Martha, My Dear: ILM's All-Time Video-Poll Results Thread

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3544112/

*adds to watchlist*

Duran Duran got 66 points in total, 47 of them for "Hungry for the Wolf", the rest for three others (one vote each). Their lasting impact was not lasting, at least not here--Rob Sheffield is still an enthusiast.

Kind of amazing that DD didn’t place. Also I would have thought “Rio” would be the top vote getter. Then again I haven’t seen those videos in decades

It was only recently I saw the 'dirty' version of "Girls On Film"...very clearly not designed for wide broadcast, although I imagine it did air on the Tophat Playboy Channel.

I did vote for "A View To Kill".

another person-walking-around video

I'd have nominated/voted for "Sapokanikan" by Joanna Newsom, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, probably to no avail.

Natalie Merchant’s “Carnival” is another good one in the person-walking-around genre

There's a walking-around video in the Top 10...I voted for Green Day's "Walking Contradiction," which sorts of fits, except the focus is on the surrounding chaos, not the walkers.

Björk was considered an important video artist

Her visuals are "pushy" and tip the scale for me too far into whimsy/weirdness, I'm sated just listening to her music.

anyone with affection for Rio is strongly recommended to watch (at least the first half-hour of) the film at that IMDB link

Didn't click on the link...I quite liked that movie. Their new-wave song (a video, too, if I remember it right) was brilliant.

I can see why Björk videos might resonate to varying degrees depending on one's appreciation for her music but the 'Bachelorette' video (by Gondry, of course) is like objectively astounding. I have to imagine it'll show up in these results eventually.

xps 'losing my religion' had to be my REM pick, despite my not particularly caring about it as a kid, because it captures an aspect of my memory of the 90s in a way that few other 90s artifacts do. rustic, sepia earth tones, pseudo-historicity, a mystique of sophistication, it reminds me of the pier 1 imports my mom decorated the house with, intended to offer the feel of a place that had been lived in without the dust and dirt of a real old object, decor that in retrospect is imbued with melancholic longing or an ennui of emptiness, which i also associate with the song

I'm tempted to say that the gap between the images in music videos and "life" was clearer before the Internet became part of everyday life, and that it was easier to be bored and to feel that emptiness -- not sure how much it's the adolescent versus the historical moment.

I voted for "Man on the Moon" (the "Losing My Religion" video is one of those I can't really see because of my antipathy for the song). That was definitely a key video for me in appreciating the artistic possibilities for the form, even though it's well along the timeline (and supposedly borrows liberally from Bruce Conner, whose films I've never seen).

The first Bruce Conner film I saw was a found-footage thing called “Take the 5:10 to Dreamland” (1976), which blew my mind. Devo’s “Mongoloid” video is another Bruce Conner found-footage work.

"star guitar" is the greatest visual representation of how it feels like the landscape syncs up with the music in your headphones when you're staring out the window of a train

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, March 17, 2022 10:32 AM (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

not sure I've seen the video but can confirm, after a "Star Guitar" drive across Kansas at sunset

biggest surprise today... "Oblivion" had a video? something about that feels retconned

It got lots of rotation on MTV; it’s how I discovered the song…

i am enjoying this rollout

also old grumps & younglings may not recall everyone suddenly wearing tennis headbands to emulate marl knopfler & money for nothing video was THE coolest thing anyone had ever clapped eyes since “Thriller”.
we didn’t get out much

and then def leppard ruined it by recreating the same animation for the lets get rocked video & all nostalgia left my body

Yeah the "Money for Nothing" video blew my mind at a young age. tbh I voted for it having forgotten about that one awful lyric, might have given me some pause had I remembered

Their lasting impact was not lasting, at least not here--Rob Sheffield is still an enthusiast.

― clemenza, Thursday, March 17, 2022 9:08 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

do you mean their videos?

“oblivion” video was def a big deal at the time, maybe only in tumblr and the blogosphere, but that area of the culture deserves representation here

didnt vote but im glad radiohead 'just' placed, i remember vhs taping that off mtv as a teen & watching it over and over to find out what was said @ the end

do you mean their videos?

In terms of Duran Duran, that's probably what I meant; in terms of Rob, more general. There are probably bands out there influenced by them musically, and image-wise, that I don't know.

I'm just sitting around, may as well start. I move pretty quickly--would be happy to finish today.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/video-25.jpg

25. “Bastards of Young,” Replacements (1985)
73 points/8 votes
Director: Randy Skinner

I'm a big fan but of two minds on this video. In context, in its moment, it's ingenious, and kind of a necessary No.

But I also think of Adventureland, and its brilliant use of "Unsatisfied" as Jesse Eisenberg is about to board a bus for New York near the end of the film. The Replacements had so many great songs that could have been, if they cared enough, turned into great videos. It would be nice to have those around right now; also, hundreds and hundreds of lesser bands broke through commercially because of a video.

But, if you've read Trouble Boys, and probably even if you haven't, you know they tried to sabotage that every chance they got. They succeeded, and this is what we have. (Maybe they made an actual video or two I've forgotten.)

xps star guitar would have been my #1 had i voted, apols if it doesn't place!

XP They started making 'proper' videos w/Don't Tell A Soul.

(xpost) Rest easy.

Any good ones that got overshadowed by "Bastards of Young"s memorable gimmick? I have a three or four year window around that time where I wasn't paying attention to videos--that picked up again in the '90s.

Skimmed a couple quickly ("I'll Be You" and "Achin' to Be")--looked okay, primarily performance.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/video-24.jpg

24. “Ashes to Ashes,” David Bowie (1985)
74 points/9 votes
Director: David Mallet

any way to get a text recap of what's placed so far?

*is murdered by clemenza*

OK boomers...

The best scene: harlequine Major Tom impassively enduring his mom's babbling on their beach walk.

if the "bastards of young" video came out today it would be called a "visualizer" and there would be a different "official video"

I'll do a recap after I finish today--either the full thing, if I finish, or #40-11 if I don't. Also #41-100 after that.

Starting with the hypothetical that videos are still relevant (doubtful), if the Replacements were around today and still begging off, fans would jump in and make a bunch for them.

perfect video for the song

The later Replacements videos weren't bad, but OTOH I'm just not sure MTV was ready for them even if they were doing 'great' videos (same w/the Pixies).

The "I'll Be You" video got pretty good airtime, and I particularly like the follow-up clip for "Achin'To Be" (one of Westerberg's sisters plays the mysterious shadow girl).

Rhino apparently has done some new official videos for old tracks, but I haven't watched them.

Good point--not like they would have automatically gotten play. If they'd been around after "Smells Like Teen Spirit," yes.

But we'd have them, though, right now.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/video-23.jpg

23. “Freedom! ‘90,” George Michael (1990)
78 points/9 votes
Director: David Fincher

xp It's mostly my love for the song but I really like "The Ledge" video -- similarly zero-effort to "Bastards of Young" aside from the fact that they actually showed up to the shoot, plus there's no lip-syncing so it was pretty easy for the b-roll to get recycled for the identical "Alex Chiton" and "Can't Hardly Wait" videos. At least that's what I think is happening there.

xps the new videos for the Sorry Ma box are alright. crossed my mind, but should have voted for Bastards.

The "Ashes to Ashes" video was actually 1980. If I had ranked my picks, it would have been first.
I just made the connection this morning - the only other thing with such ominous visuals I would have been watching on TV at the age of 8 or 9 was Doctor Who, I wonder if that allowed me to make a little more sense of it than I would have otherwise.

David Fincher shows up twice here...Honestly not sure if I knew of his video background or not. Maybe I did at one time, but I'd forgotten about it by the time of Zodiac and The Social Network.

"Alex Chilton" was waiting there for a brilliant video.

With a few of these, the album came out one year and the single/video another--went with the latter when I was aware of that. Maybe I messed up on Bowie.

Ah, that's a typo--the correct date is in the screenshot. (Cutting and pasting--he got the Replacements' 1985.)

freedom 90 way too low

"Bstards of Young" was a no-brainer nom for me but I had no particular expectation of it placing. I don't think I even grasped that was an anti-video statement when I belatedly saw with it virtually no context. (It was the first Replacements song I heard.) There's *just* enough going on for it be entertaining in spite of itself lol.

The several no-we-don't-do-videos videos are way cooler than the conventional ones they eventually did IMHO.