10 Music Videos So Good They Should Be Movies

For the past week or so I’ve been making a list of music videos I’d love to see more of. In short, these are ten music videos that I think would be wonderful additions to the movie market (for better or worse). I also kept in mind that each video had to offer something more than just the artist/band since most people wouldn’t be interested in watching someone rock out on stage for 90 minutes anyway. With that said, here are ten music videos so awesome studios should consider offering them a deal (or something).

1. Radiohead’s “Just” :: This is by far the most cryptic video Radiohead has ever made and it’s pretty easy to call it odd, too. The story involves a man who just decides to lie on the ground after finding something out. I normally wouldn’t be so general as to say “something” but in this case that’s really all we know. No one really knows why he’s decided to do it but we can assume it must be pretty something bad because it makes the bystanders follow suite at the end of the video. A movie version would be wonderful but my one request would be to never find out what it is that makes people act this way. It could be the biggest movie mystery since Pulp Fiction’s briefcase.

2. Justice’s “DVNO” :: This isn’t so much an entire movie as it would be the opening credits. This is the perfect start to a new-age science fiction film (with a sense of humor — something like The Lawnmower Man). In either case, I think I would be just as happy if the beginning credits were on screen longer than the rest of the movie. Unless the rest of the film looks like Justice’s video for “D.A.N.C.E.” Ok, yeah, it’s a stretch. But who can really resist a good Justice video?

3. Daft Punk’s “Da Funk” :: One thing about Daft Punk is that they have a brilliant track record for having some great music videos. This entire list really could’ve been composed just of their stuff. Anyone whose seen Interstella 5555 knows this to be true. “Da Funk” is my favorite so far and one of the easiest to picture being made into a movie. What makes “Da Funk” so awesome is that the music plays second fiddle to the story of Charles, a half human half dog character browsing around New York with his boombox blasting Daft Punk’s technicolor musical talent. This all goes without mentioning Spike Jonze’s involvement. If this is any indication to the animatronics we’ll see with Where The Wild Things Are consider me sold, again.

4. DJ Shadow’s “Six Days” :: “Six Days” is arguably one of the better music videos ever filmed. I’m not even saying that from a fan point of view, technically speaking it just looks unbelievable. Kar Wai Wong (In The Mood For Love, 2046) is probably the sole reason I can actually say that. It’s orchestrated exactly like one of his films and in this case features two very popular Asian icons, Chang Chen (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and model Danielle Graham. I guess what I’m really hoping for here is another Kar Wai Wong film to be released with a DJ Shadow soundtrack to boot.

5. R. Kelly’s “Trapped In The Closet” :: I wouldn’t call myself a R. Kelly fan by any means but it’s hard not to appreciate his “Trapped In The Closet” video series. The 22 Chapters started out pretty linear but by the end you start to wonder how you even left the closet in the first place. It wouldn’t be too hard to make this a full length feature film considering you can combine all the music videos and have good amount of footage already. (I guess some already consider it to be like a movie already.) Plus, R. Kelly has even stated more chapters are on the way. That means we can look forward to a sequel before the first film is even completed. Word. (Below is the video for Chapter 8.)

6. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” :: Every time someone mentions Michael these days they always have to bring up the surgeries, trials, and relationships. I prefer to remember Michael when he was at his prime and making music videos like “Thriller.” However I think a movie version of “Thriller” would only work now if you take all of Michael’s tribulations and make that the plot. Each zombie could represent a different aspect of his life. Yeah that sounded horrible but “Thriller” will still live on as one of the better videos and thus deserves a spot on this list. Since no site allows this video to be embedded anywhere I’ve decided to post CPDRC inmates doing the video’s famous dance scene instead. You can view the original here. On second thought, doing a documentary on these guys wouldn’t be such a bad idea either.

7. The White Stripes’ “Fell in Love with a Girl” :: I’ve been waiting for a full length movie made using Legos since I was a kid and seeing The White Stripe’s “Fell in Love with a Girl” gave me a glimmer of hope (all those crappy Lego-made movies don’t count in my book). “Fell in Love with a Girl” is directed by a pre-Eternal Sunshine Michel Gondry — if you couldn’t tell just from the look of it. I wouldn’t expect it to be the longest movie ever made considering it probably took a while just to collect enough footage for a two minute music video, though. All that aside, it’s lovely to look at and even more fun to try and imitate.

8. Bjork’s “All Is Full Of Love” :: Before Will Smith’s I, Robot there was a music video by Bjork called “All is Full of Love.” It’s sad that the creators of I, Robot had to so blatantly rip off this style and in the end it turned out to be a cheap thriller anyway. But while the video’s style has been created already, the heart and soul in the song still lives on. I wouldn’t expect something quite like this anytime soon (or ever) considering it would have to be made with a pretty big budget and would no doubt appeal to a small audience. But one can hope anyway, right? (Late thought: maybe Wall·E will be what I’m looking for.)

9. Unkle’s “Rabbit In Your Headlights” :: I first heard of Unkle because of “Rabbit in Your Headlights” and the fact that it features Radiohead’s Thom Yorke helps, too. Anyway, I could see a full length movie answering many of the questions left unanswered by the music video. Stuff like “what’s wrong with this guy?” and “does he ever get out of the tunnel?” I’m not much of screenwriter but put in the right hands I could see this taking off as an excellent sci-fi film. There isn’t much else you can say besides that this video represents for fucked up characters everywhere.

10. Blur’s “Coffee & TV” :: As a kid I only managed to see this one time but it stuck with me, then, two years back, Pitchfork came out with a list of 100 awesome music videos and I loved it all over again. I could totally see a Pixar helmed adaptation since it already has the charm and characters we so often see from them anyway. The basic story involves a milk carton in search of a family’s missing son. Along the way he manages to meet a lady milk carton and although it’s short lived, it’s still incredibly funny. I guess I’m just a nut for any music video that features dancing milk.