Our spotlight on music videos has been so popular, that we’ve done a whole series of blog posts on them!
From ranking the most expensive to the most viral on YouTube, and more.
Now it’s time for the 1990s to shine!
In this blog, we'll look at 51 amazing music videos that rocked the 1990s and changed pop culture forever.
This delightfully bizarre video employed stop-motion animation heavily.
The look, style, and feel seamlessly complemented the genre of industrial rock, which is essentially hard rock and/or metal saturated with heavy effects, programming, and post-production.
For example, Static-X frontman Wayne Static famously described their music as “evil disco.”
And the video leaves little doubt.
Side note: We love how each member of the band looks like they were kidnapped from completely different bands from totally different genres and just thrown together and decided to go with it.
If the 80s were all about colorful big-haired glam metal, the 90s were the grunge era.
Bands like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and The Smashing Pumpkins ruled the airwaves and MTV.
Arising mostly out of Seattle, the undisputed kings of grunge rock were Nirvana.
Their hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was the de facto teenage anthem of the 90s, and the music video was a seething deconstruction of modern American teen angst, showing the band raging at a twisted high school pep rally that turns into a riot.
It firmly announced that gunge was here to make its mark.
Speaking of grunge, Soundgarden was another Seattle rock band taking over the charts in the 90s.
Grammy-award-winning “Black Hole Sun” has Chris Cornell’s distinctive voice screeching over the band’s typical grinding angsty grunge sound.
The music video was surreal and somewhat disturbing for its time, showing stereotypical American suburbia melting into an apocalyptic disaster.
The visuals are striking, eschewing the usual dark tones for bright, oversaturated colors almost like a cartoon.
The characters sport inhumanly happy grins that trigger your uncanny valley reflex as the world around them devolves into an unreal terror and eventually, everyone’s swallowed up by the titular Black Hole Sun.
A pretty unforgettable video that leaves its mark in the viewers’ psyche.
The 90s saw music evolve in strange new ways, blending together seemingly conflicting genres and styles.
The Beastie Boys were nothing new to this, but the 90s was where they rose into the mainstream.
Like most of their music, “Sabotage” fuses rock, rap and punk in their own unique alchemy.
For the music video, legendary director Spike Jonze opted for a homage to the grungy ‘70s police drama with a deliberately low-tech, low-budget kind of feel.
And it works to a powerful effect.
Fun trivia: the entire song, from start to finish, uses just ONE guitar chord, played over and over in a frenzied hammering rhythm.
Someone wiser than us once said “some rock stars happen to also be artists.
Björk is an artist who happens to be a rock star.”
While others were blending genres together to create rap-rock and nu metal, Björk’s “Homogenic” was a primal, shimmering, and minimalistic work that defied genres altogether.
Some would call it “experimental” but really, everything she ever does is experimental, so it’s redundant.
The video for “All is Full of Love” was a beautiful and haunting vision of sleek, sci-fi androids falling in love surrounded by high-tech automated machines, like something out of a cyberpunk anime.
It looks cutting edge and creative even today, despite the video being nearly three decades old.
But then that’s just Björk for you.
Jamiroquai brought disco back in the 1990s with his signature old-meets-new electronic style and amazing singing voice.
And while his upbeat dance music got attention, it’s the music video for “Virtual Insanity” that got people talking– once they got their jaws off the floor.
As you can see in the video, Jamiroquai dances deftly around a simple set where it seems his feet refuse to obey the laws of physics.
It’s mesmerizing and you can’t stop watching.
How does he do it?
Is he being suspended from a crane with ropes and pulleys?
Is it CGI/special effects?
Turns out, the secret was simple: The walls, camera, and some of the furniture were all bolted together, and moved about in place as Jamiroquai danced on a constantly-moving floor below.
The effect is stunning in a way you have to see yourself to appreciate.
As easy as it sounds, it was a nightmare to pull off.
But it was all worth it, as even decades later people watch this video and go “How’s he doing that?”
The 1990s were a decade where the AIDS epidemic was in the spotlight a lot.
It was a surprisingly taboo subject that was difficult to talk about openly, compared to today.
All-girl Atlanta hip-hop trio TLC made it one of their core messages, using their platform to raise awareness on many of their songs.
“Waterfalls” is a catchy but mournful anthem, cautioning the viewer to be careful of the decisions they make in life and think about where they will lead.
The video was an ambitious effort, with then-high-tech CGI and special effects helping to tell a few tragic stories of characters doomed by their own choices.
It’s stylish, dazzling, and memorable, a great example of what you can do with the music video format as an art form.
“Waterfalls” grabbed four gongs at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1995.
After the tragic death of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, many of the key people who worked with the band went on to do amazing things with their careers.
Nirvana’s drummer, Dave Grohl, started Foo Fighters and achieved lasting mainstream success, and is still making music today.
And Nirvana’s producer, the legendary Butch Vig, formed rock band Garbage.
He put then-unknown Scottish singer Shirley Manson at the mic because he wanted a female lead.
Starting out, little did they know she would be a veritable powerhouse of a rock star, blazing her own path with her unique glam-rock diva style and powerful vocals.
“Only Happy When it Rains” blew people away, as did the video.
Manson is in full diva mode, blasting the camera with color and attitude as she ferociously belts out the lyrics.
Garbage was a cocktail of rock, pop and electronica, with lots of sampling and heavy post-processing production; and with Manson’s presence and persona, the band remains one of the staple examples of the music trends and styles of the 1990s.
Madonna’s unrivaled success in pop music can probably be attributed to her constantly reinventing herself and trying new things for decades.
In the 1990s, the Queen of Pop experimented with house and dance music with her loving homage to high fashion with “Vogue.”
Now-legendary Hollywood film director David Fincher took the helm and created a stylish, black-and-white Art Deco-inspired video, which exudes haute couture elegance and drama.
It’s considered by many to be iconic of the 90s, and one of the best videos of the era, winning multiple awards.
The video reached over 100 million views online by the time 2019 rolled around.
Rock has never been afraid to push buttons and court controversy, whether to make a point or merely to shock for the sake of shocking. And the grunge era was no different.
Seattle’s Pearl Jam skyrocketed into mainstream attention with their debut album Ten, featuring a brooding, turbulent track called “Jeremy,” based on a real incident where a teenager pulled out a gun and shot himself in front of horrified classmates.
Director Mark Pellington had quite the challenge crafting a suitable music video, and he pulled out all the stops.
Visually striking and dramatic, with the seething darkness of the song juxtaposed with shots of the eponymous character scrawling childish crayon drawings, the video is a visceral ride into the mind of a disturbed youth.
And despite its controversial climactic scene, “Jeremy” was a quadruple award winner at the 1993 MTV Music Video Awards.
If you don’t know this song, you don’t know the 90s.
Unlike the staple fare of bright, loud, and flashy music videos of the era, Sinéad O’Connor’s intense ballad of loss “Nothing Compares 2 U” consisted of only a continuous close-up of her face as she belts out her pain.
It’s simple but haunting and memorable, with so much expressed with such a simple shot.
The video won many awards and catapulted a reluctant O’Connor directly into the limelight seemingly overnight.
Trivia: A surprising amount of people are unaware that the song was composed by Prince.
Much to our delight, Fatboy Slim was one of those artists who took his music videos as seriously as the songs they were shot around.
By today’s standards that’s hardly anything shocking or innovative, but at the time, they were like mini-movies, works of art in their own right.
And he famously rarely ever put himself in them.
“Weapon of Choice” was a great example.
The premise is absurd enough that you’ll want to stop what you’re doing and watch it to see for yourself: The Spike Jonze-directed video simply consists of famous Hollywood actor Christopher Walken, dancing in an empty hotel.
That’s it. And if you’ve already seen it, you’re probably watching it again.
What more needs to be said? It’s just great. And emblematic of the era that was the 1990s.
Most remember George Michael as a pop singer crooning out fairly mainstream pop love songs.
But the truth is, he was a far more legit and fully-rounded artist than his pop culture image.
His battles with label Sony are storied to aficionados and music historians, and worthy of a blog post all its own.
A major catalyst in this long and ugly war raging behind the scenes was the creation of his album “Listen Without Prejudice vol 1,” where Michael kept pushing to explore his art further while struggling under the demands to put out more mainstream radio-friendly top ten hits.
Grisly details aside, the album put out a number of absolute masterpieces, including the iconic “Freedom! ‘90.” And the video was a work of art all on its own.
To start with, George Michael doesn’t make an appearance anywhere in the video at all.
The video instead features the era’s hottest supermodels being all stylishly moody and beautiful, singing and eventually dancing along to his song.
Looking more like a glamorous fashion ad than a music video, director David Fincher expertly crafted it to exude style and flair, while subtly expressing the seething anguish and frustration underlying the song itself.
A notable shot is Michael’s iconic leather BSA jacket (which he wore in the video for his sophomore hit “Faith”) bursting into flames, making a powerful statement about what was going on behind the scenes between Michael and the music industry.
We know we say “this video was iconic for the 90s” a lot in this post, but it’s especially true here.
We mentioned earlier that Fatboy Slim was known for going all-out with his music videos, sparing no expense.
But with the video for “Praise You,” Spike Jonze went in the opposite direction.
With a budget of just $800, Jonze shot the video guerilla-style by going undercover and leading a flash mob dance troupe called The Torrance Community Dance Group, on a public street filled with unsuspecting real people outside LA’s Fox Bruin Theatre.
Did it work? Well, “Praise You” picked up three awards at the 1999 MTV Music Video Awards, including Best Choreography.
This music video won the award for “most stylish video” at the 1998 VH1 Fashion Awards, and it’s easy to see why.
Enigmatic frontman Billy Corgan is vamping it up looking like Nosferatu, dreamily wandering through a cavalcade of chaos and surreal scenes with bassist D’arcy Wretzky and other bandmates.
It’s a visual treat that amplifies an already glorious alt-rock feast.
This song (and video) were another example of “peak 90s.”
Rage Against the Machine exploded onto the scene in the 1990s with their fiery blend of rock, punk, and rap.
But don’t confuse them with their nu metal peers like Limp Bizkit and others.
The band was fiercely political and outspoken, clearly more punk rock at heart than anything else.
Their video for “Killing in the Name of” was suitably low-budget and DIY, shot on a consumer-grade camcorder.
It simply features the band performing at what appears to be an old warehouse, in line with anarchist underground punk culture, but showcases Zack de la Rocha’s powerful stage presence as the band performs.
Many bands pretend to be hardcore and live the rock and roll lifestyle; but for the most part, this is pandering for the image and PR.
But some acts famously stood out from the norm. And few kept it real more than Rage.
For example, a notable moment of controversy was when the band was invited to perform live on the BBC, but asked not to use any bad language, please and thank you.
When considering they’re a band that openly calls for violent revolution and the abolition of capitalism, and being asked to perform a song that hands a whopping 17 F-bombs and a repeated line “F*** you I won’t do what you tell me,” well… things went about as well as you can expect.
Spoiler alert: they did not, in fact, do what the BBC told them.
You can’t talk about the 90s without mentioning hip-hop and rap exploding into the mainstream.
And it wasn’t all clean fun and partying: there was also the rise of gangsta rap, which shocked and outraged the public, and led to endless tedious debates on censorship that went nowhere.
The music video, fittingly, was a deep dive into West Coast hip-hop culture in a way that amplified it and took it worldwide.
The song and the video are iconic for what many consider to be the golden age of hip-hop, and it’s easy to see why.
You know you’ve made music history when your song lives on as a meme in internet culture, even decades afterwards.
This is one of those songs everyone’s heard but most cannot place or name.
The debut from German-Trinidadian Haddaway was a smash hit and remains by far his biggest, most popular song.
When it first dropped in 1992, the impact is difficult to overstate. Incredibly catchy and powerful, it stood out from other one-hit-wonders and made a lasting impact on both dance floors and music history.
The video, directed by German filmmaker Volker Hannwacker, has our singer and protagonist crooning out the lyrics in a dramatic mansion being chased by vampire-like divas and remains as iconic as the song itself.
“Scream” was one of the most expensive music videos ever made, a list that includes many other Michael Jackson videos too.
Notably, this video co-starred his sister Janet.
The song is an expression of Jackson’s frustration and struggles with scandals and controversy.
As we sadly know too well today, the title of “king of pop” came with a crown ultimately too heavy to bear, and this song was one of many clues.
The video itself is practically its own sci-fi movie, with dazzling special effects and zero-gravity shots on a spectacular otherworldly set more befitting a Hollywood blockbuster than a mere music video.
But the King of Pop never did anything half-measure, and this is one of many shining examples of that fact.
One of the strangest aspects of art and creativity is how sometimes, you spend your whole life working on your art, and your biggest success comes from a fluke, a throwaway accident.
Brit alt-rockers Blur have a long and stellar career but didn’t really break out of the underground scene until “Song 2” dropped.
And the song was an accident, simply something the band would play around with between songs to set levels and get warmed up for actual music.
The goofy, high-energy chaos of this very short song was, by far, their greatest commercial success.
And the video just went with the vibe, showing the band in a typically dour little room performing the song, and then suddenly being violently thrown about like rag dolls, literally bouncing off the walls with the chorus.
As Blur put it best: Woo-hoo!
The video of Pearl Jam’s “Do the Evolution” was burdened with the daunting task of summarizing the violent history of the planet Earth in just four minutes.
This is a feat that, arguably, only animation could have pulled off so well.
The video pulls no punches, viscerally painting the cruelty of the human race in a frantic, furious slideshow of nihilistic horror, from neanderthals to Nazis and napalm, ending in a world-ending nuclear inferno.
The song is explosive and seething, Pearl Jam at their best.
Combining the two, the viewer endures a spectacular assault on not just their senses, but their psyche as a whole, and the effect isn’t blunted by repeated viewing.
Both “Freak on a Leash” and “Do the Evolution” were directed by Todd McFarlane.
Trivia: McFarlane is a comic book artist and writer who created “Spawn,” a comic book series that was later adapted into a suitably special-effects soaked Hollywood movie.
There was nu-metal, grunge, the rise of hip-hop; but there was also alternative rock.
Less noisy and aggressive than its roots, but still thoughtful and pensive, alternative rock became so popular in the 90s that the term “alternative” seems almost a misnomer in retrospect.
R.E.M. were among the biggest names of this ever-evolving genre, and “Losing My Religion” was one of the biggest hits, and for good reason.
Infectiously catchy like a pop hit, albeit still a proper alt-rock jam, it seemed to have struck a chord with everyone who heard it.
Interpretations of the song vary wildly from “losing one’s patience” in reference to an old Southern saying, to simply losing one’s grip on reality from relentless existential angst.
The video was warm and engrossing, showcasing frontman Michael Stipe’s signature moves and talent.
While hip-hop dominated the airwaves in the 90s, one of the many obscure genres of music congealing in the primordial goo of the underground scenes, was trip-hop/ambient/Bristol.
It’s hard to define. Imagine if normal hip-hop got really depressed, went to sleep, and had surreal but strangely sexy nightmares.
It’s a genre that’s ponderous, atmospheric, and intoxicatingly soul-stirring.
In its heyday, Massive Attack and Portishead were the pioneers of this sound, and “Glory Box” is one of those tracks that set the standard others would emulate.
While the beats and bass licks are throbbing and futuristic, the melody and vocals sound like they’re from the 1920s.
The music video, similarly, is shot in a hauntingly faux retro style that’s hard to pinpoint and underscores the spooky feel of this iconic track.
It’s haunting, and memorable, which explains its 37 million plus views to date, despite a tepid performance in the charts.
Speaking of trip-hop, this is a song nearly everyone’s heard but can’t place it.
It’s been often used in movie and TV show soundtracks, most famously serving as the theme song for the brilliant TV drama House, MD.
It’s another sleeper hit that took its own sweet time getting attention.
But it’s probably the best single from iconic Bristol trip-hoppers Massive Attack.
It sounds like a sweet, haunting lullaby of a song that builds slowly to a crescendo.
Which is probably why it was so fitting for the music video to show a baby floating in a dark, warm womb, and the song’s deep, simple rhythm is reminiscent of a human heartbeat.
It’s beautiful, haunting and will probably be seared into your memory if you’ve never heard it before.
And if you like it, you’ll be blown away by the rest of the album (Mezzanine) which sounds groundbreaking and futuristic even today.
We’ve touched on the rise of grunge rock already and mentioned that Alice in Chains were one of the flagship bands of this angsty genre.
But they’re not entirely typical of it, with their signature vocal harmonies and preference for acoustic strings along with the obligatory screaming electric guitars.
While they weren’t the only rock band to experiment like this, this sound is truly their trademark.
The album “Jar of Flies” was easily their biggest commercial success to date.
The meaning behind the EP’s title is hinted at in the stop-motion animated music video, where a man goes to a circus with a jar of flies and releases them.
The flies then set off a chain reaction of events that lead to disaster by distracting and irritating the various circus performers.
It’s pretty dark, but then that’s just rock for you.
The 90s were also notable for the rise of female alt-rock divas carving their own path on the rock scene.
Commercial success didn’t greet all of them, but often that wasn’t really a goal, like with the iconic Liz Phair, who preferred a prominent yet underground presence on the scene.
Gone were the neon spandex, heavy makeup, and enough hairspray to make the Ozone layer weep (and we mean the men, too).
Alternative rock had its own vibe and wore it proudly stamping out its own identity.
And Liz Phair was one of the icons of this not-always-mainstream scene.
The video, too, is gloriously 90s, with all the usual tropes and effects of the time, complete with a nonsensical plot interspersed with the band rocking out.
Put this one in the time capsule, it’s so iconic.
The KLF were probably the strangest band to hit such mainstream success in the 1990s.
While their music was pretty straightforward British electronica for the time, the bizarre antics they got up to offstage baffled the press and the general public alike.
The music video featured grungy low-tech stop-motion animation, with a flying toy car and a steam train on a miniature set, interspersed with the band performing on a futuristic stage.
To be clear, they weren’t so much a pop group that did quirky activism on the side for attention and publicity; but rather, they were more akin to counterculture performance artists annoyed by the distraction of their Top 40 success getting in the way of their real work.
And this wasn’t just for show: at the height of their commercial success, they deliberately and publicly self-destructed their music career in spectacular fashion.
The cherry on the cake was them placing £1 billion pounds in piles of cash notes on an old boat and setting it all on fire, the whole thing recorded on video and later released as a film.
Notably, this was no stunt, that was all real cash that they earned as an electronic group– and a full three decades before Heath Ledger’s Joker did it “to send a message.”
If we may borrow a phrase from the UK: Absolute madlads.
What if heavy metal and techno got drunk, had an illegitimate love child, and it was fed on nothing but cans of Red Bull?
Then you’d have The Prodigy.
One of the more forgotten aspects of the 90s in music was that broadly, music genres did not cross paths– with the notable exception of nu metal which, with all due respect, was really just adding rap to hard rock rather than truly fusing genres together.
When it came to music, there seemed to be a tacit understanding that you stayed in your lane.
(To be fair, the soundtrack for the movie Spawn had metal and rock bands team up with electronic bands and create songs together that were a hybrid style of both bands, to some moderate success. But this kind of genre-blending was notably rare in this era, whereas it’s pretty standard in today’s music.)
So when The Prodigy burst onto the scene with “Fat of the Land,” it was surprisingly controversial in some circles.
Was it even still electronica?
Was electronic rock really a thing?
Or were they trying too hard to be something they’re not, different for the sake of being different?
This philosophical debate was lost in the pounding, powerful sound of their innovative music.
Whatever it was, few could deny it was actually pretty good.
And if that didn’t get your attention, their gloriously moody music videos sure did! “Firestarter” introduced the world to The Prodigy, and the world was not ready.
The music video was shot in black and white, with the band doing their thing in what looks like an abandoned sewer system.
Completing the terrifying trip was Keith Flint’s evil clown look scowling for the camera.
Maybe that’s where Heath Ledger drew his inspiration from who knows.
Side note: We really wanted to put their hit “Smack My B!tch Up” but the video was so controversial at the time, that basically no copy of it exists anywhere on the internet today. Really. We checked.
So is it rock? Is it techno? The only real question is, is it turned up loud enough!
The 1990s weren’t all boybands and nu-metal. British rock was a dominating force to be reckoned with, even across the Atlantic, and Oasis were the undisputed kings.
If you missed it, it’s as if The Beatles were resurrected with a renegade rock and roll attitude.
Almost every song of theirs stood out from the noise and stamped their presence on the music scene in a way that was powerful and lasting. But “Don’t Look Back in Anger” might be their most enduring example.
Oasis never liked comparisons to The Beatles, but their influence is unmistakable even to the casual listener.
“Don’t Look Back in Anger” even begins with a piano intro that’s clearly a tribute to “Imagine” by John Lennon.
And the music video was clearly loaded with many loving homages in their own retro-modern rock style.
It’s just the right blend of catchy and enduring, standing out as a modern classic from the 90s.
If there’s one thing the 90s were known for, it’s the rise of nu metal, or rap-flavored rock.
Loud, brash, and unsophisticated for the most part, the most iconic band to flagship this movement was Limp Bizkit.
If Beastie Boys were the skater boys of rock and rap, Limp Bizkit were more like the meathead frat boys, and they made no apologies for it.
While the record companies and radio stations were intent on pushing squeaky-clean boy bands and girl bands for maximum commercial success, nu metal continued to blossom despite their best efforts.
Bands like Korn and Linkin Park were rubbing shoulders with The Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls on the charts.
Probably the most famous and explosive nu metal jam was “Nookie” by Limp Bizkit, a goofy and energetic raging track seeing the band throw an impromptu concert on a city street, getting the crowd riled up, and eventually arrested for it.
Don’t expect any deep poetic messages here, they did it all for the Nookie.
In the 1990s, hip-hop was fully in the mainstream of pop culture, with slick, expensive productions and ballooning budgets to work with.
Getting airplay on MTV was as important as heavy rotation on radio, so the music video format was blooming.
“Get Ur Freak On” is one of Missy Elliot’s biggest and most memorable hits, with a catchy hook and fresh beats.
The music video is similarly over-the-top, with elaborate and expensive sets and special effects that were quite new at the time. It looks fresh even today.
Another Spike Jonze masterpiece, the music video for “Buddy Holly” was a quirky homage to the hit 1970s TV sitcom “Happy Days,” complete with real footage from the show interspersed seamlessly.
The band fully embraced their “geek rock” image in sweater-vests and ties, in jarring contrast to the grungy distortion of the song.
When you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to really think outside of the box, like with this video.
It helped of course that the track itself is an absolute banger, infectiously catchy and irresistible, bringing Weezer into the spotlight.
Another one of those songs everyone’s heard but don’t know the name or who sang it, “Tubthumping” was Chumbawamba’s breakout mainstream hit, a wildly energetic and happy drinking song.
The style and fashion showcased in the music video is iconically 90s era, just the band performing at a partying bar with plenty of alcohol making the rounds.
Ironically, the song hardly represents the band, who are outspoken anarchist punk activists and sing about highly politically charged issues, similar to Rage Against The Machine.
Their mainstream success was a double-edged sword, bringing them controversy and accusations from longtime fans of “selling out” to evil corporations, while simultaneously giving them a platform to spread their message to a far wider audience.
Be that as it may, “Tubthumping” remains one of the most beloved drinking and crowd-rallying songs over the past few decades, and it’s easy to see why.
When the Spice Girls burst on the scene with their debut smash hit “Wannabe” in 1996, the era of manufactured girl bands in pop was clearly at its peak.
And the accompanying music video became an instant pop culture phenomenon.
Directed by Jhoan Camitz, the video perfectly encapsulates the energy and camaraderie of the girls.
Shot at the iconic Midland Grand Hotel in London, the video showcases the group’s playful antics and infectious spirit.
It kicks off with the Spice Girls crashing a fancy dinner party, unleashing chaos and mayhem.
The single-shot technique used in the video adds to its dynamic and spontaneous feel, making it seem like a continuous, unplanned adventure.
From the peak of commercial mainstream pop music, we go to the opposite extreme: the rise of industrial music from underground to a full-blown rock/metal subgenre.
Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” was a song so shocking and dark that it was guaranteed never to play on the radio without the heaviest of censorship.
And the music video isn’t for the faint of heart, either. Directed by celebrated music video director Mark Romanek, the video was more art piece than a commercial strategy, with everyone involved knowing it would probably never air on MTV.
For the curious, here’s a small incomplete list of visuals in the video:
Despite all this, MTV loved it, and the music video was an unmistakable hit, widely considered to be one of the best music videos of all time (number 1 according to a VH1 public poll).
There was, of course, a “censored” version that is somehow still as disturbing as the original, with the most extreme scenes simply replaced with an old-timey typeface sign reading “scene missing.” Somehow, this only adds to the disturbing effect rather than lessens it.
If you want to check it out, you’re in for a treat, the perfect blend of horror and eroticism. But don’t say we didn’t warn you.
A contemporary of Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson exploded on the mainstream rock music scene with “The Beautiful People” in 1996, courting controversy and shock at every possible moment.
In an era of glitz and glamor and heavily manufactured pop franchises ruling the charts, “The Beautiful People” was a scathing critique of the superficiality and conformity within society, exploring themes of power, control, and the obsession with physical appearance.
Not one for subtlety or politeness, Manson used stark, confrontational language and their performances were not for the faint of heart.
The music video, directed by Floria Sigismondi, visually amplifies the song’s themes with disturbing and surreal imagery.
Set in a dystopian environment, the video features Manson and his band members in grotesque, exaggerated makeup and costumes, reflecting the song’s critique of societal norms and the dehumanizing effects of valuing appearance over substance.
The video’s unsettling visuals, including scenes of Manson in a dental chair and band members strapped to medical equipment, evoke a sense of horror and unease, reinforcing the song’s message about the dark side of societal conformity.
The music industry had a love-hate relationship with bands so shocking they were guaranteed to grab both attention and controversy.
And Manson cynically used it to his advantage, performing live on MTV, starting out with the national anthem and a sermon-like faux political speech, and ending with him cavorting around the stage in a g-string.
Love them or hate them, they were a band that sure left their mark in rock history.
Music videos are, by definition, a blend of audio and video, creating opportunities for visual storytelling.
So it’s no surprise that many songs (and music videos, especially) have a relationship with movies, in ways that go beyond merely appearing on the motion picture soundtrack.
“Gangsta’s Paradise” was created in collaboration with “Dangerous Minds,” a drama about a teacher trying to get through to inner-city kids in a crime-riddled neighborhood.
While the movie was nothing outstanding, the flagship song penned by rapper Coolio struck a chord with its soaring gospel-like chorus and dramatic, moody rap lyrics.
Teen angst, loneliness, and alienation were popular themes explored by the rock scene through the 1990s (and certainly aren’t unique to the era).
But few hit the nail on the head like Radiohead’s breakout song “Creep,” perfectly capturing that sense of self-loathing, loneliness and not belonging anywhere.
A testament to how universal it is, this song connects with its audience across cultures and generations alike, even today.
The music video showcases Radiohead’s alternative rock presence and moodiness through a powerhouse performance, with lead singer Thom Yorke starkly lit and fragile as he belts his heart out.
The song’s impact is difficult to overstate, enduring for years and even decades.
Radiohead still makes music today, and they still have a loyal army of fans on the alt-rock music scene.
But this one breakout track stands out as especially universal and timeless.
Here’s another song so iconic it became a meme.
Step into the enchanting universe of Daft Punk’s "Around the World," a track from their iconic 1997 album, Homework.
This groundbreaking music video, directed by the visionary Michel Gondry, is nothing short of a visual feast, blending repetitive rhythms with a hypnotic choreography that brings the song's title to life in an unforgettable way.
In the video, we are transported to a surreal, illuminated stage where each element of the music is personified by a distinct group of dancers.
These characters include synchronized swimmers, suited-up mummies, bouncy skeletons, robust bodybuilders, and glimmering disco dancers.
Each group of dancers represents different instruments and elements of the song, moving in perfect harmony with the infectious beats and pulsating bass lines.
This clever choreography turns the song’s repetitive structure into a captivating, ever-evolving spectacle.
The true genius of Gondry’s direction lies in the simplicity and elegance of the concept.
By assigning specific dance moves to various instrumental sounds, he creates a seamless visual and auditory experience that keeps viewers entranced.
The repetitive nature of the choreography mirrors the looping beats of the track, making it an immersive journey around the world of Daft Punk’s sonic landscape.
"Around the World" stands as a testament to Daft Punk’s innovative approach to music and visual art, proving that simplicity, when executed with creativity and precision, can produce something extraordinary.
This video not only solidified the duo’s place in electronic music history but also showcased the transformative power of music videos as an art form.
It's a perfect blend of sound and vision that continues to inspire and mesmerize audiences worldwide.
Many artists have been described as groundbreaking, trailblazing, innovating, in their own unique category, and blah blah blah.
And a lot of it is marketing hype without a lot of substance behind it.
And then there’s Beck, an artist for whom these descriptions aren’t just apt, they’re actually understating his musical genius.
Hopping between genres while simultaneously redefining them, it’s almost impossible to put him in a box and categorize his music.
He first burst on the scene with “Loser,” a funky stoner-alt-rock kind of track with too many influences to try listing.
But so infectiously catchy, it was destined for success on the rock music charts.
The video is a pretty comprehensive sampling of 1990s music video cliches and tropes visually, with a suitably low-tech and low-budget feel that only adds to the song.
Rock music has never been one to shy away from the dark side of the human experience.
And Tool is one of many great examples of this.
You don’t have to be a connoisseur of music to figure out that “Sober” is a song dealing with alcoholism, but it’s really more about addiction in general, and what it’s like to struggle with it.
Tool are also notable for their love of stop-motion animation in their music videos, having made more than a few.
For “Sober” we see haunting, dark imagery of a sad and downtrodden figure navigating a lonely dilapidated house as a metaphor for addiction and a smothering lack of hope.
It’s not for everybody, but there’s no denying the artistry and creativity at work here.
Primus was one of the most bizarre acts in rock music, and it seems many don’t remember this band.
Their style can most closely be described as taking traditional folk music and heavy metal and sticking it in a blender.
Their songs are irreverent and quirky, yet have a big, powerful grinding rhythm that makes you sit up and take notice.
They’re another band that love animation, employing bizarre claymation and stop-motion animation in many of their music videos, including this one.
Trivia: Despite the suggestive title, this song is, in fact, actually about a girl named Winona and her pet beaver. Yes, really. Get your minds out of the gutter!
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom in 1990s rock. We saw the rise of college rock– happy, upbeat, and groovy, guaranteed to lift your moods.
Bands like The Spin Doctors and Barenaked Ladies brought some good vibes to the scene.
Perhaps none more iconic than “Hold My Hand” by Hootie & The Blowfish, a soaring anthem that it’s impossible to resist singing along to at full volume.
The video was suitably wholesome and heartwarming, too, with rich warm tones and a kaleidoscope of scenes of everyday life.
We recommend adding this to your sad days playlist when you just need a hug and an audio-visual shot of oxytocin.
If you need just one song that perfectly encapsulates 90s alternative rock, it could be this one.
A grinding, groovy track with the most infectious bassline we’ve ever heard, The Breeders briefly peeked out of the underground scene with “Cannonball.”
The video is a fitting kaleidoscope of 90s alternate-rock staples and cliches, complete with an actual cannonball rolling down the street.
The lyrics are cryptic and the meaning is open to interpretation for most non-hardcore fans, but there’s no mistaking that groovy hook.
The music video for the Backstreet Boys' hit song “I Want It That Way” is an iconic representation of late '90s pop culture.
Directed by Wayne Isham and shot mostly at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the video premiered in April 1999 and quickly became synonymous with the boy band’s global popularity.
One of the video’s most memorable moments is the group’s performance on the airport tarmac, in front of a parked Boeing 727 airplane.
This setting underscores the theme of departure and longing expressed in the song’s lyrics, adding an emotional layer to the visuals.
The video’s polished production, along with the Backstreet Boys’ coordinated white outfits, adds to its timeless appeal, making it a quintessential example of late '90s pop music videos.
And you know you’ve hit it big when other acts perform loving parodies to the song, like Blink 182’s “All The Small Things” and of course, Weird Al’s hilarious “eBay” homage.
“Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega is a song with an intriguing background and writing history that has solidified its place in pop culture.
The song's minimalist approach and observational lyrics capture the mundane yet intimate moments of everyday life.
The inspiration for “Tom’s Diner” came from a real location: Tom's Restaurant on the corner of Broadway and 112th Street in New York City.
This diner, later made famous as the exterior shot for the fictional “Monk’s Cafe” in the television series “Seinfeld,” provided the setting for Vega's narrative.
In the song, she describes the routine of sitting in the diner, drinking coffee, reading a newspaper, and observing the people around her.
The lyrics are vivid and detailed, creating a sense of immediacy and connection to the simple, yet significant moments in life.
Originally, the song was a stark and simple acapella track.
But it gained an unexpected second life when British electronic duo DNA remixed it in 1990, adding a catchy beat and instrumental backing.
This version became a huge hit, bringing Vega’s song to a new audience and cementing its place in the music world.
Trivia: The song earned the nickname “the Mother of the MP3” because it was used by Karlheinz Brandenburg, one of the developers of the MP3 file format, to fine-tune the compression algorithm, owing to Vega’s pure and distinct vocals.
Says Brandenburg: “I was finishing my PhD thesis, and then I was reading some hi-fi magazine and found that they had used this song to test loudspeakers. I said ‘OK, let's test what this song does to my sound system, to MP3.’ And the result was, at bit rates where everything else sounded quite nice, Suzanne Vega's voice sounded horrible."
So he kept tweaking and fine-tuning the software and encoding until it sounded right.
Overall, “Tom's Diner” stands as a testament to Suzanne Vega's ability to turn the mundane into something magical, offering listeners a reflective and relatable experience through her keen observations and evocative songwriting.
What is it about the great state of California that makes people sing songs about it? Whatever it is, it sure works.
Of all the California anthems, this banger by 2Pac and Dr. Dre is easily one of the favorites. It probably needs no introduction.
The music video kicks things up a notch with a vision of a post-apocalyptic Mad Max-esque future, but at least it’s one where people haven’t forgotten how to party.
The production is on a groundbreaking level for the time, with elaborate sets and costumes, complete with a flaming Thunderdome full of dancers. Talk about being ahead of its time!
Dive into the haunting realm of Korn’s “Freak on a Leash,” a track from their 1998 album Follow the Leader.
The music video, directed by the dynamic duo of Todd McFarlane and Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, is a mesmerizing fusion of animation and live-action that captures the essence of the song's raw and emotional depth.
The video kicks off with a striking animated sequence by comic book artist Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn), where a little girl accidentally releases a bullet from a security guard’s gun.
This bullet then becomes the focal point of the narrative, tearing through a vividly animated world before transitioning into live-action.
The shift is seamless and symbolic, mirroring the song's intense and chaotic energy.
As the bullet flies through various environments, it disrupts the tranquility of the world around it, representing the song's themes of violence and loss of innocence.
The animation then merges into live-action, showing Korn performing in a dark, confined room.
The band's powerful performance, coupled with the bullet's destructive journey, creates a stark contrast that highlights the song’s angst and frustration.
The video culminates with the bullet returning to the animated girl, who calmly catches it, symbolizing a reclamation of control amidst chaos.
This blend of animation and live-action not only showcases the band’s innovative approach to storytelling but also amplifies the emotional weight of the song.
“Freak on a Leash” stands as a groundbreaking music video, combining McFarlane’s distinctive animation style with the visceral live-action performance of Korn.
It’s a perfect marriage of art and music, reflecting the song’s themes of struggle and resilience.
This iconic video continues to be celebrated for its creative brilliance and profound impact on the music video landscape.
You don’t often see a song that’s authentically blues and country rock dominating the charts, but this one’s just that special.
An ode to Elvis Priestley, “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles is a heavy power ballad that’s somewhat hard to categorize, but mainstream pop-rock it sure wasn’t.
The video was a postcard snapshot of the roots of rock and blues at its purest and most passionate, alternating between shots of Alannah Myles singing on the porch of her family ranch, and on stage with her band at a bar called Stages in Kingston, Ontario, clad in black leather, dominating the performance with her incredible vocals. Even today, it gives you chills re-watching it for the umpteenth time.
Smooth, smoldering, and sexy, this brooding single swept 1990 right off its feet.
Listening to it today, you can easily imagine it doing that all over again without breaking a sweat.
But that’s just the nature of a true classic, timeless and eternal. Just like the King himself.
Directed by the visionary Michel Gondry, the music video for Foo Fighters’ “Everlong” is a surreal masterpiece that perfectly captures the song's emotional intensity.
This iconic video takes viewers on a bizarre, dream-like journey that blends humor, horror, and heartfelt moments, showcasing Gondry’s unique storytelling prowess.
The video opens with Dave Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins (who portrays Grohl’s wife) falling asleep in a stark bedroom.
Their dreams quickly transport them into a series of fantastical scenarios that play out like scenes from different film genres.
Grohl's character is first transported to a 1970s horror movie setting, complete with eerie lighting and a creepy, isolated cabin.
Here, he fights off attackers in a comically exaggerated battle, embodying the heroic protector.
Meanwhile, Hawkins’ character finds herself in a silent film-inspired dreamscape, donning exaggerated makeup and costumes that echo the style of early 20th-century cinema.
The dream sequences are intercut with shots of the band performing the song, adding a grounding element to the otherwise whimsical narrative.
As the video progresses, Grohl and Hawkins navigate through their respective dreams, encountering various obstacles and enemies.
The surreal nature of these scenes is heightened by Gondry’s signature use of practical effects and inventive camera work.
The climax of the video sees Grohl and Hawkins' characters coming together in their dreams to vanquish their foes, symbolizing the power of unity and love.
The “Everlong” video is celebrated not only for its creative and imaginative visuals but also for its ability to capture the song's underlying themes of longing and resilience.
Gondry's direction brings a playful yet poignant layer to the track, making it a standout in the Foo Fighters’ video catalog.
In essence, “Everlong” is a testament to the power of dreams and the enduring strength of love.
Its blend of surreal imagery, emotional depth, and innovative filmmaking continues to captivate audiences, cementing its place as a classic in the realm of music videos.
What better note to end on than the song that ruled the top of the charts at the moment the millennium ticked over from 1999 to 2000?
Alt rock vocalist Rob Thomas of Matchbox teamed up with legendary guitarist Santana for this track.
It’s a catchy, intoxicating blend of Thomas’ anguished, versatile voice and Santana’s slick, soulful guitar expertise.
It’s an unexpectedly perfect combination that surprised and delighted music lovers at the turn of the century, and the track grooved happily at the number one slot on the charts for twelve weeks.
Those of us who were there clearly remember this song playing seemingly everywhere for months on end, and nobody complained because it was just that good.
The music video has the unlikely duo triggering an impromptu block party on an urban city street during a heatwave, with plenty of shots of gorgeous people dancing to forget the heat.
The song itself has a vibe of soulful Latin rock that’s perfectly radio-friendly and unforgettably infectious.
The video was iconic of the time, and a perfect way to bid goodbye to the 1990s and welcome the new millennium.
Maybe this GenX writer is biased, but while most look back fondly on the ‘70s and the ‘80s, the ‘90s were just an iconic era with its own distinct vibe that made its mark on music history.
And the music videos serve as a joyous, vivid time capsule that demand to be remembered.
What did you think of our list? There was a lot of contenders to pick from, so it was quite the challenge to pick out the best.
What videos did we miss? Let us know in the comments!
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