9. Madonna - Vogue - 1990
8. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony - 1997
7. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean - 1983
6. Robbie Williams - Rock DJ - 2000
5. Madonna - Like a Prayer - 1989
Madonna's 'Like A Prayer' in 1989 was a very famous video. Most of her videos flirted with religious imagery but no more than this one. Mary Lambert was the director and wanted this to be religious and sexual. John Landis described this music video like 'cleavage with a crucifix'. This was a parable story for children where Leon Robinson played the 'black jesus'. Madonna's character witnessed a crime and the black man was arrested but she was scared to tell anyone even though she had seen everything and knew he was innocent due to being threatened by the criminal. She goes to church to pray for guidance and the statue who was intended to be a saint comes to life and makes love to her. This was Robinson and people viewed him as playing Jesus. This caused the cancellation of a massive sponsorship deal. Madonna herself however kept $5 million. At the end of the video she goes to release him.
4. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - 1975
Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in 1975 written by Freddie Mercury himself about nothing; he wanted to see how far he could go with writing a song about nothing at all and it worked. The video was directed by Bruce Gowers and was a recreation of their 2nd album cover but a moving version. The video was a visual interpretation of the lyrics and used a multifacid prism to create the effect of having 6 of Freddie on the screen. They began filming just after 7pm and finished by 10:30pm. The video ensured that the song was at number 1 for 9 weeks.
3. A-ha - Take on Me - 1985
Number 3 is A-ha's 'Take on me' 1985. This won the MTV video awards and is about a girl in an Eastenders style cafe. The video had a storyline to it and she was reading a newspaper of motorcycles which Steve Barron, the director, had read a comic book on once and it had stuck in his mind. In the video the phallic hand rises from the newspaper pulling her into the newspaper with the man and she becomes part of the comic. This took 3 months to make and 1400 drawings. People wondered how they switched from making them real people in the frames to cartoon drawings and this sold millions of copies.
2. Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer - 1986
Sledgehammer consists of extensive animation and was famous for its time, the animation is remarkable and it was an experiment of cinema and relentless using animation. It was designed to hold up after many viewings and won 9 MTV music awards.
1. Michael Jackson - Thriller - 1983 -
'Thriller' by Michael Jackson, was a music video which TV channels cleared their schedules for premier showings of this video and the documentary of the making of the video. Michael jackson was a jahovas witness and this religion were adimant that thriller shouldnt be produced and featured as it promotes satanism, the record company and the jahovas witness' came to an agreement, one that was key to thriller being allowed to be made as Jackson was a devoted witness, Thriller must release a staement from Michael Jackson, one that read; "Due to my strong personal convictions, i wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult"
This was not enough to satisfy Thriller mania and when the public were in clubs and the dj would play the Thriller video everyone would stop on the dancefloor for the 9 minutes it was playing and just watch it. It was very captivating. Michael had seen 'An American Werewolf in London' and became taken with the morphing and contacted John Landis, the director of Thriller, and told him he wanted to morph into a monster. The video was like a movie and changed what could be done with a music video. Jackson known for his iconic dance moves created a routine that the world will follow for many years after. This was the biggest ever music video in history and everybody wanted to watch it. The awakening of the zombie dance was accompanied with Vincent Price's Horror movie 'rap'. Michael sold 50 million copies and was a huge success and it cost $700,000 but it was money worth spent. Michael become the biggest man in showbiz and everyone wanted to know him and have the key story of the moment and Michael was something different altogether. After this video people would anticipate his other videos and become eager to watch them. Michael jackson was credited as the King Of Pop years after, and was an entertainment phenomenon!
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