MattShea
Monday 14 Jan 2013 - 12:00 PM

10 Must-Watch Music Videos of 2012

Promo videos are the crack cocaine of music journalism. You watch one in the name of research – or at the insistence of another music writer – and soon you’re watching twenty more, one after the other, appalling Suncorp ads and all.

Here are ten of the best of 2012. Mostly NSFW. Mostly.

10. OK Go – ‘Needing/Getting’

You feel sorry for OK Go. They set a precedent and now have to do shit like this. Still, great video.

9. Hey Geronimo – ‘Dreamboat Jack’

Hey Geronimo (as well as one of the band’s progenitors, Blame Ringo) have made a habit out of producing striking videos on the cheap. If you like radio controlled cars…

8. The Presets – ‘Ghosts’

The Presets’ Pacifica was a come down record, no matter how much the publicity machine tried to convince us otherwise. Thankfully, the video for ‘Ghosts’ embraced the darkness.

7. Action Bronson and The Alchemist – ‘The Symbol’

In which Action Bronson wears a wig and lives out everyone’s greatest exploitation flick fantasies. Fuck, that’s delicious.

6. Grimes – ‘Oblivion’

This would feel like some sort of highbrow judgement on suburbia if it wasn’t pulled off with such good-natured gas. Naturalism crossed with formal composition and a sly deconstruction of the relationship between spectacle and spectator.

5. Action Bronson and Riff Raff – ‘Bird on a Wire’

Nothing happens in this video. Absolutely nothing. Still, if music promos are all about making the audience want to be the artist, then it’s king. Yeah, I want to be Riff Raff. Kill me.

4. El-P – ‘The Full Retard’

Peter Jackson has a lot to answer for. “We are. So. Fucking. High.”

3. Serengeti – ‘Shazam’

Serengeti took 2012 as an opportunity to push Kenny Dennis – his 45-year-old Buick-driving, O’Doul’s-sinking, Brian Dennehy-loving alter ego – towards the outer reaches of absurdity. According to Dennis lore, Shaquille O’Neil, former basketball giant and occasional rapper, once dissed Kenny’s moustache. This is his response. If none of it makes any sense whatsoever, start here.

2. Killer Mike – ‘Big Beast’

You could argue Killer Mike released the hip-hop album of the year. Thankfully, plenty of non-rap listeners heard it because of this phenomenal video.