This is the song that introduced most of us to Cake. I loved this song and listened to it often, but for some unexplainable reason I always assumed they were a one-hit-wonder band. It wasn’t until years later I actually checked them out and learned I love all their songs. And I do mean all of them - that’s rare.
Directed in 1996 by Mark Kohr. Kohr is probably best known for the 9 Green Day videos he directed in the 1990s. He also directed Primus’ My Name Is Mud - which would have been on this site if Universal wasn’t forbidding embedding (can someone tell me what these Music companies are possibly thinking by doing that?)
The first of several Busta Rhymes videos directed by Harold “Hype” Williams, this style inspired many to follow. Williams introduces his now-trademark fisheye lens for this video. Williams has directed dozens of mostly hip-hop videos since his debut in 1992. Everyone from Ja Rule to Jay-Z to Jessica Simpson, Kobe Bryant.
One of the great mysteries in video music history - “What does the guy say at the end?” I guess we will never know why he did it.
Jamie Thraves directed this video in 1995 as one of his very first music videos. He directed a dozen videos from 200-2006 including two videos for Coldplay and one for Death Cab for Cutie.
If you can name any other Chris Isaak song than you are one of his biggest fans. I actually liked his tv show - but still this is the only song I can recall and it mostly because of Helena Christensen.
Director and famed photographer Herb Ritts hit big with this video in 1991, in the previous two years he directed Janet Jackson’s Love Will Never Do (Without You) and Madonna’s Cherish with the same sexy style cinematography.
An homage to “A Trip to the Moon”, the 1902 French black and white silent science fiction film.
Directed by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Farris in 1996. This husband and wife directing team as worked with bands such as Oasis, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, and R.E.M. They won six MTV Video Music Awards for this Smashing Pumpkins video and their first feature film, Little Miss Sunshine (2006), drew raving reviews from critics and won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Abigail Breslin.
Director Michel Gondry pioneered “bullet time” freeze frame photography for this video - which was later adapted and expanded upon in the making of the “Matrix”. He also experiments with a lot of warping image manipulation.
As mentioned in a previous post Gondry directed “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” - he also has a film coming out starring Mos Def and Jack Black that looks hilarious called “Be Kind Rewind”
I love the storyline of the lead singer (the gorgeous Gewn Stefani) getting all the attention and upsetting the unappreciated bandmates. Unless your a die hard No Doubt fan you probably can’t even name the other members of the band. But its not like she went solo on them when fame hit - they were together for 10 years before they hit the national conscious and she didn’t go solo until another decade after this song hit in 1996.
Directed by Sophie Muller who has directed over a hundred music videos including at least a dozen for both Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. When No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” won the award for Best Group Video at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards Stefani thanked her extensively, saying, “I’d like to say that Sophie Muller is a genius.” Click here for more videos by Sophie Mueller
