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How 90's Hip-Hop Culture Defined A Generation

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How 90's Hip-Hop Culture Defined A Generation

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How 90s Hip-Hop Culture Defined A Generation | The Breaks | VH1

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Get The 90’s Inspired Hip Hop Look w/ Stylist Jai Hudson | The Breaks

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Martin Lawrence is Hip Hop | Hip Hop Honors: The 90's Game Changers

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Martin Lawrence is Hip Hop | Hip Hop Honors: The 90's Game Changers

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Martin Lawrence is Hip Hop | Hip Hop Honors: The 90's Game Changers

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Grab The Mic: A Hip Hop History | The 90s (2001)

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The 60s saw the birth of the music video, while MTV took it to a new level in the 80s, but the medium truly thrived - both creatively and commercially - with 90s music videos. Thanks to the mass proliferation that MTV afforded, it not only brought audiences and artists closer together but provided a fertile testing ground for exploring new ways of storytelling.

This golden era of music videos also brought forth a second wave of music-video directors led by David Fincher, Hype Williams, Jonathan Glazer, Mark Romance, Chris Cunningham, Peter Care, Michel Gondry, and, most notably, Spike Jonze - talents that were given artistic license to create grand-scale short films.

From flashy spectacle to low-fi realism, surreal fantasy to retro fetishism, here are just some of the best, decade-defining 90s music videos.

39: Pulp: Common People (1995)

38: Beck: Where It's At (1996)

37: Oasis: Wonderwall (1995)

36: Weezer: Buddy Holly (1994)

Director: Spike Jonze
The second single from the self-titled debut LP from this California power-pop quartet, "Buddy Holly" had an ingenious and memorable video that transported the band (complete with slicked-down hair and beige cardigans) back to the 1950s and on to the set of the popular 70s US sitcom, Happy Days. Director Spike Jonze recreated the show's diner for the band's performance and persuaded original Happy Days cast member, Al Molinaro, to make a cameo. Jonze also seamlessly blended footage of the band playing with clips from the TV show, resulting in a memorable video that was simultaneously nostalgic and cutting-edge. It's undoubtedly one of the best and most unique music videos in the 90s.

35: Fatboy Slim: Praise You (1998)

Director: Spike Jonze
The video to Fatboy Slim's definitive 90s dance track proves that you don't need thousands of dollars to make a successful pop promo. It purportedly cost only $800, which is not surprising, perhaps, given its DIY filmmaking approach. The video was shot guerilla-style outside LA's Fox Bruin Theatre in front of an unsuspecting public, who witnessed director Jonze - masquerading as an eccentric choreographer called Richard Koufey - leading an ersatz flash mob troupe, The Torrance Community Dance Group. At the 1999 MTV Music Video Awards, "Praise You" picked up three awards, including Best Choreography.

34: Britney Spears: Baby One More Time (1998)

Director: Nigel Dick
This was the debut single that transformed 16-year-old Mississippi-born Spears into the "Princess of Pop." Its success was aided by a controversial video depicting Spears as a bored uniform-clad schoolgirl, whose bare midriff and provocative gyrations prompted complaints from a swathe of concerned parents across the USA. Although the video garnered three MTV Video Music Award nominations in 1999, it failed to win any of them but in 2001 was ranked at No. 99 in VHS' 100 Greatest Videos list.

33: Madonna: Vogue (1990)

32: Radiohead: Karma Police (1997)

31: Soundgarden: Black Hole Sun (1994)

30: Lauryn Hill: Doo Wop (That Thing) (1998)

29: Alanis Morissette: Ironic (1995)

28: Aerosmith: Cryin' (1993)

Director: Marty Callner
Rising Hollywood stars Alicia Silverstone and Stephen Dorff played a romantically involved young couple in the video to "Cryin'," hard rock band Aerosmith's iconic power ballad. Though we occasionally glimpse Aerosmith performing, the film's main focus is the couple; they break up after Dorff cheats on Silverstone, who then embarks on a journey of self-discovery. In an expression of her individuality, she is shown having her belly button pierced, which purportedly facilitated the mainstream acceptance of body piercing. The combination of the video's young stars and its surprise ending made "Cryin'" popular viewing; it proved to be the most requested video on MTV in 1993.

27: TLC: Waterfalls (1995)

26: Pearl Jam: Jeremy (1991)

25: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Give It Away (1991)

Director: Stéphane Sednaoui
This Los Angeles funk-rock quartet broadened their fanbase exponentially with the stylish and unusual-looking video to "Give It Away," which was a huge hit on MTV and succeeded in taking their music into the mainstream. French director Sednaoui daubed the band members' bodies with silver acrylic paint - which gave them an eye-catching luminosity - and shot the video, which cost an estimated $140,000, using black and white film in a desert. He also experimented with a variety of camera angles and film techniques to create a sophisticated-looking promo that the band's label thought too "artsy." Nevertheless, "Give It Away" won Breakthrough Video and Best Art Direction at the 1992 MTV Music Video Awards.

24: Guns 'N Roses: November Rain (1992)

23: Spice Girls: Wannabe (1996)

22: Korn: Freak on a Leash (1999)

21: Blur: Coffee & TV (1999)

Directors: Hammer & Tongs
Part of the holy trinity of Britpop alongside Oasis and Pulp, London's Blur were fronted by Damon Albarn but Graham Coxon sang lead on their single "Coffee & TV," playing a central role in its charming video. We first see him portrayed as a lost person on the side of a milk carton in his parents' home. The carton (dubbed "Milky") then springs to life and goes on a journey to find Coxon with both humorous and poignant consequences. In 2002, the video, which had previously won NME and MTV awards, came fourth in a 100 Greatest Videos poll by VH1.

20: R.E.M.: Crush With Eyeliner (1994)

Director: Spike Jonze
Just asR.E.M. evolved with the alternative music scene, they were also hugely influential when it came to music videos. From "Losing My Religion" to "Everybody Hurts" and "Man On The Moon," the Athens group are synonymous with MTV - and yet, for much of their career, they were largely absent from the videos, with Michael Stipe famously disliking having to lip sync. When the band shifted their sound dramatically for the glam-inflected "Crush With Eyeliner," from , the video imagined R.E.M. as a hip Japanese band that represented the band's identity swap.

19: Sinéad O'Connor: Nothing Compares 2 U (1990)

18: Blind Melon: No Rain (1993)

17: George Michael: Freedom! '90 (1990)

Director: David Fincher
Starring a coterie of supermodels including Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz, and Cindy Crawford, with plenty of soft lighting, piercings, and sensual closeups, you'd be forgiven for mistaking this promo clip for a CK One advert. Helmed by the most in-demand music video director at the time, David Fincher managed to create one of the most iconic 90s music videos, fusing music and style in smoldering fashion.

16: Fiona Apple: Criminal (1996)

Director: Mark Romanek
In the days when 99 per cent of everyone's photos were littered with red-eye, Fiona "This World Is Bullshit" Apple was brooding in 70s rec rooms like a seedy Polaroid come to life. In other words, "Criminal' exemplified 90s music videos. The provocative visuals aligned with the lyrics about exploiting your own sexuality, but Apple faced severe backlash for it. "Criminal" remains the most successful single of Apple's career - and yet it also paved the way for every American Apparel ad that followed.

15: Radiohead: Paranoid Android (1997)

Director: Magnus Carlsson
By the time the 90s rolled around, MTV was not only a destination for music videos, but had expanded into animated series that used contemporary music. So when Radiohead debuted their animated epic for "Paranoid Android," it felt right at home on the network. Created by Magnus Carlsson, the Swedish creator of the animated series Robin, the surrealist and somewhat graphic short both horrified parents and fascinated that sweet 12-34 key demographic.

14: The Verve: Bitter Sweet Symphony (1997)

Director: Walter Stern
Like Sinéad's video, just hearing the symphonic intro of thisBritpop landmark conjures up images of a lanky Richard Ashcroft loping down the streets of Hoxton in East London. Seemingly inspired by Massive Attack's single-continuous shot video for "Unfinished Sympathy," the video sees Ashcroft making his way through a bustling metropolis completely unaffected and colliding with pedestrians along the way. Is it a metaphor for self-actualization or self-entitlement? You be the judge.

13. Smashing Pumpkins: 1979 (1995)

12: 2pac (Feat Dr Dre): California Love (1995)

Director: Hype Williams
Tupac's galvanizing West Coast anthem was such a smash, it needed two music videos to accompany it. While the majority of hip-hop's 90s music videos at the time were characterized by the blinged-out productions favored by Bad Boy Records, this Hype Williams-directed joint had an equally large budget but a much more exotic locale, resulting in a Mad Max meets Burning Man dystopian epic set in a post-apocalyptic Oakland. At the end, Tupac wakes up from his "dream" for the Part 2 remix video, which swaps out desert jeeps for hydraulic cars and house parties in Compton.

11: The Prodigy: Smack My Bi__h Up (1997)

Director: Jonas Åkerlund
Dubbed as "Snap My Picture" to the pearl-clutching censors on the radio, electro- punks The Prodigy scandalized MTV with their provocative music video for their big-beat single. Shot strictly from the first-person POV, it depicts a protagonist's wild night full of sex, drugs, vandalism, and fighting - only to reveal at the end that it's a woman who's wreaking havoc. The graphic video drew instant backlash which only added to its popularity.

10: Busta Rhymes: Gimme Some More (1998)

9: The Chemical Brothers: Elektrobank (1997)

Director: Spike Jonze
Before she was an indie auteur director, Sofia Coppola was an acrobatic gymnast starring in this Spike Jonze-directed video. The intricate twists and turns of her gymnastic floor routine align perfectly with the heavy breakbeats of the instrumental track fromThe Chemical Brothers' sophomore album, Dig Your Own Hole. With muted colours and cinematic flair, the whole thing plays more like an art house short than a music video.

8: Beastie Boys: Sabotage (1994)

7. Michael and Janet Jackson: Scream (1995)

Director: Mark Romanek
What's better than aMichael Jackson music video? Two Jacksons in space! Who could forget the larger-than-life blockbuster video for Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream," from Michael's 1995 HIStory album? Allegedly the most expensive music video ever made, the space-age film sees the two siblings spitting refrains over industrial beats courtesy of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The futuristic black-and-white video came with a hefty price tag (a cool $7 million to build seven sound stages and the like), but it also created one of the most era-defining 90s music videos and reunited the siblings in the studio for the first time since "PYT," from Michael's 1982 smash, Thriller.

6: Missy Elliott: The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) (1997)

Director: Hype Williams
No other director fit the poetic absurdity of Missy Elliott more than Hype Williams, who astutely combined the shiny-suit aesthetic of the era with Afrofuturism and the flyest garbage bag the world has ever seen. The cameo-heavy video, featuring the likes of Timbaland, Da Brat, and Puff Daddy, made Elliot's cover of Ann Peebles' 1973 single the one to lunch her solo career.

5: Daft Punk: Around The World (1997)

Director: Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry cut his teeth creating fantastical 90s music videos before moving onto feature films. He also birthed another key music video trend (the single-take video). Out of the 50-plus videos to his name, one of his classic cuts is the synchronized dance masterpiece he created for Daft Punk's world-conquering single, "Around The World." With each dancer synching up with each beat, synth, and sound, it's a masterclass in co-ordination.

4: Nirvana: Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)

3: Nine Inch Nails: Closer (1994)

2: Björk: All Is Full Of Love (1999)

1: Jamiroquai: Virtual Insanity (1996)
Looking for more? Discover The 90s: The Decade That Doesn't Fit?

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Virtual Insanity: 39 Music Videos That Defined The 90s

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From art house shorts to visionary stylings and tongue-in-cheek parodies, here are the best decade-defining 90s music videos.