Nostalgia time! I spend a lot of time reliving the past like I get paid for it. I used to love watching music videos when I was younger, though I loved them the most when they came from the soundtrack to a current movie. Not only did you get a great song, but you got an extended trailer for a film I wanted to see, or loved, or "Titanic". This list is about the music videos that I think captured what was great about the films and turned them into wonderful advertisements for the movies they came from. I will also post links to other, similar videos if I can. Good, or bad, as they may be.
10. Green Day - "Nice Guys Finish Last"
From: "Varsity Blues"
I'm going to start this with a cheat pick, so I can get it out of the way. I bumped some good videos for this one, because I think this is so funny! The song originally came from Green Day's album, "Nimrod', but was put on the "Varsity Blues" soundtrack. The music video has no real tie in with the movie itself, except for the football motif. No clips, no actors from the movie, no nothing! I do love it, and watching Mike Dirnt pretend to get an ankle injury makes me laugh everytime. I don't know why, it just does. On to the rest of the not cheating list.
9. The Wallflowers "Heroes"
From: "Godzilla"
I like this cover better than the original David Bowie track. Actually, there aren't many Bowie covers I don't like better than the original. This video is a great concept. A woman goes to the store for milk during a Godzilla attack, and The Wallflowers are in her apartment as it gets destroyed. Everyone lives happily-ever-after. It is a simple concept, but one I like. The 4 minutes that it runs is certainly better than the movie it came from, and incorporates all of the good parts of the film: all of the running and screaming. P. Diddy, when he was Puff Daddy, did a similar video for the same soundtrack, but I didn't want to make you listen to "Come With Me". You're welcome.
8. AC/DC - "Big Gun"
From: "Last Action Hero"
Another example of a music video that was a lot more entertaining than the movie it was from (not the last time we'll see that either). AC/DC is rocking the living hell out of a crowd when Jack Slater (Schwarzenegger's character from the film) busts in for no real reason. Probably just to be taken away by Brian Johnson's ripping vocals, or save them from a cartoony bomb that he catches, while it's lit, and uses it to light his cigar. You know, real man kind of stuff. Before you can say "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", Slater morphs into a 7-foot-tall Angus Young, and is shredding with the best of them. This video does remind me, in a way, of G'N'R's "You Could be Mine" from "Terminator 2", but I didn't use that because they actually used footage from the "T2" trailer.
7. Will Smith "Men in Black"
From: "Men in Black"
This song has two features that make it special on this list: 1. It was made by one the film's stars. 2. It tells actual plot points from the movie itself (another kind of does. Kind of). Smith's video manages to shove shady agents, bizarre gadgets, and aliens in as well. This was a great extended preview for this movie, and you couldn't go anywhere that summer without hearing this song. "Men in Black" came out around the time that Will Smith could do no wrong (we'll call it the pre-"Seven Pounds" era), and you didn't mind getting a cheesy pop-rap tune, from summer blockbuster in your head. Watching this has made me a little excited to see the third film in the series. Though, I have no desire to see a sequel to "Wild Wild West" after rewatching that music video, despite Selma Hayek.
6. U2 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
From: "Batman Forever"
I'm not that big a fan of U2, and this was just one of a few great videos from the Batman film franchise (there were also great videos from Prince, Seal, Method Man, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and the Smashing Pumpkins), but this one captured the essence of the film the best. It's a bright, fast-paced music video that is also much better than the movie (again). Animated U2 in some comic panels fighting Batman, or becoming Batman, or something. Meh, it's shiny, and I like that!
5. Dr. Dre - Keep Their Heads Ringin'
From: "Friday"
I'll admit that I put this video on a little more for the song than the video, though I still love this video. Dr. Dre steals a plane to throw a rave! Why, you may ask. Why not?! Chris Tucker, Faizon Love, and the beautiful Nia Long show up to the party. By the end of the video the crew in the tower are dancing, and Tucker and Love, as their characters from "Friday", Smokey and Big Worm, are taking off in the aircraft in an attempt to avoid the police. I like this video much better than Ice Cube's "Friday" music video, which just features a party at his house. What are you doing at your house when there is a rave being thrown by your NWA bandmate on a plane?
4. The Goops - Build Me Up Buttercup
From: "Mallrats"
Kevin Smith directs this low-budget music video with as much style as he can pack in. The self-deprecating nature of saying that you directed because you "couldn't get Spike Jonze", and having "Mallrats" cast-mate Jason Mewes destroying a record player that is playing the original by The Foundations is great way to start. Smith continues to spoof every style of music video from the early 90's from that moment on. Throw in a few clips from the film itself, and this captures everything that was great about Kevin Smith, and his relaxed style of filmmaking.
3. Monstars - "Hit 'em High"
From: "Space Jam"
I'm a sucker for hip-hop in the 90's, and the more awesome names you can throw on a track, the better! Take B Real (of Cypress Hill), Coolio, Method Man (of the Wu-Tand Clan), LL Cool J, and, of course, Busta Rhymes, mix with a phat-ass beat, and you have what can only be described as the best rap song (to ever be put on a movie starring Michael Jordan and Looney Tunes) ever. The video features the five artists under the guise of the villains from "Space Jam", dressed in basketball uniforms, and being awesome. I was thinking Coolio would make it on here twice, but I just couldn't find a place for "Gangsta's Paradise", despite Michelle Pfiffer being in it.
2. Public Enemy - "Fight the Power"
From: "Do the Right Thing"
What we have here is actually the best rap song ever, and this video captures less of the film, and more of the feeling from it. The racial tension that made "Do the Right Thing" so memorable, made this video, also directed by Spike Lee, such a great watch. Chuck D lays down some controversial rhymes that made white people cringe with fear. Flava, Professor Griff, and Terminator X do their things, and the Nation of Islam are pulling security detail (just like the set of the film!). Did I say I love this song? Because, I do.
1. Bruce Springsteen - "Streets of Philadelphia"
From: "Philadelphia"
The Boss walks through the depressing, and grimy, streets of the City of Philadelphia (I tried to not make that sound so corny). He sings about the despair and loneliness of life, as he passes by homeless men and children in a school yard. Tom Hanks makes a brief cameo, and that's what helps tie it to the movie (well, it's really just a shot from the film). Not only do I love this song, but the Academy decided to recognize it with an Oscar, and it won four Grammys. This is truly one the greatest songs of the 90's, and one of the simplest, most memorable videos I have ever witnessed.
One Extra: "Weird Al" Yankovic - "The Saga Begins"
This isn't from "Episode I", but it came out right before the movie, and it tells the entire story of the film. Yankovic's "American Pie" parody is so good, Don McLean, who originally wrote it, says he sings it in concert sometimes. I love this song, I love this artist, and I only wish it was an official song so it could have been number one. There is this awesome "Duel of the Fates" music video though.
No comments:
Post a Comment