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Top 25 Goth and Industrial Music Videos of All Time
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When MTV first launched August 1, 1981, who knew that it would spawn a revolutionary new medium through which music groups and artists would share their vision with the world? While music videos certainly existed before then, albeit in a far more primitive form than even The Buggles' seminal and prophetic "Video Killed the Radio Star," they soon became far more than a trend as many critics first predicted; today, we can't imagine a world without music videos. Even in the underground, music videos are considered a viable promotional tool, one that can enhance a band's image and style in a way that even their live shows can't quite accomplish, thanks primarily to the cinematic aspect presented. Since the '80s, many music videos have traveled the path of being a sort of mini-movie, incorporating storylines and special effects to the visuals, offering different interpretations to enhance the lyrical - or at least the atmospheric - quality to the song. Adding to this is the fact that videos are the product of collaboration between the musician and the filmmaker, with many prominent directors and photographers augmenting their portfolios through music videos. Case in point: Michael Jackson's "Thriller," still what many consider to be the ultimate music video, directed by John Landis, the auteur behind such works as Kentucky Fried Movie and An American Werewolf in London. In other cases, the music video is meant to simulate the live experience, presenting the band in their element of performing their music. Perhaps the video will combine the two directions, or perhaps it will go down a different path all together, with the video having little to absolutely nothing to do with the song. More often than not, anything goes, and the results are usually just as varied as anything.
In the goth/industrial scene, music videos have earned a reputation for being rather left-of-center... rightfully so. Being in the underground, most of these artists have found themselves in a position of freedom from the constraints of a mainstream music industry that has steadily over the years become more of a corporate entity. As such, their videos are prone to take more risks and be even edgier with their imagery and presentation, much as these artists have done with their music. While it has been difficult for many of these videos to find a proper outlet in which to be viewed by their audiences, especially with MTV, VH-1, and most of their derivations straying further and further away from the "musical" aspects of their original forms, this has not dissuaded the proponents of the scene from producing some truly revolutionary visual works. With the affordability of modern technology and production techniques, it's so much easier in this day and age for underground artists and filmmakers to make an impact on a world defined by hyper-stimulation and information overload. One needs look no further than MySpace and YouTube for proof that in the modern era, music videos are still a relevant medium. And so, ReGen Magazine is now proud to present to you our list of the Top 25 Goth/Industrial Music Videos, as selected by our various staff. Spanning the course of the underground music scene over the years, this is the crème de la crème, those music videos that have stood out among their peers as works of stunning visual intrigue, both complementing and enhancing the scope of the music to which they accompany. Behold!
Note: Every day, five of the top videos will be released until we get to the number one video on Friday.
Possessing a sound that blended the ambient guitar noise of shoegazer with edgy electronica, the duo of Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia were something of an underground hit throughout the '90s, paving the way for groups like Garbage, Collide, and Eye Butterfly to follow in their footsteps. "Horror Head" was but one of their early singles and one of the finest examples of the band's difficult-to-categorize yet often imitated sound - drenched in reverberating guitars, Garcia's smooth n' sexy bass lines, and Halliday's ghostly, resonating voice. While most of their videos in this time would showcase the live lineup, "Horror Head" stands out as one of the few examples of Curve stripped down to its core members performing on their instruments, with Halliday strumming reservedly, illuminated by psychedelic lighting and frantic camera cuts that would soon become a staple of the decade in film.
Thanks to the wave of industrial rock that Nine Inch Nails helped to usher, more and more bands like Machines of Loving Grace were making their way into regular rotation on MTV. "Butterfly Wings" was arguably their biggest hit, released in 1993 from their sophomore album Concentration. Continuing down the path forged by their debut, the song featured the scathing vocals of Scott Benzel, conservative but effective synthesizer touches, and a signature heavy guitar and bass attack that defined much of the decade's industrial rock. The video at first glance may not seem overly spectacular, but there is something to be said for the simplicity of the band performing amid sepia-toned surroundings with butterflies swooping in and out of the image; an appropriate if expected visual accompaniment to the song's subject matter, and one that helped to gain this underground band some small amount of notoriety before their untimely demise four years later.
This band is probably one of the last true proponents of the punk rock spirit, sporting an irreverent sense of style to their music that defies any sort of pigeonholing. As such, this video directed by Jhonen Vasquez - the artistic mastermind behind Invader Zim and "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" - exemplifies the band's belligerent attitude like a punch in the face… literally. The scenario of a cashier in a caricature of a generic yet abysmally immense Wal-Mart-esque shopping center suddenly screaming at and assaulting the customers as Jimmy Urine's falsetto screams, "I can't wait for you to shut me up!" is nothing short of darkly humorous. The marriage of Vasquez's visuals and MSI's music is a match made in heaven, with the cashier even looking like a cartoon character with his buggy eyes and lanky build, ending appropriately as he explodes into a mushroom cloud. In some versions of the video, live clips of the band in all of their raucous onstage glory are interspersed with the scenes, making this perhaps the perfect video for a band like MSI.
1989's Disintegration is still regarded as one of the finest albums ever produced, and among the several singles released from that album was "Lullaby." With its nightmarish lyrics, ghostly string-like keyboards, and a chilly guitar refrain, the song is certainly one of The Cure's more gothic moments, so it's no surprise that the video would be equally dark. As an almost literal translation of the lyrics, the video shows us Robert Smith in two guises: one as the frightened dreamer, lying in his bed glancing around the bedroom with trepidation as he eyes the surrounding cobwebs before noticing the second guise, a made up specter with blacked out eyes and lips, the "spider-man" of the lyrics. With the other band members appearing as little more than sedated dolls lazily playing their instruments (of course, there is no banjo or tuba in the actual music), Smith is soon devoured by what appears to be a giant spider; "Spider-man is having me for dinner tonight," indeed. The song may be called "Lullaby," but watching this video would certainly not bring any sweet dreams.
This German synthpop's sound and style admittedly borrows much from Depeche Mode, and "Wasted" is no different as its stomping beat recalls "Personal Jesus," while front man Steve Naghavi sports his Dave Gahan-inspired haircut and vocals. Now, as if to add another nod to their '80s influences, And One's video for "Wasted" looks like a take on Madonna's "Music" with the band cavorting in the backseat of a limousine, complete with a plethora of smarmy paparazzi and an entourage clad in glittery fashions - including lots of animal fur and vinyl - and engaging in decadent drinking and overly sexual behavior, although the video manages not to cross the line of taste with gratuitous nudity or intimations thereof. In contract to Madonna's video, the video seems more a mockery of celebrity excess rather than a celebration of it, a point made clear by the chorus, "Get out, 'cause I'm everything you ever hated." Of course, with so catchy a song and so flashy a video, what is there to hate?
Though the band began in 1989, it was not until 2001's Daimonion that Project Pitchfork would have their biggest club hit with "Timekiller." Peter Spilles' morose almost monotone vocals drift atop gritty synth leads and pumping club beats, making for a simplistic but damn catchy song that arguably found greater fame with And One's effective remix. Adding to the song's intrigue is its video, depicting the restless vocalist solitarily hacking away at a typewriter in a disheveled office filled with various insects. By the time the chorus hits, the light through the window turns to a thunderstorm as Spilles begins to hover over the room, coming dangerously close to the ceiling fan and the hanging light bulb. Rain begins to trickle and leak through the ceiling, filling the room as Spilles mingles with the grasshoppers, grubs, and cockroaches, while the clock on the wall ticks away rapidly, providing the only visual tie-in to the song's lyrics. Interspersed with this scene are clips of Spilles singing against a black background, the left side of his face inexplicably painted gold. Does it make any sense? Perhaps not, but it's certainly an entertaining video if nothing else; one that certainly defines the rather quizzical nature of Project Pitchfork.
There's a strange fascination with bringing photographs to life; in many ways, that's the very nature of why moving pictures were invented in the first place. So with L'Âme Immortelle's video for "Fallen Angel," that theme works perfectly amid the desaturated colors and cobblestone surroundings Sonja Kraushofer and Thomas Rainer find themselves being led to by a mysterious little girl who disappears in a fiery wisp. From images of ballet dancers to mimes, fire breathers, and assorted carnival characters to a string quartet on the street, the video is strangely vaudevillian, exemplifying the classical goth aesthetic in fine form. Other images portray the band sitting by a fireplace, seemingly in a lamenting reverie as the video ends with Rainer throwing a photograph of Kraushofer in the fire; viewers may read into that what they will. "Fallen Angel" may be something of a departure from the band's usually abrasive mix of industrial and darkwave, but the video is certainly high concept with stunning results.
Leave it to Rammstein to produce a perverted take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as they did in "Sonne." As the band has stated in past interviews that their music is about extreme forms of love like bondage and S&M, it's no surprise that they would depict Snow White - as portrayed by the stunning Russian actress Joulia Stepanova - as a domineering gold dust addict, bending her dwarves over her knee to spank them. The dwarves, of course, are played by the band members, seen covered in soot and oil, mining away with jackhammers and assorted power tools in true industrial fashion. Despite the fantastical nature of the imagery and its relative disassociation from the lyrics, the visuals complement the music rather well, and if nothing else is a prime example of Rammstein's mentality of mixing pummeling aggression with moments of almost sadistic beauty, given even more weight by Till Lindemann's operatic drawl. If that weren't enough, Snow White gets quite the death scene as she dies naked in a bubble bath; surely, that image alone outweighs "Du Hast."
For a band that made their name by using power tools and broken objects as instrumentation, "Sabrina" is a surprisingly mellow and jazzy song, driven primarily by a lulling bass line and slight string swells, with the chiming of muted guitar plucks mimicking the flicker of fluorescent lights to provide some texture. So fitting is the latter sound effect in the video as we see a demonic ogre of some sort mouthing Blixa Bargeld's subdued lament, singing to itself in the mirror of a dingy bathroom reminiscent of a scene Se7en, as it applies lipstick, only to smear it away, reapply it, making several strange gestures as if practicing poses and facial expressions only to ultimately breakdown in a wash of tears. The real Bargeld steps in three quarters through with nary a reaction to the devilish creature beside him. Watching this video, one wonders if the demon's anguish at the realization of its ugliness is similar to what over-hyped celebrities and debutantes experience in their daily lives behind closed doors.
While Toni Halliday may not actually appear in the video, her seductive and ethereal voice meshes well with the stunning array of cyber visuals full of automaton women in various states of disrepair, similar to the mecha seen in Spielberg's A.I., which came out the same year, although slightly more sexually suggestive. Squelching drum & bass synths and beats augment the CGI atmosphere as a vinyl-clad Halliday look-alike does a confrontational dance in a red-tinted dilapidated churchlike setting before launching herself through a window, landing on the pavement in a manner similar to a scene in Blade Runner. One could argue a connection between the lyrics and the visuals as both pertain to themes of isolation, but of course, this is left up to the viewers' interpretations as it seems the main thrust of "So to Speak" is to stun and awe those who see it. Nonetheless, it is perhaps DJ? Acucrack's biggest hit, and marks Toni Halliday's second appearance on this list.
Comparisons to Trent Reznor notwithstanding, Android Lust gave us a remarkable video for "Stained" to complement the equally enticing mix of dark electronic textures with accessible melodies. Taking place primarily in a sterile cube of fluorescent white light and mirrored walls, we see Shikhee donned in a strange outfit of black stripes with matching face paint, at one point slashing her own mouth to release a spill of blackened blood. Full of quick cuts from various angles of the room and Shikhee writhing around the room, on the floor, climbing the walls, hanging from the ceiling, the video is certainly disorienting, ending with a mysterious being escaping from an embryonic sac hanging in the middle of the room and Shikhee unconscious on the floor with two figures looming in the reflections. As the sound and image glitch like a stuck video feed, "Stained" proves to be a rather surreal video for an artist who has made a name for herself producing music that is known for its abrasive and otherworldly qualities.
Some might be put off by the rather primitive nature of Nitzer Ebb's brand of EBM, although it came to define a style that would permeate well into the modern era. No less primitive is their video for "Murderous," featuring many features of a great deal of music videos from the '80s: vibrant color filters, strobe-like flashes of propagandist imagery - relating to the album's cover art - and key phrases from the song's lyrics, and rapid-fire cuts that only serve to accentuate the intensity of the song. Like DAF before them, the band is featured primarily with Douglas McCarthy shouting his rebellious lyrics before a black background, with fellow members Bon Harris and David Gooday pounding away on their drums in synchronized fashion. It's perhaps not quite the best representation of the band, but once again, it's a hallmark of the visual style of the time. And besides, how can one resist that famous chant: "Where is the youth?! Where is the gold?!"
Gary Numan has long been a pioneer of electronic music, so it should be no surprise to see him continuing to push the envelope beyond his beginnings in the new wave era. Collaborating with Ade Fenton, the two have crafted a morose and tense song with a simplistic two-note bass pulse that gradually builds in intensity as harsher textures make their way into the song. The imagery in "Healing" is as abstract as you can get; the video is a sepia-toned cornucopia of heavily layered environments, much like the makeup of the song, moving in rapid succession to such a degree that they may cause a haze of vertigo in the viewer. Light spills out from the windows of a building then spills out of Fenton's contorted face, as Numan lies sedate on the street, the street cars narrowly missing him. The films of Mamoru Oshii surely come to mind with this video, particularly the surreal misadventure of The Red Spectacles. Don't look for a plot; just revel in the oddity.
Driven by one of the most recognizable bass riffs in goth rock, The Sisters of Mercy's "Lucretia, My Reflection" is perhaps their best known song. Strangely enough, the video seems to bear more in common with the industrial genre, with Andrew Eldritch wandering aimlessly through rows of decrepit machinery and sweatshop workers, echoing the first line of the chorus, "I hear the roar of the big machine." With his trademark shades on, he dances throughout the hazy factory in true rock star fashion as bassist Patricia Morrison drives through desolate city streets before ending up at the same factory. Many videos from this era would often imitate the overall schema of washed out color tones and obscure locations, helping to create an oppressive environment that augmented the sometimes acidic nature of the music. While The Sisters of Mercy would produce other videos in their tenure, this one perhaps stands out as the best example of the band's visual power.
Among many of the bands to usher in the first wave of industrial music in the late '70s, Clock DVA proved to be one of the more enigmatic, having undergone numerous changes in personnel and style well into the early '90s. Their archetypical style of danceable industrial became rather influential in the development of the genre, and the accompanying seizure-inducing video for "The Hacker," while just as primitive as the song itself, became a rather prophetic indication of the perils of the digital age. With words such as "C.I.A.," "Timebomb," "Mainframe," and "Corporate" flashing strobe-like in conjunction with random images of newspaper clippings, computerized monochrome graphics, and the band members themselves, topped off by Adi Newton's dark, almost grunting vocals, this video is something of a premonition for the post-Matrix era. The video may not quite stand up to today's standards, but its simplicity and foreboding message certainly does.
His biggest hit may be "Cuts You Up," but as the much revered godfather of goth, Peter Murphy's "All Night Long" stands as one of his more musically and visually satisfying moments. An ambient song of plucking arpeggios and acoustic guitar swells, creating a dreamlike soundscape befitting the song's subject matter before the rhythm picks up to some brisk goth rock, the song is certainly one for deep late night listening. As such, the video is similarly wispy and atmospheric, presenting Murphy in black & white as he performs in front of devastating backgrounds amid sharp shards of light and casts of shadows, his distinct features animated brightly as he sings in his signature baritone. We also see him lying in bed, singing as he stares upward at a search light that illuminates his face. Other random images of an unidentified figure running in slow motion in dark forests and Victorian architecture contribute to the dreamy atmosphere that matches the song so perfectly.
After spending seven years in relative silence, the Slovenian art and music collective Laibach returned with a song of pummeling EBM that presented listeners with a production and sound that surpassed any of their past output. Similarly, the video for "Tanz Mit Laibach" offered fans something of a retrospective of the band's history, as various images from their previous videos and concerts blast across the flurry of CGI backgrounds. Commanding the visuals is vocalist Milan Fras donned in the band's military uniform reminiscent of the Third Reich, perpetually marching forward in time with the beat, literally stomping away as his towering growl calls for people to dance in brotherhood… or does it? Recalling the best elements of Deutsche-Amerikanische Freundschaft, Laibach does their influences proud to create what is probably the most visually comprehensive video of their career. What more could one want from the band that continues to question the boundaries of socio-political/musical rhetoric?
Excluding the band's first video for "Hush," the members of Tool opted not to show themselves, but to allow the music and the visuals speak for themselves. Thus, it has been to their benefit that guitarist Adam Jones maintained a career as a special effects artist, having worked on such films as Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and Dances with Wolves; his experience combined with the band's collective artistic vision has yielded some of the strangest, most disturbing, and most unique videos ever produced by a rock band. Tool's "Prison Sex" is but one example of this, but is also perhaps the most coherent in relation to the song's subject matter: child abuse. The stop-motion animation depicting a Giger-esque seemingly female form continually subjugating a mechanical child-like doll, placing it in a makeshift prison of dingy drawers, along with some other grotesque imagery, garnered much criticism and censorship at the time of its release, though it would ironically win an MTV Music Video Award for Best Special Effects.
Anton Corbijn took over the bulk of Depeche Mode's videography starting with 1986's "Strangelove," and would faithfully produce a series of rather strange yet memorable visual companions for their dark brand of synthpop. "Enjoy the Silence" stands out as one of the more colorful moments in this series as vocalist Dave Gahan takes on the guise of the philosophical children's book character of "The Little Prince," drawing a connection between the song's lyrics and the images portrayed. Dressed as a king and wandering with a deck chair, Gahan chases the sunset through various locations from rocky mountains to fields of green grass to crashing waves along the shore to the frozen sunlit tundra that ends the video. While Corbijn's signature film grain permeates throughout, the colors in these portions of the video are amazingly vibrant and especially noteworthy given the washed out colors and monochrome scenes of the band's past videos, with and without Corbijn. Interspersed with these images are black & white shots of the band decked in their leather jackets with quick-cuts of roses similar to the Violator album cover.
Too Dark Park was not only one of Skinny Puppy's most ambitious albums, but heralded one of their most ambitious and theatrical tours, only to be surpassed by Last Rites two years later. With independent horror filmmaker Jim Van Bebber helming the video for "Spasmolytic," viewers get a glimpse into the nightmarish depravity that defined much of the Too Dark Park tour's visual intrigue. With Ogre taking on a mummified persona akin to himself - albeit darker and more disturbed, undoubtedly due to his then issues with substance abuse - the video takes place in a decrepit park-like area where a wedding goes horribly wrong, the couple displaying malevolent expressions as they devour a cake that could easily be mistaken for ground meat. cEvin Key rides in as a demonic postman, delivering a letter to Ogre reading, "You owe me an apology," as Dwayne Goettel plays a twisted priest conducting the ceremony. By the end, Ogre is strapped to the "Chair of No Cares," mentally and physically tortured before he finally falls crashing to the ground through a glass pane on artificial limbs that ultimately fail him. As an extension of the live show in this time, this is not shock for its own sake; this was the mangled recesses of Ogre's mind fighting to be seen and heard, begging to be freed from a path to self destruction.
Directed by Aidan "Brute" Hughes, the artist responsible for the bulk of the band's album covers, thus expanding on their practically trademarked image, KMFDM's "A Drug Against War" is a kinetic, high-power assault on the senses. Featuring animated variations of said album covers, along with some other bits of Brute's artwork, moving in rapid succession and even producing a few seizure-inducing strobe effects along the way, the visuals perfectly match the thrash metal attack of super-fast riffs, pummeling percussion, and Sascha Konietzko's incendiary vocals. Even though later tracks like "Juke Joint Jezebel" and "Megalomaniac" would gain attention through the Mortal Kombat soundtracks, "A Drug Against War" still stands as one of the band's most recognizable and beloved songs, and one that includes their signature self-referential pseudo-political lyrics. In other words, it is perhaps the best example of The Ultra Heavy Beat at its finest.
Love 'em or hate 'em, Front Line Assembly are still considered to be an instrumental force in the development of industrial and EBM music over the years. 1992's Tactical Neural Implant and "Mindphaser" in particular helped to push the boundaries of production techniques and musical construction to a degree that has guided a generation of industrial musicians. Many music videos integrate scenes from various films and/or present the band in their own storyline, but where this video stands out is in the combination of the two forms. Utilizing footage from a Japanese sci-fi film, the band portrays themselves as cyber-warriors on a mission to steal a giant robotic tank from a decrepit industrial compound. Sporting futuristic military uniforms complete with cybernetic eye wear and brandishing small firearms, Bill Leeb, Rhys Fulber, and Chris Peterson (appearing before he would even "officially" join the band) carry out their mission to an explosive climax that mirrors the song's high-energy mix of powerful drumbeats, grating synths, and Leeb's distinctly aggressive yet melodic vocals; perhaps the perfect cyberpunk video.
Before the release of The Land of Rape and Honey, Ministry was a purely electronic pop group, almost in the vein of Depeche Mode. And then this video was released, showcasing the band's shift in direction, creating a revolutionary mix of grinding guitars and mechanized drum and synth loops - a style that along with KMFDM ushered in the creation of industrial rock. "Stigmata" presented viewers with an extended cornucopia of kinetic imagery, from Al Jourgensen running down a crowded city street, to live clips of the band in a raucous onstage fury, and finally to Jourgensen being strangled in a drug-addled sleep by a robotic arm; a strangely prophetic image in light of the band's future issues with addiction and substance abuse. While still a far cry from the dreadlocked, cowboy hat-wearing rock star we'd come to recognize him as, Jourgensen gave the underground music a much-needed shot in the arm, signaling the beginning of the WaxTrax! era and the trip down industrial rock hell that his band would follow until their eventual disbanding.
After the enormous success of The Downward Spiral and the hit single "Closer," Trent Reznor began work on new material, the first taste of which came in the form of "The Perfect Drug" for the soundtrack to David Lynch's Lost Highway. Driven by a pulsating bass line, mysterious atmospheres, and even infusing some big beat drum & bass, the song became yet another hit for the band, due in no small part to the video. Directed by Mark Romanek - who also helmed the "Closer" video - and inspired by the works of Edgar Allen Poe, the blue-tinted video shows Reznor sporting a goatee in a Victorian mansion, partaking in Absinthe, running through a garden maze, splashing in a vat of blackened liquid, and even distraughtly fingering the song's last notes on an old piano. Adding to the mystique are three violin players picking away at the strings as they mechanically shift their head motions with each chord change, as well as a strange little girl with an expression so blank that her gaze alone could send chills down the spine. With reflective camera angles reminiscent of M.C. Escher, this surreal visual feast is both more tasteful and yet oddly more disturbing than the rancid images seen in "Closer."
Richard D. James, the man behind Aphex Twin, has garnered quite a reputation for his strange and unusual style of IDM and drill & bass. With his video for "Come to Daddy," he took the entire world by storm, becoming an instant hit and bringing some mainstream recognition to a still largely misunderstood genre of music. From the intensely distorted bass lines to the hard-hitting and complex drum patterns, coupled with James' fractured vocal growl of "I want your soul / I will eat your soul," the song and its accompanying video - directed by Chris Cunningham - made for one of the most disturbing experiences in music history. Beginning with an old woman taking her dog for a walk on a rain-swept city street, she comes across a disconnected TV set, on which the face of James appears, twisting and contorting in rather inhuman ways, all the while never losing his characteristic grin. Suddenly from the shadows of the buildings emerge what appear to be children, all wearing masks in the guise of James, complete with the grin, taking the TV set and proceeding to wreak havoc across town. One of the most memorable and iconic moments in the video occurs when a strange, lankily built alien creature emerges from the screen of the TV set (predating the evil spirit in The Ring) and lets out a terrifying scream in the face of the old woman, her features disfiguring under the sheer power of the creature's howl. The children gather around a similarly slim figure, also wearing the James mask (the scene bearing some resemblance to a nightmarish version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind), before the video ends in an array of manipulated drumbeats and fractured vocals. Later videos by Aphex Twin like "Windowlicker" and "Rubber Johnny" would chase the same visual dragon, but even they would never achieve the same level of mass appeal as "Come to Daddy." By all rights, the song should not have been a hit given its extreme musical style, but with the aid of so brilliant, unique, and menacing a video, "Come to Daddy" came to the right place at the right time.
When MTV first launched August 1, 1981, who knew that it would spawn a revolutionary new medium through which music groups and artists would share their vision with the world? While music videos certainly existed before then, albeit in a far more primitive form than even The Buggles' seminal and prophetic "Video Killed the Radio Star," they soon became far more than a trend as many critics first predicted; today, we can't imagine a world without music videos. Even in the underground, music videos are considered a viable promotional tool, one that can enhance a band's image and style in a way that even their live shows can't quite accomplish, thanks primarily to the cinematic aspect presented. Since the '80s, many music videos have traveled the path of being a sort of mini-movie, incorporating storylines and special effects to the visuals, offering different interpretations to enhance the lyrical - or at least the atmospheric - quality to the song. Adding to this is the fact that videos are the product of collaboration between the musician and the filmmaker, with many prominent directors and photographers augmenting their portfolios through music videos. Case in point: Michael Jackson's "Thriller," still what many consider to be the ultimate music video, directed by John Landis, the auteur behind such works as Kentucky Fried Movie and An American Werewolf in London. In other cases, the music video is meant to simulate the live experience, presenting the band in their element of performing their music. Perhaps the video will combine the two directions, or perhaps it will go down a different path all together, with the video having little to absolutely nothing to do with the song. More often than not, anything goes, and the results are usually just as varied as anything.
In the goth/industrial scene, music videos have earned a reputation for being rather left-of-center... rightfully so. Being in the underground, most of these artists have found themselves in a position of freedom from the constraints of a mainstream music industry that has steadily over the years become more of a corporate entity. As such, their videos are prone to take more risks and be even edgier with their imagery and presentation, much as these artists have done with their music. While it has been difficult for many of these videos to find a proper outlet in which to be viewed by their audiences, especially with MTV, VH-1, and most of their derivations straying further and further away from the "musical" aspects of their original forms, this has not dissuaded the proponents of the scene from producing some truly revolutionary visual works. With the affordability of modern technology and production techniques, it's so much easier in this day and age for underground artists and filmmakers to make an impact on a world defined by hyper-stimulation and information overload. One needs look no further than MySpace and YouTube for proof that in the modern era, music videos are still a relevant medium. And so, ReGen Magazine is now proud to present to you our list of the Top 25 Goth/Industrial Music Videos, as selected by our various staff. Spanning the course of the underground music scene over the years, this is the crème de la crème, those music videos that have stood out among their peers as works of stunning visual intrigue, both complementing and enhancing the scope of the music to which they accompany. Behold!
Note: Every day, five of the top videos will be released until we get to the number one video on Friday.
Curve
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Possessing a sound that blended the ambient guitar noise of shoegazer with edgy electronica, the duo of Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia were something of an underground hit throughout the '90s, paving the way for groups like Garbage, Collide, and Eye Butterfly to follow in their footsteps. "Horror Head" was but one of their early singles and one of the finest examples of the band's difficult-to-categorize yet often imitated sound - drenched in reverberating guitars, Garcia's smooth n' sexy bass lines, and Halliday's ghostly, resonating voice. While most of their videos in this time would showcase the live lineup, "Horror Head" stands out as one of the few examples of Curve stripped down to its core members performing on their instruments, with Halliday strumming reservedly, illuminated by psychedelic lighting and frantic camera cuts that would soon become a staple of the decade in film.
Machines of Loving Grace
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Thanks to the wave of industrial rock that Nine Inch Nails helped to usher, more and more bands like Machines of Loving Grace were making their way into regular rotation on MTV. "Butterfly Wings" was arguably their biggest hit, released in 1993 from their sophomore album Concentration. Continuing down the path forged by their debut, the song featured the scathing vocals of Scott Benzel, conservative but effective synthesizer touches, and a signature heavy guitar and bass attack that defined much of the decade's industrial rock. The video at first glance may not seem overly spectacular, but there is something to be said for the simplicity of the band performing amid sepia-toned surroundings with butterflies swooping in and out of the image; an appropriate if expected visual accompaniment to the song's subject matter, and one that helped to gain this underground band some small amount of notoriety before their untimely demise four years later.
Mindless Self Indulgence
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This band is probably one of the last true proponents of the punk rock spirit, sporting an irreverent sense of style to their music that defies any sort of pigeonholing. As such, this video directed by Jhonen Vasquez - the artistic mastermind behind Invader Zim and "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" - exemplifies the band's belligerent attitude like a punch in the face… literally. The scenario of a cashier in a caricature of a generic yet abysmally immense Wal-Mart-esque shopping center suddenly screaming at and assaulting the customers as Jimmy Urine's falsetto screams, "I can't wait for you to shut me up!" is nothing short of darkly humorous. The marriage of Vasquez's visuals and MSI's music is a match made in heaven, with the cashier even looking like a cartoon character with his buggy eyes and lanky build, ending appropriately as he explodes into a mushroom cloud. In some versions of the video, live clips of the band in all of their raucous onstage glory are interspersed with the scenes, making this perhaps the perfect video for a band like MSI.
The Cure
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1989's Disintegration is still regarded as one of the finest albums ever produced, and among the several singles released from that album was "Lullaby." With its nightmarish lyrics, ghostly string-like keyboards, and a chilly guitar refrain, the song is certainly one of The Cure's more gothic moments, so it's no surprise that the video would be equally dark. As an almost literal translation of the lyrics, the video shows us Robert Smith in two guises: one as the frightened dreamer, lying in his bed glancing around the bedroom with trepidation as he eyes the surrounding cobwebs before noticing the second guise, a made up specter with blacked out eyes and lips, the "spider-man" of the lyrics. With the other band members appearing as little more than sedated dolls lazily playing their instruments (of course, there is no banjo or tuba in the actual music), Smith is soon devoured by what appears to be a giant spider; "Spider-man is having me for dinner tonight," indeed. The song may be called "Lullaby," but watching this video would certainly not bring any sweet dreams.
And One
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This German synthpop's sound and style admittedly borrows much from Depeche Mode, and "Wasted" is no different as its stomping beat recalls "Personal Jesus," while front man Steve Naghavi sports his Dave Gahan-inspired haircut and vocals. Now, as if to add another nod to their '80s influences, And One's video for "Wasted" looks like a take on Madonna's "Music" with the band cavorting in the backseat of a limousine, complete with a plethora of smarmy paparazzi and an entourage clad in glittery fashions - including lots of animal fur and vinyl - and engaging in decadent drinking and overly sexual behavior, although the video manages not to cross the line of taste with gratuitous nudity or intimations thereof. In contract to Madonna's video, the video seems more a mockery of celebrity excess rather than a celebration of it, a point made clear by the chorus, "Get out, 'cause I'm everything you ever hated." Of course, with so catchy a song and so flashy a video, what is there to hate?
Project Pitchfork
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Though the band began in 1989, it was not until 2001's Daimonion that Project Pitchfork would have their biggest club hit with "Timekiller." Peter Spilles' morose almost monotone vocals drift atop gritty synth leads and pumping club beats, making for a simplistic but damn catchy song that arguably found greater fame with And One's effective remix. Adding to the song's intrigue is its video, depicting the restless vocalist solitarily hacking away at a typewriter in a disheveled office filled with various insects. By the time the chorus hits, the light through the window turns to a thunderstorm as Spilles begins to hover over the room, coming dangerously close to the ceiling fan and the hanging light bulb. Rain begins to trickle and leak through the ceiling, filling the room as Spilles mingles with the grasshoppers, grubs, and cockroaches, while the clock on the wall ticks away rapidly, providing the only visual tie-in to the song's lyrics. Interspersed with this scene are clips of Spilles singing against a black background, the left side of his face inexplicably painted gold. Does it make any sense? Perhaps not, but it's certainly an entertaining video if nothing else; one that certainly defines the rather quizzical nature of Project Pitchfork.
L'Âme Immortelle
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There's a strange fascination with bringing photographs to life; in many ways, that's the very nature of why moving pictures were invented in the first place. So with L'Âme Immortelle's video for "Fallen Angel," that theme works perfectly amid the desaturated colors and cobblestone surroundings Sonja Kraushofer and Thomas Rainer find themselves being led to by a mysterious little girl who disappears in a fiery wisp. From images of ballet dancers to mimes, fire breathers, and assorted carnival characters to a string quartet on the street, the video is strangely vaudevillian, exemplifying the classical goth aesthetic in fine form. Other images portray the band sitting by a fireplace, seemingly in a lamenting reverie as the video ends with Rainer throwing a photograph of Kraushofer in the fire; viewers may read into that what they will. "Fallen Angel" may be something of a departure from the band's usually abrasive mix of industrial and darkwave, but the video is certainly high concept with stunning results.
Rammstein
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Leave it to Rammstein to produce a perverted take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as they did in "Sonne." As the band has stated in past interviews that their music is about extreme forms of love like bondage and S&M, it's no surprise that they would depict Snow White - as portrayed by the stunning Russian actress Joulia Stepanova - as a domineering gold dust addict, bending her dwarves over her knee to spank them. The dwarves, of course, are played by the band members, seen covered in soot and oil, mining away with jackhammers and assorted power tools in true industrial fashion. Despite the fantastical nature of the imagery and its relative disassociation from the lyrics, the visuals complement the music rather well, and if nothing else is a prime example of Rammstein's mentality of mixing pummeling aggression with moments of almost sadistic beauty, given even more weight by Till Lindemann's operatic drawl. If that weren't enough, Snow White gets quite the death scene as she dies naked in a bubble bath; surely, that image alone outweighs "Du Hast."
Einstürzende Neubauten
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For a band that made their name by using power tools and broken objects as instrumentation, "Sabrina" is a surprisingly mellow and jazzy song, driven primarily by a lulling bass line and slight string swells, with the chiming of muted guitar plucks mimicking the flicker of fluorescent lights to provide some texture. So fitting is the latter sound effect in the video as we see a demonic ogre of some sort mouthing Blixa Bargeld's subdued lament, singing to itself in the mirror of a dingy bathroom reminiscent of a scene Se7en, as it applies lipstick, only to smear it away, reapply it, making several strange gestures as if practicing poses and facial expressions only to ultimately breakdown in a wash of tears. The real Bargeld steps in three quarters through with nary a reaction to the devilish creature beside him. Watching this video, one wonders if the demon's anguish at the realization of its ugliness is similar to what over-hyped celebrities and debutantes experience in their daily lives behind closed doors.
DJ? Acucrack
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While Toni Halliday may not actually appear in the video, her seductive and ethereal voice meshes well with the stunning array of cyber visuals full of automaton women in various states of disrepair, similar to the mecha seen in Spielberg's A.I., which came out the same year, although slightly more sexually suggestive. Squelching drum & bass synths and beats augment the CGI atmosphere as a vinyl-clad Halliday look-alike does a confrontational dance in a red-tinted dilapidated churchlike setting before launching herself through a window, landing on the pavement in a manner similar to a scene in Blade Runner. One could argue a connection between the lyrics and the visuals as both pertain to themes of isolation, but of course, this is left up to the viewers' interpretations as it seems the main thrust of "So to Speak" is to stun and awe those who see it. Nonetheless, it is perhaps DJ? Acucrack's biggest hit, and marks Toni Halliday's second appearance on this list.
Android Lust
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Comparisons to Trent Reznor notwithstanding, Android Lust gave us a remarkable video for "Stained" to complement the equally enticing mix of dark electronic textures with accessible melodies. Taking place primarily in a sterile cube of fluorescent white light and mirrored walls, we see Shikhee donned in a strange outfit of black stripes with matching face paint, at one point slashing her own mouth to release a spill of blackened blood. Full of quick cuts from various angles of the room and Shikhee writhing around the room, on the floor, climbing the walls, hanging from the ceiling, the video is certainly disorienting, ending with a mysterious being escaping from an embryonic sac hanging in the middle of the room and Shikhee unconscious on the floor with two figures looming in the reflections. As the sound and image glitch like a stuck video feed, "Stained" proves to be a rather surreal video for an artist who has made a name for herself producing music that is known for its abrasive and otherworldly qualities.
Nitzer Ebb
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Some might be put off by the rather primitive nature of Nitzer Ebb's brand of EBM, although it came to define a style that would permeate well into the modern era. No less primitive is their video for "Murderous," featuring many features of a great deal of music videos from the '80s: vibrant color filters, strobe-like flashes of propagandist imagery - relating to the album's cover art - and key phrases from the song's lyrics, and rapid-fire cuts that only serve to accentuate the intensity of the song. Like DAF before them, the band is featured primarily with Douglas McCarthy shouting his rebellious lyrics before a black background, with fellow members Bon Harris and David Gooday pounding away on their drums in synchronized fashion. It's perhaps not quite the best representation of the band, but once again, it's a hallmark of the visual style of the time. And besides, how can one resist that famous chant: "Where is the youth?! Where is the gold?!"
Ade Fenton & Gary Numan
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Gary Numan has long been a pioneer of electronic music, so it should be no surprise to see him continuing to push the envelope beyond his beginnings in the new wave era. Collaborating with Ade Fenton, the two have crafted a morose and tense song with a simplistic two-note bass pulse that gradually builds in intensity as harsher textures make their way into the song. The imagery in "Healing" is as abstract as you can get; the video is a sepia-toned cornucopia of heavily layered environments, much like the makeup of the song, moving in rapid succession to such a degree that they may cause a haze of vertigo in the viewer. Light spills out from the windows of a building then spills out of Fenton's contorted face, as Numan lies sedate on the street, the street cars narrowly missing him. The films of Mamoru Oshii surely come to mind with this video, particularly the surreal misadventure of The Red Spectacles. Don't look for a plot; just revel in the oddity.
The Sisters of Mercy
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Driven by one of the most recognizable bass riffs in goth rock, The Sisters of Mercy's "Lucretia, My Reflection" is perhaps their best known song. Strangely enough, the video seems to bear more in common with the industrial genre, with Andrew Eldritch wandering aimlessly through rows of decrepit machinery and sweatshop workers, echoing the first line of the chorus, "I hear the roar of the big machine." With his trademark shades on, he dances throughout the hazy factory in true rock star fashion as bassist Patricia Morrison drives through desolate city streets before ending up at the same factory. Many videos from this era would often imitate the overall schema of washed out color tones and obscure locations, helping to create an oppressive environment that augmented the sometimes acidic nature of the music. While The Sisters of Mercy would produce other videos in their tenure, this one perhaps stands out as the best example of the band's visual power.
Clock DVA
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Among many of the bands to usher in the first wave of industrial music in the late '70s, Clock DVA proved to be one of the more enigmatic, having undergone numerous changes in personnel and style well into the early '90s. Their archetypical style of danceable industrial became rather influential in the development of the genre, and the accompanying seizure-inducing video for "The Hacker," while just as primitive as the song itself, became a rather prophetic indication of the perils of the digital age. With words such as "C.I.A.," "Timebomb," "Mainframe," and "Corporate" flashing strobe-like in conjunction with random images of newspaper clippings, computerized monochrome graphics, and the band members themselves, topped off by Adi Newton's dark, almost grunting vocals, this video is something of a premonition for the post-Matrix era. The video may not quite stand up to today's standards, but its simplicity and foreboding message certainly does.
Peter Murphy
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His biggest hit may be "Cuts You Up," but as the much revered godfather of goth, Peter Murphy's "All Night Long" stands as one of his more musically and visually satisfying moments. An ambient song of plucking arpeggios and acoustic guitar swells, creating a dreamlike soundscape befitting the song's subject matter before the rhythm picks up to some brisk goth rock, the song is certainly one for deep late night listening. As such, the video is similarly wispy and atmospheric, presenting Murphy in black & white as he performs in front of devastating backgrounds amid sharp shards of light and casts of shadows, his distinct features animated brightly as he sings in his signature baritone. We also see him lying in bed, singing as he stares upward at a search light that illuminates his face. Other random images of an unidentified figure running in slow motion in dark forests and Victorian architecture contribute to the dreamy atmosphere that matches the song so perfectly.
Laibach
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After spending seven years in relative silence, the Slovenian art and music collective Laibach returned with a song of pummeling EBM that presented listeners with a production and sound that surpassed any of their past output. Similarly, the video for "Tanz Mit Laibach" offered fans something of a retrospective of the band's history, as various images from their previous videos and concerts blast across the flurry of CGI backgrounds. Commanding the visuals is vocalist Milan Fras donned in the band's military uniform reminiscent of the Third Reich, perpetually marching forward in time with the beat, literally stomping away as his towering growl calls for people to dance in brotherhood… or does it? Recalling the best elements of Deutsche-Amerikanische Freundschaft, Laibach does their influences proud to create what is probably the most visually comprehensive video of their career. What more could one want from the band that continues to question the boundaries of socio-political/musical rhetoric?
Tool
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Excluding the band's first video for "Hush," the members of Tool opted not to show themselves, but to allow the music and the visuals speak for themselves. Thus, it has been to their benefit that guitarist Adam Jones maintained a career as a special effects artist, having worked on such films as Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and Dances with Wolves; his experience combined with the band's collective artistic vision has yielded some of the strangest, most disturbing, and most unique videos ever produced by a rock band. Tool's "Prison Sex" is but one example of this, but is also perhaps the most coherent in relation to the song's subject matter: child abuse. The stop-motion animation depicting a Giger-esque seemingly female form continually subjugating a mechanical child-like doll, placing it in a makeshift prison of dingy drawers, along with some other grotesque imagery, garnered much criticism and censorship at the time of its release, though it would ironically win an MTV Music Video Award for Best Special Effects.
Depeche Mode
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Anton Corbijn took over the bulk of Depeche Mode's videography starting with 1986's "Strangelove," and would faithfully produce a series of rather strange yet memorable visual companions for their dark brand of synthpop. "Enjoy the Silence" stands out as one of the more colorful moments in this series as vocalist Dave Gahan takes on the guise of the philosophical children's book character of "The Little Prince," drawing a connection between the song's lyrics and the images portrayed. Dressed as a king and wandering with a deck chair, Gahan chases the sunset through various locations from rocky mountains to fields of green grass to crashing waves along the shore to the frozen sunlit tundra that ends the video. While Corbijn's signature film grain permeates throughout, the colors in these portions of the video are amazingly vibrant and especially noteworthy given the washed out colors and monochrome scenes of the band's past videos, with and without Corbijn. Interspersed with these images are black & white shots of the band decked in their leather jackets with quick-cuts of roses similar to the Violator album cover.
Skinny Puppy
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Too Dark Park was not only one of Skinny Puppy's most ambitious albums, but heralded one of their most ambitious and theatrical tours, only to be surpassed by Last Rites two years later. With independent horror filmmaker Jim Van Bebber helming the video for "Spasmolytic," viewers get a glimpse into the nightmarish depravity that defined much of the Too Dark Park tour's visual intrigue. With Ogre taking on a mummified persona akin to himself - albeit darker and more disturbed, undoubtedly due to his then issues with substance abuse - the video takes place in a decrepit park-like area where a wedding goes horribly wrong, the couple displaying malevolent expressions as they devour a cake that could easily be mistaken for ground meat. cEvin Key rides in as a demonic postman, delivering a letter to Ogre reading, "You owe me an apology," as Dwayne Goettel plays a twisted priest conducting the ceremony. By the end, Ogre is strapped to the "Chair of No Cares," mentally and physically tortured before he finally falls crashing to the ground through a glass pane on artificial limbs that ultimately fail him. As an extension of the live show in this time, this is not shock for its own sake; this was the mangled recesses of Ogre's mind fighting to be seen and heard, begging to be freed from a path to self destruction.
KMFDM
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Directed by Aidan "Brute" Hughes, the artist responsible for the bulk of the band's album covers, thus expanding on their practically trademarked image, KMFDM's "A Drug Against War" is a kinetic, high-power assault on the senses. Featuring animated variations of said album covers, along with some other bits of Brute's artwork, moving in rapid succession and even producing a few seizure-inducing strobe effects along the way, the visuals perfectly match the thrash metal attack of super-fast riffs, pummeling percussion, and Sascha Konietzko's incendiary vocals. Even though later tracks like "Juke Joint Jezebel" and "Megalomaniac" would gain attention through the Mortal Kombat soundtracks, "A Drug Against War" still stands as one of the band's most recognizable and beloved songs, and one that includes their signature self-referential pseudo-political lyrics. In other words, it is perhaps the best example of The Ultra Heavy Beat at its finest.
Front Line Assembly
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Love 'em or hate 'em, Front Line Assembly are still considered to be an instrumental force in the development of industrial and EBM music over the years. 1992's Tactical Neural Implant and "Mindphaser" in particular helped to push the boundaries of production techniques and musical construction to a degree that has guided a generation of industrial musicians. Many music videos integrate scenes from various films and/or present the band in their own storyline, but where this video stands out is in the combination of the two forms. Utilizing footage from a Japanese sci-fi film, the band portrays themselves as cyber-warriors on a mission to steal a giant robotic tank from a decrepit industrial compound. Sporting futuristic military uniforms complete with cybernetic eye wear and brandishing small firearms, Bill Leeb, Rhys Fulber, and Chris Peterson (appearing before he would even "officially" join the band) carry out their mission to an explosive climax that mirrors the song's high-energy mix of powerful drumbeats, grating synths, and Leeb's distinctly aggressive yet melodic vocals; perhaps the perfect cyberpunk video.
Ministry
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Before the release of The Land of Rape and Honey, Ministry was a purely electronic pop group, almost in the vein of Depeche Mode. And then this video was released, showcasing the band's shift in direction, creating a revolutionary mix of grinding guitars and mechanized drum and synth loops - a style that along with KMFDM ushered in the creation of industrial rock. "Stigmata" presented viewers with an extended cornucopia of kinetic imagery, from Al Jourgensen running down a crowded city street, to live clips of the band in a raucous onstage fury, and finally to Jourgensen being strangled in a drug-addled sleep by a robotic arm; a strangely prophetic image in light of the band's future issues with addiction and substance abuse. While still a far cry from the dreadlocked, cowboy hat-wearing rock star we'd come to recognize him as, Jourgensen gave the underground music a much-needed shot in the arm, signaling the beginning of the WaxTrax! era and the trip down industrial rock hell that his band would follow until their eventual disbanding.
Nine Inch Nails
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After the enormous success of The Downward Spiral and the hit single "Closer," Trent Reznor began work on new material, the first taste of which came in the form of "The Perfect Drug" for the soundtrack to David Lynch's Lost Highway. Driven by a pulsating bass line, mysterious atmospheres, and even infusing some big beat drum & bass, the song became yet another hit for the band, due in no small part to the video. Directed by Mark Romanek - who also helmed the "Closer" video - and inspired by the works of Edgar Allen Poe, the blue-tinted video shows Reznor sporting a goatee in a Victorian mansion, partaking in Absinthe, running through a garden maze, splashing in a vat of blackened liquid, and even distraughtly fingering the song's last notes on an old piano. Adding to the mystique are three violin players picking away at the strings as they mechanically shift their head motions with each chord change, as well as a strange little girl with an expression so blank that her gaze alone could send chills down the spine. With reflective camera angles reminiscent of M.C. Escher, this surreal visual feast is both more tasteful and yet oddly more disturbing than the rancid images seen in "Closer."
Aphex Twin
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Richard D. James, the man behind Aphex Twin, has garnered quite a reputation for his strange and unusual style of IDM and drill & bass. With his video for "Come to Daddy," he took the entire world by storm, becoming an instant hit and bringing some mainstream recognition to a still largely misunderstood genre of music. From the intensely distorted bass lines to the hard-hitting and complex drum patterns, coupled with James' fractured vocal growl of "I want your soul / I will eat your soul," the song and its accompanying video - directed by Chris Cunningham - made for one of the most disturbing experiences in music history. Beginning with an old woman taking her dog for a walk on a rain-swept city street, she comes across a disconnected TV set, on which the face of James appears, twisting and contorting in rather inhuman ways, all the while never losing his characteristic grin. Suddenly from the shadows of the buildings emerge what appear to be children, all wearing masks in the guise of James, complete with the grin, taking the TV set and proceeding to wreak havoc across town. One of the most memorable and iconic moments in the video occurs when a strange, lankily built alien creature emerges from the screen of the TV set (predating the evil spirit in The Ring) and lets out a terrifying scream in the face of the old woman, her features disfiguring under the sheer power of the creature's howl. The children gather around a similarly slim figure, also wearing the James mask (the scene bearing some resemblance to a nightmarish version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind), before the video ends in an array of manipulated drumbeats and fractured vocals. Later videos by Aphex Twin like "Windowlicker" and "Rubber Johnny" would chase the same visual dragon, but even they would never achieve the same level of mass appeal as "Come to Daddy." By all rights, the song should not have been a hit given its extreme musical style, but with the aid of so brilliant, unique, and menacing a video, "Come to Daddy" came to the right place at the right time.
Comments
johngrahamx
April 7, 2008 6:59 AM
I'm very glad you included Aphex Twin on the list - that video is a stunner and R.D.J. is a brilliantly mad genius. But I debate whether the undeniably great "Come to Daddy" should really be ranked the Number One "goth-industrial" video of all time. Even with the geeky ponytail, is Richard James now a goth? Wouldn't that make the creepy, pneumatic-blast sci-fi of Autechre's "Second Bad Vilbel" video rank at least somewhere on this countdown?
Also, do you really believe "The Perfect Drug" is a more significant NIN video than "Closer"? Cliched Victorian-manse posturing seems less creditable than a video that channels the Brothers Quay, animates the photographic grotesqueries of Joel-Peter Witkin, and remains one of the most visually influential music films of all time. I have to think you're simply being wilfully contrarian here.
(Then again, maybe you're not acquainted with the animations of the Bros Quay, since you don't even mention them in regard to Tool's animated vids, which are blatantly, almost painfully Quay influenced. This isn't meant as a personal smackdown — you simply must seek out any and all Bros Quay films if you haven't seen them already.)
Also, there's a glaring lack of some major, absolutely essential artists here, such as:
- Front 242: If Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" is Number Seven, shouldn't 242's "Headhunter" (without a doubt one of the genre's main cornerstones) also be included, seeing as it was directed by the same person?
— Speaking of Anton Corbijn, what about his posthumous video for Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart"?
— Ignoring Coil's version of "Tainted Love," a massively emotional song and video (the latter of which is in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection), is simply wrong.
— Siouxsie & the Banshees: Nothing? Not a twitter? Not even when generic alt-rock wannabes the Machines of Loving Grace (one of many post-NIN "Foreigner gone industrial" bands) make the list?
— Nick Cave (either with the Birthday Party or Bad Seeds): Again, nothing? No love for the "godfather of goth," as he is so often called?
— Ditto pioneering acts who practically invented both the aural and visual templates of industrial music: Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, S.P.K., D.A.F., Non, etc.
But I don't want to flounder in ancient history. I'm fine with most of the bands included here. However, there are some newer, perhaps more obscure things I would suggest to others who may be interested (YouTube them to your heart's delight and/or dismay):
— Converter: "Order/Creature"
— The Peoples [sic] Republic of Europe: "Monopoly of Violence"
— Pneumatic Detach: anything from their 2xDVD "Eviscerate"
—Promethus Burning: "Deanimate"
— Ad Noiseam: their label retrospective "2001-2006," which features 2 CDs plus a DVD including videos by 2nd Gen, Bong-Ra, Horchata, Enduser, Larvae, and more
Just my 2 cents:
John G
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