R.E.M.
"Imitation Of Life"


Thought upon seeing this video for the first time: "Dammit, it's another one of those videos where they reverse the film and think it's cool."

Thought upon seeing this video for the second time: "Hey, wait a second... they're doing something else too, this is weird..."

Thought upon seeing this video for the third time: "Wooooo!!! Go R.E.M.! This rocks!"

Apparently, it took fifty hours of shooting to make this video, and god help them, because there's really only a good forty-five seconds of footage in the thing. But that forty-five seconds involves multiple time-reversals, detailed zooms, distortion effects... there's crazy shit happening in this video, and I'm not just talking about Michael Stipe's dancing (earns a star of its own) and Peter Buck's monkey (ditto). The amount of work that went into this thing is astonishing; choreography, casting of extras, digital effects... I shudder to think at how much labor this took, but it still manages to make it look effortless (cliched I know, but appropriate nonetheless). A fun, playful video for a damn fun R.E.M. song, and if this video/single isn't a hit, I'll cry myself to sleep at night.

reviewed by Chris Conroy

Jennifer Lopez
"Love Don't Cost a Thing"


This is a typical pop song, unimaginative and uninspiring as most of them are. It's set along the coast, which gives the choreography dancers full reason to dance in step during segments of the video, when it isn't showing J.Lo crawling around amorously in the hot sand. The lyrics are shallow at best, utilizing the cliches that are brought along when making a pop song. Jennifer Lopez earns two stars for at least trying to convey a somewhat positive to impressionable teens by pointing out that, well, love doesn’t cost a thing. However, if it didn’t cost a thing, why’d she accept those heavy gold chains given by lovers in the first place anyway? Not to mention that sexy top-down convertible she cruises around the scene in. File this one under predictable and mediocre with only sex appeal as its redeeming value.

reviewed by Yard Sale

U2
"Walk On"


Biased Reviewer Alert: U2 are, IMHO, the greatest band in the whole wide world. Just over 48 hours ago, I was basking in their glory in Miami as they kicked off the Elevation tour. So you should know that I love them to death.

However, that doesn't change the fact that this video ain't nothin' to write home about. It's just... there, like a sack of potatoes in blue-tinted sunglasses. "Walk On" is one of the greater tracks of the album (and the live set, for that matter), so it deserves a truly phenomenal video. Instead it gets... ummm... some people who are not interesting, who walk around (or perhaps, ahem, "on"?). And sometimes, when you're just barely not looking, they become other people, who are, in a shocking twist, not interesting either. In the meantime, the band plays in a room, and the camera loves up to Bono's sunglasses just a bit too much. The whole affair simply lacks for the epic sweep and panache that the song has. It needs... something. Battling spaceships, Madonna on a killing spree, a forty-foot lemon, I don't fucking know, but the song rocks and the video is painfully, disappointingly bland.

It is worth noting that this video, directed by Liz Friedlander and shot in London, is not the original clip lensed for the song -- Jonas Akerlund shot one with the band in Rio de Janeiro several months ago, and when this version turned up on the airwaves unannounced, U2 fandom scratched its collective head. I wonder what the Akerlund clip was like that they decided to go back for a last-minute reshoot; but honestly, it couldn't have been much blander than this.

Oh yes, and one final note: WHERE'S THE GUITAR SOLO, YOU CHOP-HAPPY EDITING FUCKERS? Somebody's getting the patented Conroy beatdown.

reviewed by Chris Conroy

Fatboy Slim
"Weapon Of Choice"


I'm going to carefully state this video's premise for you. It is thus:

Christopher Walken dancing. Through the whole thing.

And if you do not instantly love it sight-unseen, then let me repeat that:

It's Christopher Walken. Dancing.

This fucking rocks. Walken sashays through some kind of hotel lobby -- he shimmies, he backflips, he table-dances -- and then, just to keep things interesting, he flies around for a while. And then he has himself a nice sit-down at the end. This is easily one of the most transparent gimmicks in the history of the music video (the irony drips off it in gobs; it is Spike Jonze, after all), but I'll be fucked if I didn't eat it right up. I mean, he dances! And he flies! That is hard-effing-core, right there. And hey, the song doesn't suck, in its own Fatboy-Slimmy kind of way.

But Christopher Walken's in it too. And he dances.

I don't think I'll ever recover.

reviewed by Chris Conroy

Coldplay
"Don't Panic"


This new Coldplay single and video is great. I've heard the song when I've acquired the CD, and it has been my favourite. The video itself is very lovely, featuring the boy's heads on cartoon-esque bodies. A great sound added to another well done video, which makes it a pleasure to watch over and over again. The video starts with what seems to be a kid's work for the process of the evaporation, which is a very cute touch. It continues to see the band in some sort of a cardboard house, and the general theme of the video is such of the same. The ending features them again, this time in a boat, floating to the distance. My take on this video's point is the line 'We live in a beautiful world.' But each and every one will have a different opinion on such. This video gets my first five stars, because Coldplay are amazing, and this semi-new single and video is, too.

reviewed by May

Shaggy
"It Wasn't Me"


If anybody's been looking for the epitome of male chauvinism, I think we've found him. This guy, dare he call himself 'Shaggy', decided to make a video. Thought and thought and thought, what could he make one about? "Yes!" jumped Shaggy. "I will make a video about a friend of mine cheating, and then I'll show how manly I am by convincing him to tell his girlfriend that it wasn't him! Yeah baby. Shagadelic." ... So that's pretty much the video, folks. Shaggy and his friend contemplating what to do, and Shaggy insisting on saying it wasn't him. "But she saw me!" whines the other one. "So? It wasn't you!" "But we were butt naked on the floor!" "It wasn't you." And so on, just telling us drooling viewers what exactly he did to the poor neighbor's girl. Finally, when this horrid show of naked women and ugly men ends, we can see the neighbor's girl helping the friend escape from his evil girlfriend and her friends. One star goes to the nice tune added to the song itself, but four are lost on the video and lyrics.

reviewed by May

Nelly Furtado
"I'm Like A Bird"


When I saw Nelly Furtado on Jay Leno, I sat there the whole time saying 'It's just the whole live thing. Surely, it only sounds this way because it's all live, and stuff." When I saw the video for 'I'm Like a Bird," I was far more than disappointed. After all the hype my favorite bloggers *cough* had given Nelly, I was waiting for some serious greatness. The video follows Nelly through a beautiful forest scene, where she... well, floats. The 'special effects' reminded me of the 80's Beetlejuice. Her eyes glow a few times. I was almost disappointed when her fans saved her from killing herself at the end when she jumped off a tree. All that, and I still can't say I didn't fall in love with the song, and with Nelly, and can't wait to see more. Three stars.

reviewed by Damien Doyle

Madonna
"What It Feels Like For A Girl"


They only aired this video on MTV one time, late at night, and as I sat in my room with the remote grasped in my hand I was amazed, shocked and inspired all at once. In the video Madonna destroys cars, shots police and robs a man. The entire time she has an old lady accompanying her. I can’t even describe what the video is like, however the cinematography is inspiring. Madonna does everything perfectly, with these lyrics humming in the background: Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots. Because it's ok to be a boy. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading. Because you think that being a girl is degrading. But secretly you'd love to know what it's like, wouldn’t you? What it feels like for a girl. I can’t justify the video because I am completely dumbfounded. So with my jaw open I’m giving it five stars and leaving it at that. Madonna rocks.

reviewed by Lindsay

Tyrese
"I Like Dem Girls"


This video is put together well, with different scenes and a somewhat interesting story line. And hey, Tyrese is dancing! Most rappers just bounce around, so he gets brownie points. My favorite part of the video is when Tyrese is sitting on the stairs and all the girls are ignoring him. That's the first time I've seen a rapper do that! (what a twist!) What makes this move even better is Tyrese is the hottest rapper out there, so for once the girls really would be all over him. Although, someone should mention to Ty that riding a motorcycle without a shirt on is very dangerous! He still gets two stars though. (Ok, so you caught me, I like this video because Tyrese is donating 15% of his record sales to charity. There. I said it.)

reviewed by Lindsay

Daft Punk
"One More Time"


Daft Punk's comeback (somewhat) video is great. In its basics, it's an anime video of a party. Very well done, as everything looks pretty great. Maybe the sync between the singer and the person singing was a tad lousy (word... lip move... and so on), but it was still one heck of a video. I am not even sure if anyone else remembers their older video, the dog on the street one? No? Didn't think so. Regardless. This video gets hit with four stars because there was much effort put into it, and Daft Punk deserve having such a great comeback video. Hopefully they'll continue this way, and not fade again.

reviewed by May

Linkin Park
"Crawlin" (British Version)


Linkin Park is a great band. Footage videos aren't. The following video is basically footage from Linkin Park's shows. This is basically a pretty effortless video to make, and I don't want to give them credit where I shouldn't. I didn't even assume LP's next video would be Crawlin, I was selfishly expecting Papercut to rule that field. It is fun to see the boys in action, playing and jumping and sweating (mmm...) and singing, etc. But I'd expect something better than a footage video for their second. I'm assuming that this video went out because they were touring right now (I know they are having their Europe tour), so I'm giving them points out anyway. The song is awesome nonetheless.

reviewed by May

Souldecision
"Ooh It's Kind Of Crazy"
0 Stars

When N*sync & Backstreet Boys make videos consisting of crazed teenage girls chasing them through the streets, it is incredibly lame/annoying/-insert other negative adjectives here-. However when Souldecision does this, (who we all know does NOT have a cult like following) it gets even lamer (I didn't think it was possible). Now not only do I know that Souldecision sucks, but they have huge egos for a group of guys with no talent what-so-ever. 0 STARS FOR YOU!

reviewed by Lindsay

Jennifer Lopez
"Play"


I heard this song before I had seen the video and although it has a typical pop beat, it's a decent sing-along-in-the-car song. Then I saw the video. It begins with a cool airplane shot, but Jennifer loses points for sitting with her legs spread wide open. [editor's note: yuck.] As the video goes on the shots get cooler (maybe love doesn't cost a thing, but this sure did), but Jennifer ruins them. First of all, her hair does NOT look good puffy [editor's note: puffy!? muahaha] and curly. Also, Jennifer, I think Puffy was a bad influence on you because that cussing part is just lame. Lame part #2? When you try to look sexy and whisper, "I just want to dance.. is that a crime? Alright then..." Talking in songs is hard to pull off, and you blew it twice in one video. Plus you are no Marilyn Monroe- what were you thinking wearing that white dress while standing over the vent..? I give this video one star because some of the shots were awesome & all the different sets rocked too. Maybe if we could just replace J.Lo with.. um, I don't know.. ANYBODY else?

reviewed by Lindsay

American Hi-Fi
"Flavor of the Weak"


First off I would like to thank American Hi Fi for reminding me that all of the 80’s wasn’t good. Grease, hair-spray, and both genders wearing skintight clothes, those were things I had conveniently blocked out of my head, and the video brought it back. Actually I don’t find this video despicable, it is kind of fun going back to the sex n rock n roll of the 80’s. The video does go with the song too, it pays attention to the main point of the song. As for the coloring in the video its too little contrast in parts and too much in others, which would normally bug me, but it helps in making the video seem like it really was from 1987. So I recommend this video to those who missed the rock scene of the 80's because it has the basics of all the rock bands of that era, sex (in a car no less! Woo!), skin tight clothes (men and women! Woo!), bad hair (eep!), the cute blonde lead singer (:lick:), and it makes sense even if you are too stoned to play nintendo, which is about the only thing this video is lacking (Boo! :( Me likes Nintendo... or Atari would have been better! *sigh*).

reviewed by Hope Libby

Marilyn Manson
"The Fight Song"


As someone with an at least decent fashion sense, I cannot condone the wearing of full length rubber gloves and black suspenders for ANYONE. Even if I do think they're wonderful. The video for "The Fight Song" is nifty, nonetheless, with Heaven and Hell in battle, represented by high school football players. I assume because high school football rallies so many of the kind of people Manson is against. Brilliant in my opinion. The occasional performance scene (well, regular ones, not occasional ones) are laced throughout, which are only there to scare you, because Manson looks quite disturbing, especially mixed with the rain. One star because I'm in love with Marilyn, and two for originality. Oh, and the song is groovie. Boo.

reviewed by Damien Doyle

Robbie Williams
"Let Love Be Your Energy"


Robbie's ability of making an R rated video has once again succeeded. I am still a bit hazey on what exactly is this video's point... I saw it about 20 times already, and I'm beginning to think maybe our Robbie dearest is looking for his love? He runs around woods and plains and the likes, whilst even having sex once, that scene definitely being the R factor in 'rated'. He dances with some girls, smiles to them, looks at them and blinks. After trying so badly to find his perfect one, he suddenly sees a girl coming up to him. But then, BAM! A weird herd of something comes between them. Oh, the misery of love. Robbie lowers his head for a moment, and then all of his madness bursts, while he runs in a field of tiles, barely scratching his cheek. Finally, he goes up that mountain o' love, and reaches his truly. At that point they both commit suicide for the sake of love, their bodies falling, creating a heart shaped dust. What can be more romantic than that? Oh, yeah! Of course two birds fly on later. So this video gets a 4, because it's pretty much the essence of Robbie Williams. And the song is beautiful.

reviewed by May