Best Music Videos of The Year 2011
While most music videos are merely slick, soulless promotional vehicles for potential hit singles, with no more substance or purpose than a Shamwow infomercial, occasionally a video comes out that transcends crass commercialism and actually stands alone as a work of visual art. Happily, quite a few such artworks hit TV screens and computer monitors for three or so minutes at a time this year, and when we added all those minutes together...well, we realized we spent much of 2011 enjoying some really awesome music videos.
So here, in ascending order of awesomeness, are our picks for the top 20 videos of the year.
20) Noel Gallagher - "AKA...What A Life"
This epic road movie stars ex-Oasis man Noel's real-life friend Russell Brand as some sort of wicked Wonderland mad hatter who lures a golden-haired lass into his dark lair and then forces her to go on a psychedelic trip. The casting is certainly ironic, considering the now-sober Mr. Perry's very well-documented past struggles with drug addiction. But certainly, this is the role Russell was born to play.
This epic road movie stars ex-Oasis man Noel's real-life friend Russell Brand as some sort of wicked Wonderland mad hatter who lures a golden-haired lass into his dark lair and then forces her to go on a psychedelic trip. The casting is certainly ironic, considering the now-sober Mr. Perry's very well-documented past struggles with drug addiction. But certainly, this is the role Russell was born to play.
19) Stars - "We Don't Want Your Body"
This bizarre sweating-to-the-newies clip tells the musclebound love story of a male and female bodybuilder, who lip-synch to the song while pumping iron in the gym (while "Physical"-style, speedo-sheathed himbos strike poses in the background). And all along, the sexual tension, and hilarity, builds
