I don’t talk about these enough. I got into arts through comic books, but I have a distinct memory of when certain walls just broke down and saw a light with the help of music videos.

That is an exaggeration, but not that much. We were visiting family friends as a family and I was sitting in a TV room (which is a rarity in Finland) where MTV was on. This was late 80s and most of the videos were pretty lame. They were just one simple gimmick, like some novelty trick with special effects, and the whole video was just that. I don’t really mind pop music and there was a lot of good music at the time, but suddenly they played Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails. Like those other videos, the video is about a gimmick, playing with colors and such, but the music was something very different than what I was used to.

I was 11 and I was hooked. I still listen to Nine Inch Nails quite a bit.

I liked comics, because it was writers and illustrators coming together to create something new. I loved music videos, because that’s music, writing, performances, and visual storytelling coming together. And those gimmicks I mentioned previously? They can work so well. Sure, that has been done in bad ways so many times, but when you find that weird little thing that just works, the medium can support that. After all, these are not full length feature movies, these last a few minutes.

Somehow, I’ve lost touch with these. I don’t see that many music videos anymore. This is weird in a sense, considering that I’m not limited by MTV anymore. There are so many videos out there and they are now so easily accessible.

These are not my favorite videos, nor is this my favorite music. These are just 10 great videos. Part of that is that the music works in this context, but I don’t even necessarily like the music that much and I wouldn’t necessarily listen to these outside of these videos. I’m not pointing fingers though. Some of this music is definitely great on its own though.

James – Getting Away with It (All Messed Up)

Crowdsourcing a video in a very interesting way.

Tegan and Sara – Walking with a Ghost

It’s quite abstract, but things very rarely hit me this hard emotionally.

Mint Royale – Blue Song

A whole movie was made based on this, although that movie is not nearly as good.

Miike Snow – Genghis Khan

Is there gaybaiting between various heroes and villains in modern media? Yes. This just takes it into its logical end point.

Florence + The Machine – Free

Bill Nighy is one of my favorite actors. I don’t think I need to explain that any further.

The Knife – Pass This On

The inclusivity of The Knife is what drew me in from the moment I saw this video.

Korn – A.D.I.D.A.S.

The classic nightmare of dying and leaving something embarrassing behind times ten.

The Black Keys – Tighten Up

I’m not necessarily a fan of projecting adult feelings on kids, because it can get very problematic very fast, but I feel they do this the right way.

Matt & Kim – Lessons Learned

These two always seem to have so much fun in their videos.

Maustetytöt X Agents – Salattu suru

Speaking of disparate things coming together: we have a cover of a song by the British band The Renegades (who were basically unknown in their own country, but very popular in Finland), performed by duo of young women (Maustetytöt) with an instrumental band (Agent) who have been around since the 70s. The record was released by a label owned by Aki Kaurismäki, a famous Finnish director, and the man watching the performance is Ilkka Koivula, an actor who has appeared in Kaurismäki’s films numerous times.