Though people who saw Niccolo Paganini play the violin swore his elbow was being guided by the Devil and religious folks in the 1950s thought the same thing about Elvis' hips, musical artists had historically been restricted to making an impression on an aural basis. Of course, the sea changed in 1981 with the launch of MTV, and since then, for better or worse, artists looking to crack the pop charts have been forced to create videos for their songs, either by hiring more experienced filmmakers or relying on whatever skills a semester of film arts left them.
While most music videos are fairly forgettable and innocuous, the occasional artist produces something that is inventive, controversial and sometimes downright frightening.
It is this spirit of novel creepiness that caused the following videos to be created, and my need for a Halloween column that caused them to be assembled into a list of some of the scariest music videos.
Nine Inch Nails 'Closer'' An easy choice for this category, Mark Romanek's combination of dissected animals, graphically depicted sex organs and religious imagery only made it to television after heavy editing. Fortunately, even the censored version left the most memorable pieces intact. The beat-matching heart in the chair, crucified monkey and Trent Reznor in bondage gear are some of the most recognizable images ever to appear on MTV.
Tool 'Sober''The first of the band's stop-motion style videos, Fred Stuhr's disturbing and deformed creatures look like something Tim Burton would turn out in a brooding depression. Even with the time frame allowed by a music video, Stuhr manages to work in a narrative in a weird sort of way and to keep building tension right up until the final chorus, when all the creatures start coming out of the walls.
Aphex Twin 'Come To Daddy''Oddly enough, a bunch of demon children with Richard D. James faces terrorizing pedestrians and the elderly under orders from a screaming television set seems like a logical choice to accompany this electronic pandemonium, which features an impossibly mutated voice growling 'I want your soul' over and over to a digital drum and bass loop running at what sounds like 600 beats per minute.
Director Chris Cunningham gets extra points for innovation here, as the monster crawling out of the television set during the bridge predates both 'The Ring' and 'Ringu.'
Of course, while some directors intentionally produce frightening and disturbing videos, poorly conceived choreography and bad make-up can turn innocuous videos into creepy ones. The two following often come to mind.
The Cure 'Taking Off''An uncharacteristically positive song from an uncharacteristically bland Cure album, a lot of the creepiness would be alleviated if Robert Smith would simply smile while delivering those super-optimistic lines. It would also help if he didn't start awkwardly flying around halfway through the song, as a heavily made-up, goth Peter Pan is no one's idea of a good time.
Tom Petty 'Don't Come Around Here No More''It might just have something to do with Petty's weird gesticulations, or maybe a sub-conscious fear of giant mushrooms, but seeing him as the Mad Hatter is somehow much more frightening than watching him dance with a dead body.
So, if you've got any of the above on DVD, or you've got the requisite computer skills to sign on to Launch, you might consider checking out a few of the above before the weekend. I swear those Robert Smith images will wash out of your eyes in time to make way for tear gas.
