10 Most Expensive Rock Music Videos Of All Time
When you're making a short film for you song, it helps to have some money in the bank.
In 1995, Michael and Janet Jackson produced a music video for their song Scream. As well as being one of the most influential pop videos ever made, it also smashed records when it was revealed it had cost $7 million to make.
Scream still stands as the most expensive music video of all time, but pricey promos aren't just limited to the world of sibling-based dance pop.
Rock music has seen its fair share of excellent videos over the years and some have been done on a shoestring budget. Looking at you, Here It Goes Again by OK Go! However, this list is all about the ones at the other end of the scale; the ones that broke the bank.
The values listed are what was spent on the videos at the time, rather than how much they cost when adjusted for inflation. Otherwise, things would get really confusing.
Every single video on this list cost at least half a million dollars to make. Several tick over into seven figures territory, with a few giving the Jacksons competition when it comes to excessive spending.
Were they worth the money? Let's find out.
10. The Rock Show - Blink-182 ($500,000)
For their 2001 single The Rock Show, Blink-182 got given a whole shedload of money to shoot a video, and they decided to have fun with it.
The video opens with the pop punk group cashing in the record company's cheque, before they descend on the city to cause havoc. They start handing out the money to strangers, and throwing it out of their van and off the roof of a building. They pay people to shave their heads, pay a group a strippers to mow a guy's lawn, and pay for a homeless man they find on the street to have a full makeover and get a new wardrobe.
Basically, they spend the money on anything but shooting a proper video.
According to the band themselves, that cheque from the opening clip was for a whopping $500,000. That means that Blink-182 got given half a million dollars and then proceeded to pee it all up the wall.
Yeah, that checks out.
Ultimately, it was money well spent, as the band created some unique and memorable promotion for their song. However, you can see why they were never trusted with this much money ever again.