A - Z Of Cool Indie Music Clips

Music videos can be a strange art form; sometimes the clip can distract from the song (for instance when the young starlet licks a hammer) or they can bring the song to life (such as Sinead O’Connor’s, ‘Nothing Compare 2 U’). Indie music may not always have the video budget of the big commercial artist but one good idea can make a clip captivating. Here is the A – Z of classic indie music clips.

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A...All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem

This is first and foremost an incredible dance song, from an incredible electronic artist. The lyrics score big for any aging indie fan and the sheer simplicity of the clip that draws you along until the glorious finale (don’t miss the lizard on his shoulder in the midst the lights and colour).

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B...Beastie Boys – Sabotage

The Beasties have always been such a loveable bunch (RIP Adam Yauch) and to do a mock-up of 70’s police drama as a video clip, what’s not to love. The vibe of song meshes together so perfectly with the look of the clip and the high energy feel of it all.

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C...Cannonball – The Breeders

It is slightly ridiculous that the highest charting song of Kim Deal’s career was this and not a Pixies song. The clip is a whole lot of fun and is just dripping with 90s alternative rock charm; the outfits, the lo-fi camera angles, the Deal girls. It should be no surprise this clip has such a classic 90s feel; being directed by Kim Gordon and Spike Jonze will do that.

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D...Do You Realise – Flaming lips

The Flaming Lips album ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’ from which this song is taken is a true classic. The Flaming Lips live show has to be seen to be believed, it is a larger than life event full of lights and colour, just like Las Vegas which is an apt setting for the clip. ‘Do You Realise’ is a beautiful celebration of life intermingled with profound lyrics and Wayne Coyne unique voice and delightful sense of style.

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E...E talking – soulwax

Soulwax were a slow grower for me, after first being uninspired by the first few listens; I wasn’t convince by it until I tried again after friends raved about it. The brilliance of this clip is the way is takes a shot at the drug dependency of modern life and how it affects people in so many detrimental ways. This clip became even more real for me after a blistering live performance by Soulwax complete with buzzed up drug taker yelling in my ear about what a great time we were all having.

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F...Foo Fighters – Everlong

Even if you have become bored with the music of the Foo Fighters (guilty as charged), credit still needs to be paid to Dave Grohl and co for their creativity in clips. So the letter ‘F’ always had the Foo’s name all over it, really the question was just which one and I think ‘Everlong’ narrowly wins over ‘Big Me’. The bizarreness of the dream sequence, the oversized props, the drums coming out from under the nightie, there are so many things to love about this and ‘Everlong’ is a classic song too.

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G...Grandaddy – Nature Anthem

This song is adorable and so is the clip. The clip is simple, cheap and effective and it leaves me thinking “how can you not love people dressed in animal suits?” Whenever we go walking in nature with my kids I’m stoked that we end up singing this song; it’s positive, upbeat, infectious like a commercial but from a true indie band.

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H...Here Comes Your Man – The Pixies

In my mind The Pixies narrowly nudge out The Cure for most important band in the history of alternative music. This song has the most gorgeous guitar opening and the sweetest bass swagger too and then the band turn this into an anti-clip mocking the whole concept of lip syncing to camera.

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I...I wanna Be Adored – The Stone Roses

The attitude, the clothes, the simple but hypnotic bass line from a time when bass had hooks and John Squire let loose on his guitar. This is a time piece that makes you wonder what it might have been like to be a part of the Madchester scene in the late 80’s.

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J...Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart

The clip is haunting which is what you want with a song like this by a guy who sadly ended his life. ‘Control’ was a fascinating look into the life into the troubled genius that was Ian Curtis. The other interesting thing for indie music fans was that out of the ashes of Joy Division rose the band New Order (yes they wrote Bizarre Love Triangle).

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K...Kings of Convenience - I’d Rather Dance With You

This is possibly as cool as a twee-pop band can get. Kings of Convenience are one seriously gentle indie pop band but this track demonstrates the start of Erlend Oye movement from quiet acoustic music to chilled electronic (with Royksopp and The Whitest Boy Alive). The clip is cute and includes ballet, so I should probably show it to my daughter more often.

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L...Los Angeles – Frank Black

Surely the solution to getting money thrown at you and being told to make a clip is to use it to do fun stuff that you always wanted to do; like riding in a hovercraft. Where do you go to find one of those? I’m guessing it’s one of the deserts on the West Coast. Again I love a take off – so Frank Black both mocks hard rock bands and hip hop in this clip.

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M...Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy

This is another simple cheap but compelling clip that accompanies a beautiful song. Walking the streets for a one take clip with swagger underpinned by violins; sounds like a good idea hey Richard Ashcroft.

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N...New order – True Faith

There aren’t enough truly bizarre clips in the world so New Order helped restore the balance with True Faith. If you wonder why it looks like something out of Cirque de Soleil, it’s because the choreographer was later involved with the aforementioned surrealist performance art.

O...Ok Go – Needing Getting

Unquestionably in the ‘O’ category of bands the highest selling band will be Oasis (70 million) but as far as videos go, Ok Go smash out amazingly creative clips with each single, even though the competition isn’t big (most Oasis clips were uninspiring). From their original leap to fame as “the treadmill band”, but ‘Needing/Getting’ has super cool percussion and I trust they were paid well for cross promotion too.

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P...Pavement – Gold Soundz

Pavement are a genuinely rare band, they released a perfect record, go on give ‘Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain’ a few listens and then try and tell me it’s not a masterpiece. The big single “Cut your hair” has an ok clip but it’s the unadulterated fun of the band in Santa suits on a hunting trip through suburbia with bows and arrows that makes for such joyful viewing.

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Q...Queen and David Bowie – Under Pressure

Unquestionably the worst letter for clips is ‘Q’ (X & Z do much better). I couldn’t bring myself to include a QOTSA clip or regular Queen clip (although ‘I want to break free’ is pretty funny and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a true classic). So this time piece from 1981 shows how simple a clip can be despite no trace of either of the stars as they were busy touring at the time. What results looks like any number of fan clips you see released daily on youtube but this was the actual clip from the song who’s backing beat later helped Vanilla Ice have his 15 minutes of fame.

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R...Radiohead – Just

In the 90’s Radiohead were possibly the coolest guitar band in the world before they decided to tie up John Greenwood’s hands and use countless keys and electronic sounds for all albums after ‘Ok Computer’. If you’ve never seen the clip, hang in there it becomes more and more interesting as it goes along; a classic story clip with subtitles and a memorable ending.

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S...Sigur ros – Glosoli

Possibly the strongest letters for bands I love would be “S” as it includes the Smith, Strokes, Shins, Screamfeeder, Suede, Starflyer 59, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins and the list could go on. Anyway, the most heavenly music in the world doesn’t come from church but from Iceland and specifically from Sigur Ros. Sigur Ros are to indie music what the Foo Fighters are to rock – a band who consistently put out brilliant and well loved clips, so much so that it was hard to know which one to pick. ‘Svefn-G-Englar’ is adorable as people with Down Syndrome dance around like angels while ‘Hoppipolla’ has old people pretending to play like kids but it is glory of the climatic build up both musically and visually that gives me goose bumps whenever I hear and see ‘Glosoli’.

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T...The Cure – Close To Me

Even though ‘A Forest’ and ‘Just Like Heaven’ are better songs, ‘Close To Me’ is the most compelling clip by The Cure (Lullaby comes a very close second). The claustrophobic feeling aroused by this clip is maximised by the band members being stuck in a closet that not only falls off a cliff but then fills with water too. Again this clip succeeds because it really is a coming to life in pictorial form of the words and atmosphere of the song.

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U...U2 – the fly

When U2 released ‘The Fly’ both the song and the clip blew my mind. Their previous music and clips were so likeable and safe but ‘The Fly’ is an amazing example of re-invention. The earnest straight-forward Bono of ‘Rattle and Hum’ had left the building and the man who returned was a complex and fascinating rockstar.

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V...Verve – Bitter Sweet

The Verve don’t get much competition for bands in the letter “V” but this simple and stylish clip ensured that everyone knew that Richard Ashcroft was cool. The fact that the song writing credits go to Jagger/Richards of The Rolling Stones because of some of the background music make this song even more fascinating.

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W...Weezer – Buddy Holly

Weezer brought a great sense of freshness into 90s indie music and released two amazing albums ‘Blue’ and ‘Pinkerton’ but unfortunately their subsequent albums were patchy at best. ‘Buddy Holly’ is a masterful piece of editing again making a great fun clip as the boys from Weezer play in the set of Happy Days (complete with jokes related to the show). The melody and hooks from this song (or whole album really) is quite amazing and grabs you from the very first listen.

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X...Xiu Xiu – Boy Soprano

If you’ve been thinking that too many of the previous clips are so commercial and obvious, step forward Xiu Xiu and their genuinely challenging music. This is music that risks veering into the realms of unlistenable to pioneer new sounds and it’s so fitting that the clip is a video game as many of the crazy sounds could have come from such a source.

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Y...Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps

It’s another simple but beautiful song accompanied by a clip that matches it. Artistically shot without going over the top, the lights are gorgeous, Karen O is powerful but it’s all about the interplay of the drums with Nick Zinner's guitars.

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Z...Zero – They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants know how to write great pop songs that appeal to all ages which includes in-jokes for parents. In fact, each of their kids DVD’s are still my favourite ways to entertain my kids in front of the box even after countless hours spent watching them. This isn't actually their best clip but it's fun, like nearly everything they do.