Friday Fun: The Power of Visuals in Music Videos

[Fede Baronti -Deiser-]

Hey everyone and happy Friday!

Since it’s Thanksgiving Day for some of our colleagues, I would like to write about something that I’m very thankful for: Music Videos. 

Music and Video have always been one of the greatest tandems in communication and in the arts expression. Video enhances the Music experience and vice versa. Around the 80s (along with something called Mtv) songwriters, bands, and fans, started taking the Music Video creation to another level.

Later, Music Video directors became a breed of their own and started creating Music Videos that blew our minds in so many ways, that until this day, we go back and watch those several times in a row.

Music videos from Foo Fighters, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, and Daft Punk always caught my eye and brain at some point.

I remember watching the Foo Fighters – Everlong Music Video and saying: “what the foo did I just watch???”, and after being able to record it on VHS (yup, V-H-S) I couldn’t stop watching it and analyze it. What a crazy thing it was. It's a great song with a fun, surreal, and sometimes scary video. What a ride!

Another video that changed my brain chemistry was The Chemical Brothers – Star Guitar. I love that Music Video. I can’t ride a train without thinking about this video, and, If I can I just listen to this song while looking out the window. The video is a continuous shot taken from a speeding train, and every element in the shot goes along with the music beats and the different song elements. It’s mesmerizing, relaxing, and captivating in so many ways.

And finally: Daft Punk – Around the World. This video is just super cool. The choreography goes along with every beat (AGAIN), and every group of characters represents every instrument in the song. I believe it is also a Musical-Visual achievement and a super fun video.

 

What do these three Music Videos have in common? (you might be asking yourself), they were directed by the same guy: Michel Gondry. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Gondry). He is a Movie, Music Video, and commercial director, with awesome creativity in some part of his brain. You might have watched MANY music videos that you didn’t know he directed, like the ones I mentioned above, and Björk, Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Paul McCartney, and several more.

I have TONS of great videos to share and, nowadays we can find millions of super cool videos, so please, share yours and let me know about your favorite music videos! I'm looking forward to checking those out!  

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

You returned me to my youth @Fede Baronti -Deiser- 

I seem to have a very consistent taste in music videos but the one video that really sticks with me for many years is the one behind Schiller and Peter Heppner's song I Feel You. 

It was such an amazing art for its time (and honestly, I still love how it looks even in low-res).

As a big (massive!) fan of Apocalyptica, I can easily say my favorite is "All", but we know there is always something that battles for the first place. Like this piece here.  

Thank you for reminding me of these lovely tracks :) 

[Fede Baronti -Deiser-]

Thanks @Teodora V _Fun Inc_ !! 

Those are 2 amazing entries to my list!! 

[Ben Finn]

Some video clips that have stayed with me:

Slipknot's "Before I Forget" - not only one of the band's first widely played and appreciated songs off their best album yet (no argument will be tolerated), but a fascinating study in careful use of focus and camera distance. While the band has always performed with masks, the clip for Before I Forget features the artists without masks and yet perpetually shot either in extreme close up, or in wide shot with a focal length that obscures their faces. While the objective was to continue to hide the band's faces, the overall effect still manages to convey the raw energy and intensity that Slipknot bring.

Also, by Slipknot, Vermillion shot in time-lapse with a ballerina hauntingly dancing through real crowds, it manages to capture a sense of isolation and desperation to connect in a world which is densely populated but desolate at the same time.

Disturbed - Land of Confusion. Although it is a cover of Gensis' 1986 song of the same name, Land of Confusion is arguably one of the band's best known (second to Down with the sickness) and most accessible (second to their masterful cover of Sound of Silence), the film clip is at once bleak and hopeful. Nothing out of the ordinary for mid 2000's anti-establishment rock, but a film clip that in absolutely no uncertain terms lays out the guilty parties in today's poisoned society and lays out revolutionary ideals to a teen audience in a tight 4:47 package.

System of a Down - Question! While keeping in the theme of music videos that tell a story, I was always impressed at how this clip is both incredibly expressive and yet seemingly vague. While SOAD are best known for their intensely political content, Question! is a departure into the more philosophical and mysterious but with the characteristic heavy sound SOAD is famed for. The film clip clearly depicts a tale of misfortune and loss, of passion and love, and fundamentally of the nature of death, taking inspiration from many sources and yet the clip itself remains open to varied interpretations which the lyrics - powerful though they are - do little to confirm or deny.

[Fede Baronti -Deiser-]

Thanks for those awesome inputs @Ben Finn !

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

Ahh, you went right through my playlist @Ben Finn!  

[Laurie Sciutti]

🎶

[Dan Breyen]

Some videos are Mini-movies.  Go back in time to Michael Jackson and watch Billie Jean, Beat It, and of course Thriller.  Those videos were amazing from the King of Pop.   He also had a great video with Say, Say, Say and Paul McCartney.   

I would give an Honorable Mention to Culture Club and Karma Chameleon.

[LaToya Muff _Snyk_]

The Thriller video was so good, that I was horrified by it when I was little. Like literally run and scream when it came on 😩. 

[Brant Schroeder]

@Fede Baronti -Deiser- I have always appreciated the beastie boys music videos, especially those in their later years.

[Fede Baronti -Deiser-]

Totally agree with that! Sabotage IS still one of the greatest! 

[Dominika Kuraś-Moskwa _Deviniti_]

Back then before the Spotify era, when we were listening to music mostly on YT I've always admired if the clip had a plot. 

As a Swiftie I must give this example: You belong with me

Every time I watched this I was so engaged in this story, like it could have changed 😂

[Svenja Lorenzen]

Reading this blogpost and thinking about a music video that comes to my mind, makes me realise that it's been a long time since I watched a music video. 😱

This is me right now ⬇️🤣

Next time I find a great song I'll make sure to check out the video to it as well!

[Neghena drawio Diagrams]

LOVE THIS DISCUSSION!

I absolutely love love love the Blaze. Their music videos are phenomenal and you can interpret the stories in different ways.

This is by far my favorite: Territory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54fea7wuV6s 

[Kristian Klima]

Late to the party but the topic's too interesting and personal to ignore :)

Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell

It was the first time I saw and heard Meatloaf - the year was 1990, I think, just before his big comeback with I'd Do Anything For Love, I was 14 and this blew my mind. What a voice, stage presence, and the epic, over the top, songwriting.

Rammstein - Asche zu Asche (Live aus Berlin)

Metallica hits Kraftwerk and suddenly you have the Germany's heavy industries coming at you. When guitar players' mics come on fire and they sing backing vocals into them... it becomes beyond surreal. The video is from 1998...

Sweet - Ballroom Blitz

Ultimate glamrock but it hit me 20 years after the release like truck. WTH was that? Cheesy beyond belief but what immortal guitar and drum riffs and superbly executed.

Queen - Innuendo

Piece of art. Immediately adds another dimension to the composition itself. Add rumors about Freddie's health, trying to scoop any new footage in the vid... An audiovisual masterpiece.

Ultravox - Vienna

The ultimate New Romantics flick. Does it matter it was actually shot at Convent Garden, London, UK? No. 

The .ex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK

Another 'what was that moment'. My introduction to punk in 1991. Got a pin badge a couple of weeks later :)