My Top 100 Favourite Music Videos: #8

#8 "I'm Afraid of Americans" - David Bowie and Trent Reznor
Release Date: 1997
Director: Dom and Nic
Fun Fact: This isn't actually the original song - you can listen to that here. This is a remix collaboration by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, which David Bowie loved so much he made it into the single!

This is the second video directed by Dom and Nic, the other one is "The Salmon Dance" by the Chemical Brothers, which was featured all the way back at #95!

I'm both flabbergasted and disappointed that this video has a measly 140,000 views on YouTube. Clearly this is a hidden gem of a music video that most people haven't seen... either that or I'm overrating it!

As a British person, like a lot of people in this country (and many others) we look at America as a land of opportunity, but also a country with a lot of paranoia, one with a lot of gun obsession and a country that... kinda scares us. In multiple ways. David Bowie has created a song about this strange phenomenon and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (who is actually American) kindly provides us with the visual demonstration of this. By the way Americans, I, and I'm sure a lot of people, are not saying all Americans act like Trent Reznor in this video! But either way, it's just a damn great video and it tries to explain this weird thing about America that does cross the minds of people from other countries.

But moving away from the subject of the song, why I love this video so much is simple. It features one of my favourite artists growing up as a kid in David Bowie, collaborating with my favourite musician in my favourite band of all time, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. And seeing a goateed Trent chasing David Bowie down New York City streets is both fantastic and a little funnier than it should be. David Bowie while providing half an arguement that Americans are paranoid, does provide the other half of the arguement that maybe he, is the one that's paranoid; he sees imagines of Americans shooting gun hands at eachother when they're in actuality doing nothing of the kind.

And yes, I won't lie. Trent Reznor playing a stalker called Jonny, shooting an invisible machine gun at a taxi at the end is a deliciously amazing scene that I will always love. Just watch the video!

Note: This is the sixth and last video from the year 1997 in this list.

Here is the video for your enjoyment!

Click here to see #7 on the list or here for #9!

My Top 100 Favourite Music Videos: #95

#95: "The Salmon Dance" - The Chemical Brothers
Release Date: 2007
Director: Dom and Nic
Fun Fact: The "teenage boy" is actually actor Rory Jennings. He's 31 now so that makes him aged 23 when he was in the video!

For some reason this video is really understated. It's a fantastic bit of CGI, something you don't really see to this level of expertise and quality very often. It's like a mini Finding Nemo to be honest, without the storyline!


Basically the boy is hallucinating and seeing all his fish talking and dancing. I suppose that's not funny but the video itself is very entertaining. I love Puffa, the beatboxing pufferfish - he's so cool. Also Sammy the salmon (who actually isn't a salmon but a squirrel fish) with his facts is very entertaining. I love how Fatlip puts up with his "facts" until the end, pretending to be interested before asking for everyone to give him a round of applause. It's just a very entertaining video that deserves more attention that it gets.

Note: This is the first and last video from the year 2007 in this list.

Here's the video for your enjoyment!

 

Click here to see #94 on the list or here for #96!

Noughtie: Best Music Videos - Part 1

Overall Favourite Artists | Best of 2000 | Overall Least Favourite Artists | Best of 2001

Where Are They Now? | Best of 2002 | Best New Artists | Best of 2003 | My Guilty Pleasures
Best of 2004 | My Favourite Riffs | Best of 2005 | Underrated Artists | Best of 2006
 My Favourite Albums | Best of 2007 | Best Videos | Best of 2008 | Most Important Artists
Best of 2009 | 100 Favourite Songs of the Decade | 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade

Welcome to Part 17 of the Noughtie series. This is possibly my favourite part of the series as it's both musical and visual. I love all twenty of the videos you will see in the next four days on my site.

So yes, this will be in four parts. This is for a couple of reasons. The first is because if you haven't seen any of these videos, you can indulge in them, or if you have seen them you indulgence on them regardless. The second is because I'm unsure if it's a good idea to put 10 or 20 YouTube listings in one link, it may slow down my computer and yours. So it'll be in 4 parts, with 5 videos on each link.

So let's get to it shall we? From #20 to #16!

20. "The Salmon Dance" - The Chemical Brothers (2007)

This video is just good fun. It's got good animated fish too, very decent quality. It just makes me think of Finding Nemo but in music video form. I really like the idea and it goes really well with the song. It's a brilliant video, and that beatboxing blowfish is awesome!

19. "Pork and Beans" - Weezer (2008)

Man, this video was awesome. I mean, every internet and Youtube fan must have seen at least one of the videos paid homage to in this music video. You've got to give it to Weezer for collecting all these internet celebrities and creating such a great video. It's quite well known that Weezer love the interwebz and likes to use Youtube.

18. "All the Small Things" - Blink-182 (2000)

It's weird to think this as a classic video but it is. This video is now eleven years old, and it's still as great today as it was back then. Who would of thought that taking the piss out of the Backstreet Boys has become more classic than the actual Backstreet Boys? People remember this video more than the boyband now! This was definitely Blink-182 at their best.

17. "Gay Bar" - Electric Six (2003)

Man this video is just hilarious. There's so many things that are wrong about this video. But they're wrong in a good way. Man, unless you're homophobic, you can't help but laugh watching it. So much innuendo, so much crude references, so many sweaty men. And why are they dressing up like Abraham Lincoln?! Kudos to Dick Valentine for this brilliant video, he has so much courage to make this video. Either that or he's bi-sexual!

16. "Smooth Criminal" - Alien Ant Farm (2001)

Who would have thought that this band would have become a one-hit wonder? With this fantastic cover version, this funny video, and a decent second single with "Movies", who would have thought that they could only go down from there? It's a shame really. But man, this video made me laugh so hard when I first saw it. My favourite bit is still the bit when the lead singer jumps on top of a car and does the crotch grab, forcing the windows to smash in the car. It's just fantastic.

Part two is found here.
Part three is found here.
Part four is found here.

So there's part 1 of this listing. Part 2 will be up tomorrow, where I'll the videos from #15 to #11. See you then.

Noughtie: Best of 2005 (Mixtape)

Overall Favourite Artists | Best of 2000 | Overall Least Favourite Artists | Best of 2001
Where Are They Now? | Best of 2002 | Best New Artists | Best of 2003 | My Guilty Pleasures
Best of 2004 | My Favourite Riffs | Best of 2005 | Underrated Artists | Best of 2006
 My Favourite Albums | Best of 2007 | Best Videos | Best of 2008 | Most Important Artists
Best of 2009 | 100 Favourite Songs of the Decade | 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade

Welcome to Part 12 of the Noughtie series. This is the sixth Mixtape, celebrating the year of 2005 in rock and metal. I really liked 2005, despite emo becoming very prominent by now. There were good quality indie and metal bands making music. There were also a few decent alternative dance songs as well. Anyway, rules of the Mixtape.

A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further recommendations if some of the songs aren't to your taste. Remember kids, downloading is wrong! 

Here we go, my favourite songs from 2005!

1. Juicebox - The Strokes
2. Four Kicks - Kings of Leon
3. Superman - Stereophonics
4. Ain't No Easy Way - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
5. The Good Ones - The Kills
6. Blue Orchid - The White Stripes
7. Bad Things - Jace Everett
8. Dare - Gorillaz
9. Feels Just Like it Should - Jamiroquai
10. Ass Like That - Eminem
11. Galvanize - The Chemical Brothers
12. Spitfire - The Prodigy
13. Slam - Pendulum
14. Little Sister - The Queens of the Stone Age
15. Before I Forget - Slipknot
16. Nobody - Skindred
17. Twisted Transistor - KoRn
18. B.Y.O.B. - System of a Down
19. Only - Nine Inch Nails
20. Keine Lust - Rammstein

Don't like some of these songs? Try these five:

1. The Importance of Being Idle - Oasis
2. Daft Punk Is Playing at My House - LCD Soundsystem
3. Best of You - Foo Fighters
4. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
5. Filthy/Gorgeous - Scissor Sisters

There we go, my favourite songs from 2005. What were yours? You can comment below if you want to put in your two shillings. I shall be back on Saturday for an article dedicated to the bands I love, that aren't as appreciated as I believe they should be.