60 Beautiful Music Videos
Imagine if three minutes of video could save your career. That’s what happened to OK Go when the group produced its own film clip after its label threatened to let them go. Gone are the days of multi-million dollar music videos; today they are all produced with love on small budgets by a committed group of creative people.
Below are 60+ original music videos to inspire you and get you excited about the medium again. Some old, some new, but I guarantee you haven’t seen all of them before. Note: these are presented in random order. Just something to relax on a rainy sunday. Please be patient: the page may need some time to load.
You may also want to take a look at the following related post:
The Music Videos
1: TISM: Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me
2: Mansun: Taxloss
3: Queens of the Stone Age: Go With the Flow
4: Aphex Twin: Windowlicker (NSFW)
5: Aphex Twin: Come to Daddy
6: Lenny Kravitz: Are You Gonna Go My Way
7: Prodigy: Smack My Bitch Up (NSFW)
Watch in high quality on YouTube
8: A-ha: Take On Me
9: Beck: Girl
10: Pharcycle: Drop
11: Blur: Coffee & TV
12: Junior Senior: Move Your Feet
13: Royksopp: Remind Me
14: Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer
15: White Strips: Fell In Love With a Girl
Watch in high quality on YouTube
16: Daft Punk: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (fan made)
17: Daft Punk: Around the World
18: Daft Punk: Interstellar 555 Clips
19: Tenacious D: Fuck Her Gently (NSFW)
Watch original Flash animation here
More info here
20: Michael Jackson: Thriller
21: Lemon Jelly: The Shouty Track
22: Justice: D.A.N.C.E.
23: Justice: Stress
24: Justice vs. Simian: We Are Your Friends
25: Justice: DVNO
26: Beastie Boys: Sabotage
27: Radiohead: House of Cards
Get The Code and more info on Google Code
28: Coldcut: Timber
29: Eels: Novocain for the Soul
30: Gorillaz: Clint Eastwood, and Dirty Harry
31: Chemical Brothers: Star Guitar
32: Chemical Brothers, featuring K-OS: Get Yourself High
33: Weezer: Buddy Holly
34: Weezer: Pork and Beans
35: Coldplay: The Hardest Part
36: Bjork: Wanderlust
Official website for the video here
37: Gotye: Hearts a Mess
38: Funstorung: Sleeping Beauty
39: OK Go: Here It Goes Again
40: Metallica: One
41: Verve: Bittersweet Symphony
42: Supergrass: Pumping on Your Stereo
43: Santogold, Julian Casablancas, N.E.R.D: My Drive Thru for Converse
44: Bjork: All is Full of Love
45: Alex Gopher: The Child
46: Paula Abdul: Opposites Attract
C’mon, this was a classic when it came out! Don’t judge me.
47: Unkle: Rabbit in your Headlights
48: DJ Format: We Know Something You Don’t Know
49: Telemetry Orchestra: Suburban Harmony
50: The Bumblebeez: Dr. Love
Directed by my favorite director, Tom Kuntz. A true genius.
51: Jamiroquai: Virtual Insanity
52: Tool: Stinkfist
53: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Give It Away
54: Weird Al Yankovic: Bedrock Anthem
55: The Avalanches: Frontier Psychiatrist
Also directed by Tom Kuntz
56: Basement Jaxx: Where’s Your Head At
57: Wu-Tang Clan: Triumph
Directed by Brett Ratner!
58: Battles: Tonto
59: Sia: Buttons
60: Fatboy Slim: Praise You, and Weapon of Choice
61: Architecture in Helsinki: Do the Whirlwind
62: Softlightes: Heart Made Of Sound
63: Fujiya & Miyagi: Ankle Injuries
64: Yuki: Sentimental Journey
Last Click
Here are three music videos that will get stuck in your head.
Related Posts
You may also want to take a look at the following related post:
(al)
Pratik
November 16th, 2008 4:12 amReally great compile.
Something different and worth a watch…
Jeroen
November 16th, 2008 4:19 amAh nice! Great list!
Pierre
November 16th, 2008 4:34 amVery nice list ;) It will take me a while to go through it…
Anyway if you want more I did a similar list a while ago:
1. Pearl Jam: Do the Evolution
2. Chemical Brothers: Star Guitar
3. Timo Mass ft. Brian Molko: First day
4. Gym Class Heroes: Cupids Chokehold / Breakfast in America
5. Bob Marley feat. Lauryn Hill: Turn your lights down low
6. Kylie Minogue: Come Into My World
7. The Prodigy: Smack my bitch up
8. Missy Elliott: Teary Eyed
9. Michael Jackson: Thriller
10. Smashing Pumpkins: 1979
10+1. Harvey Danger: Lip Dub – Flagpole Sitt
Videos listed here.
Eddy Munn
November 16th, 2008 4:40 amTruely smashing collection! ^^
Pedro Abraham
November 16th, 2008 4:43 amnice!!!
Tom
November 16th, 2008 4:47 amits a really nice option to spend a sunday with music-videos. and yes you are totally right with your writings above, about ok go and the rest. but honestly you are wrong, maybe im the first who writes this, but i really have seen all videos and the most i have on my psp
again a great list, you made me very happy. but a question to you, did you like all vidoes in your list, could you enjoy them and is that your music style?
Andy Sowards
November 16th, 2008 4:53 amI love this post, It is not only Out of the box thinking, it took some time and thought to compile! And you had to watch them to make sure they were great! I love most all of the videos in this collection already! Aphex twins are AWESOME! I am glad that you decided to put them in the list, since they don’t usually get mainstream listening, along with some of the others you placed in the list. Great Job!
C.Moreau
November 16th, 2008 4:58 amDaft Punk & Justice ForEver ! French Touch !!
Milos
November 16th, 2008 5:02 amlol for the last one :D
jakob
November 16th, 2008 5:03 amGreat List!
Here are 2 really awsome videos i missed on you list:
chibo matto: sugar water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlR1NijJxV4
gnarls barkley: whos gonna save my soul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTVSygNKAsg
Kohout
November 16th, 2008 5:30 amWhat about Kanye West’s Heartless? http://vimeo.com/2184757?pg=embed&sec=2184757
Buffface
November 16th, 2008 5:43 am+1: Smashing Pumpkins: Tonight, Tonight
robster
November 16th, 2008 5:57 amNo Madonna on this list is blasphemy!
1. Bedtime Stories
2. Rain
3. Ray Of Light
4. Die Another Day
5. Vogue
6. Bad Girl
7. Bedtime Stories (Re-invention Tour version)
And the list goes on and on. All cinematic masterpieces. She’s also partly responsible for discovering and making big new music video talent, as she’s worked with all the greats from Fincher to Romanek to Cunnoingham and Traktor…
tontechniker
November 16th, 2008 6:15 amOne of my favorites:
Wir sind Helden – Nur ein Wort (English subtitles also available)
Jeff
November 16th, 2008 6:18 amrammstein – links, 2, 3, 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6XrKN16cuc
Rory
November 16th, 2008 6:42 am@robster :
I think frozen would have been the ultimate Madonna choice, its one of my favourite Chris Cunningham videos.
@smashing:
great collection!
eraevion
November 16th, 2008 6:43 amWell, I think Radiohead – Paranoid Android video deserves to be here! ;)
GalaxySpectrum.com
November 16th, 2008 6:50 amGreat idea for a post
Great way to spend a Sunday Morning and afternoon
Ruben
November 16th, 2008 8:19 amGreat, this post just let my mac freeze 4 times now inside my feedreader (Vienna). Time to delete the feed, together with your german derivate dr.web. Interesting content is already missing for a long time…
Gianni
November 16th, 2008 9:08 amSome of my faves are posted here!
LOL @ lionel ritchie and that last guy…*shudders*
flegmatyk
November 16th, 2008 9:16 amI think, that Special Cases by Massive Attack is worth looking at, too.
jason
November 16th, 2008 9:50 amI’ll preface my post by saying that I love this website and these are all some pretty cool videos. However, as a website that preaches good web design practices, etc….putting 60 embedded videos on one page is a little excessive.
Also, the links (e.g. the link to the high quality version of “Smack my Bitch Up”) on some of them don’t open in a new window, so you have people leaving your site that probably wanted to keep the other 59 videos loaded and ready since they waited all that time!
Great list though!
Kevin
November 16th, 2008 10:47 amAll of Tool’s Video’s should be there. Good list, thanks
Walt Ribeiro
November 16th, 2008 11:47 amFatboy slim has had some cool videos too. None the less, this was a pretty interesting post.
Jaboo.nl
November 16th, 2008 11:49 am10. says Pharcycle, it’s Pharcyde. CL = D
moritzpeuser.de
November 16th, 2008 12:35 pmSorry, but it’s too much. Better reduce it to 20 videos and write it more often (once a week?).
Arthur Brown
November 16th, 2008 12:40 pmThis is a great list. I really enjoyed Daft Punk’s animated videos. Good to see them on this list.
Andy Guilder
November 16th, 2008 12:41 pmlove it – I’ve very much enjoyed cycling through these videos! thanks :)
Ong
November 16th, 2008 1:01 pmGood list, unsmashing page design.
Kevin Gamm
November 16th, 2008 1:22 pmMan, too bad no Linkin Park. In the End, Pts. of Authority, and Breaking the Habit are all excellently animated
Kevin Gamm
November 16th, 2008 1:28 pmOh, and RJD2′s Work It Out is very well done as well.
UNIKFREK
November 16th, 2008 2:13 pmnice list. fantastic music videos.
HOWEVER – most of these videos are BIG BUDGET music videos created with direction of some of the BIGGEST names in the game – Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham…
…some of the techniques may be lo-fi or animated, but it doesn’t warrant a ‘small budget’ label.
Most of these videos can be found on multiple DVD sets available from PALM pictures.
Tim
November 16th, 2008 2:33 pmHaha, Ashley, you betray your age and musical influence here. Definitely an Aussie who grew up enjoying Rage, particularly during the 90s. Nice list.
Shelly24
November 16th, 2008 2:48 pmWhere is Madonna’s Bedtime Story???????????
It’s the very definition of a beautiful and inspirational music video.
Chris
November 16th, 2008 3:15 pmWow, really stunning! But don’t exaggerate, 60 at once are much^^
madeofsquares
November 16th, 2008 3:25 pmGot some classics here. Could do with having the director’s names though.
James
November 16th, 2008 4:02 pmplease dont every refer to Samwell again :o
Marco
November 16th, 2008 4:10 pmOK, im used to SM lists, but 60 videos aren’t a list: they r just a mess. I loved the previous posts like this one, but they just don’t keep my browser (FF3) freezing consuming 250Mb of RAM and taking my CPU @ 90% for minutes!!!
Quakeulf
November 16th, 2008 4:18 pmSeen most of it before, actually…
Here’s an alternative to “Star guitar”, “Akai densha” by Quruli:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiIwWR-Bg74
Kraak & Smaak’s “Squeeze me”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYqaX3QYXZs
Kanye West’s “Flashing lights” also deserves a mention IMHO.
owen
November 16th, 2008 5:29 pmI think Perfect Drug by NIN should be on there somewhere. Good list!
Ethan
November 16th, 2008 5:58 pmI agree that A Perfect Drug should be up there.
My personally fav music vid is that of Evil Bee by Menomena:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYU47cfNayA&feature=related&fmt=18
like in the moviess
November 16th, 2008 6:55 pmYou left out GHOSTFLOWERS by OTEP. Amazing Video. Like Salvadore Dali
Brad Jensen
November 16th, 2008 7:01 pmWhat about Pink Floyd – “The Wall”?
Vítor M.
November 16th, 2008 7:31 pmFantastic collection. A hand of great songs to. Thanks
Vítor M.
http://www.pplware.com
hello
November 16th, 2008 7:44 pmsmashing pumpkins – 33
?
Luke
November 16th, 2008 7:47 pmGood list… but no Rap clips (except the wu Tang one?) Im suprised. Some of Public enemy’s old clips were amazing political statements.. real storytelling through the art of the clip
Ad
November 16th, 2008 8:02 pmWe are an unsigned northern band called Laboratory Noise who release music on our own label and we had a video made for our song ‘You Created A Storm’ by a friend Jon Yeo. It is awsome and can be found here in high quality http://www.virb.com or on our own site here http://www.laboratorynoise.co.uk
There are also lots of other smaller bands around who have their own cool videos and a lot of them are also really good. We managed to get ours on MTV2 after a year of trying!Sorry for the self promotion…
gmax
November 16th, 2008 8:12 pmA real hidden gem that deserves to be on this list is LFO’s “Freak”
Tug
November 16th, 2008 8:30 pmEh. I can’t believe that forgot about the most beautiful music video of all! :]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDxMQaMqsig
erwin
November 16th, 2008 8:39 pmhaha, now i know where the anderson/fabregas chants came from… agadoo, pure class
Peter Cooper
November 16th, 2008 9:24 pmBjork – Bachelorette – http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=x5nNfbTS6N4
Or any Michel Gondry music video really. He also did the “Daft Punk – Around The World” video in this post.
Rob
November 16th, 2008 9:45 pmHow could you not include Sigur Ros?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doc1eqstMQQ
That has some of the best cinematography out of any music video ever done.
ajd808
November 16th, 2008 9:53 pmLong before the Lego videos got tiresome – Ether Real produced this in 1991
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4oloLHqjd8
It was a little known (but I think rather excellent) tune from the ravey/chillout era of the early 90s and I will do whatever I can in my power to have people around the planet finally give this video it’s due respect.
ajd
Erin
November 16th, 2008 10:03 pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76FP6c6p_NY
I didn’t see my video there!
Max
November 16th, 2008 10:37 pmNice videos – good to see some aussie bands are up there in the mix!
Bryce Driesenga
November 16th, 2008 11:17 pmYou guys need to check out “If You Keep Losing Sleep”, by Silverchair, as well as “Straight Lines.”
dani_janev
November 16th, 2008 11:36 pmTool has only one video on the list??! come on, every tool’s video is piece of art, I think they deserve more
prego
November 17th, 2008 12:06 amWow guys – great list…
But i’ve missed something… I would suggest NIN – Only. Nine Inch Nails always impressed me with his videos.
rock on!
KingJohnny
November 17th, 2008 12:35 amI really, really like the clips that are made for Tool.
They also have great music.
Yuriy Opryshko
November 17th, 2008 1:44 amBlue man group have some inspiring videos, like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czWqL96yWuo – Sing Along
Oh, and btw, the page with nearly 100 embedded videos consumes hell of a resources, you’d really better use image placeholders next time.
myname666
November 17th, 2008 2:48 amhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8qYz20N_yg
Cool MV. from Thai electronic band.
tct
November 17th, 2008 3:01 amNice eclectic list there. Thanks.
Rodrigo Taliuli
November 17th, 2008 3:12 amAcho que faltou “Tonight, Tonight” do Smashing Pumpkins, porém todos os citados acima também são obras de arte.
…
JJ
November 17th, 2008 4:10 amA beautiful music videos list without Sigur Ros = totally useless.
Marcos Xotoko
November 17th, 2008 5:08 amWhere are the FEIST videos?
danilo di moia
November 17th, 2008 5:43 amIt misses “Sign o’ Times” by Prince… it rocks!
daveuk
November 17th, 2008 6:18 amWTF no madonna!
Max B.
November 17th, 2008 6:26 amWell i missed Foo Fighters “Pretender” and Garbage “Queer”,
talking about excellent music videos…
but hey…there are about a million ones missing…
collection’s still pretty decent!
Josh N.
November 17th, 2008 6:49 amThe Faint: Aganda Suicide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-NbXGjXT4Q
thunderheist – jerk it
http://www.vimeo.com/1124192
natalie portman’s shaved head – sophisticated side ponytail
http://www.vimeo.com/1507417
:-)
Disposable_Hero
November 17th, 2008 7:57 amSome pretty cool videos on there, although I definitely could have gone without being reminded of “What What (In the Butt)” I think that video scarred me for life.
Gerardo
November 17th, 2008 9:13 amGood Vids! Another great video from the Chemical Brothers is “Let Forver Be”.
Asrar
November 17th, 2008 10:53 amWhen I saw the title of the post, I thought to myself “this list has no credibility if One (by Metallica) is not on it”. Alas, there is was (#40). Good stuff.
Tobbi
November 17th, 2008 11:12 amIMO a-ha’s Take on me is one of the best videos ever.
“Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits is also made similar to “take on me” with pencils. Great video and amazing music :D
jg
November 18th, 2008 12:13 pmLMFAO @ What What in The Butt! A lot of these vids brought back memories though. Nice list!
bram
November 19th, 2008 4:34 amWhere is Michael Jackson???????
ellogro
November 19th, 2008 8:10 amgreat, thanks for those. I searched nr. 13 for a long time
Roc
November 20th, 2008 10:24 amThis one is not only a good song but also a fantastic video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ml-jUdIbcI
Dathan
November 20th, 2008 12:07 pmFergie’s “Clumsy” is an amazing video too.
roffik
November 23rd, 2008 9:14 amGreat list! I love SmashingMagazine! But I would like in the end WATCH these videos!!! My computer hangs when I try to load this (using Firefox in Ubuntu on 3Ghz CPU and 2GB of RAM). I am writing from Vista on a laptop, and it doesn’t hangs, but there’s no sound!!! Could you create a playlist with 60 tags? I’d be thankful.
MrTruffle
November 26th, 2008 7:42 amSorry about the embedded 60 videos. It’s a little crazy on the browser.
Pretty much all these tracks I enjoy. It was hard not to choose the Michael Jacksons and Madonnas but I wanted to go beyond the obvious ones or famous ones.
Whoever picked me as an Aussie watching Rage is right :)
A youtube playlist would be a good idea too. This list took me about 2 days to compile as everytime I thought I was done (started at 30) i thought of more.
Igor Klajo
December 1st, 2008 12:11 pmA fantastic post…. I think that Fatboy Slim – Right here, Right now is also a superb clip
VacH
December 5th, 2008 2:12 pmGreat compile
Nothing about kid koala or amon tobin?
Fra
December 19th, 2008 8:31 amWhere is FEIST: 1, 2, 3, 4 ?
jweaks
January 6th, 2009 6:38 pmoh bother, I must be hopelessly out of it. I’ve looked at about 20 on the list and I’m still waiting for one that is simply good let alone beautiful.
Jonathan
February 9th, 2009 5:59 pmVery good list…love every one of Daft Punk’s videos (amazing stuff there)….but one band you didn’t include is Sigur Ros. They have some very beautiful videos, glosoli, and untitled 1 (vaka). Great list nontheless!
Synergy
February 25th, 2009 10:03 pmHow can this list leave out Chris Cunningham and Mark Romanek?
Madonna: Frozen
Nine Inch Nails: Closer
Nine Inch Nails: The Perfect Drug
Elio
May 13th, 2011 6:21 pmhey chris made All IS Full Of Love its on this list
KillahMate
February 27th, 2009 6:33 amDamn, you really listed a lot of my favorite stuff! A pretty thorough job…
The Avalanches love is deserved; they also have “Since I Left You”, which is damn good, and not just
Sledgehammer, but anything and everything by Peter Gabriel is awesome – the man knows how to do videos
Still, you’re only human, and some great stuff got left out. Others already mentioned some of it, like
Feist’s “1 2 3 4″ and
“Squeeze Me” by Kraak & Smaak
but somehow forgot
“Knights of Cydonia” by Muse and
The Go! Team’s “Ladyflash”,
which is odd, since they’re brilliant. I also crawl YouTube for music videos, so let’s see some of my other favorites…
The “Fan Version” of Barenaked Ladies’ “Wind It Up” totally rocks,
“You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon is totally cute and funny, and
Futureshock’s “Late At Night” is… odd. Oh, let’s not forget
“she loves the CREAM” by m-flo and DOPING PANDA,
for when you want some anime lovin’. I really don’t know why we don’t see more anime videos, this one shows how good it could be done. Honorary mentions go to:
Hell Yes by Beck
Cold Hands, Warm Heart by Brendan Benson
16 Military Wives by The Decemberists, and last but not least
Let Me Know by Róisín Murphy
Also, Madonna’s videos for the most part aren’t really that good, but Vogue totally is (David Fincher made it, after all)
Most of this stuff is available on YouTube, by the way. I’d put direct links, but how do you hotlink in comments anyway?
KillahMate
February 27th, 2009 6:38 amDammit! Forgot Frozen. Okay, Madonna’s “Frozen” is also totally that good.
Can’t believe I forgot Frozen.
Incidentally, Cunningham wasn’t really all that happy with it:
http://www.director-file.com/cunningham/madonna.html
KillahMate
February 27th, 2009 6:40 amOh, so THAT’s how you hotlink!
Now, how do you edit posts, so I can link the videos in my list? :-)
NewsFlake
March 13th, 2009 6:12 pmThanks for the interesting list always fun to watch videos and there are some I haven’t seen for ages! I would have included: We Share our Mother’s Health by the Knife, What Else is There by Royksopp and Evil Bee by Menomena though. Also I think that Blue Lines by Massive Attack is a notable omission as is anything by NIN (and yes I know I am not the first person to say that!)… Tonto by Battles is a killer track beautifully matched by a killer clip.
cheers for the list and the distraction!
Lisa
December 12th, 2009 2:39 pmGlad you included the exceptional vids by Aphex Twin in there!
Be sure to see this sad but beautiful video about loneliness, old age and more at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz_TK8HEne4 … not a high-budget job like some of the bands above but very good nonetheless.
Chuck
April 2nd, 2010 5:39 pmYou have a WAY different definition of the word “beautiful” from the one with which I am familiar. LOL.
Manuel
August 18th, 2010 1:28 pmHello,
does anybody knows the name of the music video where a “boy” is running and running and the camera is “following” him? It is rock music, and I watched it only one time eight years ago maybe.
It is a cartoon music video.
anggi maulida
September 29th, 2010 1:02 amhai kak pa kabar? kak q adalah penggemar kakak semua.q suka deh dgn peran yg kalian semua mainkan.i love you…………..
Hugo Pires
February 28th, 2011 4:01 amThanks for this great collection! One of the best ;)
Stella
May 21st, 2011 8:53 pmAmazing! Happy to see some favorites of mine! But I miss Madonna’s “Frozen,” Kwoon’s “I lived on the moon” (which is the video that by random clicks led me to Gotye’s “Heart’s a mess.” Both amazing animations, but “I lived on the moon” is magical) and also OK Go’s “White Knuckles, which, like “Here it goes again” is just one shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS088Opj9o0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTysF1E4Ft0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHlJODYBLKs
akira
June 22nd, 2011 8:38 amHere’s a cool, animated, music video, that has been nominated in the Animated Music Videos category at the Supertoon International Animation Festival, in Croatia.
People In The Box – The Old City
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cAOuWTuFEs
akira
June 22nd, 2011 8:49 amHere’s another cool video:
Sakanaction – Aruku Around
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS6wzjpCvec
Ryan
September 9th, 2011 1:11 pmThis is a really good Music video about bullying and suicide in High School and over coming it. I was in the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlKCvA9kZ6s&feature=feedlik