What are your favorite music videos?

Smack My Bitch Up by the Prodigy. WARNING: Nudity, drug use, violence in this one. I was lucky enough to catch this the only time it aired on MTV wayyyyy back in the day. It's stuck with me ever since.

Scrape by Unsane. Just a bunch of skateboarder wipe outs. Some nasty ones in there too.

Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana. Just because it's so fucking weird.

Childish Gambino - This is America

Spiritbox - Holy Roller

Spiritbox - Constance

Billie Eilish - When the Party's Over

Billie Eilish - Bury a Friend

Caravan Palace - Lone Digger NSFW is a long-time electro swing favorite. If you like this one, you may also want to check out Moonshine by the same group

Bakermat - Bad Dreams is the first in a series of videos about the protagonist dog's life and I highly recommend the entire run of nine? videos that complete the plot

SIAMÉS -Summer Nights gives me major nostalgia vibes and has a cute story with details that are easy to miss on your first viewing

Natalia Lafourcade - Hasta la Raíz is an ambitious concept that I think is done really well. I believe it's a single shot video, the bit around 2:45 makes it hard to say for sure

Rayos Laser - Ya me Hiciste Mal has themes about friendship that have stuck with me for years

The Prodigy - Voodoo People (Pendulumn Remix) was the first video I thought of in response to the title. It's got some pg-13 violence but its a fun ride

I've always been mesmerized by tight audio/visual sync. A kind of loaner synesthesia. So most of my picks are about that direct connection rather than vibes.

• Autechre - Gantz Graf
  The pinnacle of A/V sync. Hand sequenced with 90s-era tools that would wear down anyone but the most dedicated. It's a miracle it even exists and still is a golden touchstone for many VJs.

• Björk - All Is Full of Love
  My favorite Cunningham work. Romance, robots, lens flare before it was cool, and lots of gushing coolant. If only the AI revolution could have this much soul.

• Björk - Hyperballad
  One of the finest things Gondry ever directed. It's still futuristic and unique all these years later.

• Ceephax Acid Crew - Probey's Poker
  80s hyper-colored madness with Ceephax' fun DIY attitude and humor. Get swept up in the carpet rush.

• Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar
  Ever looked out the window on a long car/train ride and found bits of the scenery that match up to the radio? What if the entire landscape was in-sync.

• Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy
  From the edge of space to the crashing blue of Mother Earth, as told via gorgeous archival footage. One of the few times that the nostalgia and energy of BoC gets matched visuals.

• Annie Lennox - Walking on Broken Glass
  A powerful song about a woman scorned viewed as a lush semi-comedic period piece featuring John Malkovich and Hugh Laurie. I'm still amazed this exists, given Lennox' usual style.

If you just want some awesome music videos, get your hands on a rip (or an expensive second-hand copy) of "Director's Label Series Boxed Set - The Works of Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, and Michel Gondry". It's a beautiful artifact from a scrappy, imaginative age of music videos and short films.

Weird Al's "Word Crimes" is a level of genius that isn't properly recognized in our day and age:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc

Group Sounds - Temporarily In Love. (NSFW, sexual themes/nudity) This is one of those white whale music videos I saw back in 2008 and spent over a decade trying to find with no luck. It's surprising how a low budget indie music video (where the band is literally playing inside a woman) flew under the radar.

DragonForce - Heart Demolition. I think this is the first truly good song they've released since ZP Theart left the band back in 2010. Music video is great and actually makes me want the band to publish a 16-bit Space Harrier style video game.

Babymetal & Electric Callboy - RATATATA. This one is an absolute earworm and has a surprising low amount of Japanese lyrics for a Babymetal song.

Kyle Gordon - Selekta (Sidequest Remix.) What if I told you this was an American comedy singer spoofing 90's British rap and doing it so well that it transcends parody? As an Englishman myself, I'm impressed.

PSY - Napal Baji. "Korean Uptown Funk" is probably the best way I can describe this song and music video. It's genuinely one of PSY's best tracks.

Mutemath - Typical is seriously impressive. They shot some of the scenes in reverse and likely only had a single take to do so.

I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite, but it has stuck with me for many years: UNKLE - Rabbit In Your Headlights if you were watching MTV in the 90s after midnight you were practically guaranteed to see this video.

Tessa Violet - I Like (the idea of) You

Super catchy song, great choreography, cool atmosphere, cool cinematography

K/DA - Pop/Stars. At that time I was not a fan of League Of Legends or KPop, but this song and visuals is something unique and complex and beautiful. Still not a fan of LoL, but I definitely warmed to KPop.

CDK - Somebody I Used To Know by Gotye. I just love this dance interpretation!

HEXVESSEL - Cosmic Truth, beautiful nature time-lapses, must have been a lot of work :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uHPHn5Zwmo

AMENRA - A Solitary Reign 10/10 cinematography :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD7bxyzFbC4

The Doobie Life and What's Going On, The Funky Monkey Dance... This wonderful live One-Armed Scissor performance...

On a less ironic note, my favorite is probably Daicon IV / ELO's Twilight. I was going through a mild mental breakdown in college about the fact that nuclear war could just wipe out humanity in an instant, and then my friend coincidentally sent me this for our group's Song of the Week music video week. If someone can make one of the most beautiful couple seconds of animation ever put to film (starting out of someone's garage, no less) out of such horrid and local destruction, juxtaposed against a bunny girl surfing on Stormbringer, I figured I'm probably gonna be aight. Also, back to the irony, it has jiggling titties.

2D or Not 2D is by the Japanese synthpop/new wave band P-Model. They have many more odd music videos but this one is probably my favorite and never fails to put a smile on my face.

I like Cibo Matto's Sugar Water most of all because it plays around with one-shot takes but also reverses from start to the middle to the end. It's really mind-blowing. ASA-CHANG&junray - hana is another good one that plays with time but it is a lot simpler and subtle

Grateful Dead Touch Of Grey Video - animatronic skeletons (what more could you ask for?!)

Eiko Ishibashi - III, Primiti too taa - simple designs to the beat

We Show Up On Radar - The Anchors In Your Heart - Brilliant song and the costume design is unique

Mashrou' Leila - Roman, Lorn - Acid Rain - Wide open spaces with lots of choreographed dancing

Justice - New Lands - I'm not really into sports but I love the complexity of this made up sport and how well it fits the song

Eiko Ishibashi - forgotten faces - the tap dancing is percussion to piano

Bonnie Prince Billy - Agnes, Queen of Sorrow - simple animation but hilarious

Men At Work - Who Can It Be Now?, Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime - the format fits the content

Portishead - The Rip - the animation style really fits the messiness of emotions

Robots doing human things: Mister Heavenly - Makin' Excuses, Jackson C. Frank - I Want to Be Alone (Daft Punk's Electroma), Röyksopp - The Girl And The Robot

There are a few that I like for their simplicity. Filming the band in a recording studio is too simple but walking around the city or otherwise placing yourself into where the band hangs out--when they aren't making music--helps me to feel more of the emotion that the band is trying to convey because I think it's more of their baseline environment and it helps me to see their personality more. Some examples: THE OTOGIBANASHI'S - Fountain Mountain, Tenniscoats - Baibaba Bimba, Eiko Ishibashi - A Part of Your Life, Eiko Ishibashi - Mona Lisa...

I also like weird locations and worldbuilding: Radiohead - Lift, Oh Pep! - Doctor Doctor, Eli Hsieh - Walk, Rex Orange County - Sunflower, Erlend Øye - Garota, Andy Shauf - Quite Like You, Simple Kid - Staring at the Sun, DATA - One in a Million

When I was a kid music videos were still a pretty big deal, but going into the 2010s when I was a teenager (which is probably when a lot of my favorites would have happened) they just weren't that much of a thing and kept going on a decline.

It's really only over the past year that I've been watching music videos as it's own artform. That being said throughout the 2010s the music videos I most remember:

Fancy from Iggy Azalea

Selfie from The Chainsmoker

Habits from Tove Lo

Rolling in the Deep from Adele

Turn Down For What this is directed by the duo behind Everything Everywhere All At Once

Bad Guy from Billie Eillish

thank u, next from Ariana Grande

Basically a lot of the 90s... (and these were all ones I made a point to download on IRC), which were a little not normal and usually a little effed up... or a lot in some cases.

Blink 182 - All the Small Things
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Got Your Money
Weezer - Buddy Holly (Thank the Win95 CD for this one!)
Bloodhound Gang - Fire Water Burn (uncensored, and the timing is a little off)
Yo la Tengo - Sugarcube
Prodigy - Smack my Bitch up (norb covered that above)
Ice Cube - It Was a Good Day
Nirvana - In Bloom
... and on that note but the next decade... Outkast - Hey Ya!
Soundgarden - Blow up the Outside World
Korn - Freak on a Leash
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker
And the last latecomer (but not least!) Eminem - My Name Is

Dang, that was quite the walk down memory lane for me...

Pretty much anything by Jungle. The dancing is fantastic.

Jungle - Candle Flame

Jungle - Holding On

Jungle - Casio

Jungle - Julia

Some others I like:

Ángela Aguilar - La Llorona // Visually, just a cool feel.

Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart

Diplo (ft. Nicky Da B) - Express Yourself

DJ Zinc - 'Show Me'

Salyu x Salyu - ただのともだち // I actually don't know the title in English.

Alex Gaudino feat. Crystal Waters - Destination Calabria // I'm not gonna lie...it's just incredibly hot.

Disclaimer: I love most genres of music but coming up I always gravitated to underground hip-hop. That's what you'll find here.

So this is probably my 'favourite' music video, that's not to say it's the best.

Necro ft. I'll Bill - White Slavery (NSFW)

As an aside, the woman in that video reminds me a lot of Summer Reign, warning NOT good music, googling couldn't confirm if it's the same person.

My earliest favourite music video was
Pharcyde - Drop
It runs backwards and (I think) all in one take, very original and artistic for it's time.

Another group I loved was Mystik Journeymen. West Coast underground hip-hop from the 90s. I had bought a VHS tape of theirs which had a bunch of skits and music videos I'd never seen. Luckily someone has uploaded it to YouTube. Vying for top music video starting at 26:40 is Living Legend - Nowyouno

I've seen a lot of 90's videos mentioned which was a great time for music videos, in my opinion.

But, I haven't seen The Smashing Pumpkins mentioned who really embraced the music video in the 90's/early 00's and some of theirs have been great.

Tonight, Tonight - A wonderful tribute to George Méliès 1902 film A Trip to the Moon. Fun fact, the male main character is played by Tom Kenny or as you may know him, the voice of Spongebob Square pants. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie, best known for directing the film "Little Miss Sunshine".

1979 - Such a fun video, nostalgically reminds me of that fleeting, hazy freedom of being 16-20 years old before proper adult responsibilities began to kick in. Of parties, gigs galore, meeting new people constantly, my youth and health, even just driving around nowhere in particular with my best friends. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris once more.

Perfect - The sequel video to 1979, directed again by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and featuring the same actors (apart from one who was in prison) reprising their roles a few years later as the characters from 1979 finding themselves facing the ups and downs of adult life and responsibility.

Ava Adore - Filmed in one long take, this video is notable for using slow and fast motion while the speed of the camera is static, and the band lip sync to the song in perfect rhythm while the scenes in the background as well as the band members speed up and slow down. The calculations to work out the speed changes required caused huge delays on set, with the band nearly calling off the entire video and going for something simpler.

Honourable Mentions

• Zero
• Try Try Try
• Rocket

Lorn - Acid Rain. Dark atmospheric electronic, paired with an equally dark short movie.
Excellent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxg4C365LbQ

A few other Michel Gondry videos were mentioned here, but surprisingly not my all-time fave: Kylie Minogue - Come Into My World

I'll start by saying pretty much any video by OK Go, won't bother linking them. Some specific favorites though:

Owl City - Fireflies I loved seeing this one on Teennick as a kid, it just feels magical.
Boggie - Noveau Parfum I know no other songs by her, the video is just mesmerizing and really shows how much digital touchups change about people.
Benny - Little Game A song about gender roles, and the video does a good job. there's also a great mashup with Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez so now the song sounds like it's missing something to me, heh
Royal Blood Figure it Out Just awesome swaps between red and blue filters, and a rocking beat.
Bat for Lashes - What's a Girl to So Really captures the old Halloween spooky vibe.
Skip the Use - Nameless World It's also a promo for a comic which I should probably check out sometime
Mili - Classroom Dreamer As an immersive daydreamer, this is one of the few songs and videos that feels like it actually applies to me

And with the English language videos (minus Nouveau Parfum) out of the way... So a big amount of my music tastes veer towards Japanese and Vocaloid in large part because the songs and music videos usually tell some sort of story.

There are so many I could recommend, but I'll try to stick to music videos that aren't directly related to the lyrics as a story. (Seriously, there are multiple Vocaloid series that are one big story. Some of them have dedicated wiki's and spin-off novels and adaptations. You can spend all day diving into those rabbit holes.)

Zutomayo - Darken The video that introduced me to Zutomayo. This group has so many incredible animated music videos that show cool stories, and several of them are linked via recurring characters. You can find analysis of connections in the comments of some of them.

Kenshi Yomezu - Love & Fever This one has the most special place in my heart. It directly inspired a story that expanded into a whole world with a cast I love. I haven't managed to write it yet even after 10+ years, but that story and its characters are always somewhere in my mind being forever tweaked and adjusted.

sasakure.uk ft. Hatsune Miku - Hello Planet It's a song about a robot in a post-apocalyptic world and the video looks like an 8-bit video game. Technically part of a series, but this one can stand on its own.

Vega-P ft. Kagamine Rin - Disappearance Festival This one continues a long tradition of creepy Vocaloid songs/videos that's kinda faded over the years, which made this a pleasant surprise last year. It's about a creepy festival where kids need to keep dancing or else they disappear. I've watched it multiple times now.

Eve - As You Like It Another "introductory song/video" like Darken. I just love the roughness of the art style and animations, and the character designs are fun. Check out other videos by him for a fun rabbit hole!

Ado - Value Pretty sure it doubles as a promo for ProCreate on Apple devices, the video is just really cool. Ado's music videos are all animated by the way, she's another singer who never shows her face.

Toby Fox & Itoki Hana - Greatest Living Show Trigger warning for this one, the animation has this 80's/90's feeling and has a pretty dreamy quality. By which I mean "it has a constant sense of unease and wow this is old-school psychological horror".

Kikuo - Missing, Missing Kikuo is one of my favorite Vocaloid producers for having songs that are super creepy but which can be seemingly cute on the surface. Lately I've been playing Missing, Missing a lot. The video has a pretty dreamy quality, and I particularly like how the claps sync up.

Yorushika - Bremen At least that's the title according to Google translate. It's just showing off feet walking (which according to some comments tie into past music videos), but there's just something neat about the simplicity of it. You can get an idea of each character's personality from their shoes and the way they move.

Nuyuri - Lower One's Eyes (English Cover by Trickle) Linking the cover which introduced me to it rather than the original Vocaloid song, but it still has the same video. I just freaking love everything about the song and video. It has heavy biblical themes, and has also inspired a story I intend to write some day.

...and I'll stop there because I have way too many Japanese music videos I like dang it. Enjoy the rabbit holes! Particularly recommend checking out Zutomayo, Eve and Ado for more cool music videos.

DJ Shadow feat. Run The Jewels - Nobody Speak

Vance Joy - Riptide

A few others have already been mentioned, a few I can't seem to find original uploads of (or at least they don't seem quite correct to my addled brain.)

Foxwarren - Listen2me (recent release)
Nick Cave - But We Had Music
Viewfinder
Ghen - Jane Doe