Bronski Beat is a fairly controversial british band who formed and endured success in the mid 80's. The reason behind their controversial status, was that the three members of the band were all gay. As they were all openly gay in a time of server prejudice against the 'gay community' they caused a lot of attention from the public. The music video of their debut song 'small town boy' was very successful in the charts in multiple countries, reaching number 7 in the Australian charts and number 48 in the U.S charts. This was one of the early examples of music videos as before this bands featured on the top of the pops (TOTP) and had to do so every week if they were in the UK charts. TOTP maintained audiences of millions and it was important for bands to appear on the show. Music videos started to appear in the late 70's and early 80's so bands did not have to feature on TOTP and instead they could have there music videos shown on the show.
96 - So Solid Crew / 21 Seconds / 2001
The So solid Crew consists of a vast group of UK rappers and singers. This song and video is Britain take on the American rap/hip-hop scene and acts as somewhat of a statement that UK rappers can compete with the Americans. Hip-hop and rap at this time was growing rapidly in the east and west coast of North America and it was claimed that other countries could not compete with American rappers. The Video introduces the majority of the group and gives them each 21 seconds to display their personas and introduce themselves installing its position as one of the greatest music videos. However this video and the band itself was seen as highly controversial as newspapers and citizens campaigned against the group stating they were a negative influence on the younger generations of the community. To add to the fire, members within the group found themselves in trouble with the law, going to prison and being associated with drugs for instance.
92 - Herbie Hancock / Rock it / 1983
Herbie is considered one of the inventors of Hip-hop. His music and 'beats' where then used for a vast amount of Hip-hop music videos. This song, the video and Herbie himself was surrounded by controversy as MTV would not show his music video if he appeared on it as he was black. However the directors insisted that he should be in some way so he shortly appeared on a TV within the world of the video. The video was also highly controversial for separate reasons. It was banned in countries such as Britain as a scene on the video inferred a robot was masturbating. The video can be seen as unique as there no actual lyrics within the song and the premiss for the video was a house filled with robots performing day to day activities with a slightly abnormal way.
48 - Johnny Cash / Hurt / 2003
This was the Johnny Cash last music video. The song used is a cover from nine inch nails' single. At this point Cash was dying from alcohol and drug abuse from his previous years. The video was made a few months before he passed away and his fragile state is shown throughout the video, relating and adding to the the mood of the song. The video captures his entire career through the use of old footage used as flashbacks. It refers to the hurt he caused as he reflects, shown by images and film of flooding etc. In the video he is shown sitting at a table filled with food, representing his last meal/ final supper. The end of the video is shown by Cash closing the piano and feeling it, alongside a fading shot. This infers that his past and career means a great deal to him and this is it's ending. These powerful scenes relate to the sense of his last music video.
35 - Sinead O'Connor / Nothing Compares 2U
31 - Eminem / Stan
5 - Madonna / Like A Prayer / 1989
Top 3
3 - A-ha / Take on Me / 1986
2 - Peter Gabriel / Sledgehammer / 1986
1 - Michael Jackson / Thriller /
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