The 5: Spike Jonze Music Videos
This Week on The 5: Music Videos directed by Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze. Skate boarder, writer, actor and director. He’s worked with Charlie Kaufmann, directing Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. He co-created Jack Ass. And before that he directed some of the most iconic, original, creative and just fucking cool music videos the medium has ever seen. Jonze is a true creative force, and below are five music videos, in chronological order, that highlight his skill and vision.
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Beastie Boys – Sabotage
Let’s all just take a second and credit Spike Jonze as the guy who made the 70’s cool again with this video. This was an homage to every 70’s cop show/movie ever. Giving the Beastie Boys alter egos, this thing was played constantly on MTV when they still played music videos. Aviator sunglasses and bad mustaches never looked so great.
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Weezer – Undone (The Sweater Song)
This is Weezer’s first music video. This is one of the first things Spike Jonze directed, and the the first of three Weezer videos he would direct. When the band insisted that a sweater not be involved in the music video, the record label got 25 treatments featuring sweaters. Spike’s pitch? “A blue stage, a steadicam, a pack of wild dogs.” Weezer went with Spike Jonze and created a truly classic, one steadicam shot video. It took them 25 times to get the shot they needed, at which point the band was so burnt out they just started fucking around and not taking the shoot seriously at all.
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The Pharcyde – Drop
Some people might not realize this is a Spike Jonze video. Some people might have not have ever even seen this, but it’s a mind fuck and a masterpiece. As you begin to watch this video, it looks like a normal run of the mill hip hop posse cut. But wait, why are the members of Pharcyde jumping backwards onto a van? Once it begins to dawn on you that the whole video must of been shot backwards then run in reverse which is actually showing the action happening the way it should, it takes a minute to wrap your head around it. Multiple viewings are a must to figure out the brilliant trick Spike is playing on the viewer.
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Daft Punk – Da Funk
The oddness of this music video is fascinating. It feature’s young Charlie, a Man-Dog freshly moved to New York City, and his broken boom box blasting Daft Punk’s Da Funk. Spike Jonze was able to make a short film, that made it feel like you weren’t watching a music video at all, you start caring about what’s going to happen to Charlie. Or if not, just what the hell is a Man-Dog doing walking around the streets of New York and why isn’t anyone pointing out to him he’s a Man-Dog with a broken leg.
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Fatboy Slim – Praise You
Maybe this is cheating, since officially this video was created by Richard Koufey and The Torrance Community Dance Group. Their B Boy moves are as good as anything you’ve ever seen and there’s even a Fatboy Slim cameo at the end of the song when Mr. Koufey is being interviewed. The Dance group ended up performing this at the MTV video awards, deservedly so. Spike Jonze has worked with Fatboy Slim a few times, and the story behind this video getting made is that he actually shot a similiar video like this for the song Rockefeller Skank. It got shown to Fatboy Slim and he immediately wanted Jonze to direct the video for Praise You. Jonze would work with Fatboy Slim again in the nearly as good Weapon of Choice video.
