The MTV Video Music Awards just announced its annual list of nominees for the "best" music videos of the year and (surprise!), most are for songs you've already seen by performers that would still get nominations if they recorded the track on a camcorder behind a venue post-show in Louisville.
Granted, some of today's biggest names deserved the nods: Sia's "Chandelier" spot is an outright work of art, Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" will forever be iconic in its own right, and DJ Snake and Lil Jon's "Turn Down For What" scared the hell out of us, for what it's worth.
We feel that a number of the last calendar year's best and brightest got glossed over however, so we assembled them below along with a category they could best compete in. Take to the comment section at the bottom of the page to clue us into the videos you think most deserve hardware, because Lord knows there are plenty.
VIDEO OF THE YEAR: "Like A Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan
"Like A Rolling Stone" was named the best song of all time by Rolling Stone and it's as good an option as any. It was written far before music videos were a thing, so we feel vilified in nominating it for this year's Video of The Year, especially after the masterful project that bobdylan.com put together. The viewer seems to be watching a live performance of the song on a television set, but try clicking the channel buttons on the remote. Soon you'll be watching Danny Brown mouthing the lyrics on a hip-hop channel, the Pawn Stars guys voicing along on the History Channel, Drew Carey on The Price Is Right, and Marc Maron at home in the studio. Truly a groundbreaking interactive experience deserving of kudos, no matter how old the song.
It can't be embedded so check it out here.
BEST DIRECTION: "Full of Fire" by The Knife
The first thing you need to know going into the visual pairing for The Knife's "Full of Fire" is that the Swedish electronic duo is among the strangest acts in music. The second thing is that the ten-minute (matching the length of the song) is directed by Maria Östberg, a noted feminist queer-porn director. Nothing NSFW happens during the clip but you almost wish it had. The claustrophobic and jittery beats laid down by the performers keep the viewer on edge, always expecting the traumatic to happen, similar to Stanley Kubrick's intentional misplacement of score during The Shining. It's a tense viewing experience and when something out of the ordinary does happen, it's all the more uncomfortable because of it.
BEST HIP-HOP: "Hive" by Earl Sweatshirt
Nothing straight and narrow should be expected from members of Odd Future, and although Tyler, The Creator got himself a nomination, his cohort deserves a nod for the neo-noir masterpiece that is "Hive." It seems that the production team agreed that the only lighting allowed during the shoot would be a powerful flashlight and street lamps as the star delivers his verses while surrounded by a posse of Guiellermo Del Toro's dream creatures. Although effects like scrolling wallpaper set the viewer at unease, humor pervades as the same creepy characters rip wheelies on their BMX bikes on the empty street's of Sweatshirt's suburb.
BEST ROCK: "High Road" by Mastodon
One thing guaranteed to grab the heartstrings of a crowd: athletic training montages, a la Rocky. One thing guaranteed not to appeal to 95 percent of viewers: Dungeons and Dragons references. This video reverses the second fact by bringing up the first, showing a lonely LARPer (live action role player) who's a loser even among his fantasy-reenacting crowd. If you've started to understand the whole D&D mindset thanks to Game of Thrones, the opening fantasy sequence will guide you smoothly into this triumph of the wills narrated by metal standard-bearers Mastodon.
MTV Clubland: "Let's Jack" by Breach
Martin Garrix's "Animals" got a nod, The Chainsmokers' ridiculous "Selfie" got a nod, and the aforementioned terrifying (but still awesome) video for "Turn Down For What" earned multiple nominations. The EDM track that MTV overlooked however was Breach's goofy piece par excellence "Let's Jack." Imagine the unique hairstyle of every human being. Now imagine that hairstyle covering every body part except where it is in real life. This is the concept behind the crazy-catchy track, which borders between uncomfortable giggle fits and uncomfortable feelings of sexiness. Safe for work and worth a watch.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: "Tom Hanks" by Buckwheat Groats
The modern age features such an array of expensive special effects that can be plugged into any big-budget music video, why not celebrate those who scale it back? And scale it back excellently? Buckwheat Groats probably couldn't get Tom Hanks to appear in their totally NSFW video that features countless Hanks filmography references hidden among nudity, gore and mountains of cocaine. So they photoshopped his head into the clips. We won't say anything regarding the group's lyrics or morals, but they get a straight-up salute for DIY values.
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