10 For Tuesday: Guest Writer Joel Priest Sees Dead People…In Music Videos

July 20th, 2010 by admin

1. O Valencia by The Decemberists

I could probably have simplified things for myself by just putting together ten of my favorite Decemberists videos featuring dead people, but I wanted to challenge myself. That said, any list of videos featuring death would be incomplete without them. I’m not sure if I’m a pale teenage girl covered in black makeup, but something about romantic and macabre storytelling just gets me every time. Also, The Decemberists have no silly ideas about having to be attractive to be in a music video.

2. Thriller by Michael Jackson

Ok, so I wanted to pick “Smooth Criminal” for this one, but no one seems to die in the actual video. If I don’t follow my own rules for this list, who will? But “Thriller” is certainly worthy of watching as well. I was not yet five years old when this video came out and all I remember is how much the cat eyes at the end scared the pants off of me.

3. My Name is Mud by Primus

There are very few songs or videos more about someone getting dead than this one. Les Claypool plays an extraordinarily convincing creepy, scary, backwoods, hick murderer. This is the perfect video to watch whenever you need your “fat hairy man” fix. Side note: My wife hates Primus and, despite the fact that I like them quite a bit, I can’t honestly say I blame her.

4. The Unthinking Majority by Serj Tankian

Serj Tankian- The Unthinking Majority
Uploaded by bouncer99. – Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

This song features a number of toy soldiers getting mortally wounded. I’m not sure if we actually see any of them die, but it is definitely implied. Most importantly, it is about actual soldiers who are actually dying right now and some of the reasons that they were sent to war. Also, it’s very catchy.

5. Mary Jane’s Last Dance by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

I’m really not sure how I could make this list without including this particular song. The video features Tom Petty as a creepy morgue worker who kidnaps a pretty dead lady so that he can go have dinner with her, dance with her in a room that is clearly a fire hazard and finally dump her in the ocean. This is all pretty much on par for Tom Petty. Did you know that he played “Lucky” on King of the Hill? Yeah, he did!

6. Possum Kingdom by The Toadies

Now this is just a good old-fashioned song about murder. The video is about as literal as you could possibly hope for, with a plastic bag of lady being dragged through a lake. Apparently, they have an actual lake in Texas called Possum Kingdom. No, really. That’s, like, something they do in Texas. No, I don’t know why. Stop asking.

7. Sweaty and Hot by Alan Thicke

Embedding Not Allowed For This Video

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Nope, nobody dies in this video. It fits the category though, because the sexyness level of the song combined with the sexyness level of Alan Thicke may well cause your heart to fail before the video ends.

8. Lightning Crashes by Live

This is one of those videos that will forever be part of my teenage memories as it arrived on the scene at about the same time that cable television first made its presence in my house. Yes, I didn’t have anything but crappy network tv over the antenna until 1993 or so. Make fun of me. I dare you. No, please don’t. I’m very sensitive.

9. Delia’s Gone by Johnny Cash