Otherside - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Flea, the bassist of Red Hot Chili Peppers had an idea for a bizarre music video after watching a German Expressionist film late one night. Also taking inspiration from the freaky styles of Cubism (pioneered by Pablo Picasso) and the crazy geometric designs by M.C. Escher, the music video for Otherside is truly unique. It’s about a man who travels through a surreal world. It’s “artsy” but not pretentious. It doesn’t take itself too seriously but isn’t a complete joke either. It’s a good video to watch several times to take in all of it’s layers. If you had to describe the video to a friend you could say it's probably what happens when you drop acid at a museum.

An Honest Mistake - The Bravery

Released in 2005 as the debut single off their first studio album, the song An Honest Mistake by American indie rock band The Bravery, peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. In the music video the band performs surrounded by an elaborate domino sequence and “Rube Goldberg Machine.” Which is a machine that consists of a course of devices that all perform a simple task to trigger each other. What’s amazing about this music video is the editing of all the different angles showing the machine’s actions in relation to the band’s performance. The ending is a bit of a surprise too.

Weapon of Choice - Fatboy Slim

From English DJ Fatboy Slim’s third studio album, his song Weapon of Choice which features legendary funk musician Bootsy Collins peaked at number 10 on the UK Single’s Chart. It’s music video was directed by Hollywood director Spike Jonzes and stars the great actor Christopher Walken. The concept is simple, Christopher Walken dances through an empty hotel lobby. Sounds kind of boring but after you watch it you’ll get why it’s liked so much. The music video won 6 awards at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards and Best Music Video at the 2002 Grammys.

The Hardest Button to Button - The White Stripes

The Hardest Button to Button is a song by American alternative rock band The White Stripes from their third album Elephant. The song reached number 8 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Chart and number 23 on the UK Singles Chart. The music video was directed by the Oscar winning French film maker Michel Gondry. It uses what’s called “pixelation animation” which is a stop motion animation technique. They used 32 identical drum kits, 32 amplifiers and 16 microphone stands to make the video. I don’t really know how to explain it but the video looks awesome. The visuals happening to the beat of the song are really cool. The style of the video was even parodied in The Simpsons where the band mates made a cameo.

Breezeblocks - alt-J

Off of their debut studio album An Awesome Wave, the song Breezeblocks was released in 2012 by English indie band alt-J. The music video for it is very original. It starts with a man kneeling next to a drowned woman in the bathtub. The story then proceeds by showing a violent fight between the man and woman in reverse. The music video quickly went viral and today has 187 million views on YouTube.

Chandelier - Sia

By Australian singer Sia, Chandelier is the lead single from her sixth album 1000 Forms of Fear. Chandelier reached the top five songs in 20 different countries’ music charts around the world. It was Sia’s first single to make it on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 8. The song went on to win many Grammy Awards including Best Music Video. Chandelier’s music video was released May 2014, featuring the 11 year old dancer at the time Maddie Ziegler. In it Maddie wears Sia’s signature wig and does an interpretive dance throughout a dirty rundown apartment. The choreography of the dance with the song is remarkable, especially for a dancer at such a young age. The video went viral and was the seventh most watched music video in 2014. Since then the video has been seen almost 2 billion times.

Here It Goes Again - Ok Go

From the Chicago band Ok Go, Here It Goes Again is a single from their album Oh no. It peaked at 36 on the UK Singles Chart and is one of two songs from the band that got on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video for the song is the band members doing a choreographed dance on treadmills. It was recorded all in one take. They had to do the dance 17 times to get it right all the way through. The video debuted on YouTube in 2006 and was one of the website’s first viral videos. In 2006 the video won a Youtube award for Most Creative Video and in 2007 it won a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video.

Thriller - Micheal Jackson

Michael Jackson’s Thriller is a short film/music video for his song Thriller. It’s budget was half a million dollars and was directed by the Hollywood director John Landis. The song is about horror and thriller movies. The video shows a young couple walking back from a movie theater when a hoard of zombies approaches them. It is considered to be the best music video of all time and is said to have made the music video format a true art form. The video was also released on VHS and sold over a million copies. In 2009 it was the first music video to be inducted into the National Film Registry for it’s cultural significance.

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