Music videos took a few odd turns in the 2000s. At the onset of the decade, big-name late-90s directors such as Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Jonathan Glazer, and Mark Romanek were branching out into feature films, greatly reducing their music video output. Two other pioneering directors, Chris Cunningham and Stéphane Sednaoui, also cut way back on the number of promo clips they directed.
At the same time, MTV de-emphasized music videos. An easy stand-in for the missteps of the industry, with hindsight MTV in America throughout the 1980s and 90s often served a positive role as a central delivery system for non-commercial radio music-- hip-hop, metal, alt-rock, and dance all gained a foothold in America via MTV's genre-specific shows, and as late as this decade bands like the White Stripes, Modest Mouse, Franz Ferdinand, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the Strokes were showcased on the channel.
By the middle of the decade, outlets for videos dried up, and budgets for them shrunk, only for the art to be revitalized by the Internet, the art of the viral video, the fanmade video, and the ubiquity of YouTube. We at Pitchfork even carved out our own place to host and display high-quality videos, Pitchfork.tv.
Below, then, are our 50 favorite videos of the decade, a tiny sample of the creativity on display this decade ranging from painstakingly crafted fan videos to elaborately choreographed professional clips; from expensive, technologically advanced clips to simple ideas executed perfectly. We've kept the words to a minimum and let the artists do most of the talking. Thanks to Ryan Schreiber and Mark Richardson for helping to choose the videos.
50. Flying Lotus
"Parisian Goldfish"
[Dir: Eric Wareheim/Devin Flynn/Eric Fensler; 2008]
Eric Awesome show, great job!
49. Escort
"All Through the Night"
[Dir: Irvin Coffee; 2007]
One of the hallmarks of the late-2000s videos-- especially fanmade ones-- is the use of found or previously shot footage. These can range from the touching, think pro director Alma Har'el's "Postcards From Italy" clip, made from eBay-purchased home videos, to the funny, like the Gwen Verdon/"Walk It Out" meme; most often, they're recognizable pop culture touchstones simply being juxtaposed with music. The best of that last crop is from NYC disco revivalists Escort, who add another 1970s touchstone, "The Muppet Show", to their Loft sound.
48. N.A.S.A. [ft. Amanda Blank, Sizzla, and Lovefoxx]
"A Volta"
[Dir: Logan; 2009]
For a record with about a million guests, most of them ranging from solid to superstars, it's disappointing that the best thing to come from the N.A.S.A. project is this video, but it's still arguably more than we got from some other superstar DJ-meets-hotshit Rolodex records in the 200s: Hello, Clones.
47. M83
"Kim & Jessie"
[Dir: Eva Husson; 2008]
Like the cousin to both the Chemical Brothers' Sofia Coppola-starring "Elektrobank" clip and the legion of Bring It On-like teen films this decade. Like M83's music, however, it goes for wistful rather than laughs.
46. Röyksopp
"Remind Me"
[Dir: Ludovic Houplan/Hervé de Crécy; 2002]
One of the better animated clips of the decade, Röyksopp examine everything from how a toilet flushes to the fluctuating world economy; in the process, they demonstrate both the effects of globalization and the compartmentalized and predictable rhythm of modern life.
45. The Dead Weather
"Treat Me Like Your Mother"
[Dir: Jonathan Glazer; 2009]
Sometimes videos are just badass and nothing more.
44. Fever Ray
"If I Had a Heart"
[Dir: Andreas Nilsson; 2009]
The Knife cultivated a goth look that rubbed against colorful signifiers such as avian masks, the Blue Man Group, and bright-hued animation. Most of the time, it was done in conjunction with fellow Swede Andreas Nilsson, who tops his work with the group in this spooky clip for Knife side project Fever Ray.
43. Gnarls Barkley
"Who's Gonna Save My Soul?"
[Dir: Chris Milk; 2008]
A heartbreaking end to a relationship, literally.
42. Fionn Regan
"Be Good or Be Gone"
[Dir: Si & Ad; 2006]
A simple concept done very well, this clip for the Irish singer-songwriter examines how sounds and music are altered by their environment.
41. The Tough Alliance
"Silly Crimes"
[Dir: Marcus Söderlund; 2006]
"It's not a matter of understanding...if you feel it, you feel it," opens another Tough Alliance clip, for "New Chance". That pretty well could have been the band's mantra, were the name of their label-- Sincerely Yours-- not already functioning as such. Like most of their recent clips, "Silly Crimes" is simple, beautiful, but it carries an understated power as well once the images of a small group of jump-roping girls pile on top of one another and the simple childhood game and the pure, insular joy it inspires dominates frame after frame, landscape after landscape, day or night.
40. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
"Maps"
[Dir: Patrick Daughters; 2003]
Are you surprised by her tears? Strong women also cry...strong women also cry.
39. Boards of Canada
"Dayvan Cowboy"
[Dir: Melissa Olson; 2006]
The first half of what, to date, is Boards of Canada's only video features footage of Joe Kittinger parachuting from 19.5 miles above the Earth. It's a feat almost so incomprehensible to imagine that it kind of makes Man on Wire's jaw-dropping work of art look like cowardice by comparison. Dude rode a balloon into the literal stratosphere and then jumped out of it more than 100,000 feet in the air, free-fell for four and a half minutes (reaching a top speed of 914 mph) and then parachuted into the New Mexico desert.
38. MGMT
"Time to Pretend"
[Dir: Ray Tintori; 2008]
M.I.A. and the Klaxons may have beaten MGMT to the lo-fi day-glo video look later also adopted by Ponytail, Dan Deacon, and tons of other dudes not from Baltimore, but on "Time to Pretend" the whole aesthetic was perfected.
37. Vitalic
"Poney Part 1"
[Dir: Pleix; 2006]
It's pretty simple, really: Dogs jumping in slow motion. Oddly captivating.
36. Cat Power
"Lived in Bars"
[Dir: Robert Gordon; 2006]
Some videos create a perfect blend of song, subject, look, feel, and the natural charisma of the artist, and Cat Power's bittersweet paean to stoolbums everywhere does just that.
35. The Shins
"New Slang" [album covers version]
[Dir: Lance Bangs; 2001]
Lance Bangs and the Shins slyly recreate a whole load of classic indie rock album covers-- we won't give away which, that would spoil the fun-- in a video that went from a knowing, inside joke between indie kids everywhere in 2001 to a weirdly nostalgic honorific to a strain of classic 80s and 90s music that, in this decade, has became less central to the underground music landscape.
34. Girl Talk
Feed the Animals
[Dir: Chris Beckman; 2008]
Were it not for the Showbiz Pizza dude (more on him later) this would be the ultimate in fanmade patience and craft-- a video version of Girl Talk's mashup classic Feed the Animals. (Above is the clip for "Still Here"-- see YouTube sidebar for more.)
33. Junior Senior
"Move Your Feet"
[Dir: Shynola; 2003]
The feel-good video of the decade. Too often animated clips go for "disturbing" or "dark" when what we really want from cartoons is daredevil squirrels and dancing robots.
32. Battles
"Atlas"
[Dir: Tim Saccenti; 2007]
From the album Mirrored, of course.
31. LCD Soundsystem
"Someone Great"
[Dir: Doug Aitken; 2007]
sniff.
30. Kanye West
"Can't Tell Me Nothing" [Oldham/Galifianakis version]
[Dir: Michael Blieden; 2007]
Not as good, or out-of-leftfield, as Zach Galifianakis' first Absolut ad, but still a first surreal look at Kanye's love of indie culture. Needs a "Weezy, where are you?" thought bubble though.
29. Rock-A-Fire Explosion
"Pop Lock and Drop It (Remix)"
[Dir: Robert Whitcomb; 2008]
Chris Thrash became a cult hero this decade by painstakingly programming the Showbiz Pizza chain's animatronic Rock-A-Fire Explosion band to perform contemporary songs from Arcade Fire to Usher. One of the first, this is still the best one.
28. The Chemical Brothers
"Star Guitar"
[Dir: Michel Gondry; 2006]
We're not sure how Michael Gondry did it either.
27. The Rapture
"House of Jealous Lovers"
[Dir: Shynola; 2003]
A time and place captured effortlessly, this clip for the Rapture's signature song doubles as a distillation of NYC at the peak of its 21st century musical powers.
26. Grizzly Bear
"Knife"
[Dir: Isaiah Saxon/Sean Hellfritch; 2006]
The guys in the Grizz have gotten a lot of mileage this decade out of marrying their labored-over, precise music with slightly seasick and off-kilter images, and the aesthetic has never looked better than on his video for Yellow House's standout track.
25. Radiohead
"House of Cards"
[Dir: James Frost; 2008]
In the 1990s, Radiohead excelled at simple metaphors about paranoia ("Karma Police"), apathy ("Just"), and perpetual distraction ("No Surprises"). When they've done clips this decade, however, they've tended to be marvels of craft, such as this clip for "House of Cards", which was made without the use of cameras-- it was created using a pair of laser-like contraptions.
24. Basement Jaxx
"Where's Your Head At"
[Dir: Traktor; 2001]
The Russian chic of "Take Me Back to Your House" is funnier, but sometimes unsettling beats dryly humorous.
23. Elton John
"This Train Doesn't Stop There Anymore"
[Dir: David La Chapelle; 2002]
Elton John tackles aging in true fantasy style, by casting Justin Timberlake as a much better-looking version of his younger self.
22. Dinosaur Jr.
"Over It"
[Dir: Mark Locke; 2009]
Like all those Crystal Pepsi and Mountain Dew commercials, but funny.
21. Björk
"Wanderlust"
[Dir: Encyclopedia Pictura; 2008]
Another pure technical marvel in a visual career full of them for Björk, this video was made using something called stereoscopic 3-D. Near as we can tell that means, here that means using 2-D puppets, miniatures, live action, and computer graphics and laying them over one another to create the illusion of 3-D.
20. Arcade Fire
"My Body Is a Cage"
[Dir: J. Tyler Helms; 2007]
Arcade Fire made a well-crafted video for "Black Mirror", an interactive clip on par with high-concept vids by Radiohead and Björk that moved and changed depending on the viewer. Despite all that awesomeness, we're still partial to this simple but simply captivating marriage of music and images, with Arcade Fire soundtracking a mini-version of Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West". Spoiler alert: If you've not seen the film, this pretty well gives away its ending.
19. The Avalanches
"Frontier Psychiatrist"
[Dir: Tom Kuntz/Mike Maguire; 2001]
Another literal interpretation, this time of the Avalanches' one foray from gorgeous into goofy.
18. Justice
"Stress"
[Dir: Romain Gavras; 2008]
How demonized can young black and Arab kids be in certain countries? Plenty of Internet commenters over the past decade thought this was actually real.
17. Sigur Rós
"Vaka (Untitled #1)"
[Dir: Floria Sigismondi; 2005]
Like their music, Sigur Rós' videos can threaten to tip over from the heart-filling to the manipulative; their clip for "Svefn-G-Englar", featuring a special needs theater group tips over the wrong side. This video, featuring a sort of post-apocalyptic playground, does not.
16. Depeche Mode/Liars
"Wrong"/"Plaster Casts of Everything"
[Dir: Patrick Daughters; 2009/2007]
Two for one as director Patrick Daughters reaches into his bag of tricks for a pair of complementary videos.
15. Kanye West
"Flashing Lights"
[Dir: Spike Jonze/Kanye West; 2008]
Kanye had quite a few great videos this decade, but this Spike Jonze-directed clip has been the most "drop everything, watch now" vid of his career to date.
14. Kylie Minogue
"Come Into My World"
[Dir: Michel Gondry; 2002]
Arguably the most re-watchable video of the decade, Michel Gondry pulls out the "Star Guitar" multiplication trick and applies it to Kylie and the streets of Paris.
13. Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake
"Dick in a Box"
[Dir: Akiva Schaffer; 2006]
"Lazy Sunday" came first, but despite the overall greatness of Chris Parnell, "Dick in a Box" was a better song, funnier clip, less-worn concept, and a more original parody subject.
12. The Chemical Brothers
"Believe"
[Dir: Nic & Dom; 2005]
Man vs. machine, reality vs. paranoia-- potentially well-worn subjects, sure, but rarely executed as well as they are here by underrated video team Dom & Nic.
11. Björk
"Triumph of the Heart"
[Dir: Spike Jonze; 2005]
Jesus, the thing with the cat gets us every time.
10. OK Go
"Here It Goes Again"
[Dir: Trish Sie; 2006]
The godfather of viral music videos and dorky white people performing elaborate choreography. Worst thing about it is you have to listen to OK Go.
9. Fatboy Slim
"Weapon of Choice"
[Dir: Spike Jonze; 2001]
Christopher Walken has arguably overplayed his kooky guy hand this decade, but here his hamming it up, and showing off his professionally trained dance moves, is still as captivating and grin-inducing as it was nearly a decade ago.
8. Justice
"D.A.N.C.E."
[Dir: Jonas & Francois; 2007]
Ed Banger's look and aesthetic, largely due to art director So Me, have become one of the iconic looks of the decade, in not only music but also fashion and design. Here's a good reason why.
7. Bat for Lashes
"What's a Girl to Do"
[Dir: Dougal Wilson; 2007]
A master class in marrying a song's atmosphere to a video's, Natasha Khan's clip here more than any other turned people onto a song they may have missed. Too bad it bites from that awful Donnie Darko. (If you're looking for an address to pen a complaint right now, you first saw that movie in your teens, amirite?)
6. Pulp
"Bad Cover Version"
[Dir: Jarvis Cocker/Martin Wallace; 2002]
Tongue-in-cheek send-off to Pulp has a few clunker moments, but they're far outweighed by celebrity look-alikes who actually do tend to look or sound like the real things. And there are about a half-dozen actual LOLs in here, which we won't spoil.
5. Feist
"1234"
[Dir: Patrick Daughters; 2007]
This was great before the iPod ad, and it's great now.
4. The Avalanches
"Since I Left You"
[Dir: Rob Leggatt/Leigh Marling; 2001]
Like the record itself, the Avs video for "Since I Left You" is about transforming the disparate and the out-of-place into something new and joyful, and it does that with the right blend of heart of surrealism.
3. Weezer
"Pork & Beans"
[Dir: Mathew Cullen; 2008]\
Someone was going to do it, you could argue, but Weezer did and did it well, piecing together internet memes into a memory-jarring trip through 00s ephemera. Or should we say culture? I don't even know anymore.
2. R. Kelly
"Trapped in the Closet"
[Dir: Jim Swaffield/R. Kelly; 2005]
OK, you could say this is merely a feat of audacity and batshit-crazy lack of self-awareness, but it was the event video of the decade. Real talk.
1. The White Stripes
"Fell in Love With a Girl"
[Dir: Michel Gondry; 2002]
The decade's greatest video director-- despite spending relatively little time actually making music videos-- meets a candidate for the decade's best rock band in the clip that made the group, serves as the iconic image of its creator's career, and despite being something that's easily summed up ("Legos") still seems fresh and amazing with each brief viewing. It really couldn't have been anything else.
