As part of the MTV Generation™, I’ve seen my bigger-than-fair share of music videos, and though I wouldn’t say that I’ve “seen it all” when it comes to this art (?!), I can say that I’ve seen a lot.

I find a lot of music videos tacky. There are the storytelling types that try to tell the story being sung (see: Stacy’s Mom, yeah Matt, haha). You’ve got the standard, cookie-cutter rap video: boobage, bling bling, and 48fps slow-mo shots while the star moves forward along a corridor flanked by barely dressed women. There’s the, er, Ja Rule video, which definitely came as its own genre.

Then you’ve got the rock videos, where huge question marks start floating above my head because I’ve grown tired of asing “WTF?” under my breath. From just about any Chili Peppers video to, gee, even the Linkin Park vids, which I do like, only, Numb was an exercise in pretentious profundity. I guess that’s the thing with vids that I hate: when they try and be more profound that they are (which they hardly are).

I like simple videos where the artist is just performing in a stripped down fashion, live or in a simple setting. Take for example, Mariah Carey’s I Still Believe, where she sang in front of a few hundred horny soldiers while wearing a little black dress. Contrast that with her totally histrionic “private” perfomance of Can’t Take That Away. Another contrast would be Faith Hill’s Breathe versus Cher’s *gasp* If I Could Turn Back Time. I prefer the former in both cases. I like the simple country music videos as well. (Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar comes to mind almost instantly.)

There is, however, one device used in music videos I like the most. It’s when other people perfectly lip-synch to the song. My two favorite examples: Man On The Moon by REM and Freedom 90 by George Michael. Anyone else know any good videos that do that?