Whether it’s their Licensed to Ill era or the genius art of Paul’s Boutique, they are all amazing in their own respect. Part of what makes their videos so great is that they never take themselves too seriously. You can tell they're having fun, poking fun at themselves, at pop culture, and at the idea of what a music video should be. It’s a perfect visual extension of their sound, especially the videos directed by Spike Jonze.
They're serious musicians, but they’re not afraid to be silly. That balance is rare—and it’s what makes their videos endlessly rewatchable and influential. They were DIY before it was cool, ironic before it was cliché, and always authentic.
My favourites have to be ‘Hey Ladies’, ‘Sabotage’, ‘Intergalatic’ and ‘Body movin’
May 29, 2025
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When this came out I think it revolutionized music videos, reminded people the Beastie Boys can rock and set the trajectory for Spime Jonze.
May 13, 2024
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Anybody remember a clip show about banned music videos that, incidentally, ended up on one of the networks that banned them? It was either VH1 or MTV2, and they ran stuff like Nine Inch Nails’s “Closer,” Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy,” and Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up.” Anyway, I was glued to the TV whenever it came on and I think a lot of my aesthetic sensibilities came from that 90s-00s golden age, making me into (regrettably) a bit of a music video snob. No offense, but the VFX-driven spectacles of today just don’t hit when you cut your teeth on stuff from CANADA and the Directors Bureau (whose website sadly doesn’t even have their best stuff anymore). The unique exception is director Cody Critcheloe, who goes by SSION (pronounced like the latter half of *passion*), and his new video for Yves Tumor is nothing less than what I’ve come to expect from the multihyphenate: a hyperreal vision of Los Angeles replete with larger-than-life characters who are characteristically drawn up from real life, and handmade props that belong in a museum, but I’ll settle for a gallery. (In this case, it’s a smashed-up hand-painted sunburst convertible and a leather jacket with a The Cochran Firm logo.) It’s the stuff dreams are made of, cementing Critcheloe as one of the most exciting and visionary directors of our time (other notable mentions include Eugene Kotlyarenko, Anne Alexander, and Minister Akins).
Nov 24, 2020
We are lowkey so lucky to be contemporaries with them. Music videos that are done in one shot as a gimmick are cool and they are the experts. Can’t believe they’ve been doing this for as long as they have, and keep pushing the envelope on a genre they essentially invented.
Apr 18, 2025
