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I am a fan of the video art form, having been raised on a steady diet of them, and creating a few of them myself. I’m an iMovie hack, I know it, so I know what good videos with creativity can be, and what amateur is (that’s me, but with creativity).

So I came upon the video for the very excellent song “Never Be Lonely” by the Feeling (which if you don’t have you should get on iTunes right now), whose video is…underwhelming.

It’s not that the band is not photogenic (they are quite handsome - check them out at the Coachella Music Festival!), however, it appears that no creativity was put into interpreting the song. It is more a montage of the faces and bodies of band members, which is fine, but what’s the story here?

At one point they’re riding on a desert road a la Kelly Clarkson “Low.” That approach worked for Kelly because she was dumping her boyfriend and looking for solitude while seeing ghosts of her ugly ex transposed on the little girl in the 1967 station wagon (great video - a definite purchase on iTunes). What are they trying to express here besides the fact that they are riding down a desert road? At another point, they’re doing an “Owner of a Lonely Heart” bit on a subway/urban street sidewalk thing.

It sort of feels like the director didn’t know what to do with the song and wanted to come up with scenes that matched each part of it, so there’s a match, but no cohesive structure. Too bad - I’d have to say this is right up there with “These Words” and “What it Feels Like for a Girl” in terms of bad direction. At least Natasha made up for it with “Unwritten.” I’m hopeful that these guys will make up for it on their next ones.

I just rediscovered this and it definitely belongs in the top 10. I first heard the song as a cover performed by The English Beat, which I liked enough, and then I heard the original, which is incredible. Then I saw this video. It’s a retrospective of the 1960’s edited together along with the song.

It is a perfect example of a piece of art being a marker for the time in which it was created. The director/editor who put this together did a brilliant job conveying the bittersweet feeling that comes with this song - one of a whole generation, capable of making a great society, having their hopes dashed. When you see it all the way through, you will know what I mean. It will make you sad, and then you’ll be glad that the incredible suffering put on everyone is over.

And then you’ll realize that in 2007, it’s only beginning again. Tears of a clown.

iTunes does not have this video for download, but you can purchase the song here.

The English Beat version of the song can be purchased here.

Of course Duran Duran was going to make into this list. How could it not?

However, it’s not the expected candidates, like “Rio” or “Hungry.” It’s this one, “Lonely in Your Nightmare.” This one never really made it to MTV, and this is why I think it’s the best one. It has all of the mystique of the whole “Sri Lanka” thing in their first crop of videos. And it also has a sort of end to that story - the “what happened when we got back to the big city” portion - with a reminiscence that comes after having a really great summer, or a great decade, in this case.

Plus this is just a great song. It’s worth downloading the whole album if you haven’t. It’s as classic as they come. A little trivia is that this is the very first compact disc I ever bought (along with Regatta de Blanc and Ghost in the Machine by another great band…).

This one definitely belongs in the top 10 (only 7 left!). It’s a great song, for one (with great remixes, too). The video, though is a great complement to it, also, which is why it’s top 10. There’s a great connection between the song and the visual imagery, from the wonderment in kylie’s expressions to the great editing of the various shots. It’s a relatively simple concept that really adds to the song. It’s a great one to watch on your vPod while at the gym (if such a thing was possible, given that it is not yet for sale on iTunes. We can always hope!)

So YouTube does have it. Too bad iTunes doesn’t yet. They do have the “Save it For Later” song by the English Beat, though (click here to get it). The whole Special Beat Service album is a favorite of mine, still.

In any event, this is in my top 10 videos because it’s a great song to begin with, and on top of that I love the beatnick theme of the visuals paired with it. It captures the spirit of a generation (before mine) that was obsessed with itself, and had the time and privileged to be so. Dave Wakeling looks like he’s having a great time, as do all the patrons in the cave. Will the debutantes dance? Will the philosopher put down his book? Yes! Yes! Yes!

The iTunes music store finally put up The Cranberries’ “Linger” video up for sale (click here to get it). Ever since the video store came on line, they have had every Cranberries video except this one. I am not a huge Cranberries fan, but I know good video. This one is probably in my top ten of all time. Why? Because it’s beautifully shot, and it just matches the song from start to finish. From the oblivious attractive women with the cigarettes to the flashing motorcycle headlight, it just works. To this day, whenever I am in San Francisco, I usually hear the song on Live 105. Maybe they need to move on, or maybe I need to, or maybe this is that good.

This is my first time posting a YouTube video, by the way. This video is so good, though, it deserves a click over to your iPod. You just never know when you’ll want to see it.

Next request from iTunes: English Beat’s “Save it for Later” (hmm…I wonder if that’s on YouTube).