4. Fatboy Slim - Weapon Of Choice & Praise You
These two videos are really two sides to the same coin so I included both. Let's talk about "Weapon of Choice" first. Here's another idea that made everyone else slap themselves on the head for not thinking of it first. Put Christopher Walken in your music video! Of course that's a great idea! Why did it take until the year 2000 for this to happen? Walken has always been a strange character. There's his unusual vocal delivery, and his natural ability to play both mean villains and appear in comedies. As an actor, he can do it all. He's an Oscar winner, for crying out loud. But, until 2000, who knew he could dance? For half the song, Walken wows you with his moves and by the time he jumps over the railing and flies all around the hotel, it's just pure bliss. Beyond Walken's dancing abilities, the video is also incredibly well-made. Spike Jonze takes us all over the place and shows an incredible knack for directing dance performances. It's thrilling to watch, and like all of his videos, it's fun and light-hearted. I can't include "Weapon of Choice" without adding "Praise You." Obviously they're both Fatboy Slim songs, but more than that, "Praise You" is basically the ugly twin of "Weapon of Choice." At the center of this ultra low-budget music video is Spike Jonze, who plays Richard Koufey, the leader of the fictional Torrance Community Dance Group. Shot outside a movie theatre in Westwood, California (without permission), Richard and his dance troupe put on the weirdest, most provocative dance performance in front of all these movie theatre patrons who have no idea what's going on. "Praise You" was also hugely popular with MTV. They actually invited The Torrance Community Dance Group to dance at the 1999 Music Video Awards. Chris Rock had this to say about the performance: "Fatboy Slim? More like 'White Boy Retarded!'"