2006 Videos Thread #3

This was a very good year for videos. It was difficult, but we were able to pare the nominees down to 30. Each of us then chose what we thought were the Top 5.

Some of the videos were easy to remove - Blue October's "Hate Me," Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie," and Kasabian's "Shoot The Runner," for example - and a few were very difficult.

In the end Disturbed's "Land Of Confusion" won, which makes sense to me as I think it was the only video on which everyone who voted was able to agree.

I personally wouldn't have picked "Land Of Confusion" as the top video. Here were the Top 5 as I saw them:

01. Fort Minor - "Where'd You Go"
While many videos deal with the Iraq war and loneliness on a large scale, Fort Minor worked on a more personal scale. To take it above and beyond, they made almost a mini-documentary, using real stories of real people. The video has brought me to the edge of tears every time I have seen it, more than footage of war ever could. It was a very mature move and one I have not seen from most artists. The song fits well with the project and keeps its integrity.

02. OK Go - "Here It Goes Again"
If nothing else, this song wins for sheer originality. The band pulled off a completely unique stunt (and outside the realm of this video, have performed it live), used a unique media (YouTube) to promote it, and have seen themselves catapult from obscurity because of it. Prior to "Here It Goes Again" I had never heard of OK Go. The choreography is solid, the song works with the video, and it was done on a minimal budget.

03. Disturbed - "Land Of Confusion"
This video almost was not considered because it is very similar to the idea of Eminem's "Mosh". However, the video is simply amazing. It has a very strong and pointed story and has the ability to rile as much as the motion picture V For Vendetta. The idea of the people having power is also a great one to see.

04. Stone Sour - "Through The Glass"
It's just a well-crafted indictment of Hollywood and the effort it took for the actors to pose and for the propsmen to make cardboard cutouts of them is very impressive. I just thought that the video was incredibly well put together and I had never seen this concept used before. Props to Corey Taylor and the boys in Stone Sour.

05. The Killers - "Bones"
This video is done in true Killers fashion, mixed with some very interesting special effects. The video definitely portrays the song and is done in a classy manner. It's not the first time I've seen skeletons used (I think Korn used X-Rays in "Make Me Bad" and I know that Kaiser Chiefs used skeletons as a motif in their 2005 video "Everyday I Love You Less And Less"), but it was done incredibly well. The special effects are amazing, the song is good, and it has the makings of a great video.

The #5 position was hotly contested. I had considered Matisyahu's "King Without A Crown," Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," and People In Planes' "If You Talk Too Much" for this position, but ultimately had to give in to The Killers.

We were allowed some special awards and so I had to come up with some. And so our inaugural awards:

Snoopy Award
For the bravery of fighting the proverbial Red Baron (in this case Bush), I award Neil Young's "Living With War". While the concept is similar to APC's "Imagine," that he had the gall to put up the Iraq death count gains major awesome points in my book.

Carl Jung Trophy
For an awesome show of pop psychology, I award Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". It was the best use of a Rorschach test I have ever seen.

Unique Message Award
Because we were flooded with videos relating to Iraq and the war, I chose to give this to a video with a different moral. People In Planes' "If You Talk Too Much (My Head Will Explode)" deplores modern methods of "communication" and speaks in favor of actually communicating, something we can all learn from.

And finally,
The SJC (Shark Jumping Championship)
Fergie takes it hands down with "Fergalicious". Go back to singing hooks, because otherwise you're in a long line of sinkers.

Those are my awards for the year. Congratulations to Disturbed! My next post will be a review of The Decemberists' "The Crane Wife". Stay Tuned!