We're in the midst of some pivotal changes within the music industry, but the art of creating a timeless music video is still thriving for the right artists.
In the eighties and nineties music videos were just as important in marketing a band as getting their song on the radio. A successful video on MTV could launch someone to new heights within weeks. They would even go on to launch the film careers of many of today's biggest directors like David Fincher, Jonathan Glazer and Michael Bay. Love them or hate them, music videos changed the landscape of the industry. Fast forward to the 21st century and an era where music networks are pretty much extinct. One would think that without a forum for music videos, theyd become obsolete as well right? Wrong. In fact, many bands and directors have been coming together to constantly innovate the music video and bring it back to the art form it once was. And now with video-sharing sites like Youtube and Vimeo, artists don't have to fight to get their videos onto a network's regular rotation and can go viral in days. A music video being shared all over the internet can do more for a band than a show like MTV's Total Request Live ever did. Heres a list of videos made in the 21st century that show that the music video isnt dead and buried just yet:
10. The Black Keys - Gold On The Ceiling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW36R1dbjGg Watching the video for Gold On The Ceiling is like peering through a window into director Harmony Korine's bizarre analog nightmare. If you've seen any of Harmony Korine's videos, that description alone should suffice. Here though he replaces the downright creepy cast of his Trash Humpers film with the Black Keys duo being carried via Baby Bjorns by their expressionless doppelgängers. Throw in some absurd VHS text throughout and you have something that falls somewhere in between a music video and a short avant-garde film. It's quite the gamble for both Harmony Korine and the Black Keys. For Korine it's his slap in the face to all the stylised, big budget videos that have become the norm, especially for more mainstream-associated acts. Or perhaps it's just a rebellion against the digital 21st century, and in this case he's ably backed by one of the more popular musical acts of that era. In the case of the Black Keys, it shows a resistance to fully embrace the trend of "selling out." While Gold On The Ceiling may be used in commercials and sporting events left and right, pairing themselves with such a divisive director like Harmony Korine proves that the Black Keys are not content with playing it safe just because it will fill their bank accounts.
