_edited.png)
This blog is a follow up to my previous ranking of my favorite music videos. These are ranked #12-1 on my list, in ascending order. As the host of Punktones, they generally fall into Grunge, Punk, and New Wave. I apologize in advance for the sheer number of good Beck music videos.
(Favorite Music Videos Pt. 1: https://www.uicradio.net/post/favorite-music-videos-pt-1-punktones)
12) Soundgarden - “Rusty Cage”
Rewatchability: 70% Humor: 70% Concept: 75% Scary: 30% Aesthetics: 75% Thrills: 80%
All those freaky white men shambling around and looking at the camera like freaks is a nice touch. What better way to describe a metaphor of a man on the run from his oppressors, external and internal? Soundgarden plays inside the cage, but it’s bright white inside, while the wood shack seen throughout the video houses chains and a burning chair–shows the difference between your inner self and the cage keeping your best self in. Lots of great images, like the '60s truck barrelling through a barricade and the first-person shot of hands gathering water. The cinematography reminds me of Evil Dead 1 and 2.
10) Alice in Chains - “I Stay Away”
Rewatchability: 40% Humor: 30% Concept: 75% Disturbing: 50% Aesthetics: 70% Claymation: 90%
Death and Disaster at the Carnival. If you like claymation, and you like dark humor, watch. No one gets out unscathed, except the Alice in Chains crew and that evil little dude with his jar of flies. There’s no better visual for the opening line of “Stay Away” than a traveling van. While the claymation pacing is kinda fast to appreciate the little details, if you’re into stop-motion stuff, it delivers.
11) Hole - “Doll Parts”
Rewatchability: 15% Humor: 0% Concept: 100% Aesthetics: 100% Depressing: 100% Creepy Dolls: 30%
The barren landscape of broken dolls reflects the loss that the band, and Courtney Love in particular, felt after Kurt Cobain’s suicide and Kirsten Pfaff’s overdose. As Pfaff died prior to filming, the bassist in this video is Jennifer Finch of L7. Too sad to watch often. Courtney Love playing “Doll Parts” with her acoustic guitar on a bed is the only way I ever play this song, so I feel her pain when I watch this. Work of art.
9) DEVO - “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
Rewatchability: 70% Humor: 70% Concept: 100% Aesthetics: 100% Stage Personas: 100%
The transitions are impeccable. My favorite is when the mom yells at Mark Mothersbaugh and his girlfriend while another MM is singing on the TV. The TV version of Mothersbaugh spits out cigarettes when he says the line, “same cigarettes as me,” and when he slaps his forehead on the TV, we’re suddenly back in the video with his hand over his face. And the redhead punk flopping around in the wallpapered room is always on beat. Annoyingly, I can’t find a video where ads for other videos don’t overlay the end of the video. Very unsatisfying.
8) Stone Temple Pilots - “Days of the Week”
Rewatchability: 90% Humor: 50% Concept: 95% Aesthetics: 80% Bad Green Screen Effects: 60% Dance Moves: 65% Sales Success Rate: 15%
Scott Weiland daydreams during his mundane monotonous weekly door-to-door salesman job. The shots of them as salesmen are so perfectly done, like when they're eating lunch on the grass out of paper bags. Scott Weiland has the best facial expressions. In high school, I ended up writing a short story based on the salesman concept. It wasn’t very good, but it shows you how a great music video can inspire your imagination.
7) The Stranglers - “Bear Cage”
Rewatchability: 70% Humor: 100% Concept: 70% Aesthetics: 90% Dynamic Camera Action: 95% Hospitality: 0%
The Stranglers dedicate their complaints to Berlin. Cheap flights end in disaster, the staff pokes the elderly with a stick, people are relegated to cages, everything is an embarrassing excuse of a sideshow. “GmbH,” chanted in the chorus, is a German acronym equating to LLC, meaning the company is not liable for any of the gross misuses of authority, lack of accountability, and lame pageants you see here.
6) Green Day - “Walking Contradiction”
Rewatchability: 90% Humor: 100% Concept: 100% Aesthetics: 100% Stunts: 100% Iconic Oblivious Wanton Destruction: 100%
Watch Billie Joe Armstrong cheat death three times performing his own street-crossing stunt. This is the pinnacle of music video humor. There is no deep meaning in the video; there is no message. In spite of the dumb humor, the dumb humor is everything. I love showing this video to anyone who’ll give me the chance. I am a fan of the punchline. The video gives consistent quality and entertainment. The jokes and punchlines are all on point. The 90s bright colorization and direction make it appealing to look at, and the script is perfect. Sometimes, I walk by fences and want to drag a stick across the posts. This is how it feels to be a walking contradiction.
5) Beck - “Loser”
Rewatchability: 100% Humor: 70% Scary: 30% Concept: 80% Aesthetics: 65%
The random association reflects the off-the-cuff lyrics and the concept of being a loser–a coffin shuffling along in front of a cash loan place. The metaphors never stop. Footage from the film Kill the Moonlight, directed by Steven Hanft, who also directed this music video, is also included, and the popularity of the video finally got the indie film released. If you like Beck's humor and you like this song, watch it. I like the old man with the guitar and the dog following him. Many months ago, I was waiting at a bus stop across from a prison when this tall, homeless grey-haired man in pajama pants walked by twanging an untuned blue guitar and crossed the street to hit a few notes in front of the empty prison lobby before moving on. How could you get more accurate?
4) Beck - “Where It’s At”
Rewatchability: 90% Humor: 100% Concept: 90% Aesthetics: 100% Costumes: 75%
It’s a movie. It’s a full feature. From community service in the desert heat to used car salesman MC to sweaty guys fighting at Value Day$ to retro scene transitions and Beck sporting multiple costumes including a pirate hook, and suits, to surrealistic shots to playing in a honky tonk where everyone is in western wear dancing in sync (a dance which looks pretty fun whatever it is)--the juxtaposition between abrasive noise and golden fields is everything I could ask for and more. That’s an adventure I’d take any day.
3) Beck - “Beercan”
Rewatchability: 70% Humor: 90% Concept: ??? Aesthetics: 85% Party I Would Attend: 100%
Free association, I don’t know. The more I watch it, the more I notice recurring characters in hints of a non-linear, nonsensical plot. You can invent the meaning yourself. All the details are fun to look at, and the surrealist humor keeps it fresh. There’s so much packed in. The video gives and gives. Looks like everyone involved had a lot of fun creating whatever the hell this is.
2) Ministry - “Reload”
Rewatchability: 80% Humor: 50% Concept: 100% Aesthetics: 60% Assassins: 98%
Who killed JFK? Castro? Nixon? Marilyn Monroe? Jesus? Some old lady with a walker? Or anybody? Strange that Lee Harvey Oswald isn’t represented…. (unless he’s been unrecognizably miscast.) Frontman Al Jorgensen plays a slutty Jackie-O. The level of detail can be hard to notice with the chaotic camera work, but each watch is satisfying. Excellent film production. Ironic that the assassination in the music video features no gore, so it could be aired on TV, only to end up years later on Youtube, where the Zapruder film of the actual JFK assassination can be found easily without warnings or restrictions of any kind.
1) Beck - “Deadweight”
Rewatchability: 70% Humor: 60% Scary: 10% Concept: 80% Aesthetics: 85% Feel Good Ending: 100%
The video works in clips from the movie “A Life Less Ordinary” and weaves them into the concept and the plot, making Beck the unwitting protagonist who lives through scenes on another plane of existence with a deja vu sort of confusion. It’s very representative of me as I innocently go about my day only to be struck with vivid flashbacks of my dreams, prompted by only the most mundane and inconsequential of actions. The cathartic ending when he finally finds this movie playing at a theater cheers me up for physically inexplicable reasons. Sometimes, you really need a happy ending.
Comments