50/100 Video - "Land of Confusion" - Genesis (1986)

 

Phil Collins has done in all in the video arena.

As a solo artist, he invented air instruments.

Along with Philip Bailey, he made the first documentary style video about the making of a video.

And here with Genesis, he helped create one of the most elaborate and expensive videos ever made, during the heyday of the video era.

"Land of Confusion" by Genesis is also one of the most creative music videos ever made. 

The popular video was made using puppets created by the British TV series called The Spitting Image. The show would often make fun of Genesis, and by hiring their tormentors, the band proved that they could take a joke.

The video was directed by Jim Yukich, an American, who would watch The Spitting Image on his trips to England and loved the show. 

He got the idea to use the puppets in this video when he saw a Phil Collins parody on the show that made fun of his angst-ridden solo work.

Released during the President Reagan years, the video is an important part of the Cold War cultural time capsule. 

At the end of the video, the Ronald Reagan puppet accidentally launches a nuclear missile.

The video was very expensive to make; each puppet of which there are many, cost about $10,000.

51/100 Video - "Steve McQueen" - M83 (2011)

 

Much of M83's music is inspired by 80s synth-pop and John Hughes' films. 

From the initial "doop, doop, doop, doops", I knew "Steve McQueen" was going to be a spiritual song. 

The song's instant euphoria is equally matched by a super imaginative video, starring a 'Young Sheldon' boy with special powers.

\

The chorus "there's a magic inside, just waiting to burst out" while the toy animals fly by in unison is super nostalgic, and perfectly recalls the magic of childhood. 

The lyrics are an homage to Steve McQueen's carefree attitude in his years leading up to his battle with terminal cancer. 

52/100 Video - "Imitation of Life" - REM (2001)

The making of this video is truly imaginative, taking only 20 seconds to shoot.

What you're watching is a loop that goes forwards for 20 seconds, backwards for 20 seconds, forwards for 20 seconds, backwards for 20 seconds, with one static camera.

The technique is called 'pan and scan', often used when they go from a widescreen format and reformat to fit your television or DVD, moving in on certain parts of the entire picture.

53/100 Video - "Shock the Monkey" – Peter Gabriel (1982)

 

Peter Gabriel has always been a chameleon.

And he seemed to be almost too creative for his former Genesis band mates.

Unpopular opinion: this is PG's best video.

Released in 1982 during the early days of MTV, the video for "Shock the Monkey" was far ahead of its contemporaries.

The lyrics explore the theme of jealousy in humans, explaining the primal symbolism throughout the clip.

And those moving robotic lamps looked pretty cool back in the day.

54/100 Video - "Papercut"- Linkin Park (2000)

The rap rock song "Papercut" by Linkin Park starts off innocently enough. The boys from Linkin Park enter a lobby before starting to play their instruments.

However...soon after the music begins and the two vocalists start dancing, the mood changes to ominous. 

An adjacent room shows dark imagery; a metaphor for the lyrics about paranoia.

As the video progresses, the sinister room reveals a sack crawling with ants. Moments later, a chrysalis generates hundreds of dragonflies.

Then evil faces start coming through the lobby walls and the room starts shape-shifting around the band. 

In the latter half of the clip, the lights dim down while dozens of dragonflies enter the lobby and menacingly hover around the band members.

Some may not enjoy this sort of video but I adore it for its unique brand of creepy cool.