Why don't music videos ever make sense?

[Premmy]

Seriously, what the hell?
Is it too much to ask for a video to be

Related to the music
or
Tell some kind of coherent story.

I distinctly remember music videos making sense just three or five years ago when I used to be up the times I am now to see them on MTV, now shit just makes absolutely no sense.

What the hell?

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Clearly you should just watch Total Eclipse of the heart on continual repeat.

[Wigmund]

They still make music videos? I thought those died out towards the end of the 90s.

[Seil]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA

There you go. You're welcome.

[Drownball-Champ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgEHOM21j3s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E81lkSorS4

Here you go, two songs that go perfectly with the video.

[Si Civa]

It's so because of these four young lads from Liverpool. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdrGS__yg6Q)

They invented MTV.

[synkr0nized]

I distinctly remember music videos making sense just three or five years ago when I used to be up the times I am now to see them on MTV, now shit just makes absolutely no sense.

What videos were you watching? Save for handfuls here and there, most videos rarely had anything to do with the lyrics or anything. Music videos are like art school projects or something...

[Tev]

Music videos are like art school projects or something...And before that phase started, they were pretty much just a taped performance for the bad playing their song.

[Archbio]

Not even trying. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGRNEJiD3PY)

[Premmy]

What videos were you watching? Save for handfuls here and there, most videos rarely had anything to do with the lyrics or anything. Music videos are like art school projects or something...

Yeah but, now they're just bombarding you with random-ass images. They don't have to ALWAYS have anything to do with the music, but they could at least make sense

Like, okay, I hate, I mean I REALLY hate, to use Kanye West in anything but take his videos as an example.

All Falls Down: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kyWDhB_QeI) Kanye west is leaving his girlfriend. Plus wacky Airport Hijinx!
There's a story, plus it makes sense. Shit happens for a reason
Touch The Sky: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwQbuAGLj4) Kanye West is gonna jump over a canyon! maybe he'll fall in and we can just listen to Lupe for the rest of the song!
Again, Story, shit not randomly happening for no reason.
Love Lockdown: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZwMX6T5Jhk) Kanye's gonna... paint... someone? cause he's... in love? Also African stuff! yeah..... OOH A spaceship! I think....

And before that phase started, they were pretty much just a taped performance for the bad playing their song.
Which is still cool, it makes sense. Shit does'nt make sense at all anymore.

Also I'm old.

[Satan's Onion]

It's so because of these four young lads from Liverpool. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdrGS__yg6Q)

They invented MTV.

With the utmost respect to you and George Harrison, I submit that this is the true ancestor of the modern music video: Bob Dylan screwing around with markers, paper, and a camera, with his good buddy Allen Ginsberg in the background. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQaDUD-a_EE)

Also: Some of my favorite music videos have basically nothing to do with the music in them (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DET45Tr421s&feature=related), sometimes to the point of being hilariously surreal.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_niy2ZM5Jo)

[bluestarultor]

Did someone say surreal? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yw1Tgj9-VU)

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

They don't need to make sense so long as they're somewhat humourus to watch, for example, Dragonforces Operation Ground and Pound (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywxm6zLEjFY&feature=fvst). On the surface it's a simple setup showing the band playing the song... only they do it in the middle of a whirlwind in the middle of a desert while an alien armada flies overhead blasting the earth, before it switches to a Guitar Hero style battle between the guitarists standing on top of pillars of rock shooting lightning at each other.

So what I'm saying here is, fuck Kanye West!!

[Si Civa]

With the utmost respect to you and George Harrison, I submit that this is the true ancestor of the modern music video: Bob Dylan screwing around with markers, paper, and a camera, with his good buddy Allen Ginsberg in the background. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQaDUD-a_EE)

But it has something to do with the song!

Edit:// Anyway, isn't Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody video consired to be "the first modern music video"? That would explain oh so many things.

[32bit-RedMage]

Surreal videos huh?
I don't know if the video has something to do with the lyrics....(Since it's from a japanese band and I don't speak japanese) but the
"WHY NOT?" video from Siam Shade is pretty weird.

I'm gonna try to describe it, because I doubt you'll find it n youtube.
I saw it years ago and I don't remember every detail, but it goes something like this;
The singer visits a crazy doctor, the doctor asks some questions.
There's a portrait of some guy hanging one the wall, suddenly a tail pops out it's nose, the doctor stand up and rips it off, it bleeds and a monkey screams.
Then the music starts and the whole band is playing in some sort of glass cages.... there are some women wrapped in rubber....
After a while the women tears the rubber and walk towards the band, they are all topless. (the women I mean)
The scene switches to the singer tied to a electric chair or something like that..
then back to the band... one of them is fondling the women.
Then a woman wearing an armor is eating ice cream in a very erotic way.
The band is standing in front of her and are only wearing underwear.
She wants them to have sex with her.
They pull bottles outta their underwear and spray the contents all over her.
She keeps eating ice cream .....
Then we see the singer again ... he's tied to a chair.
He notices his pants are unzipped, in front of him stands the doctor.
The doc raises an eyebrow and eats ice cream.

The video is pretty interesting and cool, it's worth cheking out.

[Premmy]

I honestly beleive Lady gaga gets up every morning and says "I'm gonna confuse the hell out of a motherfucker today"

[Nique]

MCR had at least 3-4 really good music videos that made sense and had a very cinematic quality to them. There's something actually kind of neat about seeing a scr-emo band preform at a USO party circa 194x

[01d55]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWgf9kXXEw4

[PyrosNine]

I always assume that for music videos that make no sense, some budding director who is friends with the band had a cool, possibly drug fueled artistic "expression" he just had to get out, and so he used the funding given to him by the record studio to pay for making his vision come to life, and used the band as actors and the song itself as background music.

The epitome and subversion of this is Daft Punk's two videos of the dog faced man, where the actual music is in the background, second entirely to the things the man does and the people he speaks to the point of their conversation drowning out parts of the song.

Another variation is when the band itself has a cool idea for a story and uses the music to tell it, usually if the song is somewhat instrumental or not with specific meaning beyond being a cool sounding song, like Daft Punk's Revolution 909, which has no meaning in of itself but the music video is about a girl at a party escaping the cops thanks in part, to the production, harvesting, packaging, and cooking of tomatoes, giving a nice art, informational, and reflectional value to the video that wasn't present in the song, the song is used as medium.

Then there's Daft Punk's infamous Interstella 5555 anime movie, that uses the songs from the album as background music, music tied to the plot as performed and listened to, and to songs playing in the background during scenes that isn't tied to the focus or action.

As for trippy or weird videos that had no bearing on the song, Red Hot Chili peppers spring up to mind, some MJ videos, and every band has done some weird concept only tangentially related to their song at least once.

It's somewhat better than videos that have no point other than having the artist in static places and amongst imagery performing the camera to no one, essentially making it no different to the album version, but with pictures and eye candy of women and stroking the music artist's image lovingly. I know we all hate Rick Astley's infamous video, but one of the reasons is it has girls dancing and him singing somewhere uninteresting for no real reason other than to perform the song. And most Rap videos do this too, just image projection and proving street cred by using $10,000 to film yourself rapping on the streets with makeup, custom wardrobe, lights, and post process surrounded by friends you let on the set and paid background people, and some models paid to feign interest with you.

[Mirai Gen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA

There you go. You're welcome.

Yeah, okay, that was pretty good.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Well yeah, that's why I put it in the first response but then all these people with there videos which makes lesser sense came and posted and ruined it.
In the same camp though we have Romeo and Juliet which has a lot of nonsense but when they start talking about chains of silver and chains of gold it's just random shots of chains and talking about streetlights give us the streetlight shot.

[synkr0nized]

Like, okay, I hate, I mean I REALLY hate, to use Kanye West in anything but take his videos as an example.

I, uh, I wouldn't ever turn to rappers and hip-hop for music videos that "make sense". I don't feel other genres are much better, mind you.

Also, there's probably a "Imma let you finish" joke to be made about music videos here.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

People, I present to you, Dragula (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqQuihD0hoI).

I'm... not really sure what point I'm trying to make with this video, I just thought it was... relevent... to this thread...??

[Mike McC]

Yeah but, now they're just bombarding you with random-ass images. They don't have to ALWAYS have anything to do with the music, but they could at least make senseSeriously, did you ever watch many music videos? A good deal of the time they were random surrealness. Always.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

You know what makes sense? Taylor Swift's Love Story. There's something about a song and video that gets R+J so damn wrong but manages to feels so damn right.

MCR put out some of my favorite videos, but Green Day's Jesus of Suburbia take the cake. Thats a video that not only captures the song's spirit but also tell its story.

P.S. I landed the role of Benvolio in my school's production!

[DarkDrgon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyOSx62c2Ic

Surreal? check!
Makes Sense with the song? Check!

We need more artists to write about Acid trips, it makes the video make sense

[Mondt]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...

a lesbian vampire bar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLUD8jicLsk).

[bluestarultor]

Guys, it could be worse. You could have videos that are just one giant advertisement. Like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2c0Piqz8Gk&feature=related

Granted, Perfume's videos never have anything remotely to do with the song, or half of them would have some variation of love going on, but this one, Secret Secret, is about as far removed from anything that makes sense as possible. The whole thing is a protracted ad for Polar Pino, a sort of ice cream treat not unlike an ice cream-filled Reece's peanut butter cup. The song's lyrics essentially translate to a song about one unspecified party (the singers) trying to get another unspecified party (assumedly a guy) to let them in, likely in some form of relationship, only to be constantly pushed away (in fact, some of the chorus translates to something like "every time I touch you, it cuts my fingers open" and they all have red somewhere on their fingers to drive this point home).

So, yeah, selling ice cream with a song of very toxic unrequited love.

[Funka Genocide]

watch the Metric video Poster of A Girl.

makes sense.(Plus I mean why the fuck haven't you watched it yet? What are you some kind of weirdo?)

[Seil]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXbSfr9zOOE

Foreign music videos make less sense.

[Kerensky287]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXbSfr9zOOE

Foreign music videos make less sense.

I beg to differ. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TTRCCuyrMw)

You can ALMOST tell what's going on!

[EVILNess]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3iYmgDJ4FE