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♫ Get up ♫
The music video is an art form,
and these are the musicians who made the most of the medium.
♫ Here we go again, give you more, nothing lesser ♫
♫ Back on the mic is the anti-depressor ♫
Welcome to WatchMojo.com,
and today, we're counting down our picks for the
Top 10 Long Form Music Videos.
♫ My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why ♫
For this list, we're ranking the most enduring and popular music videos
which possessed a lengthy narrative, plot, or dramatic visual style.
♫ My love was punished long ago ♫
♫ If you still care, don't ever let me know ♫
We will not be considering the 24-hour version
of "Happy" from Pharrell Williams,
as that video represented more of an experiment
than a video watchable by the general public.
♫ Because I'm happy ♫
♫ Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof ♫
Starting off with a music video dripping with controversy,
M.I.A.'s "Born Free" is as brutal and harrowing as they come.
♫ And my nails are chipped, but I'm eager ♫
♫ And my car doesn't work, so I'm stuck here ♫
While the true meaning of the video still has viewers guessing,
many believe the violence against the flame-haired youth featured in the short film
highlights the absurdity of genocide.
The music industry is no stranger to the politically charged video,
but few artists can do it as rebelliously as M.I.A.,
who produced the shocking film without the knowledge of her label.
Clocking in at just over nine minutes in length,
it's a track and video you have to experience to believe.
♫ Yeah ♫
♫ I fantasize 'bout this back in Chicago ♫
♫ Mercy, mercy me, that Murcie-e-lago ♫
This video on our list clocks in at just over 30 minutes in length,
and serves as a promotional film of sorts
for Kanye West's 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
♫ All the lights ♫
The clip, which was directed by West,
is an homage of sorts to the long form videos and films of old,
taking inspiration from not only Michael Jackson's "Thriller"
but the cinematic works of Stanley Kubrick and Prince.
♫ Let's have a toast for the jerkoffs ♫
♫ That'll never take work off ♫
"Runaway" consists of clips from each song off West's album,
held together by beautiful cinematography and a narrative
involving Kanye's romance with a mysterious Phoenix woman.
♫ Turn the camera on, she a born star ♫
♫ Turn the corners in a foreign car ♫
It's a daunting work, which nevertheless
remains remarkably impressive and easy to watch
from start to finish.
♫ Up in the woods ♫
♫ Now trick what? Lace who? ♫
♫ That ain't what Mace do ♫
♫ Got a lot of girls that'd love to replace you ♫
Have you ever wondered what Sean Combes, AKA P. Diddy's, career
might have looked like had the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy
decided to go into globe-trotting espionage
rather than hip hop and the music industry?
♫ What you waitin' for, let the freak show begin ♫
♫ How they came, in a truck? ♫ ♫ Nah Puff, that's a Benz ♫
Well, Diddy's video for "Been Around the World" indugles in this what-if scneario,
serving up a long form video which features the Bad Boy Records
and Sean John entrepreneur as a debonair in demand super spy.
♫ Been around the world and I I I ♫
♫ And we been playa hated ♫
Combe even managed to snag some super talent to appear in the music video,
including Jennifer Lopez, Vivica A. Fox, and Quincy Jones.
"Sweetie!"
"It's Uncle Q again!"
♫ Do you feel the way you hate? ♫
♫ Do you hate the way you feel? ♫
Nearly three minutes longer than the song it helped promote,
the video is also notable for being one of the first to be included with the single.
Directed by German filmmaker Marcus Nispel,
who was best known for helming genre remakes
including reboots of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th franchises,
this seven minute epic cost the band as much as half a million pounds.
♫ Make up your mind ♫
"Greedy Fly" posesses a similarly dark and gritty feel
to what was present on Nispel's productions,
taking a seedy crime drama procedural vibe
and running with it for all the band was worth.
♫ Make make make ♫
♫ Summer has come and passed ♫
♫ The innocent can never last ♫
♫ Wake me up ♫
♫ When September ends ♫
Featured as the fourth single of Green Day's American Idiot,
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" was already a sad song by itself,
but when it was accompanied by a music video
directed by the now legendary Samuel Bayer,
with intense performances by Evan Rachel Wood and Jamie Bell,
as well as a very realistic storyline
revolving around a U.S. Marine going off to war,
then we had ourselves a real tear-jerker.
♫ The innocent can never last ♫
♫ Wake me up ♫
♫ When September ends ♫
Fans who wanted a video that had a little more to do
with the hit album's concept were a little disappointed,
but those same fans ended up getting what they wanted
when "Jesus of Suburbia" eventually dropped.
♫ I don't care if you don't care ♫
♫ I don't care if you don't ♫
♫ I don't care if you don't care ♫
♫ He's a stranger to some and a vision to none ♫
♫ He can never get enough, get enough of the world ♫
Thirty Seconds to Mars are no strangers to referencing works of cinema with their videos.
2005's "The Kill" and its homage to Stanley Kubrick's horror classic, The Shining, for example.
♫ THIS IS WHO I REALLY AM! ♫
The band would tread similar ground a year later
with this lengthy video for "From Yesterday",
which takes its inspiration from the 1987 film, The Last Emperor.
♫ From yesterday ♫
♫ It's coming ♫
The clip features Thirty Seconds to Mars decked out in battle armor
against four other masked warriors in a fight to the death,
inter-cut with images from the band's performance footage
and is notable for being the first American music video
to be shot on location in China.
♫ Get up ♫
♫ Here we go again, give you more, nothing lesser ♫
♫ Back on the mic is the anti-depresser ♫
In a throwback to their 1987 classic music video "You Gotta Fight For Your Right (To Party)"
♫ To PARTY! ♫
the Beastie Boys went out with a bang for this extended version of the music video
for their 2011 track "Make Some Noise."
Directed by late Beastie Boys member, MCA,
"Fight For Your Right (Revisited)" features an all-star cast
including Elijah Wood, Seth Rogen, and Danny McBride
as the 80s incarnation of the band.
♫ Make some noise if you're with me ♫
This, among the plethora of other all-star cameos and all-out debauchery
make for a great viewing experience that only gets better with every re-watch.
♫ And it reminds me that it's not so bad ♫
♫ Dear Slim, I wrote you, but you still ain't callin' ♫
♫ I left my cell, my pager, and my home phone at the bottom ♫
This song and video from Eminem garnered quite a bit of controversy
when it was originally released in 2000,
thanks to the media criticism of the MC's lyrical content and personal behavior.
♫ My girlfriend's jealous cuz I talk about you 24/7 ♫
♫ But she don't know you like I know you Slim, no one does ♫
♫ She don't know what it was like for people like us growin' up ♫
"Stan" told the story of an obsessed fan who writes Eminem increasingly hostile letters,
culminating in a murder-suicide with his pregnant girlfriend.
♫ See Slim- (censored) I'm trying to talk ♫
♫ Hey Slim! That's my girlfiend (censored) ♫
♫ But I didn't (censored) her throat, I just (censored), See I ain't like you ♫
The clip itself features actor Devon Sawa performing in convincing fashion as Stan,
alongside Dido, who also sings the chorus as the girlfriend.
♫ My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why ♫
♫ But I don't care at all ♫
It's a powerful clip which addresses the issues of abuse,
obsession, and tragedy in a dark and realistic fashion.
♫ In the car, they found a tape, but they didn't say who it was to ♫
♫ Come to think about it, his name was...it was you ♫
Damn...
♫ Hello, hello baby, you called, I can't hear a thing ♫
♫ I have got no service in the club you see, see ♫
Sex, murder, women in prison.
All this and more are featured within this clip for Lada Gaga's "Telephone."
♫ Stop callin, stop callin, I don't wanna think anymore ♫
♫ I left my head and my heart on the dance floor ♫
The video features the singer alongside Beyonce
as bad girls who stage a break out from behind bars
before driving off in their Pussywagon,
a vehicle inspired by Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films.
"You sure you wanna do this, Honey B?"
"What do you mean 'Am I sure?'"
The duo then make a stop off at a dusty desert diner
and proceed to poison all of the customers
leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.
♫ Stop callin, stop callin, I don't wanna think anymore ♫
♫ I left my head and my heart on the dancefloor ♫
It's a bizarre, visually stunning video that may not make total sense,
but it's one heck of a lot of fun.
♫ M-m-my telephone ♫
♫ Cuz I'm out in the club, and I'm sippin that bub ♫
♫ And you're not gonna reach my telephone ♫
Before we reveal our top long form video,
here are a few honorably epic mentions.
♫ Learning to walk again ♫
♫ I believe I've waited long enough ♫
♫ My own was banished long ago ♫
♫ It took the death of hope to let you go ♫
♫ Just ride ♫
♫ I set my clocks early, cuz I know I'm always late ♫
♫ I'm about to lose my mind ♫
♫ You've been go for so long ♫
♫ I'm running out of time ♫
"It's only a movie!"
"It's not funny."
This one's the grand-daddy of them all,
the music video to which all others seek to aspire
the mighty "Thriller" from Michael Jackson.
♫ But all the while ♫
♫ You hear a creature creeping up behind ♫
The king of pop outdid everyone when he collaborated with
An American Werewolf in London director John Landis
for this amazing tribute to classic horror movies.
(narrator) "Darknees falls across the land..."
(narrator) "...the midnight hour is close at hand."
Jackson himself starred as both werewolf and zombie
alongside a troupe of studied and talented dancers,
all of whom assist in creating a world of creepy, fantastic imagery.
♫ Cuz this is Thriller! ♫
♫ Thriller night ♫
♫ And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike ♫
Just as MJ's video clip for "Bad" would smash records years later in 1987,
so, too, did "Thriller" enter the public consciousness
with its classic choreography and one-of-a-kind style.
♫ Woo-hoo! (Thriller night) ♫
♫ So let me hold you tight and share a killer, diller ♫
♫ OW! ♫
So, do you agree with our list?
Which long form music video do you think deserves top honors?
♫ I was born free ♫
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