If there’s one thing we learned when putting together this week’s Team Huddle, it’s that there is an endless galaxy of view-worthy music videos on the Internet. Most of them are categorically strange and 50% of them feature Missy Elliott. And that’s fine, we love weird and we love Missy, but we also want to shed some light on a few track-accompanied visuals that you might not find on the list of usual suspects.
Daft Punk’s “Around The World” (1997)
A lo-fi masterpiece. A couple thousand bucks, a sound stage with some decent lights, 20 dancers is mediocre costumes, Michel Gondry in the director’s chair, and some spot-on choreography tells a pretty killer story for a hit with only three lyrics. Oh, and the song is pretty damn good too. Could watch it 1000 more times.
— Kingsley Spencer, Web Director
Hozier’s “Take Me To Church” (2014)
Admittedly not one of my favorite songs. But I saw this video a while ago… maybe it was one of the 2 times a year I smoke… but I watched the whole thing in my office during September 2014 and just thought, “That’s horrible. That was an awesomely horrible thing that I just watched and who the hell put that together?” A few weeks later it was on the radio nonstop. I’d turn it up every time. Still not one of my favorite songs.
— Eddie Berrang, Publisher
Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” (1997)
While Jaden might be stealing all the cool points lately, we can’t forget about the real OG — his dad. This gem actually won the 1998 MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video. Includes killer (and slightly awkward) dance moves, a quick trip to Egypt, and ~seven wardrobe changes. Just watch it. Sudden dance party will probably occur.
— Caitlin Cotroneo, Senior Project Manager
Snow Patrol’s “Signal Fire” (2007)
Leave it to an Irish/British alternative rock band to produce a music video that tells Spiderman’s story far better than any of the multiple hundred-million dollar Spiderman studio films/reboots ever did. And they did it with a f*cking school play. Starring fourth graders and filmed through the perspective of a parent in the audience with a shaky hand + barely-functioning VHS recording device. You can like the video for that, or for how it flawlessly re-delivers a feeling the 98% of us that completed elementary school remember pretty damn well (roughly 2% of North American children are homeschooled).
— Michael Kilcullen, Associate Editor
Arcade Fire’s “We Used to Wait” (2010)
This unique project called “The Wilderness Downtown” is one of the smartest uses of the 2.0 internet in media that I’ve seen, and hasn’t been matched yet. Milk partnered with the band + the launch of Google Chrome for a badass experience. Just think of the context of when this was released vs what is capable now — and it’s still revolutionary. Even the doves flying around on the landing page that react to your mouse movements is some OG shit.
— Bronson Lamb, Managing Director
VIDEO: Head over to the Wilderness Downtown’s website to test out the interactive visual
Stay tuned for more nice things from our team on next week’s Team Huddle.
