(June 2026 note: I originally posted this in 2006, to capture a few favorite music videos. Over the subsequent years, I came back here to add new ones as comments, and amassed a large collection. Then in 2025 the blog platform sh-t the bed and I had to migrate to this new one, but the comments didn’t migrate. I captured a copy of them, though, and in June 2026 I finally migrated all those comments into the body of this post. So, the first section below is my original 2006 post, and then below that is the epic list of everything else. Play these at my funeral celebration!)
I have watched this video so many times. Get the video at YouTube and be careful, don’t hurt yourself. 
Other links:
Music Video taxonomy at Videoville (2026: link broken)
Style Mag’s top 100 music videos of all time (2026: link broken)
From MusicThing, the 10 greatest beat-making videos ever. (2026: still works!)
Also, these aren’t music videos, but rather short films recognized by the Sloan Foundation for intelligent use of science in the film. Go to scienceandfilm.org, click on “Sloan-awarded projects”, and then explore. Note the film school category at upper right — try selecting that and click Submit at the bottom. (2026: updated)
The rest of this post was reconstituted in 2026 from my many subsequent comments on the original 2006 post, adding more favorites over the past 20 years.
DATE: 10/14/2006 11:55:27 AM
Not a music video, but a music visualization. Fascinating.
http://www.coverpop.com/whitney/index.php?var=v0
DATE: 02/10/2007 12:05:34 AM
10 minutes of John “Ox” Entwhistle on the bass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs75D5iOHCE
It’s the “OxCam” — the camera stays on him, and all you hear is his bass as they roar through “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
DATE: 09/09/2009 11:14:52 PM
Collection of live performances on the BBC’s “Old Grey Whistle Test” from Metafilter:
http://www.metafilter.com/84907/Oh-God-I-could-do-better-than-that
DATE: 12/07/2009 09:51:20 AM
Thin Lizzy — Whiskey In The Jar
1973, ridiculous lipsyncing to album version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSpHmHABiyM
1980, live with great crowd participation, no video though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zEZriQOA2o
DATE: 01/27/2010 11:45:35 PM
The Sonics – Psycho a Go-Go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw6Fjo6VXTg
(it seems like I hear this song every week on The New Forces Radio Hour, and that’s fine by me)
DATE: 12/16/2011 09:29:24 AM
Various forms of debauchery featuring the Rolling Stones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzAEtLPSzRg
(2026: the video got taken down, of course, and I don’t know what it was exactly so don’t know what to search for to find it again …)
DATE: 12/22/2011 01:30:28 AM
Gang Of Four’s “Not Great Men” performed by a gamelan ensemble:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K19jPwpP5XY
Possibly my most favorite video of all time, definitely in the top three.
DATE: 03/10/2013 12:49:39 PM
The MC5 performing for 25 fantastic minutes in a German TV studio in 1972. Everything is spot-on here, including the video and sound quality and the band’s performance. Incredible!
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mc5+beat+club+1972
Where would rock history be without German television?
DATE: 09/13/2013 11:04:03 PM
The Melvins performing an entire show in San Francisco in 1992. Two good cameras and good sound. This would have been at (what I consider) their peak, when I was so enamored with them I fabricated a Melvins bumper sticker for my car. I need to do a whole write-up about them …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv497aed1j0
DATE: 11/01/2013 12:09:17 AM
Black Sabbath, live in Paris, 1970:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPJXuTK8j5k
Tracklist, time markers, discussion and more links:
http://www.metafilter.com/133415/Your-Halloween-Soundtrack
http://www.metafilter.com/103980/War-Pigs-Live-Heavy
DATE: 12/02/2013 10:51:22 PM
Nina Simone performing “Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair”, circa 1969. Gotta play this one on the Sunday Special radio show that I will do on WREK someday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWmCbEbMmeU
DATE: 05/16/2014 11:22:27 PM
Christmas, a late 80’s trio from Boston, deliver one of the best music videos ever. Brilliant!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_xq8HsHDdA
(2026: the video got taken down. As I recall, it was of the song “Stupid Kids” but I can’t find it again. Will try harder next time. EDIT: ha! scroll down!)
DATE: 12/24/2014 04:03:40 PM
An incredible lesson in funk drumming history and technique by Yogi Horton:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTuFEikcbmM
I had to take a break at the 37m30s point, because when he showed how 50 Ways and the NOLA shoeshine beat were basically the same thing, my head exploded.
Here’s an article about the genesis of this video, and Yogi himself, may he rest in peace.
http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2007/05/yogi-horton/
DATE: 06/11/2018 07:06:57 PM
While organizing some old computer files, I came across a two-minute muisc compilation I made in 2002. It takes the first few seconds of about two dozen songs, mostly guitar-only openings to early 1990s punk rock hits, and strings them together. It was the backing track to a short promo I was making for an “alumni weekend” at WREK that I was coordinating, getting WREK alumni into the old studio one last time before the station moved out to a new location.
My god, it is the best thing ever. Every one of those song openers makes me instantly so happy. I can’t upload or link to the compilation here, but it’s on my computer (“WREK guitar promo”). At my funeral, just play every one of those songs; Allan Ross and Jon Kincaid should be able to identify them 🙂
Side note: it wasn’t really a hit, but I maintain that Jawbox’s song “Cut Off” is the best album-opening song ever, on one of the best albums ever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlCnjSvvoyw
DATE: 02/16/2020 03:22:27 PM
Small Faces performing “Whatcha Gonna Do About It” in 1966 on … the BBC? German TV? Don’t know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sah6C87QsGo
DATE: 04/12/2023 12:07:45 PM
Christmas, a band from Boston that sounds like they should be from New Zealand and on Flying Nun, performing “Stupid Kids”. Great song and utterly unique video. Via Jon Kincaid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVbh0sHPZ6s
(2026: no way! I posted this twice, and this second video upload is still up!)
DATE: 05/01/2023 11:56:26 PM
In case you haven’t figured it out by now, these are songs that should be played at my funeral / memorial / party. Project ’em on the wall and hook up a decent sound system with some bass. Not saying I’m going anywhere soon. Also, maybe I should just do this a lot sooner, like at a regular party …
Anyway, today’s addition to the collection comes from Tropical Fuck Storm. This song and performance gives me goosebumps every time. So glad I got to see this band a few months ago when they played a sold-out show at the EARL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQYK3sLxeCo
DATE: 11/03/2024 11:18:09 AM
LOL I came here to file away that Tropical Fuck Storm performance. Again 🙂
Well, while I’m here, here’s another one worth noting: the MC5 performing live at an outdoor show Detroit. R.I.P. Wayne Kramer, who was in peak form here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74jS3dW0DtE
02-Jun-2026: I already mentioned the Melvins above. Here’s two more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MRgCcYyKQk — March 1993, playing in the middle of the day in some sort of campus commons at UCLA. This would have been between Lysol and Houdini albums, the latter being their major label debut (after the insane grunge frenzy of that time). Buzz and Dale, of course, but on bass that’s Lori Black, daughter of Shirley Temple …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e82HFsxej4g — from 2013, playing some of the same material at a concert in Germany. There’s no question that the Melvins are an acquired taste, and surely the first 20^H^H30^H^H45 minutes of this video, oh heck all of it, tries the patience of 99.99% of the music listening public, if not entirely clearing the average room. But I love it. Love. It. And have since the late 80s!