We continue our journey down the long, dark, bright corridors that were 90’s MTV, VH1 and BET. The influence of the music videos of the 90s can be felt in every corner of our media.
Bold, frightening and jubilant, one more awe inspiring than the next.
#9 sabotage - the beastie boys
“I can’t stand it, I know you planned it, imma set it straight, this watergate” screamed Ad Rock as Mike D kicked open a fence Kojak style. The innovative, Spike Jones directed, Sabotage seemed to stop the world in its tracks when it debuted in 94. Filmed to resemble the opening credits of a fictional 80s cop show, the video pays homage to “Starsky and Hutch”, “Hawaii Five 0” and “Streets of San Francisco” complete with the band members donning costumes as the cast.
The Ubiquitous Jones was seemingly everywhere in the 90s, and before graduating to feature films with Being John Malcovich in 99, Sabotage served as a breakthrough for the former skate photographer. The impact of the Beastie promo sent ripples through Hollywood. Actress Amy Poehler is quoted saying that “there would be no Anchorman, no Wes Anderson, no Lonely Island, and no channel called Adult Swim if this video did not exist”. Director Danny Boel points to Sabotage as influencing the opening credits of Trainspotting.
The video convinced many that the Beastie Boys were really venturing into television with a parody cop show. Part of me still wonders if MTV put that offer on the table.
#8 buddy holly - weezer
If any 90s music video director deserves multiple spots on this list it’s Spike Jonez. “Buddy Holly” stands next to “Sabotage” as one of Spike’s best known and most innovative efforts. The former Jackass collaborator, and skate documentarian, pulls a power move slapping his name at the beginning of the video, an unheard of flex at the time, just to let the entertainment industry know a new king had arrived.
Modern processed footage of Weezer edited seamlessly with Episode 43 of “Happy Days”, gives the audience the impression Weezer jumped into a time machine to perform for the gang at Arnold’s, complete with a cameo from Al Molinaro reprising his role as diner owner, Al. Buddy Holly won numerous awards such as Breakthrough video, best editing and best direction, and was also included in the Windows 95 installation disk. And if that wasn’t enough, the video is one of the few selected to be exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art.
#7 virtual insanity - jamiroquai
My 15 year old self knew I had it all figured out. The floor was a conveyor belt that moved in 4 different directions sliding under the walls. That had to be it? Right? No? How could a conveyor belt move in more than two directions? Singer Jay Kay and his signature hat, glides across a room with stationary furniture and a floor that seems to move in any direction at will. Just when you figure it couldn’t get any weirder, throw in a crow, the couches bleed, and a cockroach makes a cameo for good measure.
Director Jonathan Glazer who also directed Radiohead’s Karma Police, pulls off one of the best optical illusions this side of David Copperfield in this award winning clip for the British Funk band, netting Video of the Year, Breakthrough video, and Best Director at the 97 MTV Awards. Parodied by Chris Rock, Family Guy, and Robot Chicken just to name a few, the music video has stood the test of time, earning a 4k remaster release on Youtube as recently as 2021
Spoiler Alert. The walls are moving, not the floor
#6 the rain (supa dupa fly) - missy elliot
Missy: Can you make a black inflatable jumpsuit?
Hype Williams: I know a guy who knows a guy
Missy: Ok bet. And bring that Fish Eye lens of yours.
Hype Williams: I keep that thang on me.
After writing hits for Aliyah and SWV, Missy Elliot could have easily called all of her video model friends, some dancers and shot her debut in the middle of an intersection and called it a day. But this is Missy Elliot we are talking about, arguably the illest musical mind this eastside of Prince, and what we got as a result was nothing short of epic. Twitchy dance moves, sets with moving gears in the background, a raining stage, and the bin bag jumpsuit, that looks hilarious and futuristic at the same time.
Hype Williams and Missy would be nominated for 3 awards by MTV in 97. The Rain was an ingenious and defiant way to introduce Missy to an industry that has never been kind to plus sized black women. Setting the bar for her illustrious video career, culminating in a Video Vanguard award in 2019. Hype Williams would venture into feature films with Belly, starring DMX and Nas.
#5 THE SKY'S THE LIMIT - THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G.
In November of 97, the wound was still fresh. We hip hop fans were still reeling from the loss of Biggie in March of that year. Video tributes of our fallen hero were expected, however Spike Jonez subverted everyone’s expectations and gave us something touching, heartfelt, and hilarious. A tongue in cheek love letter to Biggie, his legacy, and his fans was just what the doctor ordered.
The director cast the shoot completely with children, Biggie, Puff, Faith, their fans, and even Busta Rhymes got the kindergarten treatment. They drive Benzes, lounge in mansions, and attend private parties, flanked by an elementary school entourage. A Junior Mafia if you will. As the children imitate the swagger and confidence of mid 90s Bad Boy , you couldn’t help but feel that twist of love one feels watching children play dress up.
Sky’s The Limit paid tribute to everything we loved about Biggie, while giving his mourning audience hope for the future.
#4 TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT - SMASHING PUMPKINS
Debuting in 96, Tonight Tonight was the emotional fourth single from the Smashing Pumpkins sophomore album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Inspired by the 1902 french short film A Trip to the Moon, and starring future Spongebob actors Tom Kelly and Jill Talley, the video is brilliantly stylized as a turn of the century silent film, complete with primitive special effects, and theater backdrops.
Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris, the video pays tribute to director S.S. Miles, an early pioneer of film and special effects. The visuals hold excruciatingly more weight once you realize the actors journey of escape, is symbolic of Billy Cogin’s own escape from a childhood of abuse, and holding hope for the future despite it. Dayton and Farris are now best known as the directors of Little Miss Sunshine while Tonight Tonight won Video of the Year, Breakthrough Video, and Best Direction at the 96 MTV Video Awards.
#3 GOOD DAY - ICE CUBE
The smash single from Ice Cube’s third solo album The Predator, is a smooth laid back lament on what constitutes a good day in a community wrecked by violence and oppression. Ice Cube’s visual storytelling required much more than promo featuring guys standing around a street corner. Every situation described in rhyme receives its own sequence, the viewer following Cube from sun up to sun down, and when the day ends, the world comes crashing down at midnight. As if to say black folks can’t even expect 24 hours of peace in Compton.
The first project helmed by F. Gary Gray, the video is elegantly straightforward. No angle used twice, each of Cube’s scenarios given specific detail. It’s no wonder that Good Day is remembered as one of the first hip hop videos to feel like a movie as opposed to a musical commercial. F. Gary Gray would later add the air of authenticity to Ice Cube’s comedy classic Friday, along with the critically acclaimed Straight Outta Compton, and The Negotiator starring Samuel L Jackson.
#2 DEAR MAMMA - 2PAC
Often considered 2 Pac’s most emotionally resonant song, Dear Mama featured Pac’s real mother Afeni Shakur reconciling with a look-a-like of her recently incarcerated son. The lead single from his third album Me Against the World, Dear Mama is a tribute to black motherhood, and the sacrifices made by women to raise children in adverse environments. One of the few moments of sincerity in rap video rotations filled with bravado and womanizing, the monumental clip gave his fans a keen eye into 2 Pac’s childhood, and the influence his mother, a former black panther had on his tumultuous upbringing.
Released in ‘95, Dear Mama is one of three rap songs inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. A hallmark of 90s hip hop, the video gave a generation of rappers carte blanche to express the trauma and anxiety associated with a society set against them. Rappers such as Kendrick Lamar and Nipsey Hustle, pointed to this video specifically as influential in the more vulnerable elements of their music. Directed by Lionel C. Martin, the poignant video was recorded while Tupac was incarcerated, his absence seems to serve as an eerie foreshadowing of his death only a year later.
#1 JEREMY - PEARL JAM
In 2023, pop culture has become desensitised to school shootings and teen suicide, with another shooting broadcast almost weekly. In 1992 however, the phenomenon was extremely rare. In the eyes of white america, the idea of children bringing guns to school and violently taking out their angst on their fellow students, was merely something that happened downtown in urban neighborhoods. Inspired by the death of Jeremy Wade Dale, Eddie Veddar penned “Jeremy” as a tribute to the boy who had recently committed suicide, and a warning of the terror brewing in their own communities.
Mark Pellington directed the striking video, putting the pain and urgency of Vedder’s strained expressions front and center. The frantic editing and mixing of text and found footage elements highlight the manic state of the subject. At the climax of the video, Jeremy puts a gun in his mouth and shoots himself in front of his classmates, freezing them in time and covering them in his blood. Controversy erupted of course, and Pearl Jam themselves would back away from music videos almost entirely, stating they didn’t want their music remembered in video form. Ironically, Jeremy is remembered as the high water mark of their career, predicting the adolescent violence that would plague suburbia over the next two decades.
If only we would have listened.
Jeremy would receive numerous accolades including four MTV Video Music Awards, while embodying everything that made 90s music videos great; a striking cinematic presentation, a poignant message, while simultaneously driving millions in record sales while skyrocketing the musicians to super stardom.
Quite possibly, the greatest music video of the 1990s