10 Most Violent Music Videos Of All Time

By Brian Wilson / March 10, 2016

Violent music videos have always existed, yet before the internet they weren't quite as problematic. The point of a music video, of course, is to promote a song or album...yet there was little tolerance for showing any depiction of violence on television stations, meaning it was tough to get the money and approval to make them. Yet the advent of the internet and the popularity of streaming services like YouTube has breathed new life (and many more gruesome possibilities) into the violent video. Bands and artists no longer have to worry about a lack of promotion... gory videos still make it onto YouTube, and are written about, shared and discussed much more than your standard fare. For this reason music videos are able to get more unsettling than ever... but that doesn't mean there weren't some insanely brutal videos made back in the day, which have now found their way onto the internet. With that in mind, here are the ten most violent music videos of all time.

10. Rihanna €“ Bitch Better Have My Money

Who knew Rihanna liked torture so much? Bitch Better Have My Money was released in 2015 as a digital download and was followed up with a music video shortly after. The video has quite a lot going on in it, and features a healthy dose of suffering. The first person to be tortured is a young woman played by Canadian model Rachel Roberts. Throughout the video we see her tied up naked and suspended by a rope from the ceiling, locked in a box and generally mistreated, force-fed alcohol and drugs. The second is a character played by the brilliant Mads Mikkelsen (well-known for his performances in Casino Royale and the TV show Hannibal). Mikkelsen's character is bound to a chair as Rihanna produces a range of glinting blades. Though we don't explicitly see the subsequent scene, it's followed up with a shot of Rihanna staring into the camera completely drenched in blood, making it all too obvious what has occurred.