The Year In Music, 2007: The Best Music Videos Of The Year

UPDATED

Hi, kids! Did you know that "record companies", to promote awareness and sales of their "records", used to pay tens of thousands of dollars -- and in some cases, even more than a million dollars -- to make mini-movies showing their "recording artists" lip-synching their "songs" while water-skiing or being trapped in the closet and miscellaneous whatnot, which mini-movies were for some strange reason referred to as "music videos"?

Isn't that just crazy???

I know, right???

Well, even though there are precious few outlets outside of YouTube for playing music videos these days, a few of them are still being made. Below are DHMBIB's favorite videos of 2007.

[Disclaimer: DHMBIB does not spend all our time watching YouTube. Accordingly, we did not see every video in 2007. So please don't write in complaining that we didn't recognize your favorite "Lil Wayne feat. T-Pain & Akon" video. kthxbai -- Ed.]

It's impossible to rank these in any meaningful way. So I'll simply present them in alphabetical order by artist, along with some thoughts about why I loved them so much.

[N.B. Some of the aforementioned "record companies" -- especially labels that are part of Universal Music Group (UMG) -- don't want their videos to be "freely available" on YouTube and other such sites, and they're pretty aggressive with takedown notices. They want to share in ad revenue, so they make the video non-embeddable from YouTube, or they require some sort of pre-roll ad on the video. We have tried to find "free" versions of the videos below, but in some cases we could not. We'll alert you where you face a required "look at this ad!", in case that sort of thing offends you. -- Ed.]

Alanis Morissette, "My Humps"



Back in April, if you asked a friend, "Have you seen the video of Alanis Morissette covering the Black Eyed Peas' 'My Humps'?", the response probably would've been a puzzled "Whaaa???" if your friend wasn't plugged in to the music and celebrity bloggosphere. But indeed, Alanis did record "My Humps", apparently completely on a lark and completely to mock this ridiculous paean to "lady lumps" [is it appropriate to say Alanis was being "ironic" here??? -- Ed.]. She also filmed a video and somewhat quietly loosed it on the world, and the meme exploded in the bloggosphere for a few brief moments in April.

Alanis' "My Humps" was certainly the funniest video I saw all year.

Amy Winehouse, "Back To Black"



The first time I heard this track from Amy's superb album of the same name [Back To Black] -- the first time I really heard it -- I literally stopped dead in my tracks. For me, this song is the centerpiece of the record, and the video does the track complete justice. Cinema verite -- check! Amy metaphorically burying her broken heart -- check!

A few other tracks from Back To Black gained wider public exposure in 2007, but none had a better video than "Back To Black".

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the best video from the best album of the year.

Cold War Kids, "Hang Me Up To Dry":



This is also one of my favorite songs of 2007. I absolutely love the movie-trailer concept and the black-and-white photography. Cinema verite is almost always a good choice.

Fall Out Boy, "I'm Like A Lawyer (Me & You)":

[if the video doesn't appear above, go here]

Even in an era of ladybag-flashing celebutards who are paid by papparazi to tip them off on the next time they'll be heading out to Starbucks or the next time they'll be passing out in the gutter outside that hot new night club, some celebrities insist on occasionally doing The Right Thing and employing their celebrity in support of a good cause. In 2007 emo-scene poster-boy band Fall Out Boy teamed up with the non-profit organization Invisible Children to raise awareness of civil war and forced child soldiering in Uganda. For their part, FOB went to Uganda to film a video for their song, "I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You)", a gorgeous Babyface-produced tune about love and heartbreak. But they turned the song's protagonist into a Ugandan boy trying to avoid conscription and certain death, just to be with his girlfriend. FOB mostly stay in the background and they thankfully dropped, well, some of the frivolous FOB-ness of the song's title. Throw in some outstanding direction and lush landscapes, and the video is one of the year's best.

Feist, "1234":



This Grammy-nominated video was reportedly shot in one complete take, which, if true, is both impressive and awesome. It is also notable for being the source of about a gajillion "is this a video or is it a commercial for The Gap?" jokes.

"1234" [or however it should be written -- Ed.] may be the most "entertaining" video of the year.

Justice, "D.A.N.C.E.":



I got nothing particularly profound to say about this video, the second on this list to be nominated for a Grammy. I just like it.

"Marshall Eriksen" [Jason Segel], "You Just Got Slapped":



If you don't already know what this is, I probably won't be able to explain it to you. Try going here or here.

My Chemical Romance, "Teenagers":



Hmmm...smells like homage.

Rihanna (feat. Jay-Z), "Umbrella":

[caution: kinda sorta possibly NSFW due to mild artistic sensuality and implied nudity]

["ad-free" unofficial version which may already be gone]


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[Click here for non-embeddable official version with 30-second overlay ad]

Really, any of Rihanna's videos from her outsanding 2007 record Good Girl Gone Bad could've ended up on this list. I went with "Umbrella" because its combination of outstanding direction [you almolst can't tell she's not really toe-dancing!], artsy sensuality [19-year-old Rihanna nude! covered only in silver body paint! and wait, is that side-boob at the end???] and Rihanna martial-arting away the CGI'd water to keep us all safe and dry combine to make it leap off the screen and instantly memorable. Plus, "Umbrella" is the song of the year, and this is its video.

Also, by choosing "Umbrella", I get to post this bonus video -- a hilarious cover of "Umbrella" by Italian emo-punks Vanilla Sky:



Snoop Dogg, "Sensual Seduction":



If you have just watched this video, you certainly don't need me to tell you why it's on this list. If you have not just watched this video, stop reading, watch the video, and come back. We'll wait.

Huzzah, sir Snoop!