Animation, almost without exception, makes music videos better. It eliminates the impulse to stick the band in a garage with one exposed light bulb to let them mug at the camera. Creative animators become unmoored from the limitations of time and budget, allowing them to create distinct visual landscapes to set music against. In the interest of full disclosure, the author of this article is an unrepentant fan of stop-motion animation, so the scales are tipped a little heavily in that direction. Forgive him.
1. The White Stripes – “Fell In Love…”
This was the big music video that put the White Stripes on the map. Directed by Michel “I Have More Time On My Hands-Than-Anyone-Ever” Gondry, it almost plays like a typical, boring music video. There’s static shots of the band playing, followed by shots of them running up and down stairs, and then some close-ups of their levels so you know they’re playing loudly. EXCEPT OH MY GOD SO COOL IT’S ALL MADE OF LEGOS. The video is pumping and kinetic, perfectly accompanying the song that let us fall in love with the White Stripes.
2. The Shins – “Rifle Spiral”
The music video for “Rifle Spiral” is a clear case where the quality of the video far surpasses that of the music behind it. Stylistically, the animation looks like a cross between the stop motion of Henry Selick and the nightmarish collages of Dave McKean. The video is a dark, silly, surreal piece of eye candy.
3. Blur – “Good Song”
This music video stands in stark contrast to those of Damon Albarn’s other project, Gorrilaz. Gorrilaz trades on a sense of cool derived from its hip-hop trappings and graffiti-inspired character designs. The music video for “Good Song” is, to be quite frank, ugly as hell. The character designs are sloppy, there’s no color, and the subject matter is pretty off-putting. Yet somehow this music video is far more engaging than most of Gorrilaz’ output. It’s hilarious, weirdly touching, and has amazing replay value.
4. Grizzly Bear – “Ready, Able”
This psychedelic video for Grizzly Bear’s ”Ready, Able” is the perfect thing to show your middle school art teacher as proof that it’s okay to mix all of the colors of clay. The attention to detail is astounding, as tiny pieces on each character move independently of one another. The moment where the melting faces on pedestals move in time to the song’s chugging organ is sublime. A must watch.
5. Fleet Foxes – “The Shrine/An Argument”
An antelope makes out with a jackalope’s severed head in this video, so… yeah, it’s pretty sexy. It’s eight minutes of golden-hued stop motion porn. Like in the sense that people into stop motion animation will be turned on by its quality. You pervert. In all honesty, the video is equal parts beautiful and bleak, full of haunting imagery tracing the cycle of life.
6. Peter Gabriel – “Sledgehammer”
This video mixes several styles of animation with a general sense of confusion and awesomeness. It was an early MTV staple, which makes sense because it’s Peter Gabriel, so it’s automatically great. Suck it, Phil Collins.
7. Squirrel Nut Zippers – “Ghost of Stephen…”
Remember these guys? From those two weeks in the late nineties where swing music became cool again? No? Don’t sweat it. Just watch this awesome Max Fleischer-inspired music video, and listen to Andrew Bird totally tear it up on the violin (yeah, he was in the Squirrel Nut Zippers). If you’re not charmed by the time the hapless couple is being advanced upon by an army of pitchfork wielding mice, then you don’t have a soul.
8. Bjork – “Wanderlust”
Bjork has produced a number of animated music videos, all of which are worth checking out, but this one has giant stop motion buffalo in it, so here we are. This is one of the few videos on the list where it looks nice to exist in the world that’s been created. You get to dig around in the lush grass making small creeks, and then spend the afternoon surfing downriver on the back of a buffalo. Not too shabby.
9. Laura Goldhamer – “Humpty Dumpty”
This is probably the least polished video on the list, but that’s where all of its charms lie. Laura Goldhamer not only wrote the song, but she also animated the video behind it. The herky-jerky stop motion is perfectly suited for the story of Humpty Dumpty reborn as a bird. Also there’s a scene where eggs in a movie theater are subjected to a video of an omelet being made. It strikes the perfect balance between twee earnestness and dark humor.
10. Paula Abdul – “Opposites Attract”
Paula Abdul is in love with an animated rapping feline called MC Skat Cat (ew!). He’s edgy in a Poochie kind of way, where a hat and suspenders are supposed to stand in for a sense of rebelliousness. And the animation is really ugly. And there’s overtones of bestiality. Just watch the video and thank us later.