Amazing Video and Amazing Song

90% of the time, I have no interaction with music videos. I have an ambivalent relationship with the entire medium, for several reasons:

1) I grew up without any form of music television. We didn't have cable until I was in high school. I missed out on my generation's obsession with TRL (Total Request Live). I would have been annoyed at the show anyway; in middle school I was listening to The Mamas and the Papas and The Beatles. I wasn't exactly swooning over N*Sync at that phase.

2) The song usually does not contribute to why I love the video. Case in point: I think these three Ok Go videos are some of the most brilliant concepts I've seen in music television. Do I have their album? No. Although I like "A Million Ways" (from the Backyard video). Treadmills. Wallpaper. Backyard.

3) Most music videos suck. I hate seeing girls in tight outfits shimmying around with cut scenes of the musician or band lipsynching and faking their instruments. It's tired. I never seek out music videos; the only time I see one is when somebody insists.

Enter Taylor, my film major BFF. He found a most excellent, kickass, epic song by Muse, coupled with the most intense, epic, mixed-up video.

Knights of Cydonia is amazing. If you haven't clicked the link already, here's a teaser: It's a spaghetti western. With lasers. And unicorns. And Kung Fu fighting styles. And the band as holograms.

They don't start singing until 2:06 in the video! Holy crap! I haven't heard any album versions, so this could be just music video vamping and cutting. Have you seen Thriller before? They completely rearrange the song so that all the verses are first and the chorus doesn't kick in until Michael is dancing with zombies.

I think my favorite moment is at 1:27 when they just have a huge a close up of a crazed looking bird. It makes me laugh every time.

I also adore the evil cowboy. He has a badass outfit.

The song is very typical Muse; semi-whiny vocals (usually a big turnoff for me), lots of keyboard arpeggios. Thick, layered instrumentation as always. With lyrics like "No one's gonna take me alive/Time has come to make things right/You and I must fight for our rights/You and I must fight to survive," you have to have an epic song, and an equally epic video. I think they delivered.

The best part? The song has the same spaghetti western twang in the guitars that makes the entire video concept work with the song. Instead of a completely random concept, the two work together. That is how you're supposed to make a music video.

Any other freakin' amazing videos I should know about? Let me know!