I came across this article at Billboard: 100 Greatest Music Video Artists of All Time
I read the piece with great disgust. Apparently Billboard is populated with crack addicts and the mentally deficient. So like a burned out school teacher, I had to correct an article so abysmally inaccurate, I wish I had the power punish those who wrote it.
With that being said, I bring you the 100 Greatest Music Video Artists of All Time (Corrected).
Editor's Note: These are the B.O.S, Rules: The artist had to have a MINIMUM of 2 great videos and the artist's best videos couldn't simply be well shot concert footage. In parenthesis is the (incorrect) billboard rank if applicable and our favorite video underneath.
100. Beyonce (3)
She is at 100 because if she wasn't on the list people would scream "you forgot about Beyonce."
I didn't. (Yeah, I didn't "forget" about Taylor Swift either.)
99. The Cars (90)
For a sliver of time (about 1984-1985) the Cars made great videos.
98. Sonic Youth (-)
College radio royalty whose videos were a spectrum of colors.
97. David Bowie (13)
Apparently at Billboard, Bowie gets points for embracing the CONCEPT of music videos. His actual videos barely met the threshold of greatness.
96. Smashing Pumpkins (55)
The Pumpkins were on top of the world, from about 1993-1997
95. Tropical Fuck Storm (-)
I can't help but think that if TFS was from America instead of Australia, they'd be more popular.
Which reminds me....
94. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (-)
....the same exact thing can be said for this band.
93. Living Colour (-)
Living Colour is known for one song, but they actually had about a half a dozen thought provoking videos. It seemed like no one cared about their messages in the early 90's that are now being embraced today.
92. Municipal Waste (-)
The best videos of any of the second wave of thrash bands.
91. Ghostemane (-)
I don't know how to categorize Ghostemane's music as anything but scary.
90. Future of the Left/mclusky (-)
Underrated greatness from across the pond.
89. Fatboy Slim (53)
Nearly all videos were awesome. (But not Praise You. Praise You made me irrationally angry.)
88. Foo Fighters (44)
I like the Foos, but I don't love the Foos.
87. Dead Milkmen (-)
Their music video budget was basically the camera.
86. Madness (-)
In America, Madness was a one-hit wonder. In Great Britain, Madness was a beloved ska act with nearly 2 dozen Top 20 singles.
85. Church of the Cosmic Skull (-)
Unclear if a rock band or a cult posing as a rock band
84. Lil Wayne (84)
One of two artists on the whole list that Billboard got right
83. Wavves (-)
A hard band to pin down with genre-crossing tendencies.
82. Moby (-)
Do yourself a favor and read that Moby book.
81. Adam Ant (-)
One of the architects of the genre in the 80's.
80. Against Me! (-)
Rare punk band that has longevity and a keen visual palette.
79. Mushroomhead (-)
Most Mushroomhead videos border on the disturbing.
78. Prodigy (-)
Like a shooting star, Prodigy burned bright releasing 3 great videos in a row. That was 1997.
(But this is the Prodigy Link that you're looking for: Smack my Bitch Up)
77. Suicidal Tendencies (-)
Those first three Bill Fishman videos were all golden.
76. Cypress Hill (-)
In hindsight, Cypress Hill had a surprisingly deep videography.
75. Daft Punk (95)
You'll notice Michel Gondry's fingerprints all over this list.
74. Missy Elliot (5)
A pioneer in music, production, and music videos.
73. Rammstein (-)
German heavyweights with bi-lingual success.
72. Travis Scott (-)
Scott has been very busy the past few years and has stepped his video game up.
71. Frankie Goes to Hollywood (-)
Frankie Goes to Hollywood had 2 amazing videos, some curious videos, then disappeared.
70. The Ramones
All the Ramones are dead.
69. Dimmu Borgir (-)
How in the Hell (excuse the pun) could a Black Metal band even afford to make music videos?
68. Art of Noise (93)
Pop music video trailblazers.
67. Blondie (83)
Blondie was ahead of the curve.
66. Dandy Warhols (-)
The music of the Brian Jonestown Massacre overshadowed the Dandy Warhols in the documentary Dig! But the Dandys made better videos.
65. White Zombie/Rob Zombie (-)
If you look closely, you can tell the guy who directed the music videos wanted to be a horror movie director.
64. Beck (-)
There is a drum somewhere that only Beck can hear. And he moves to that percussion beat.
63. Mutemath (-)
Mutemath rolled out with some technically hard to perform video creations.
62. Primus (-)
Straddling the line between genius and strangeness on video.
61. Kanye West (35)
Go ahead and cut and paste the description of Primus here for West's personal life.
60. The Shining (Nor) (-)
Norway's finest Jazz-Metal outfit.
59. Public Enemy (39)
Public Enemy made great songs, but not enough great videos to be higher on the list.
58. Herbie Hancock (-)
Hancock released over 40 jazz albums, but only a handful of music videos. All of the videos represented the experimental nature of what Hancock was trying to do in the Mid-80's.
57, Metallica (-)
Starting with One, Metallica became music video giants. (Too bad their music started to suffer at about the same time.)
56. Static X (-)
Great punch-to-the-throat industrial videos.
55. Death Cab for Cutie (-)
Fantastic bittersweet indie rock videos. Like a half a dozen of 'em.
54. Puppy (-)
Great videos from a metal band you've never heard of.
53. Panic! At the Disco (-)
Brendon Urie is a force of nature.
52. Faith No More (-)
Range of vocals to range of videos.
51. LL Cool J (-)
Where does Cool J find time for everything that he does?
50. Bjork (27)
Iceland's most important American import.
49. Matt and Kim (-)
Seriously, who doesn't love Matt and Kim?
48. Pink Floyd (-)
The Wall was basically a long form music video.
47. Sum 41 (-)
And to think, the band has a career because they won an MTV Video contest.
46. Oingo Boingo (-)
Danny Elfman went on to bigger things, but I miss the shenanigans and deviancy of Oingo Boingo.
45. Madonna (1)
If you watch her videos today, they seem dated instead of timeless.
44. Soundgarden (-)
Chris Cornell's death killed 3 great bands, but Soundgarden made the best videos.
43. Fiona Apple (-)
From the time of her earliest videos to her Fetch the Bolt Cutters release, Apple's career has been very non-linear. (In a good way.)
42. The Monkees (-)
The first music videos? To me it was the songs at the end of the Monkees' TV episodes.
(Don't forget about Elephant Parts.)
41. The Avalanches (-)
With the Avalanches, think quality, not quantity.
40. Oui Oui (-)
French band's most famous member happened to be Michel Gondry.
39. Bruno Mars (-)
I understand that Billboard didn't do a lot of research for their list, but how did they miss Bruno Mars?
38. Childish Gambino (94)
Donald Glover is amazing.
37. Korn (-)
Say what you will about Korn, but their videos grab your attention and don't let you go.
36. Oasis (-)
Bigger than the Beatles? Not even on this list.
35. FIDLAR (-)
How do you get on a greatest videos list? By parodying other great videos....using cardboard.
34. Alice in Chains (-)
Layne Staley's death gives all of AIC's videos an extra layer of sadness.
33. Radiohead (16)
Everyone loves Radiohead, it just varies in degrees between consumers of music videos.
32. Duran Duran (7)
I begrudgingly admit Duran Duran's influence on pop culture.
31. The Flaming Lips (-)
The Flaming Lips are creating images from their own dimension.
30. Prince (18)
Prince was an artist that transcended formats and genres.
29. Queens of the Stone Age (-)
Stoner Rock titans that became video vanguards.
28. Katy Perry (78)
Katy Perry simply made great pop videos.
27. Red Hot Chili Peppers (-)
The Chili Peppers are the rare band that made great videos both before, and after, they got popular.
26. P Diddy (-)
It's All About the Benjamins was a great video. Then Diddy made a great separate video for the Rock Remix. And that's just one song out of 50 or so videos as lead artist.
25. Tom Petty (47)
One of the few classic rock icons that translated to the MTV era.
24. The Beatles (100)
Help! was also basically a long form music video.
Come Together, the music video, was released in 2015.
23. Busta Rhymes (14)
Busta owned the Fisheye lens.
22. Gorillaz (76)
The greatest cartoon band in history made great cartoon videos.
21. Run the Jewels/Killer Mike (-)
Whether solo or in collaborate efforts, Killer Mike is an American innovator.
20. Slipknot (-)
Visionary metal video after visionary metal video.
19. Michael Jackson (2)
He really should be higher, but his later videos were terrible and self-indulgent.
18. Run DMC (66)
Some bands on the list are dated, but Run DMC laid the foundations for great rap videos.
17. Marilyn Manson (-)
No one shook up the music video genre more than Manson.
16. Nirvana (10)
Nirvana, the last great rock band?
15. Weird Al Yankovic (15)
The only other artist on the whole list that Billboard got right. Al's video making career has now spanned through 4 decades.
14. Peter Gabriel (20)
Between Sledgehammer and Shock the Monkey, Peter Gabriel put out 2 of best pop videos of the 80's.
13. Outkast (23)
The only thing that could stop Outkast was Outkast.
12. My Chemical Romance (36)
Clever punks in matching uniforms.
11. Lady Gaga (6)
Lady Gaga basically saved the music video format with Bad Romance.
10. The Liars (-)
The experimental rock band the Liars released arguably the most ambitious video compilation to accompany a CD release in history with 2006's Drum's Not Dead
9. Talking Heads (38)
Revolutionary in all facets of their artistry.
8. Ho99o9 (-)
Ho99o9 should be one of the biggest bands in America. I am unclear why they're not.
7. Beastie Boys (19)
The definition of music video innovation.
6. Jay Z (9)
Who made the Greatest Rap Video of all time? Jay Z.
(There is a picture instead of a YouTube link because the link isn't an official Jay Z site and will probably disappear.)
5. Nine Inch Nails (65)
No one takes more risks with music videos than Trent Reznor. He has made, at least, a half dozen historically great videos. He has also made, at least, a half dozen videos I would never want to watch again.
4. Eminem (22)
Eminem's lyrical prowess made him great, his videos made him a Superstar.
3. Tool (-)
How do you make a best video artist list and not include Tool?
2. OK Go (82)
I am at a point where I want to fight people who don't recognize OK Go's visionary style.
1. The White Stripes/Jack White (60)
Let's return to the title of the article once again. I am not saying the best songs that had a video. I am not saying the best artists that spent a ton of money on their videos. I am not saying what the most popular form of music should be. I am saying that Jack White, both during and after the White Stripes era, is CLEARLY the best Music Video Artist of all time.
Editor's Note: Since everything in America seems to be racial these days, I need to point out that this is the breakdown of race in America.
72% White
16% Hispanic
12% Black
2% Other
My list?
75% White
19% Black
3% Hispanic
3% Other
So I want to take this opportunity to apologize to my Hispanic readers for underrepresenting them on my list. I'm just not that familiar with Latin music. (Don't send your hate mail to me, send it to Joe, he's been slacking lately.)
Editor's Note III:
Again, the category is Music Video Artists of All Time. So technically you start in 1966 and work your way to today. But 95% percent of the videos were after the inception of MTV .
My favorite artist, Alice Donut? Oh, I didn't forget about them. Here's a quote from the comments section of the YouTube video Mrs. Hayes by Alice Donut. "In a parallel universe, somewhere on a planet just like ours, Alice Donut are bigger than the Beatles!"