It’s Yom Kippur, and many of us have the day off from work. You could spend the day atoning. Or you could check out some of best and least-MTV friendly music videos to come out over the last couple years.
Just over a week ago, German shock-industrialists Rammstein — remember their US hit “Du Hast”? — premiered their most recent video, “Pussy,” online. The clip, directed Jonas Åkerlund, plays with typical music video stuff (strippers, S&M), before ending with several graphic sex scenes. MTV-friendly? Absolutely not. But it doesn’t matter.
Earlier Åkerlund videos, like Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up,” were relegated to one or two plays on MTV after midnight. But thanks to streaming online video, bands don’t have to worry about finding an audience for their more adventurous visuals. Check out some of our favorite, wildly not safe for work, music videos after the jump, and link us to what we missed in the comments.
“Hustler” by Simian Mobile Disco (2007) (video link) Essentially a game of telephone between a group of young girls, this video ends with a group make-out session. But that’s the thing with playing telephone–everyone always wins. It’s not particularly unsafe for work, but the video’s amateur aesthetics makes it seem a lot more lurid than it really is.
“Plaster Casts of Everything” by Liars (2007) Patrick Daughters directed that very sweet Feist video for “1-2-3-4.” He also directed this much less sweet, David Lynchian clip which comes off more disturbing than graphic.
“Gobbledigook” by Sigur Rós (2008) Photographer Ryan McGinley collaborated with the directors to bring his Sigur Rós album cover to life.
“Parisian Goldfish” by Flying Lotus (2008) (video link) “Parisian Goldfish” starts with a middle-aged couple dancing awkwardly, and ends with the two of them engaged in sex, right in the middle of the dancefloor. We imagine this is how most swingers parties begin, and end. Eric Wareheim, from Adult Swim’s “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” directed this video.
“Vulture” by Patrick Wolf (2009) The first single from the Brit singer’s most recent LP, The Bachelor, is all about lost innocence and debauchery. It’s another video featuring S&M, but at least Wolf puts the gear on himself.
“Raindrops” by Basement Jaxx (2009) A rather pretty video featuring many painted women. It’s not necessarily NSFW (in fact, it debuted on Channel 4 in the UK), but it reminds us of looking at issues of National Geographic and feeling vaguely like we’re doing something wrong.
“Stapleton Sex” by Ghostface (2009) Another male fantasy come alive, this video comes off like a “Faster Pussycat”-inspired exploitation film. The only thing more graphic? Ghostface’s lyrics on this track.
“Pussy” by Rammstein (2009) (video link) This video is not only the most recent on the list, it’s also the most graphic. Other directors looking for shock value might as well pack up. This video debuted on Visit-X.com, which promises to be “Europe’s biggest amateur videochat community,” so while you can watch this at home, you might still want to clear out your cache before your significant other comes home.