Future Sound of London - "We Have Explosive"

Future Sound of London's 1997 video for the song "We Have Explosive" off of their 1996 "Dead Cities" album is one of the strangest videos ever to air on MTV's techno-themed video show "AMP". The song, which is one of the band's most popular, first became known due to its appearance in the 1996 video game "Wipeout 2097", and eventually found its way onto the first MTV "AMP" techno music compilation.

The animation for the video was directed by Run Wrake, a visionary London-based animator known for bizarre but fluid animation style and design. The combination of strange, gritty techno with insane, surrealistic animation makes for a truly unique and memorable animated music video experience.



Artist: Future Sound of London
Song: We Have Explosive
Animation: Original

Peter Gabriel - "Sledgehammer"

Peter Gabriel's biggest hit in North America was the song "Sledgehammer" from his 1986 album "So". Part of the reason for the song's success was its wildly innovative animated music video, featuring stop-motion, live action rotoscoped, and clay animation. The clay animation was done by Nick Park and Aardman animation, now famous for its Wallace and Grommit films and California Raisins spots.

Peter Gabriel worked patiently with the animation team to create the video - it required holding poses and moving only very slightly at a time for hours on end. Apart from one brief sequence towards the very end of the video, everything is animated. The end result of the team's efforts was one of the most well-known animated music videos of all time.

Created only four years after the launch of MTV, this video is truly an old-school classic.



Artist: Peter Gabriel
Song: Sledgehammer
Animation: Original

Pearl Jam - "Do the Evolution"

The video for the 5th track on Pearl Jam's 1998 "Yield" album featured a collaborative effort between Kevin Altieri, a director from Batman the Animated Series and Todd McFarlane, the well-known comic book artist.

The video, which took a total of 16 weeks to produce, was the first to be released by Pearl Jam after their catastrophic experience with the video for "Jeremy" off of their hit album "Ten".

Watching the video, Altieri's Batman directing experience and McFarlane's unique style shine through. The video and song were never monster hits, but it remains a shining example of a well thought-out merging of animation and music. Click on the image below to check it out!


(Unfortunately, Sony BMG has disabled embedding for this video)

Song: Do The Evolution
Artist: Pearl Jam
Animation: Original

KMFDM - "A Drug Against War"

The video for KMFDM's song "A Drug Against War" from their 1993 "Angst" album featured incredibly vivid 2D woodcut-style animation as well as 3D animation and 2D computer morphing effects, complementing the driving, heavy song.

Though a bit obscure now, it was an incredibly innovative music video, and stands the test of time. Keep in mind, it was made two years before Toy Story, and well before Flash animated clips were commonplace.



Song: A Drug Against War
Artist: KMFDM
Animation: Original

Matthew Sweet - "Girlfriend"

The video for the title track off of Matthew Sweet's 1991 album featured footage from the Japanese animation series "Space Adventure Cobra". Together with his video for "I've Been Waiting", Sweet introduced many American viewers to the world of anime, which was still relatively new to the US at the time.



Song: Girlfriend
Artist: Matthew Sweet
Animation: Space Adventure Cobra

Matthew Sweet - "I've Been Waiting"

For the second AMV TV entry, a video featuring original music set to existing animation. The video for Matthew Sweet's "I've Been Waiting" song off of his 1991 album "Girlfriend featured animation from the Japanese animation (anime) "Urusei Yatsura".

At the time, anime was far less well-known in the United States than it is now, and it made quite an impression. To this day, Matthew Sweet is still known in anime circles for his innovative videos.

Nothing like being ahead of the curve!



Song: I've Been Waiting
Artist: Matthew Sweet
Animation: Urusei Yatsura

Tom Petty - "Runnin' Down a Dream"

For the first entry on AMV TV, a video featuring both original music and original animation. Tom Petty's video for "Runnin' Down a Dream" from his hit 1989 album "Full Moon Fever" features animation reminiscent of 1930s and 1940s cartoons, and was extremely innovative for its time.

Original music, original animation, catchy tune... what more could you ask for? Click on the image below to view the video!


(Unfortunately, Universal Music Group has disabled embedding for this video)

Song: Runnin' Down a Dream
Artist: Tom Petty
Animation: Original

Welcome to AMV TV!

Welcome to Animated Music Video Television, or AMV TV (which is a lot easier to say!) This blog is designed to highlight and showcase some of the best examples of music videos that feature animated content.

Many of the videos featured on this blog are a combination of existing songs and animation edited together. However, some feature original music, some feature original animation, and some feature both!

While browsing through this blog, please keep in mind that both animation and music take a lot of time and effort to create. So, if you enjoy a video, please consider supporting the original artists by purchasing their CDs, mp3s or DVDs. After all, without them, none of these videos (or this blog) would exist!

And now, without further ado, on to the AMVs!