Revised April 2025

I have always loved music videos. When I was a kid in the 1990s, Nickelodeon would sometimes, during their commercial breaks, play this little ninety-second “Rugrat Rap,” which I, as a huge fan of Rugrats and a budding but closeted fan of rap, found to be enthralling as heck and loved every time it came on. It was probably around this time that I started making my own music videos in my head to songs that I liked (I still do this, and I know I’m not the only one!).

Music videos were always on the TV in my house, when I was growing up. My Mom, who was and still is a Cool Mom (when I was in my teens and twenties, she took me to a ton of concerts, including AFI (twice), Nine Inch Nails, HIM, and Muse), loved to watch videos on VH1 while she was ironing clothes or making me waffles in the morning. I was enchanted by them, loved the whole concept and the way a video drew me into the song and amplified its physiological impact on me, the way salt amplifies the flavor of a food. I remember watching the videos for “Say You’ll Be There” and “Baby One More Time” and all the classic BSB ones when they were new and hot.

Those were all great, but probably the first video that made a huge impact on my psyche was “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz. This video changed my life when I was in fifth grade. I’m not even exaggerating. I don’t think I even need to elaborate on how iconic this video is: it took my world, and the music world at large, by storm. (Also, Gorillaz, and this song in particular, really make me think of Infinite Jest somehow. I have this awesome vision that someone needs to help me realize: to remake this video but with Hal as 2D, Pemulis as Murdoc, Mario as Noodle, Gateley as Russell, and Himself as the ghost. Tell me that’s not perfect! Can someone with animation skills please do this? Come on. You don’t even have to credit me.)

Anyway, in must have been the late ‘90s or very early 00s, two music videos made huge impressions on me and still haunt me all these years later: that freaky depressing claymation video for the song “Hell Bent” by Kenna (devastating, unwatchable, can’t stand it) (why is it not on Youtube though? I swear this is the version I saw on TV back then), and the famously enigmatic “Just” by Radiohead. I was shook! After seeing the Radiohead one I spent days, weeks even, mulling it over, talking about it incessantly and demanding theories from everyone I knew. It drove me crazy that Thom Yorke insisted upon taking the secret to his grave (if he even actually has an answer and isn’t just messing with us all, haha, which as an adult I now think is the most likely answer). Seriously. What did the dude say? I needed to know. I’d still love to hear your theories, lol.

And then, a few years later, when I was coming of age and starting to really get into music, there was “Numb” by Linkin Park. The absolute chokehold that this video had on adolescent Mith! At twelve or thirteen, I thought I was that girl in the video. I actually hate how much power this video had over my whole worldview and identity at that formative time.

To this day, when I find a video that makes me feel something, I will either watch it over and over and over, addictively, or, avoid it like the plague, depending on the feeling. Here is a list of my all time favorites.

This list has been winnowed pretty aggressively to remove five or six songs that I no longer listen to because they are overtly sinful. I did my best to rank these, but some on the list really can’t be compared with others; it’s apples and oranges. So without further ado:

12. “Prelude 12/21” by AFI. Chills! Every time. It’s genius: every moment of this video looks exactly like the song sounds. The way Davey opens his eyes and looks into the camera at 0:38, just absolutely rocked my world. They opened with this one on the tour, prolonging that twinkly little music box melody in the intro as the band came out on stage, and it was so dramatic and exciting to watch. What a thing of beauty, all of it. (I know some people say AFI “sold out” when they left Nitro and started getting played on MTV and stuff, but, I like their “mainstream” stuff as much as their “punk” stuff — you can’t compare the two, it’s all so good!)

11. “Speeding Cars” by Walking on Cars. Damn this video! The song is sad enough on its own, but I can rock out to it in my car or whatever, and make up my own video to go along with it. But this, the official video, I cannot stand to watch. It makes me too sad. Also, I have been to that beach irl, and was sad when I was there, too, so the song + video + memories combined, it’s a perfect storm. This one would be higher on the list if it were at all watchable.

10. “Voices in my Head” by Falling in Reverse. If you know me, you know I absolutely adore Ronnie Radke, and this video is kind of like a little bio of him as an artist. Plus, the timing, the movements, the expressions, the rage but with that edge of self-deprecating humor to kind of cut the raw emotion which would otherwise be cringe – the way it’s not taking itself too seriously: it all totally encapsulates the song, which is fire.

9. “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee. Oh, to be the Despacito girl! To have her life! I think about her almost daily. This video shows us a character thumbnail of her, a little snippet of her life in Puerto Rico. I love characters and settings, so this for me is the good stuff. It’s just a happy little portrait of a person and a place. Plus the sunshine, the ocean waves, the bright colors – it matches the song to a T. It’s genius.

8. “Paperthin Hymn” by Anberlin. Another one that I actually can’t watch, hardly ever. I think I’ve watched it three times total. It’s too sad. Normally I devour tragic love stories like movie theater popcorn, but this one hits a little too hard. I think it’s something about the muted colors, making it feel at once agonizingly real and eerily dreamlike. Also the song itself feels just too painfully sad, it’s already almost too sad to enjoy, so combined with the video, it’s lethal.

7. “Immortal Love” by Vampires Everywhere!. I am so obsessed with the love story in this video. The moment where they lock eyes while walking in opposite directions with their opposite friend groups at 2:22 just kills me every time. Plus, the outdoor concert at night in the late fall with a campfire – I want to be there! Ugh, my inner scene kid is rearing her ugly head. The visuals could not be better suited to the song.

6. “Cry Little Sister” also by Vampires Everywhere!. What a gem. The lead singer, Michael Vampire, was born to cover and perform this song. This entire video is a feast for the eyes, and I probably watched it about twenty times on repeat when I first discovered it – the four current band members vibe so well together – but, my favorite moment is when he does that thing with his eyes at 0:54. You can tell he really loves the heck out of this song and means every word of it. Also, 3:36-38 is such a moment, I am spellbound.

5. “No New Friends” by LSD. Such a weird, happy song with a weird, happy video! It’s a thing of beauty, it puts joy in my weird little melancholic heart. I have no complaints.

4. “Youngblood” by 5SOS. The song is already infectious enough, but dang! This video was a stroke of brilliance. How did they come up with the idea to tell a story about Japanese greasers, and why does it work so well? The very unexpectedness of it is partly why it’s so potent. There’s a sadness in this poppy little melody, and the frame story with the old couple drives home that element like a nail in your heart. Rarely do I like an official video more than my personal secret one, but this comes close. I’ve only watched it start to finish twice because it’s too powerful for me.

3. “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark” by Fall Out Boy. Generally not a FOB fan, but, this one slaps, and rapper 2 Chainz is honestly perfect in this video. The way it shows him slow-motion pouring gasoline on the fire through the shadows – he really is this video, and the video is the song, like, they are all one indivisible, unbearably cool entity. I cannot hear the song without picturing the video – can’t forget the official video long enough to zone out and daydream, haha so I don’t actually listen to the song that much because it’s a poor vehicle. I think there’s a statement about music and video culture somewhere in this, but I’m not too interested in that; I just enjoy the aesthetics.

And finally, the top two are a tie for Mith’s Greatest Music Video of All Time:

2. “Lepestkami Slez” (“Лепестками Слез”) by Dan Balan and Vera Brezhneva. I cannot overstate the magnitude of the effect that this video had on me mentally. When I first discovered it in 2010 it was like a meteor crashing into my earth. It’s actually embarrassing how much I have carried this, how much it’s impacted my mental landscape. I also once wrote a short story based on this video, which people told me was pretty good, and a few years later, in a 4D art class, created some kind of diorama piece based on this song. I never tire of watching this video.

And:

1. “Cirice” by Ghost. Life-changing. I don’t listen to Ghost anymore (except for like one or two of their less blasphemous songs, occasionally), and I do not condone listening to them, but can’t not put this one on the list. I will forever be grateful for this track. This song and video found me in 2017 when I sorely needed them, and almost literally gave me life and sustained me for a not-insignificant length of time. Two years later, as a healthier and happier person, seeing this song performed live felt very much like being right there in the video, as the lights went all dark and red and Tobias apparently always chooses someone in the front row to reenact that epic moment at 3:20-34 with (not me lol, I was in the nosebleeds, still cool to see though) and it was kind of ecstasy, almost like a “spiritual experience” tbh. I just hope everyone has a song that does for them what this song/video does for me.