Madonna’s bold 14-minute film to mark her latest album, “Confessions II”, has put music videos back in the spotlight. While the viewing figures are yet to reach the stratospheric heights of years gone by, the buzz generated by her star-studded new film shows the medium is far from dead. Here are seven trailblazing artists who helped revolutionise the genre.
Michael Jackson, Thriller (1982)
“As if it wasn’t enough writing one of the greatest pop songs of all time”, Michael Jackson went one step further by pairing it with “one of the most memorable music videos ever recorded”, said Kelly Murphy and Dale Maplethorpe in Far Out Magazine. Essentially this is an entire “horror movie in its own right”, and, of course, it gave the world an “iconic” dance that won’t ever be forgotten.
A-ha, Take On Me (1985)
Steve Barron’s “thoroughly immersive” music video for A-ha’s “Take on Me” expertly mixes live action with hand-drawn animation, while “seamlessly” bringing in each member of the Norwegian pop trio, said Slant Magazine. The story follows a teenage girl who is “literally drawn into a newspaper comic strip and falls heads over heels for its protagonist”. More than four decades on from its release, it remains “one of the most gripping narrative videos of all time” – and a “testament to the power, proficiency and poignancy of the medium itself”.
George Michael, Freedom! ’90 (1990)
Shunning his “image-driven fame”, George Michael refused to appear in any of the music videos for his album “Listen Without Prejudice”, said Slant Magazine. Instead, for this shoot he brought in a “bevy of top models” to lip-synch to his “pointed” lyrics, including Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington. David Fincher directed Michael’s defiant video which was intended to mark the Wham! singer’s “artistic rebirth”; by the final credits his famous black leather jacket and guitar have been “ceremoniously burned and destroyed”.
Madonna, Vogue (1990)
“‘Come on, vogue’ – Madonna commands it, and the world listened,” said Rolling Stone. In her third collaboration with David Fincher, the Queen of Pop turned vogueing – an “outlandish” form of dance that originated in Harlem’s queer, underground ballroom scene – into a “refined form of feminist posturing and a statement of sexual defiance”. Madonna has since been accused of cultural appropriation for the track, but “there’s no denying” her “iconic” video propelled ballroom into the mainstream and inspired “countless queer kids to ‘strike a pose’”.
Gorillaz, On Melancholy Hill (2010)
There are “countless” stand-out Gorillaz music videos but “On Melancholy Hill” is the “most poignant”, said Far Out Magazine. This is a “masterclass” in perfectly capturing a song’s atmosphere; it can mean anything you want whether that be a “rumination on loneliness”, “unrequited love”, or a “general feeling of malaise”. The beautifully animated video sees band member Noodle survive a ship sinking and embark on an underwater adventure in a submarine. There’s no “sense of resolution” which means you’ll be drawn back to the video for “another taste of that weird sense of longing”.
Beyoncé, Formation (2016)
This “surprise-released” video for “Formation” cemented Beyoncé’s status as “one of the most important” artists of all time, said Rolling Stone. In it, she moves between a “plantation-style house, where the black denizens are the masters not the slaves, to the top of a sinking police car”. The star teamed up with director Melina Matsoukas to make the video, taking inspiration from the likes of Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou to craft this “striking commentary on significant moments in Black American history”.
Childish Gambino, This is America (2018)
The “gut-punch impact remains no matter how many times” you watch “This is America”, said Rolling Stone. Donald Glover’s “musical alter-ego” Childish Gambino wanders from scene to scene, shimmying his way through “dancing kids, angry cops” and moments of both “social unrest and unfettered black joy”. Bursting with references from “viral dance videos to the 2015 shooting in a Charleston church”, it’s a music video that “launched a thousand think pieces”.
From striking a pose to zombie dancing in the street
