Top 10: "Other" music videos

Whenever a public poll produces a Top 50 or 100 of anything, debate is likely to follow. Last month the Channel 4 viewers’ choice of the 50 greatest music videos was unveiled (see the list here). In response, The Yorker brings you a selection of the most contentiously overlooked.

10. Björk – ‘Triumph of a Heart’ (dir. Spike Jonze, 2004)
To get the list off to a fine start, here’s some beatboxing, dance and a cat driving a car.

• View the video here.

9. The Avalanches – ‘Since I Left You’ (dir. Rob Leggatt/Leigh Marling, 2001)
If online comments are to be trusted (which I’m pretty sure they are), these miners are trapped underground, on the cusp of death. Judgement awaits them above as The Avalanches provide the soundtrack to their impending afterlife.

8. Cibo Matto – ‘Sugar Water’ (dir. Michel Gondry, 1996)
The public vote overlooked Michel Gondry, who is probably the most individual of all the promo directors. This is his strangest: it’s a split-screen palindrome.

• View the video here.

7. Radiohead – ‘No Surprises’ (dir. Grant Gee, 1997)
At the peak of Radiohead’s fractious post-OK Computer tour, Thom Yorke took the submersion therapy route to a powerful, if troubling, video.

• View the video here.

6. Pulp – ‘Bad Cover Version’ (dir. Jarvis Cocker, 2002)
In homage to Band Aid, Jarvis Cocker assembled a group of impersonators to perform a bad cover version of Pulp’s ‘Bad Cover Version’. Spot the real Jarvis in there and win a (figurative) prize.

• View the video here.

5. UNKLE feat. Thom Yorke – ‘Rabbit in Your Headlights’ (dir. Jonathan Glazer, 1998)
Although this one will be great as a motivation for you to ditch that old parka from your wardrobe, you should probably steer clear if you’re nervous about road safety.

4. Daft Punk – ‘Around the World’ (dir. Michel Gondry, 1997)
Five groups of dancers (spacemen, mummies, swimmers, skeletons and tall men with tiny heads) represent the five parts of the music (lead vocals, beats, synths, chopped-up vocals, bass). A simple, fun idea, colourfully executed.

• View the video here.

3. Portishead – ‘Only You’ (dir. Chris Cunningham, 1998)
Stunningly filmed underwater, with slow motion and reversed shots, a boy and singer Beth Gibbons are shown in what looks like a back alley, in the view of a shady man in a window above.

2. Daft Punk – ‘Da Funk’ (dir. Spike Jonze, 1995)
A month after moving to the big city, Charles isn’t having the best time. His leg is broken, the volume knob’s fallen off his ghetto blaster, and, well, he’s a man-sized dog, which doesn’t help.

• View the video here.

1. Chemical Brothers – ‘Let Forever Be’ (dir. Michel Gondry, 1999)
A masked drummer, a pyjama-clad girl, an alarm clock and the odd screen test card. Throw in some of Gondry’s trademark wizardry, and you’ve got the Number One.

• View the video here.

The Yorker's Top 10 is far from exhaustive – what else was missing?

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