We Don't Want to Know: The ILM All-Time Video Poll (discussion, etc.; deadline is Monday, March 14)

No idea where to even start with this one. Most of my picks would be from the 80's and 90's, which maybe goes without saying (coinciding with the peak of the music video's relevance). I agree that it's important to "really really like the song", but I don't know how I'll deal with canonical picks like "Sledgehammer". Groundbreaking video, great song? Yes and yes. But it's hardly my favourite Peter Gabriel song, let alone one of my favourite songs ever. Plus I've seen the video so many times, I'm actually kind of bored with it. But you can't argue its importance.

Without a doubt, this is my all-time favorite - "Can't Go Wrong Without You" by His Name Is Alive, directed by the Brothers Quay: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqxQ8H-nb_M
I saw this for the first time on MTV (120 Minutes), believe it or not.

i def think that performance videos a la last waltz or hendrix at monterey should not be in the same poll as an mtv-style music video

it’s very apples and oranges to me, and i can’t even begin to think about how i would narrow a list with both down or compare one to the other

oh nvm i think i misread the original post

The "Sledgehammer" video is a perfect example of one where I look at it and go "oh." Didn't mean anything to me then, and now it's like looking at hieroglyphics. (Not disputing its historical importance...which I never vote for in any kind of poll.)

No straight performance videos seems to be the preference. Performance inside a video with other video stuff going on--Blind Melon's "No Rain"--is fine. I'm sure there are many examples that blur the line, so make your own call.

Yeah, a lot of early promotional clips are just mimed performances, but I think they still count as "music videos" — they're simulations, played for a camera. Technically I guess lots of older TV shows were likewise lip-synched, but those still feel different — they're TV, but they're not "music videos" as a separate category.

Anyway, I love the poll idea.

I'd count this promotional clip for "Walk on By" as very much an early music video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fGgxMO15sE

There are a number of great ones like that from the era.

Most of mine will likely be 80s and 90s, but my fave all time video is undoubtedly this contemporary one:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ4uBdmnKds

Shura - What's It Gonna Be?

Despite growing up in the MTV era, and having seen a zillion videos in my lifetime, I don't think I have too many "favorites." These are a few that come immediately to mind:

George Michael - Father Figure
Chavez - Break Up Your Band
Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be

For sheer lunacy, George Michael's "Too Funky" is one of my favourites of that era:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ2DVwSVIIo

A lot of money to spend on such stuff back then.

Chavez - Break Up Your Band

YES, thought of this instantly when this thread was started

Viborg: thank you. If there's a general preference for a nomination list, maybe you could look after that on a Google Doc?

You’re welcome and for sure I’d be glad to help.

Let me get one started, and I'll set it up so you're able to edit. I'll start by listing all the songs mentioned so far.

Unless you want to do that yourself...I think I'd need an e-mail address to share editing with you.

don't forget the goat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEI7cTBVr2A

Started a spreadsheet...viewing only right now.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lQ75IZEv362aZrzoPH0G5ogeRZhOvGsfo9GedvMyAj4/edit?usp=sharing

Yeah lemme just dig up that old gmail address haha…a yahoo address won’t work will it?

And is this now the nominations thread or do we want to start a separate one?

Honestly don't know--we could try. (Send whatever to me using the rocketmail address in the opening post.)

Just use this as a nominations/discussion thread.

(Another thing I don't like about nominations is that you pretty much know everyone's ballot in advance via the nomination thread. Also, people end up voting for stuff not nominated all the time--I know I always think of a couple of things at the last minute.)

Admittedly I'm not super clear on the need for a sorted nominations list. This is the only comment I could find specifically advocating it:

I'm very interested but a nominations thread might be worthwhile for such an open-ended poll. Pretty daunting to vote without one!

― Vinnie, Monday, February 21, 2022 5:11 AM (fourteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

My understanding is that the nominations would help to provide suggestions for voting whether it's an unsorted thread or a sorted list, in a poll like this the structure provided by a sorted nominations list seems inessential. Maybe I'm missing something?

I would suggest we strongly recommend appending [Artist - Title] to links; aside from the archival value it helps to skim through the thread.

Anyway I'm still working on logging in to Gmail but I went ahead and sent you a message from my Yahoo account.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJssEgcn7AA

Aphex Twin - Windowlicker [dir. Chris Cunningham]

Sadly the intro has aged quite badly.

(xpost) You should be able to edit now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsAVx0u9Cw4

The Timelords [aka the Kopyright Liberation Front] - Doctorin' The Tardis

Cheers, it's view-only. I will sort out my gmail issues now.

Ok sent

Sadly the intro has aged quite badly.

Are there other parts of it that haven't?

Jesse Rae - Over The Sea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOad0FU9zF8

Anyone looking for a prompt should find something here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directors_Label

I think I've nominated that Jesse Rae video as the apotheosis of the 80s pop video (and therefore the pop video) elsewhere on this board to no response ;-)

It's tough to think of anything recent for this as I basically now only see music videos if I actively seek them out. And I rarely do that even for artists I enjoy -- I look for live performances.

Here's one though: David Bowie - Lazarus.

Maybe AFX fans should concentrate on Come To Daddy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1yr8w_vZ5E

Psychic TV - Godstar

There are a lot of these videos of a person wandering around the city aren't there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oMEuyhBkRo

Adam Freeland - We Want Your Soul

This one's classy, with that little razor scooter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q7IJOYxAMo

Nightmares On Wax - Les Nuits

One request: if you want to link to videos on this thread, do so without the http://. As you know, threads with numerous embedded videos take forever to load.

the Sledgehammer video was talked about above, something I never see mentioned is how similar bits of it are to this video by XTC for their song Funk Pop A Roll, made as part of a channel documentary in 1984:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnvO6lrZSxo

the Gabriel video is obviously much higher budget and elaborate (though I much prefer the Funk Pop A Roll video), but I wonder if that XTC video formed part of the inspiration? on the other hand, the guy who directed Sledgehammer also directed the video for Road To Nowhere by Talking Heads in 1985, and that also feature stop motion stuff but is less similar to the XTC video, so maybe they both came to it independently?

sorry, that was supposed to be with the http://. , but I must have done it wrong?

Rather than removing the http://, I reckon simply hyperlinking everything is both more reliable and neater

Perfume - Spending All My Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4znsXCH_2Y

Show Images off in site preferences also stops videos embedding, I think.

OK, not sure if listing like this was discouraged so here's some I thought of in relatively short order, some pretty obvious ones included.

Beastie Boys - Sabotage
Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice
George Michael - Freedom '90
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
Massive Attack - Protection
Geto Boys - Mind Playing Tricks on Me
Public Enemy - Fight the Power
A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxation
Pavement - Cut Your Hair
Pavement - Painted Soldiers
Yo La Tengo - I'll Be Around
New Order - The Perfect Kiss (Jonathan Demme!)
Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
Wu-Tang Clan - Gravel Pit
Bjork - Bachelorette
Bjork - Triumph of a Heart

I think listing is fine, I was going to suggest knocking out the obvious choices.

2pac feat Dr Dre - California Love
Childish Gambino - This Is America
Fatboy Slim - Praise You
Herbie Hancock - Rockit
Kendrick Lamar - Alright
Metallica - One
REM - Losing My Religion
Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot
Sonic Youth - Bull in the Heather

i'm so thrilled this poll is happening tbh, music video is one of my favorite artforms. despite my comment above i don't think i'm going to be voting for many live performances (at the drive-in performing on letterman might make my list tho, sorry)

Sorry I think we agreed to do live performances as a separate poll at a later date. I'm not the boss of you tho.

xpost

Soref I love the stop-motion, that XTC video could've been part of the inspiration for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtxAou8c28k

Hot Chip - Boy From School

ok fine music videos only then

Susanne Sundfør - Accelerate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd4jT4zcdHg

Devo - Jocko Homo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk1DNzg0LWs

Suicide Commandos - Burn it Down (last 2 both by the great Chuck Statler)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7ZbNVb7Qh0

The Verlaines - Death and the Maiden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P96cFKd4irY

and, my favorite, if it qualifies, Kenneth Anger's Puce Moment, music from Jonathan Halper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw31ZAhHkaQ

(apologies, thought using url coding would stop embeds)

Madonna - What It Feels Like for a Girl

I was in college when MTV premiered in 1981. Only one of my friends had the channel, so he would record 2 hours at a time and we would watch them in an empty classroom.

The best videos back them were always the ones that had a surreal image, a camera move or a video effect I'd never seen before. Off the top of my head:

The Police, Wrapped Around Your Finger [dir. Godley & Creme] - It's in slow motion but the lips are still in sync.

Ultravox, The Thin Wall [dir. Russell Mulchahy] - Many arms burst through a wall to manhandle Midge Ure. Less impressive after I found out it was lifted from Repulsion.

Cabaret Voltaire, Sensoria [dir. Peter Care] - The camera starts at floor level, arcs up and over the singer and lands on the opposite side of the room, upside down.

The Art of Noise, Close (to the Edit) [dir. Zbigniew Rybczynski] - The stuttery jerky movement that I'm still not sure how it was done.

If, like me, you have a list of 50 videos (500 points), here's a way to distribute the points:

Top 10 - 30/25/22/20/18/13/13/13/13/13
Second 10 - 11 points each
Third 10 - 9 points each
Fourth 10 - 7 points each
Last 10 - 5 points each

I'm going to use that--adds up to 500 points, and saves having to decide if number #36 is better than #37.

Blue Oyster Cult had a great run of videos in the '80s, all with a cool trashy Sci-Fi & Horror sensibility.

"Burnin' For You"
"Joan Crawford"
"Take Me Away"
"Shooting Shark"
"Dancin' In Ruins"

xps HL, thanks for those early MTV picks. reminded me of this, Conny Plank produced song:

Belfegore - All That I Wanted

there's also a video for the Extended Club Mix

Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
LL Cool J - Goin' Back to Cali
R.E.M. - Drive
Radiohead - Daydreaming
Lana Del Rey - Video Games
Whale - Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe

No Oasis videos have been nominated but Noel Gallagher's DVD commentary over them is far more entertaining.

Another LL video that will probably be on my ballot:

Mama Said Knock You Out

Oh sorry, for record-keeping purposes:

LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out

I always had a soft spot for the original New Slang video, because of all the references... back in 2001, this was like the indie-nerd bat signal.
The Shins - New Slang

You just got me to change my ballot by reminding me of something I'd forgotten:

Shins - The Past and the Pending: youtube.com/watch?v=7BA21a3vk_Y

Cabaret Voltaire, Sensoria [dir. Peter Care] - The camera starts at floor level, arcs up and over the singer and lands on the opposite side of the room, upside down.

aggressively seconding this nom, will be high on my ballot

Golden Earring: "Twilight Zone"
Dwight Twilley: "Girls"

I thought I'd start a voting/scoring thread later tonight. It'll be informational, mostly a way to clarify and ask questions about how to score your ballot. Nominations will close, but this thread can still be for general comments, etc.

Can we only vote for nominees? If so I'll try to get some more in.

Definitely not. If you remember something next week, just add it to your ballot, not a problem.

Came in to nom Tom Petty, Don't Come Around Here No More, but to our credit it's already there, so instead I'm nomming

Talking Heads, Burning Down the House

which inexplicably is not

Ever see Ken Burns' baseball film? He uses "Burning Down the House" for Reggie's 3-HR World Series game--fantastic.

What’s the March 14 deadline?

For your lists; nominations close today, then a week to get ballots in.

wax, southern california

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPhBgRSj6YQ

FYC she drives me crazy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtvmTu4zAMg

GAGA, Bad Romance

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I

freedom 90

www.youtube.com/watch?v=diYAc7gB-0A

crqzy world of arthur brown, fire

youtu.be/XbfIAdxS7ks

all is full of love

vimeo.com/43444347

lonely island ras trent

youtu.be/TcK0MYgnHjo

I;m on a boat

www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM

amish paradise

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg

weird al FAT

youtu.be/t2mU6USTBRE

Wax is already on the list for "California"--same song?

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Spellbound

Might be helpful to between "Wuthering Heights" videos:

trails version
trees version, or Versions 1 & 2, respectively. Not sure which is more celebrated? The former has more YT views.

They're both designated as official, and they're very different, so in that case, two separate entries would make sense. We'll see how people vote--if they don't designate which one, we'll add all votes together.

ZZ Top: "Sharp-Dressed Man"; "Legs"; "Sleeping Bag"; and "Burger Man"

Ctrl+F didn't reveal Nirvana: "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Nor Garbage: "Only Happy When It Rains"; "Stupid Girl"; and "Queer"

iv had a running list going since this thread opened but havent had a chance to cross reference with the thread. sorry if duplicated.

Beck - E-Pro
ZZ Top - Rough Boy
Drake - Hotline Bling
Missy Elliott - Pass That Dutch
Scarface my block
Outkast BOB
2pac - Smile
2pac - I Get Around
2pac - I Aint Mad At Cha
Dmx - ruff ryders anthem
Ice cube - it was a good day
Snoop - whats my name
DJ SNake/ lil Jon - Turn down for what
Janet Jackson - thats the way love goes
Xzibit - what u see is what you get
Roots - dont say nuthin
Rema - dumebi
Caroline Polachek - So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings
Freeway - What we do
Wu tang - click click
Naughty by nature - feel me flow
NORE - superthug
Jay and Kanye - otis
Kanye - all falls down
2 CHainz - Birthday Song
Burna boy - ye
Health skeltah - operation lockdown
NIN - only
Jay rock - kings dead
Fatlip - Whats up fat lip
De la soul - ooohh
Redman - ill be dat
Three 6 Mafia - Stay Fly (ft 8ball & MJG)
Fugees - Ready or Not
ASAP Rocky - L$D
Master P - Make em Say Ugh
Rihanna - Rude Boy
Dem Franchise Boyz - Lean Wit It
TLC - Aint 2 Proud 2 Beg
Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment - Sunday Candy
Juvenile - Ha
Tyler The Creator - Yonkers
Slipknot - Before I Forget
E-40 - Tell Me When To Go
PM Dawn - Set A Drift On Memory Bliss
A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario

Cardigans: "My Favourite Game"

B-52's: "Deadbeat Club"

Free: "Wishing Well" One of those odd, way after the fact clips of a Classic Rock song made without the artist's involvement during the early MTV era.

Those have all been added now. No need for any more nominations--just put it on your ballot, it'll be counted. For voting details, go here:

Ritorna, Madonna: Voting and Scoring Thread for ILM's All-Time Video Poll (Voting Deadline: March 14)