I first discovered MTV in the 90s. Once the 21st century hit, I had peeled off into other interests, and if I hit up the MTV Channel post-90s I usually get bombarded with some rapper I don't know decorated in "bling" or some odd band whose acoustics don't really tickle my fancy.
I'm not some geezer reminiscing on "Sonatra days" but I do have a repertoire of "Old School" music videos by which I felt utterly entranced by in the early 90s. In addition to watching a music video being something "somewhat rebellious", going back and revisiting them and understanding the underlying message of a lot of them has felt extremely rewarding.
Some of these I claim "utterly awesome" because of their visual story, or maybe I owned the album and liked seeing the band, or maybe I just liked the tune, but they all embody and quintessentially capture the 90s music scene. In any case, Here's my top ten list not in any specific order:
- Men without Hats. The Safety Dance
This is such a goofy (but appropriate) music video for this song. I had never heard of the band, nor the song, but this I definitely caught multiple times channel surfing in my teens as one of the weirdest (but still acceptable) videos of all time. - Blind Melon. No Rain.
The first music item I ever purchased (as a tape cassette at the time!). This definitely had to make the cut. The bee girl on the album cover as well as the "hippie in the field" scene set, in addition to being just a great song, all were emblazoned on my mind. - Collective Soul. The World I Know.
While these guys certainly aren't "boring", I did put on their album almost every night in highschool to fall asleep to. The actor in this music video kind of irritates you, but I knew the song and the video certainly has a moving quality to it. - Soundgarden. Black Hole Sun.
Creepy? Yes. Disturbing? Fairly. On MTV about every other 5 videos during the 90s? Yep. Don't really like the Soundgarden band but if you ever watched the MTV channel, this definitely always seemed to be on the air. - Dave Matthews Band. Ants Marching.
This isn't the original video, which wasn't that good in the first place. But still a great 90s song. - Green Day. Basket Case.
If there existed one quintessential classic 90s song, I think it would have to be this song. Although many a great band exist, green Day might even be The quintessential 90s band. I just think of Green Day when I think of 90s music. Their unruly music and boisterous video definitely made you feel a bit "rebellious" watching it as a teen. - Prodigy. Breathe.
. Almost an angry song, it definitely has the creepfest flavor to it like Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", but the band put a huge amount of time into this video. It's well-choreographed and memorable. - Red Hot Chili Peppers. Love Roller-coaster.
This definitely makes the cut for 2 key reasons: 1)Love rollercoast is an absolutely fantastic song and 2)Beavis and Butthead just "wreak" of 90s music. I remember first discovering the MTV Tv show with a great computer friend in California and it definitely fell in the category of one of those shows that if you're parents caught you watching it, they'd likely defenestrate the telly. - Joan Osborne. What if God was One of Us.
. Hideously (and humorously) mocked by Austin Powers, this video definitely sparked a good interconnected vibe and captured a lot of 90s music videos. - Sugar Ray. Fly.
This kind of reggae-ish pop music was completely novel to my ears. - Goo Goo Dolls. Iris.
No, you never saw the actual movie this soundtrack covered, but the music video was on all the time! - Sheryl Crowe. All I Wanna Do.
. Old School Sheryl Crowe before her unique musical creases and quirks got smoothed over (and dulled) by pop culture hype. Good stuff. - Run DMC. It's Like That.
Just WATCH this video. I think I tried to record this the first time I saw this (probably 7th grade) and it inspired me to nearly break my neck a few times attempting gold-medal-like gymnastic break-dancing moves, but this takes the cake by far for best dancing in a music video ever. - Beastie Boys. Sabotage & Intergalactic.
Along with Dave Matthews, maybe Bush, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, only a few of these bands I actually still follow today. Beastie Boys is one of those. I see them live at Northerly Island in Autumn of 2007 and they were incredible. Mike D, at 40, looks, sings, and performs as if he's about late 20s. This is one of their classics.
A few more "definitely 90s" songs (that didn't have embedding enabled): - Tom Petty.Into the Great Wide Open. Don't Come Around Here No More Sure Tom Petty (and this video, specifically) was definitely before the 90s, but I SAW this in the 90s, so that's what counts! There also exist greater songs by Petty, but this one's epic with the pink hat and storytelling sing-mode.
- Ace of Base. Don't Turn Around. You don't particularly like the song, but it was always played and always on.
- Bush. Comedown. Amazing song. Love the band. The elastic guitar chords (and cords) were the coolest, craziest thing I had seen at the time. Man, if you could pick one video that warped space-time this would top the charts.
- Jamiroquoi. Virtual Insanity. The classic "gallon magician's chapeau" made this video. Very cool
Okay, so I ran a little bit over the "10" videos list, but hey, I kept finding the golden ones later down the line. Additionally, you've gotten an unfiltered sampler of the eclectic style and musical taste's of Validate Your Life!
Well, that about wraps it up. I'll likely amend this if I come across an old and memorable 90s music video. You really feel like you've unlocked some quality cognitive nuggets of your personal history after making such musical medley. I encourage anyone else who has a "good ol' days of music" concept, to chronicle their tastes as well. I'm positive that I vicariously lived out my musical rockstar fantasies through watching many of these videos, so they mean a lot.
2 comments:
As far as I'm concerned, the 80s videos are where it's at. Not only were they an entirely new thing, but because people had no idea what they were doing, they were more real.
Sweet! So bodacious to hear from you, scoot! THE movieeveryday host, haha, sweet! Anyways, I agree, I think Tom Petty's videos were some of the best. But then again I think this "list" is inevitably one of the most subjective things possible because birth generation plays such a vital factor. I think I was listening to "Huey Lewis and the News"' and "Walk like an egyptian" on my "pocket rocker" (those old goofy little things that held one song per tape) in the 80s, and had no idea what a music video was at the time. I just got in touch with my Elementary school Art teacher and she made some remark about her "Love Generation". I think different generation definitely massively effects musical preferences. I have no idea what this list would look like if I was "old enough" to watch MTV in the 80s! But I merely picked the 90s because That was the decade where I viewed the most (almost only in the 90s) Musiv vids.
Yeah, but totally astute observation of the 80s pushing the transgressive boundaries in defining music. Good to have that scope, but I wonder if someone from an even earlier generation would claim "The Four Seasons" pushed the "new era". Who knows, with music and art, the essence lies in the interpretation, no doubt!
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