So, I had started a longer post for today, but I really wasn’t into it. After every single line I’d just stop and stare blankly at the screen, and that’s never good. But I haven’t put a post up in a few days, and I’d set a goal for two posts a week, bare minimum. And with another week coming to a close with only one post up, I need to get my ass in gear. Writers always say that to be able to write freely and easier, you need to write often, even on days when nothing’s coming, so I figured I’d keep my long post for a day when I’m really into it (cause it’s a real good one, too) and just do a quickie post, to keep the goal I set for myself.

I enjoy music videos. Before switching to Bell’s Fibe cable, we had the channels Much More Retro and Much Loud (that Fibe doesn’t offer, makes me very upset. It’s seriously almost enough to send me back to Videotron, but anyways…) and I almost always had the TV on to one of those channels while I was doing other stuff. Videos are a good way to “get to know” the band you’re listening to, see what they look like, and what kind of message they’re trying to send with each song that has a video made for it. Some people think that music videos are “dated” and it’s ridiculous to keep making them, but I disagree. I find the visual enhances the auditory. But then, every so often, you come across a video that seems like whoever came up with the concept is not from this planet. Or, more likely, that they were on a very large quantity of drugs. For this little list, I’ve concentrated on music from more recent years. I could fill the whole Internet with a list of WTF music videos from the 80’s, for example, so I left them all out. My oldest song will be from 1995, when music videos, and the fashion and entertainment industry as a whole, actually, became a bit more “normal”. So, here we go, 5 of the most WTF music videos I’ve ever seen, in no particular order.

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

So, the set-up is this: the band is captured and caged by an evil man (played in great, sleazy glory by actor Lou Diamond Phillips) who runs a fighting pit where people bet on fights between… wait for it… stuffed animals. Oh yes. A beautiful girl makes her way to the gambling arena with her challenger in tow, a small, pink teddy bear. The champion, a big, ugly, fuzzy purple thing, is making minced-meat out of all the competition, so when the tiny bear is dropped into the ring, everyone laughs. After seemingly getting his ass kicked, the pink teddy, moments before being dropped into the loser’s pit by the evil man, decides he’s had enough. He charges his paw with pink light, and knocks big purple right out of the ring. It’s really got to be seen to truly appreciate the absurdity of it. The song, though, is amazing.

Kids by MGMT

If I were putting these in order, this one would definitely be number one. I have no idea what the creators of this video for this amazing song were on but, really, can I have some? How to even start explaining it… A toddler is seeing monsters everywhere while being brought around town by his mother, who seems more interested in her phone than her son. The poor lad cries as he looks all around to see the monsters. Escaping to a little park, our tiny hero runs into the band, who are dressed in skin tight silver clothing, I imagine they’re supposed to be woodland faeries? I dunno. Despite the ridiculous getup, the singer is still delicious. After our little man is returned to his mother, the “real world” goes away, and we’re treated to some of the most psychedelic animations I’ve ever seen. Really, whoever came up with this stuff was not thinking with earth logic. MGMT‘s videos are all pretty nuts, actually, but this one really takes the cake.

Panic Station by Muse

I love Muse, and their music videos are always pretty cool and different. Bliss has (gorgeous) lead singer Matthew Bellamy falling forever through a giant structure in space. Supremacy has a bunch of people in death metal makeup going surfing. Uprising has a giant teddy bear stomping through a town. But the weirdest video is definitely one of the newest ones, Panic Station, from their latest album The 2nd Law. It doesn’t really have a story to it like a lot of cool videos do, it’s just the band, and a bunch of other weird people, dressed outlandishly (Matthew wears a giant, fuzzy pink jacket with huge shades that flash words to the song) and they’re basically just walking around Tokyo being strange. Oh, and if you watch the video, stick around after the song ends for some funny bloopers.

Paranoid Android by Radiohead

I don’t even know how to start explaining this one. It’s animated (thank goodness, given some of the things we see later in the video). There’s two friends going around town, doing stuff. There’s a chick in a tree who’ll let you look at her naked body for cash, there’s a guy in a bar that’s got a face coming out of his belly. There’s a fat man in a leather and spike-studded g-string trying to chop down a street lamp with an axe. There’s an angel who helicopters the main character (I guess) around as the fat man swings himself into exhaustion and eventually cuts all his limbs off and falls off the bridge. There are mermaids with huge, naked breasts who wrap up the now limbless fat man into a small bundle and put him in the naked lady’s tree. And then our friends go home. If any of that made any sense to you… I want what you’re on :-p

Nancy Boy by Placebo

Placebo is another band that I love that has cool and different videos (and another gorgeous lead singer, hehe). I was hesitating between Bruise Pristine and this one for the list, and I finally decided to go with this one because, despite their similarities, Nancy Boy is just a little weirder. It’s got legs moving around with no torso, or a torso with no legs. There’s stuff impaled on spikes, heads merging together, a live boy who’s bottom half is a mannequin and loads of other weird imagery. Nancy Boy’s not one of my favorite Placebo songs, but it definitely hits a 10 on the strange-o-meter!

What do you think of my picks? Too strange? Not strange enough? Let me know in the comments, and stay tuned for more! 🙂

M.