25 Best Music Videos: 7

7. Rockit
Herbie Hancock

In a seemingly average suburban home lives a large (and I mean large) family of simple robots. These robots spend all day watching the same song by jazz great Herbie Hancock.

In all honesty, this video blows me away. It's a genuinely creative engineering masterpiece. With every robot moving in time with the beat (with some help from camera editing, of course), it's a brilliant synchronous...thing, I guess.

And the machines are cool, too. With everything ranging from newspaper-reading robots to robotic geese to, uh, compulsive masturbating robots (seriously, watch the robot in bed and tell me he's doing something else). The aesthetic creativity of the machines are astounding.

Also astounding is the way that robot is jacking it. Your hand is going to be so sore, dude. Now I'm going to type more words so that I don't end a post on a masturbation joke.

25 Best Music Videos: 8

8. You Might Think
The Cars

You know what? It's really hard sometimes to put in words how much I love something (reeeeaaallly hard sometimes). This is a problem I face with this video.

It's hard to explain specifically why it's so great when it utilizes incredibly outdated special effects and Ric Ocasek engaging in a series of corny visual gags.

Sometimes I feel like I'm just writing things for myself.

25 Best Music Videos: 9

9. Hot For Teacher

Van Halen

David Lee Roth is a master of cheesiness and no one, not even Diamond Dave himself, will deny this. The best of his cheese (and the cheese of a lot of 80s metal) is provided in the classic video for "Hot For Teacher."

Despite the standard bikini-clad women, "Hot For Teacher" carries a lot of interesting aspects in and of itself. The chorus of the song, for example, featuring the band all decked out in matching suits and choreographed dancing (even if Alex can't seem to dance for his life, watch him constantly fuck up during those parts) as if they were some kind of doo-wop group or something, is really great.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Waldo. Slick-hair, huge glasses, bow tie. Waldo is the most stereotypical nerd you will ever see and his first day of school is absolutely torturous. Surrounded by hot teachers and a riotous Van Halen (both regular and child-sized, check out little Eddie's little guitar), Waldo is turned into an anxiety-ridden shell of his former self by the end of the school day. Godspeed, Waldo. Godspeed.

25 Best Music Videos: 10

10. Death Valley '69
Sonic Youth feat. Lydia Lunch

I know I talked about "Come To Daddy" being scary and all, but this video...THIS VIDEO is the most unnerving music video I have ever seen.

It's hard to tell what disturbs me the most about it. It could be the strange psychedelic imagery that I thought was only reserved for Butthole Surfers performances. It could be pin-up model Lung Leg acting like a fucking crazy person. It could be the music itself, with its freaky sound and Lydia Lunch's half-erotic, half-horrific banshee wail.

If I had to pin it on one thing, though, it would have to be the opening of the video, in which the remains of the band themselves are found in a house, presumably by some Manson-esque family who stopped by before the video started. The shots of each member's gory corpse (Lee Ranaldo's stomach is fucking slashed open, for god's sake. With guts and everything. Aaauuuuuuugh.) strewn about a filth-ridden house is just really creepy as shit.

My previous choice for number 10 was another Sonic Youth video, the one for "Kool Thing," a video featuring go-go dancers and Kim Gordon being hot as hell. I suppose this and "Kool Thing" are like polar opposites of the 60s as a decade. One a portrayal of sex and decadence, the other a twisted acid trip filled with gore and freakouts

25 Best Music Videos: 11

11. Money For Nothing
Dire Straits

When MTV premiered on August 1, 1981, the first video shown was The Buggles prophetic "Video Killed The Radio Star." But this isn't about them. This is about the Dire Straits' infamous CGI music video.

One of the first ever presentations of human beings in CGI, animation company Mainframe Studios (who went on to make Reboot) and Mark Knopfler broke animation ground with this video.

As the two blocky men of the video move those refrigerators and color TVs, a live-action music video plays occasionally behind them, comprised of Mark Knopfler playing guitar and singing while rotoscoping his headband to be made of AMAZING NEON COLORS WHOOOOAAAAAAAA!!!! Also, Sting is there singing over and over about how he wants his MTV. Christ, we get it. Just call up your local cable provider, dude.

FUN FACT: This was actually the first video shown on MTV Europe when it premiered on August 1, 1987. This video is the shining achievement of Mark Knopfler's headbanded career.

25 Best Music Videos: 12

12. Weapon of Choice
Fatboy Slim

Have I mentioned that I like Spike Jonze yet? Because I do. I really fucking do. So much.

This video was directed by him. It has Christopher Walken dancing to a Fatboy Slim song. Why should I go on? You are going to love this video anyways. Especially when Christopher Walken starts flying and shit.

Just watch it.