And I ran, So far away

August 24, 2010 1:54 PM

MusicTeleVision: What music videos closely express the song premise? 50's to now, I would love to know and SLYT is encouraged.

Today for the first time in many years I took a trip down music video lane. Unfortunately it was cluttered by the standard stand in front of a green screen and sync to the lyrics.

What's a great song with meaningful/relevant video?

posted by Funmonkey1 to media & arts (28 answers total)

This is a very broad question and it's about something very subjective--can you define more closely what "meaningful" entails, to you? Then people might be able to make recommendations suited to your tastes.
posted by millipede at 1:55 PM on August 24, 2010

My favorite music videos are by Weird Al Yankovic, because they are funny.
posted by grizzled at 2:01 PM on August 24, 2010

replacements, "bastards of young"
the pixies, "velouria"
radiohead, "no surprises"

also, see any video by Ok Go made in the last 5 years.
posted by radiosilents at 2:01 PM on August 24, 2010

ooops, meaningful actually means relevant. Delete if necessary will rephrase.
posted by Funmonkey1 at 2:01 PM on August 24, 2010

Jamiroquai's Virtual Insanity is probably my favorite music video.
posted by phunniemee at 2:10 PM on August 24, 2010

ooops, meaningful actually means relevant. Delete if necessary will rephrase.

You can have the mods rephrase it above if you want, although it's fine to clarify in comments too.

So to be clear, you want music videos very related to the premise of the song? Do you mean as in literally representing the lyrics on screen, or more capturing the feeling of the song?
posted by burnmp3s at 2:12 PM on August 24, 2010

Well, if by "relevant" you mean a literal reenactment of the song's lyrics, Men at Work's Down Under fits the bill. But not "meaningful" by any stretch of the imagination.
posted by twoporedomain at 2:14 PM on August 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

Capture the feeling or related to the premise. AskMe responders choice.

Please recommend SLYT or another format readily available over the internet.

Thank you.
posted by Funmonkey1 at 2:15 PM on August 24, 2010

Behemoth's Ov Fire and the Void is what a contemporary metal video should be, a farily high budget five minute horror movie. Yes, I know, they are wearing JNCO rave pants and with the corpse paint their look gets uncomfortably close to Juggalo, but the song destroys.
posted by The Straightener at 2:16 PM on August 24, 2010

Talking Heads - Road To Nowhere or is that too literal ?
posted by Webbster at 2:19 PM on August 24, 2010

Poison's "Fallen Angel" is not a great song - even for them. But by God, the video illustrates the lyrics.

Also hair metal, but a much better song: Warrant's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" - which has nothing to do with Harriet Beecher Stowe.
posted by Joe Beese at 2:26 PM on August 24, 2010

[added the word "relvant" to the original question, carry on.]
posted by jessamyn at 2:29 PM on August 24, 2010

Well, Billy Joel will get you from the 50s to the 90s...
posted by jeffamaphone at 2:33 PM on August 24, 2010

A lot of song lyrics are themselves kind of non-literal. I mean, would a video for "Bad Moon Rising" need to have footage of the moon itself in the video?

"I Wish I Were American" involves the moon landing in the video, which has a tangential connection to "America" but the song never mentions the moon landing or space flight or anything like that, and many things the lyrics do mention are never shown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6kT2eTQZm8
So would that count as "relevant?" I dunno.

It's kind of a fuzzy question, I guess.
posted by RobotHero at 2:52 PM on August 24, 2010

Ah, okay. Then I give you: Jeremy - Pearl Jam.
posted by millipede at 3:01 PM on August 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

Subdivisions (Rush) has a video that takes the song literally enough that I always thought it was kind of funny.
posted by gazole at 3:19 PM on August 24, 2010

Men at Work: Down Under. Can't imagine why they chose to act out every line of the song.
posted by coolguymichael at 3:41 PM on August 24, 2010

It doesn't get much more literal than ZZ Top's TV Dinners video.

(When I was 10 the video for "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" by Asia made me very sad so it still kind of does, but that doesn't answer your question so much as raise some about me. So...)
posted by mintcake! at 3:52 PM on August 24, 2010

The Smashing Pumpkins - 33

Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

Soundgarden - Spoonman

Green Day - Basket Case

Green Day - Longview

Soul Asylum - Runaway Train

R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts

Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Michael Jackson - Black or White

'Ti Tuesday - Voices Carry

Guns 'n' Roses - November Rain

The Beastie Boys - Fight for your Right to Party

The Beastie Boys - Sabotage

A-Ha - Take on Me

The Beatles - Penny Lane

Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Van Halen - Right Now

Van Halen - Hot for Teacher
posted by jejune at 4:36 PM on August 24, 2010

So if I am to understand you, you're looking for videos of songs where the video has something relevant to do with the song? If I'm correct in that interpretation, then here ya go:

Jack and Diane - John Cougar Melllencamp

This Woman's Work - Kate Bush

Papa Don't Preach - Madonna

Sweep the Leg - No More Kings

Seeing a bit of a theme here as I type them, but the more the song tells a story of sorts, the more likely the video will show the story.

Finally, this site has an insane number of videos from the 80's.
posted by NoraCharles at 5:32 PM on August 24, 2010

I Love L.A. - Randy Newman
posted by sigmagalator at 6:22 PM on August 24, 2010

Aerosmith - Janie's Got a Gun

Kate Bush - Experiment IV

Kate Bush - Cloudbusting

Eurythmics - Savage, specifically these three videos:
1) Beethoven;

2) I Need a Man; and

3) You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart

Taken as a trilogy, these songs/videos hang together loosely in a kind of narrative that explores what seems to be a woman's total breakdown and catharsis. Excellent use of the medium to expand the song.

Marginal recommendation:

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart -- LITERAL VERSION (this is a parody that changes the lyrics to match the video and it is EFFING HILARIOUS--the best of the Literal Video genre.
posted by ViolaGrinder at 7:16 PM on August 24, 2010

Michael Jackson - Beat It
posted by SisterHavana at 8:01 PM on August 24, 2010

Wild Boys - Duran Duran
posted by marsha56 at 8:06 PM on August 24, 2010

Live - Lightning Crashes
posted by frmrpreztaft at 3:55 AM on August 25, 2010

Also, Seether - Fine Again
posted by frmrpreztaft at 3:57 AM on August 25, 2010

Pretty much any video by Madness would fit the bill.
posted by mippy at 7:02 AM on August 25, 2010

Eurythmics, Would I Lie to You?
posted by kirkaracha at 7:45 AM on August 25, 2010