HiFi Magazine highlights the best music videos of 2010

In our inaugural “best-of” assignment, HiFi Magazine rounds up the very best music videos of 2010. A nice hybrid of rock, pop, R&B and indie made their way into our visual collection. Of course, high concept, adventurous experiments highlighted this year’s picks. And while many decided to expand the idea of the epic mini-movie idea (i.e., M.I.A., Kanye West, Ne-Yo), some were actually pretty incredible to pass up. You will probably be amazed to witness some of our choices did their very best to avoid the computer-generated, million-dollar budgets. Just good ole edits and lots of teamwork. After posting our first batch of favorites, we finally leave you with the last half of the top 21 best music videos of 2010. The top 10. May the video countdown begin.

10

“Congratulations”
MGMT

A sad video featuring a droopy extraterrestrial walking his last miles in a Las Vegas desert. The object’s companions, Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, watch it crumble apart and out of respect, gives it a round of applause for its willingness to survive.

9

“Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass”
!!!

!!! (pronounced “chk, chk, chk”) cleverly pulls off one of the most colorful, artistic concept videos of 2010. Scenes change swiftly as lead singer Nic Offer leaps into neon sheets of paper with inked-up drawings of 3-D exclamation points. He’s obviously chasing a girl through a myriad of dimensions – from ‘70’s porn sets to geeky gardening landscapes – as the dance-punk tune parades onward in its five-minute presentation..

8

“The Suburbs”
Arcade Fire

There’s a thin line between the inner city and the suburbs. Summed up poignantly in this powerful morally-induced display of suburban life, a handful of privileged suburban kids, who giggle at the fractures of city life, eventually face their own share of anarchy. Arcade Fire provides the appropriate backdrop of lyrics to the story.

7

“The Wilderness Downtown/We Used to Wait”
Arcade Fire

With the power of Google’s Chrome browser and a little smart interactivity, Arcade Fire’s brilliantly crafted concept video for the epic rock gem “We Used To Wait” comes to life in a very spectacular, cutting-edge way. Type in your street address and just watch your local surroundings make its way into a dazzling 21^st century art film with a personal touch.

6

“Drunk Girls”
LCD Soundsystem

A silly, drunk-as-hell photo shoot goes to hell in just four minutes. A hoard of men dressed as Chick-Fi-La cows goes the chaotic, serial killer route – a la The Strangers – on James Murphy and his defenseless posse. By the song’s end, Murphy & Company survive the massacre of World War 4; drenched with paint, disheveled and internally wounded with scars forever etched on the inside of their craniums. The lesson here: Leave the party before it gets really late.

5

“Fuck You”
Cee Lo Green

Growing up for Cee Lo ain’t been no crystal stair. As the Ladykiller, he confronts his childhood heartbreak upset with a Motown ditty fueled with the dirty “F” bomb. But the playfulness of the song translates well in the cutesy Fifties-styled diner scene as Supremes-esque background singers serenade Green’s super viral hit. As the story unfolds, Cee Lo’s revenge is found in his paramount fame and fortune while the heartbreaker settles as being the diner’s groundskeeper.

4

“This Too Shall Pass”
Ok Go

A kid’s best dream can easily be an adult’s best dream. Provided in Ok Go’s trip through a Rube Goldberg-styled domino-effect machine that goes through sweet “oohs” (water glass chimes), “ahhs” (rainbow flags) and “damns” (piano smashes, paint-flying cannons) – all done with one-camera and in one continuous shot. It’s the most brainy concept video of 2010 by far.

3

“Runaway”
Kanye West

The insane imagery of Kanye’s fantasies comes to life in this Hype Williams-scripted, 35-minute mini-movie. All of West’s Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy songs are thinly sliced into this epic adventure featuring West (playing himself) and a confused phoenix played by Selita Ebanks. West falls in love for the mythical creature and tries his hardest to make it right. Only in West’s world can one justify these unfathomable mysteries. The entertainment value of the film is pretty decent, even in the eyes of Matt Laurer.

2

“Telephone” feat. Beyoncé
Lady Gaga

The video tells a mean story. Decked out with dirty prison porn, a superpower collaborative effort with Beyoncé, some super-cool choreography and that one famous quote answering all questions (“I told you she didn’t have a dick”), the nine-minute “Telephone” challenged MJ’s ‘Thriller’ concept with 21st century results. By the end of the video, you learn quickly not to take honey from a raging psychopathic diva.

1

“Americanarama”
Hollerado

Super fast-forward lightning speed done in one take. That’s how you describe the video from the band members of Hollerado as they play their song in front of a Hollywood Square-esque assembly pulling out every trick in the book: spelling the lyrics to the song in the first chorus, playing Galaxian with band members shooting the firepower, posting bass lines chord sheets, playing Pong and Guitar Hero and lots more. It would take a bundle of Einsteens, some powerful memory banks and a perfect script to make all this happen. Spielberg should be jealous.