapdancealot
2 years ago
^^^ forgot to add Godzilla by Eminem/Juice World
avatar for SirLapdancealot
SirLapdancealot
2 years ago
^^^and Schism by Tool
avatar for Muddy
Muddy
2 years ago
You know what Van Halen “Hot for Teacher” and Twisted Sister “We’re not gonna take it” both classics
avatar for motorhead
motorhead
2 years ago
I know KISS is one of the most divisive bands ever - you either love ‘em or hate ‘em, but dressing a symphonic orchestra on KISS make-up is just way cool. I could watch this over and over. When the violin player smiles in the first few seconds is precious

“Beth”. Live

https://youtu.be/SMokVzZ3xyw


avatar for motorhead
motorhead
2 years ago
Not MTV….but this is truly the BEST ever

The Honey Bees

https://youtu.be/Sz7gr4hSkNQ

The producers had it all wrong - they tried to force Ginger as the star - but this proves Mary Ann is numero uno
avatar for ElDuderino_AZ
ElDuderino_AZ
2 years ago
A couple others come to mind but they aren't the official MTV videos...still, they're professionally shot and were better than most of the shit MTV was playing when it still played videos.


Metallica "Enter Sandman" from Russia in 1991. They played in front of over 1.5 million people on an old air force base or something. Soldiers were supposed to work security but you can see some in the crowd just rocking out. Helicopters flying over the crowd. This was wild.

https://youtu.be/_W7wqQwa-TU


And then Pearl Jam "Porch" at PinkPop in the Netherlands in 1992.

It wasn't over a million people, but the crowd was still huge. The band's energy was insane (I wish they still played this this fast), and it'd be pretty nuts to be jamming out on the guitar and then all of a sudden you see your lead singer leaping off the camera rig into the crowd.

https://youtu.be/7_eDMjv0HwU


Thinking back, before TRL there was still a nightly top-10 show in the early 90s. I remember Nirvana "Heart Shaped Box" and Meatloaf "I Would Do Anything For Love" were on it quite a bit. That Meatloaf video was cool.


Someone mentioned "Sabotage", yeah that was great. RHCP "Soul to Squeeze" was good. I remember being like 10 years old and digging the chick in the Billy Idol "Cradle of Love" video.

Oh, shit...Aerosmith "Cryin'" and "Amazing" were really cool.

Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly" was great, in a goofy way.

Tom Petty's videos were good... can't remember which one it was, but one had an Alice in Wonderland thing going on.

En Vogue "Never Gonna Get It" just had a cool look to it; black & white, but they were wearing all silver. And it was super super simple, but whenever I think back, every time, the first video that pops in my head is Sinead O'Connor covering "Nothing Compares". It was just on so damn often...but if I can remember it so well 30 years later, it had to be good.


I feel like the sweet spot was 1985 - 1995. Before that, videos were fairly simple, working out the kinks of what made cool videos. After that, too many people started using whatever the hell it's called, "fisheye" or something, where it's like zooming in through a peep hole (off the top of my head I'm thinking Jamiroquai and Missy Elliott).


But the more I think back, the more I realize it starts and ends with Michael Jackson. You could teach a PhD-level music video production course and only use his videos.
avatar for ElDuderino_AZ
ElDuderino_AZ
2 years ago
Ah fuck I just got Rick rolled
avatar for bman66
bman66
2 years ago
Hot for Teacher and Panama were great Van Halen videos. David Lee Roth made some classic videos, Yankee Rose with that opening scene in the party store lol! California Girls and Just a Gigilo were epic as well!
avatar for Warrior15
Warrior15
2 years ago
Muddy, I cannot believe that you don't have Michael Jackson's Thriller listed :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJT…

avatar for Studme53
Studme53
2 years ago
I liked the vibe and beach weekend scenes of “Steal my Sunshine” by Len.
avatar for magicrat
magicrat
2 years ago
Adding "Land of Confusion" by Genesis
avatar for Thick-5-Incher
Thick-5-Incher
2 years ago
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" set the bar for the entire 80's that followed

Van Halen's "Jump" was the best example of "less is more" --- just rent a room with a black background and let Diamond Lee do amazing flying kicks!

Guns 'N Roses "November Rain" is probably the best example of showing an epic 3-hour movie inside a 5-minute song

I recently re-discovered Madonna's "Take A Bow" video and it's very compelling --- probably the peak of her artistic genius
avatar for how
how
2 years ago
Fleetwood Mac "Gypsy" (Seemed clever and cinematic)

a-Ha "Take on Me" (I thought that rotoscoping effect was exceptionally well-done, and served the little story the video told.)

avatar for gammanu95
gammanu95
2 years ago
"God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash was an awesome posthumous tribute.

"One" for Metallica is pure nightmare fuel.
avatar for Icee Loco (asshole)
Icee Loco (asshole)
2 years ago
From the newer stuff. Drake is up there

In my feelings
https://youtu.be/DRS_PpOrUZ4

God's plan
https://youtu.be/xpVfcZ0ZcFM

avatar for misterorange
misterorange
2 years ago
@ElDuderino - Yeah Tom Petty had some good ones.

The Alice in Wonderland one was for Don't Come Around Here No More https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0JvF9vp…

And in Mary Jane's Last Dance, I'm pretty sure Kim Basinger made a lot of guys give serious thought to necrophilia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aowSGxim…

avatar for crosscheck
crosscheck
2 years ago
"Don't Cry" by Guns N' Roses

"The Unforgiven" by Metallica

Both are total WTF jobs.
avatar for rattdog
rattdog
2 years ago
not sure if the below video received any airplay at all from mtv as i didn't have access to cable tv until the late 90's.

john fogerty - zanz kant danz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAEd_U7T…
avatar for crosscheck
crosscheck
2 years ago
^ That one is a fucking riot. Especially if you know what the song was/is about.
avatar for chimera422
chimera422
2 years ago
Meatloaf “I would do anything for love”
Run DMC/Aerosmith “Walk this way”
Live “Lightning Crashes”
Nearly anything by Michael Jackson
Nearly Anything by Prince
avatar for NJBalla
NJBalla
2 years ago
David Gilmour - Comfortably Numb Live in Pompeii 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTseTg48…
avatar for dustyj
dustyj
2 years ago
Michael Jackson "Thriller" is always considered. Michael Jackson "Man in the Mirror" is the most powerful to me.
avatar for wld4tatas
wld4tatas
2 years ago
>"Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys

Ooh I was having trouble thinking of a single good one until you reminded me of this. A classic.
avatar for docsavage
docsavage
2 years ago
The Smiths- "How Soon Is Now?"
Pixies- "Debaser"
Blur- "Song 2"
David Bowie- "Heroes"
Amy Winehouse- "Tears Dry On Their Own"
Massive Attack- "Teardrop"
Alice in Chains- "Would?"
avatar for Thick-5-Incher
Thick-5-Incher
2 years ago
"Man in the Mirror" is the most powerful to me"

Probably the most meaningful music video of the entire 80's, a decade that was focused on vapid and vain pursuits.

I can still remember my senior year English teacher in high school talking about the video with tears in her eyes. She said "Michael Jackson is right, we can only change the world if we start by changing the person we see in the mirror". I just hope a narcissist cocksucker like Commie Trump can look in the mirror one last time before he dies and realizes how ugly he is, both inside and outside.
avatar for Cashman1234
Cashman1234
2 years ago
There are many videos that provide a sense of nostalgia regarding the 80’s and 90’s - and some of the ones I remember have a sophomoric look today.

Aha - Take on me - as it was original and the effects were very good.
Michael Jackson - Man in the Mirror - as the video was very well done and I liked the song too.
Janet Jackson - If - loved the song and the dancing.
White Snake - Here we go again and Is this love - for the creative use of Tawny Kittaen and two Jaguars.
The Prodigy - Smack my bitch up - I love the song - and the video took it to another level.
Madonna - Like a prayer - decent song and video.
Metallica - Turn the page - good song and a powerful video with a decent acting performance from Ginger Lynn.
avatar for londonguy
londonguy
2 years ago
I’d agree with most of those mentioned. Take on me by A-ha was groundbreaking in its day. I also love Frozen by Madonna
avatar for bang69
bang69
2 years ago
AC/Dc back in black.

Joan Jett do you want tuch

Beauty Boys you gata fight for your rite to party
avatar for BabyDoc
BabyDoc
2 years ago
The girl I was dating at the time absolutely detested this song. For all you males out there who haven’t cut off your genitals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxIWDmmq…
avatar for drewcareypnw
drewcareypnw
2 years ago
Van halen unchained. Perfect.
avatar for Call.Me.Ishmael
Call.Me.Ishmael
2 years ago
Way back when I was much younger and basically floating on hormones, the music videos that stood out to me were:

"Simply Irresistible" by Robert Palmer

https://youtu.be/XcATvu5f9vE


"Girls, Girls, Girls" by Motley Crue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1S0Bvz3…


"Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen

https://youtu.be/6M4_Ommfvv0
avatar for Studme53
Studme53
2 years ago
^ All good videos.
I’m not proud to say I actually bought a Whitesnake VCR tape (I don’t think DVDs were invented yet lol) mostly to watch Tawny Katean slither around with her big tits, sexy legs and great hair.
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