Our Favourite Music Videos Of2009

Fri 11th Dec, 2009 in Features

If 2009 had one lesson to bring to the art of music videos, it was – œshow more skin’. While Rammstein took that maxim about as far as you can, the likes of Yeasayer, Girls and the Flaming Lips turned flapping appendages into something special.

Of course, it wasn’t all about going nude this year. At home, we saw bands fashion high concepts out of low budgets, giving us such gems as Philadelphia Grand Jury’s picnic jam. Meanwhile, further afield, seemingly simple ideas were executed beautifully: from the sun-kissed skate homage of Dinosaur Jr’s Over It to the mesmerising simplicity of Grizzly Bear’s Two Weeks.

So if you want skip-rope championships, urban warfare and more Wayne Coyne than you bargained for, here’s our round-up of memorable videos from 2009.

SOUR – HIBI NO NEIR
Japanese band Sour made this video for Hibi no Neir (Tone of Everyday) using webcam footage made by their fans all over the world. Very cool indeed.

PHILADELPHIA GRAND JURY – GOING TO THE CASINO
Who said having no budget could get in the way of a party?

BLUEJUICE – BROKEN LEG
Team Bluejuice battle it out in the 1985 World Skipping Championship Final, egged on by a hilariously hyped-up crowd.

THE DEAD WEATHER – TREAT ME LIKE YOUR MOTHER
Ever thought Jack White and Alison Mosshart would be perfect for a Terminator movie? Well, here they are trading machine gun fire under the watchful eye of music video auteur Jonathan Glazer.

JONATHAN BOULET – A COMMUNITY SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
So impressive it even got a Caps Locked shout-out from Kanye West, this forest romp from Modular’s new golden boy Jonathan Boulet is the perfect fit for the song’s easy charms.

GRIZZLY BEAR – TWO WEEKS
A concept that would’ve sounded slight on paper comes alive vividly in one of those videos that will be talked about for years.

DINOSAUR JR – OVER IT
The Dinosaur Jr. men take to the streets on BMX and skateboards for the feelgood video of the year.

YEASAYER – AMBLING ALP
Sumptuous and decidedly trippy, this flesh-baring effort from directing team Radical Friend gets us every time.

FLAMING LIPS – WATCHING THE PLANETS
The video for Embryonic single Watching The Planets really has it all: nude bike-riders, a furry vagina creature and full-frontal Wayne Coyne. You’ll have to go to NME to watch the uncut version.

And the worst…

MARILYN MANSON – RUNNING TO THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
As incendiary as he no doubt expected this to be, the video for Running To The Edge Of The World exposed all that is wrong (and not in an interesting way) about Marilyn Manson in 2009.

That’s just skimming the surface. What music videos dazzled or disappointed you this year?