YES! Love this list. Sledgehammer rocks. Gabriel is a true artist. Good picks, y’all. There’s one video that doesn’t necessarily “rock” but I used to love from the same era — “Don’t Come Around Here No More” by Tom Petty. Pretty fun twist when they decide to eat Alice at the end, no? :)

Anything by Peter Gabriel is awesome. I could have included Big Time on that list.

But why chose Black and White over Thriller? The latter is still represents the pinnacle of Micheal Jackson’s pop brilliance.

Why the Queen-hating so much? Seriously, it’s come up before on Flavorwire and it begins to make you wonder. Here, the association seems forced between Homesick Blues and Bohemian Rhapsody, at the very least talk about R.E.M. aping the video however many years later. What seems to be coming up in these lists, biases that aren’t so pretty, I’d urge the Flavorwire crew to seek out a greater variety of perspectives and input. And have to say this much, what’s a list about timeless videos without the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage? Or Johnny Cash’s Hurt? A strange, seemingly random (Genesis?!) list.

“Outdated” is operative word here, Ramon and Thomas. The cool parts/technologies/ideas in “Thriller” and “Sabotage” aren’t outdated, at least not compared with the choices in this list (which also are at least 4 years older than either “Sabotage” or “Hurt”, Thomas).

Maybe not originally shot for video, but now available in video; I’d match Elvis Presley’s movie/now-video of the song “Jailhouse Rock” to anything on the list.

Good list. You have redeemed yourself…somewhat. The fact you keep mentioning the ‘Ashes to Ashes’ video though proves you weren’t comfortable with that choice in the first place. It was made in 1980 for f**k’s sake and using the latest technology available then. Trust me, if you were a tween (yes I know the term didn’t exist then) or teenager in 1980 you absolutely were amazed and delighted. That’s the point you’re missing – because obviously you weren’t – but for those of us that were the whole prospect of the video age was pretty damn exciting and cool.

Isn’t that Alan Ginsburg in the bg of “Subterranean Blues”?

Though I may not hate Phil Collins as much as Matt and Trey, I’m admittedly not a fan. But the Land of Confusion video is great. My brother and I have been quoting the final line for 25 years. And I totally agree with you, Ramon, and jenalouise, Peter Gabriel was on a tear with Sledgehammer and Big Time (even Digging In The Dirt and Steam had their moments, though he may have gone back to the well a tad too often).

Great list (I’ll even give you a pass on A-Ha & Genesis!)! That was the first i had heard of the Kinks video, which was really, really strong. I’m not sure if the great Aphex Twin video will ever be outdated.

@mr gumsandals
Yep, that’s Ginsberg!

@Thomas: I actually like Queen – their Greatest Hits was one of the first tapes I ever bought, and still gets an airing round my way every so often. The point I’m making is that the video for “Bohemian Rhapsody” often gets more credit than it deserves for being the “first music video”, and I’m not sure it’s worthy of the level of acclaim that it generally attracts (which was the point of the first feature).

@LC: precisely.

@Shannon: I actually mentioned first time round how much I loved “Ashes to Ashes” when I first saw it as a kid in the early ’80s. The point was that it hasn’t aged particularly well – like, say, early Doctor Who (which I also love), it can be appreciated for what it is, and understood within its historical context, but objectively speaking, I wouldn’t pretend that it *looks* all that great any more.

@Mr Gumsandals: indeed it is.

Re: Your comments on the A-Ha video. You mention the original Star Wars’ models vs CGI-only objects in the modern trilogy. As a filmmaker, I have studied this phenomenon for years and I conclude that a refined explanation is: the EXPRESSIVE quality of analog work is what makes it more appealing and “real” than the supposedly more “accurate” digital creations. Movies like any graphic art are themselves an “analog” for the real thing, and so photography, lighting etc all go beyond the realism we encounter in a live setting, to create a specific and expressive “representation.” When faced with a digital “blank slate” artists must decide which details to show, what would show up if you built a plastic model, lit it in a warehouse and photographed it with a particular type of film stock. All those decisions, practiced through trial and error, create what we call “movie real.” People like Dennis Muren and Phil Tippet have perfected a painterly “expressive” style by which their models and EFX have the hand-made qualities that go beyond strict realism. When making the first Jurassic Park, Phil Tippet convinced the filmmakers that even though they were going to create digital dinosaurs, they should still motion-capture reference points on a physically stop-framed armature, as his “puppetry” style and skills were at their peak and would be hard to imitate via algorithms alone. Indeed, only now is motion capture coming into its own, because it can be done on location with far more reliance on the analog performance of an actor. (Andy Serkis speaks about this in an NPR interview for the Planet of the Apes film he just did.) Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones once said something (in the 1970s) that sums it up beautifully. Speaking about the new high-end tape & console gear, he said the technology was “too clean” and he spent half his time just finding ways to “dirty up the sound.”

Bowie’s “Boys Keep Swinging”

[...] 10 vídeos musicales antiguos que todavía son geniales flavorwire.com/202490/10-outdated-music-videos-that-are-s…  por Atrida hace 2 segundos [...]

bruce springsteen’s “brilliant disguise.” that’s one goddamn take, sports fans.

Glad you posted the Aphex Twin video. A lot of Chris Cunnigham’s work has amazing visuals which still hold up today. See also “Full of Love” by Bjork.

You forgot “You Might Think” from The Cars.

Totally unrelated to the art of video, but oh boy, Bastards of Young is such a fucking great song! Haven’t listened to that in a long while.

I think A-Ha’s Take On Me is one of the best music videos ever made period.

Just that one image of Reagan’s puppet from Land of Confusion and I have horrifying flashbacks of being terrorized by the video and song all year long when it came out. Ugh. Hate hate hate Genesis.

[...] was only a few weeks ago that we paid tribute Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” — a video that is alternately random, [...]