My Top 20 Awesomest Music Videos

Because music is wonderful, but sometimes you can emphasise or even completely change the meaning of a song by how you present the video. Some videos are really boring and just stick to the basic 'performance in front of dramatic backdrop' thing, but some will be a story, and put into a physical format all the things you see in your head when you listen to the song. So here is my top twenty.

20. Duke Dumont feat A*M*E - Need U (100%)
I did only see this video the other day, and by accident as well, but I find it highly amusing, especially the bit with the surgeons at the end.

19. All Time Low - I Feel Like Dancin'
This is the first All Time Low video I saw, and I think it played a major part in my decision to keep listening to them. It's funny, and at the same time it takes the piss out of some major 'artists' and the whole corporate side of music. (and Alex looks quite good in the video...)

18. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop
There's the whole sculpture thing going on, which makes it quite interesting to look at, and RHCP know how to give a good performance as well.

17. Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At?
I remember seeing this video from a very young age, which at first made it quite easy for me to just accept how bizarre it is. I actually forgot about it until my mum made me come and watch the video with her the other month, when the strangeness of it finally hit me. It is brilliant though, and an awesome song as well.

16. Darwin Deez - You Can't Be My Girl
I just like how creepy Darwin is in this, lurking about in the background. It actually took me a minute or so to notice he was even there, but I love the way they've done it.

15. Leathermouth - Bodysnatchers 4 Ever
I have no idea what's going on in that video, but it's creepy and I like it.

14. Green Day - Jesus Of Suburbia
I can't remember if I listened to Green Day before I saw this - I mean, everyone does really, it's Green Day, they're unavoidable - but it was this video and the song that caught my attention, and I still love watching it because there's all the weird little bits I've already noticed that I love, and then there's so many new things I see in it each time.

13. Pierce The Veil - Bulls In The Bronx
Although it doesn't exactly go with the story behind the song, it's still a pretty awesome video. All four of them manage to look so incredibly bad-ass the whole way through, and are putting at least 5000% of their effort into it - watching Mike in this lights a deep burning fire within me that urges me to take up drumming again.

12. The Cribs - Housewife
It's all creepy and gothy and weird, which is good. The cover art for the single is also kind of weird, which makes me like it more.

11. Christina Aguilera, Mya, Lil' Kim, Pink - Lady Marmalade
Because . . . women . . . in lingerie . . . and lace . . . you see my point?

10. Without A Face - TSA Song
It's got Darth Vader in it. It's got Without A Face in leather. It's got awesome dancing and stuff. I don't know what I'm supposed to say that can make you understand this better. Just watch it.

9. Panic! At The Disco - Build God, Then We'll Talk
From one of the most bizarre and brilliant albums I've ever listened to. There's never anything quite like P!ATD, really. This video is one of their weirder ones, which is saying something. It's a whole relationship in mime, but good mime, I promise.

8. Fall Out Boy - Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet
It took me ages to find this video the first time, because it's on a different channel to the others, and actually goes by the name of 'A Weekend At Pete Rose's'. I've read about the whole idea for the video, but it was a while ago and I don't remember the specifics, but that's some obscure reference that baseball fans or something will get - same with the song title. Really quite a macabre video, with an excellent performance from Bendon Urie and Spencer Smith of Panic! At The Disco, it's all very . . . well, I couldn't do it justice in words alone.

7. My Chemical Romance - Famous Last Words
Ok, I really pushed it back, this could have been the number two video if I had no self-restraint. But this video means a lot to me. It's as dark as the song, and all broken and twisted and really just sums up the whole Black Parade album for me. I admit that I do sometimes cry while watching this video, and I very rarely cry at films or songs.

6. Bring Me The Horizon - Sleepwalking
I feel like the video really perfectly fits the feeling of the song, that sort of alternating between this mind-shattering numbness and apathy, and then this feeling like you're bleeding and drowning and that you must be noticeably broken, but nobody seems to notice at all. I like the really intense performance surrounded by the completely oblivious onlookers.

5. Muse - Panic Station
Duuddddeeee. I just don't understand it, any of it. It's just like whwaaaaaattttt?!

4. Blink 182 - I Miss You
I just really like the creepy, lonely gothic atmosphere to it, from the soft focus to the spiders and the ethereal figures. Also, apparently, shooting the video took so long that Mark Hoppus had to put superglue on the ends of his fingers because playing the double bass for so long was rubbing the skin off them.

3. All American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret
Cool song, spliced in with many different 'dirty little secrets'. Are they real confessions or ones they made up? I don't know. But I feel like some of them are, at least. It says a lot about the things people think but don't tell anyone, from liking the smell of their own poo, to fearing for your own sanity.

2. Black Cards - End Of Pretend
The song's brilliant, and even though the video's quite random and erratic, I feel like it fits. It's made of loads and loads of GIFs, which all seem to fit together in this in a weird way, from the creepy skeletons to the cat pawing at the feet of the hanged woman. Plus, it's good to see Doctor Who randomly turn up, and I like spotting all the different GIFs I've seen on tumblr.

1. My Chemical Romance - Helena (So Long And Goodnight)
Of course it was going to be this. It was always going to be this. There was never any other option. I knew the moment I decided to make this post that this would be the number one spot. The song itself deals with grief, and the video shows that so well, with the living and the dead dancers, and the red and black colour scheme . . . I just . . . I just fucking love this video.

A Band You Want To Meet (30 of 30)

All of them! All the bands! Every band! What kind of ridiculous questions are these?! However, I will say Without A Face for this. He's a really cool person and does awesome music, but he's down to earth, and I've seen his online concerts enough that I don't think I'd totally lose my shit on meeting him.

See, I could be fine meeting him. Here is his song Nickelcrap:

A Band That Makes You Laugh (10 of 30)

It's a band with one member. It's Without A Face. But he truly does, he does a really good funny song when he wants to. As such, here is Druggie Love - if you don't like this song, there's something wrong with you.

Summery Tunes

Because it's summer, and I thought maybe you'd want some suggestions for happy songs to listen to while you lie in the grass and hold cats and drink beer and run screaming from the wasps. You know, barbecue-y, party-ish songs. Stuff to chill out to, while it's still safe to go outside.

MGMT - Electric Feel

Empire Of The Sun - We Are The People

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill

Bob Marley - Is This Love

Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream

Otis Redding - Sitting On The Dock Of A Bay

My Chemical Romance - Summertime

Sleeping With Sirens - All My Heart

Panic! At The Disco - That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)

Feeder - Seven Days In The Sun

Flight Of The Conchords - Ladies Of The World

All Time Low - Six Feet Under The Stars (Acoustic)

Without A Face - Stung

5 Songs: J

Ghost - Jigolo Har Megiddo

Funeral For A Friend - Juneau

Without A Face - Jr. High Emo

Green Day - Jesus Of Suburbia

The Killers - Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine

Why You Should Love Without A Face

My friend Hannah does this thing where she finds bands that are big in certain areas (not those areas), or new, or haven't even written any music yet, and she fangirls over them. A lot. I like quite a lot of bands, but I don't know how she remembers all these different people.
Anyway, she likes to show these bands to all her friends, which sometimes works and . . . more often, I think, doesn't, because some of these bands are just a bit too weird. We all had her singing Evelyn Evelyn's 'You Only Want Me 'Cause You Want My Sister' throughout pretty much all of summer 2011, and I did end up sat in Piccadilly one day, wearing a sparkly Halloween mask and singing it with her (well, she was singing the song and I was singing my version; It's Not My Fault I'm The Sexy Sister).

One such band that Hannah showed me was one called Without A Face. It's a band with only one member, Henry Dillard, a Texan guy with the fluffiest hair you will ever see (when he grows it long). I'm not sure which song she showed me first - I think it was Lactose Intolerance - but pretty soon I was hooked. Now, he's actually one of my favourite artists.
The thing about Without A Face is that he's a really talented songwriter (didn't see that one coming, did you?) and, when he's making one of his daft songs - see The TSA Song, which is also probably my favourite of all his songs - he has this very witty sense of humour that he manages to incorporate into it. Plus, he can do an awesome rap.
Henry's been around for a while now, and has quite a lot of stuff out there on his various albums: Worst Debut Album Ever; The 1st Album Was Better; 5 Songs; Oh, Great, An Election; and his newest album, The American Scheme. The earlier albums have more of his daft stuff than anything serious, whereas Oh, Great, An Election (that has to be the best name for an EP ever) and The American Scheme are pretty dark - for him - and meaningful and full of the feeling of disillusionment with this whole idea of the American Dream (that's what it is to me, at least, and I'm too shy to ask him).
What's also great is that he's involved with his fans.He responds to you on twitter, and occasionally does so on his youtube as well. Best of all are his online concerts, usually held on the last Wednesday of every month (although he's on a break until March) at about 8pm EST. Unfortunately that means that, if you're British like me, you have to stay up all night, but they're really worth it. He sounds just as good live as recorded, takes requests and will answer questions right then and there, even if it's one of my stupid questions like 'which shampoo do you use?'. It's also the nearest I've ever been to any celebrity's kitchen, even though several of his music videos were recorded in there too (such as Druggie Love, which is an awesome song).
So there you go. He's got a cracking voice, lovely hair and some amazing songs.
WE WANT A UK TOUR.
Here's five of my favourite songs that I haven't already mentioned in the post:
Miserably Privileged
Pigs
Booty
Earthlings
Republicratic Gang
**
Without A Face on iTunes
Without A Face on Soundcloud