The result is a meta-narrative in which Staake, via intertitles and inventive editing, attempts to “explain how this video fell apart.” Yet the real brilliance of “Wyclef Jean” is the way Thug’s absence defines the video. But the whole point is that it didn’t, as Young Thug, the video’s star and conceptualist, blew off the shoot, leaving his “co-director” Ryan Staake to scramble to pick up the pieces. Young Thug, “Wyclef Jean” (Director: Pomp&Clout)Įven if it all had gone as planned, “Wyclef Jean” would have been a hilarious deconstruction of rap clichés. Sal CinquemaniĮditor’s Note: Our original list, published on June 30, 2003, has been archived exclusively on Patreon.ħ4.
Proving that MTV wasn’t just a pop-star generator, all four directors went on to become acclaimed Hollywood filmmakers, occasionally dipping their toes back in the format that they helped elevate and define. Beyoncé likewise racks up four titles, which includes collaborations with Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, while Janet Jackson rounds out the top tier with three clips.īehind the camera, Michel Gondry brings his singular directing style to a whopping nine videos on our list, with David Fincher, Mark Romanek, and Spike Jonze tying for second with four each. Two of the most groundbreaking and enduring visual artists in pop history, Madonna and Björk, lead the way with four videos apiece. It’s their female counterparts, however, who dominate. In addition to Brown, pioneers of the medium like Michael Jackson, R.E.M., the White Stripes, Radiohead, Nirvana, and Smashing Pumpkins all appear twice on our list. But thanks in large part to the advent of YouTube, relative newcomers such as Lana Del Rey and Danny Brown have harnessed the power of video in ways akin to their predecessors.
As MTV moved increasingly toward more lucrative block programming in the 21st century, effectively abandoning music videos altogether, the medium began to wane in popularity, if not quality.
Though the two oldest videos on our list, Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” and Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me,” addressed their respective texts with decidedly different genre approaches, each clearly aimed to do more than sell records.īy the 1990s, label execs were pouring millions of dollars into clips for MTV, and the ingenuity and experimentation of this period is reflected in the fact that videos from the decade comprise a full third of our list of the greatest music videos of all time. But musicians quickly recognized them as an opportunity to extend their creative visions to a visual medium. At the time of MTV’s launch in 1981, music videos were primarily just another means for record labels to promote their products.
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