Rob Masters

The old gag goes "We have both kinds of music here - Country and Western". Well, I don't usually have a lot of time for either.  This song is an exception, and it was always a crying shame it never got a decent video, until 19 years later, when a band that I also rarely have a lot of time for did a cover.  And the confluence of genres, song, band, and video combined to create something vastly greater than any one of the parts. Enjoy "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by Primus from 1998.

We have visited the work of Canadian band Delerium before. With rich musical influences and samples from all over, they are one of the great EDM/EA groups. They also tend towards amazingly great genre videos. This is another of them. We've got an ice demon, a beautiful lady, and a brave warrior mage intent on releasing her. But is it all as it seems? Maybe, maybe not. One of the wonderful things about this video is the ambiguity that it contains. We are left with a fragment of a story that we arrived to late to see the start of, and have left too soon to see the end.  Enjoy the mystery of "Incantation" from the 1994 album Semantic Spaces, by Derlerium.

Let's leap back to the mid 90's and some synthpop from one of the great bands (and composers) of the 80s and 90s ... and who are still releasing new albums even now. For the video, we get an Oni and a westernised ... something? A small god? A sorcerer? Anyway we get some very silly wire-work, even dodgier magic effects, and a no-contact fight scene. And a rather standoffish romance. It is all gloriously over the top, extremely silly, and still works quite magnificently. Massively appropriating all sorts of culture, but it somehow does not feel mean-spirited in any way.  So here is 1994's "Always" from Erasure. 

Back to 1999, and one that I am sure is going to have some folks convinced that I've gone even further off the deep end. Let's take on the music first - it is a fairly basic boy-band dance track (technically R&B - believe it or not), typical of the late 90s.  Very slick sound production, but could pretty much be a drop in replacement for any number of other tunes. The  surprisingly clever lyrics are another kettle of fish. The song itself is essentially a fan shout-out - a thank-you note from the band itself. The central message being that the music industry is a major drag, but that the fans are the ones who make it worthwhile. (More recently Lady Gaga recorded a similar sentiment in "Applause".) The video is (to say the least) over the top. Giant spaceship, synchrodancing robots, hoverboard dodgeball against a holographic opponent, space fighter battles, and the obligatory mass dance scene. And yet, it still somehow makes a story out of it all (mostly), and the ...

This one took a little more hunting than usual to find. I first saw this at JAFWA back in 1995, and it is one of those videos that stays with you. Created by the inimitable Hayao Miyazaki, with music by pop duo Chage & Aska, this is not so much a music video as a short movie with a musical soundtrack. I won't say much about this one, so sit back and enjoy "On Your Mark", by Chage & Aska, as interpreted by the master of anime, Miyazaki.

Advances in CGI in the 90s led to a spate of CGI-based SFF-inspired videos. Combine this with boy bands and house music and you get things like this offering of Eiffel 65. Musically it is ... well let's be honest and say that it is not exactly Mike Oldfield, and the lyrics are not Bob Dylan. It is, however annoyingly catching, and extremely danceable. The video, meantime, is odd, to say the least. One part alien kidnapping, one part arcade fighting game, and one part concert video, it really is something of a creation of its time.

It is Valentine's Day, so I'm going for a little romance, and what could be better than a pastiche of Le Voyage dans la Lune? A romance of science and the heart, we follow the charming couple who are our protagonists through their magical journey to the moon and back. Smashing Pumpkins did not originally intend this to be the style of video for this song, and had tremendous problems with costuming, as Titanic was being filmed at the same time. Despite this, they were able to shoot a Georges Méliès themed video, with back-drops and puppet work, in just three days. So darken the room, cuddle up, and enjoy "Tonight, Tonight" by Smashing Pumpkins.

This week, let's travel to Iceland (or Spain) and take a look at one of Bjork's creations.

Gorillaz need little introduction, and "Feel Good Inc" is a classic of their work, both musically, and cinematically. That said, I am not a big fan of their music, or the rather dark and sad worlds they typically portray. Despite this, there is no denying the genius present.

50's B movies have always been a rich hunting ground for inspiration for many things. Music videos are no exception. This brings us to the late Brainbug's "Nightmare" from 1996 works the mood perfectly, with distorted camera angles, a mad scientist, and the inevitable twist at the end. Combined with the song's late 90's eurotrance beats and you have a classic video. And Don't Believe It Couldn't Happen!