From the vaguely endearing awkwardness of K-Rudd dancing about the place in a Super Best Friends video, to the unending horror of whatever decidedly NSFW atrocity this is, music videos from Australia and New Zealand sure have provided us with some memorable moments over the years, haven’t they?

After all, just because our music and film industries happen to be a bit smaller than those in the States, it doesn’t mean we can’t knock it out of the park. Our communities might be tight-knit, but which fool first decided that money means quality? Thanks to the unceasing wonder of the internet, distribution doesn’t cost a dime, and bands can knock out singularly impressive vids with the amount of money it takes to drive to Sizzler.

See?

To that end, we reached out to some of our favourite bands from Australia and New Zealand, and asked them to choose the videos that mean the most to them.

Mike Noga: ‘Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow’ by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

“Dunno if it’s one of the greatest, but this clip is one of my favourites and makes me smile each viewing. The opening shots are beautiful. A series of stills done in the most Kubrickian of ways. From there we’re transported into some kinda party in a hall where things seem decidedly afoot. There’s a lot of brown… Brown clothing, brown walls and floors and each reveller seems to have imbibed a little too much of the brown acid. They are truly dancing ‘like nobody’s watching’. I would like to attend this party.

“Oh, and The Bad Seeds are up the end of the room playing and looking all cool for a change. Great cameos from a very fucked-up looking Jason Donovan, ol’ snake hips Jarvis Cocker and impish, naughty-looking Noah Taylor (who happens to feature on my new record, King, I’ll have you know). It’s shot in such a way that you get the feeling something very sinister is going on. Something dark.

“I had dinner with The Bad Seeds once and Nick leant over and asked me what band i was in. ‘The Drones’, I replied. He turned to Warren Ellis and looked puzzled and a bit disgusted and said, ‘Hmmmm, Warren… do we like The Drones?’ My fragile ego took a rather brutal pounding that night. But bugger it, Nick still gets my vote. In fact, he gets it most of the time with whatever he’s up to.”

The Goon Sax: ‘Punks’ by I Heart Hiroshima

“This is a bit of a scary video by a great band from Brisbane, directed by Adam Hunter. I remember watching this when I was ten or 11 and being quite freaked out by it, which along with the song being so catchy really made it stick in my head. The concept is really nice and simple, and the mixture of bumpy and still shots works really well.

“It’s weird watching this video because on the one hand it’s quite violent but the shots of the band playing just remind me of the things I like about Brisbane, I think that’s partly because it makes me think of the ‘(I’m) Stranded’ video, which is also fantastic.”

Babaganouj: ‘Tucker’s Daughter’ by Ian Moss

“There comes a time in an Australian music fan’s life when you get to hear Cold Chisel songs for what they are, without that Triple M V8 Supercar bias that they always seem to have… You know: you hear that ‘Cheap Wine’ song and its like, ‘Alright, here we go, someone’s gonna throw an empty can of Woodstock bourbon and coke at me from their mid-’90s Lancer.’

“But it’s nice to discover things for yourself [without bias]. For me, i think it was one night on YouTube. Just trawling. I think I listened to the album East first because it had some famous songs and got the best review on allmusic.com. Anyway, a few weeks later again on YouTube I saw ‘Tucker’s Daughter’ in my recommended videos and checked it out. It’s basically Cold Chisel ’cause Don Walker wrote it, but maybe a little more funky, kinda like late-era The Band. The video is absolutely baffling and Mossy has a really good mullet and plays some tasteful Strat® in front of a bonfire, but the star is ‘Tucker’s Daughter’ herself. She got me just like she got Mossy.”

Die! Die! Die!: ‘Outer Space’ by The 3Ds

“This video is one of my absolute favourites from a NZ band. It captures what an incredibly exciting, weird and totally awesome band The 3Ds are. There’s UFO imagery, a singing moon man face that predates The Mighty Boosh by a couple of decades, and lots of shots around Dunedin and Central Otago that make it a really special video. Also it has our good friend Oscar as baby Oscar flying through the sky in a silver suit!”

Flowertruck: ‘Beautiful Waste’ by The Triffids

“A music video? More like a visual curriculum. This clip is jam-packed, I reckon, with technical demonstrations in al fresco dining, biscuit dipping, car pimping, highway snoozing, hard-boiling, hose water pressure, pets, general stores, general pants and basic garden upkeep. And more. Than that. There’s lots we can learn from this video.

“For instance, here’s an example right now: the whole thing was filmed in 1080HD but then they used a ‘1984’ Instagram filter to give it that pre-loved zing. Pre-loved? More like still loved. Because I love this video clip. Still. And I’ve watched it almost six times now.”

Trust Punks: ‘Secret/s’ by Cheats

“Cheats is Lawrence Goodwin from Ngatea/Auckland/Berlin. He recorded our album Double Bind. This video was made by him and Fraser Chatham, who I think now works as a photographer. I think they would have been about 18 when they made this? A very underrated NZ artist of the last few years.”

Totally Unicorn: ‘Same Damn Thing’ by You Beauty

“One of my fave Australian clips that definitely gets me smiling and my head nodding is You Beauty’s video for ‘Same Damn Thing’, from their 2015 album Illywhacka. The clip was directed by the visual genius Matt Taylor, who recently shot and directed myself getting wasted (not very hard) in our latest clip ‘Space Congratulations’.

“‘Same Damn Thing’ is a story of an internet scammer that takes advantage of unsuspecting women, but karma has caught up and now he is down on his luck. Musically it’s a pop banger and vocally it is as Australian as Agro. Personal favourite moment is the random ending when guitarist Flyn cakes his face with shaving cream. I actually got a bit of an insider info on the clip and heard the pancake flip/catch took around 56 takes and they went through two boxes of Betty Crocker mix to get the perfect pancake. So sit back and enjoy You Beauty’s musical/visual greatness. But first check that your back gate is locked!”

Rebel Yell: ‘Free Of Fear’ by Client Liaison

“When asked to pick my favourite Aus or NZ film clip I knew exactly what band to choose, just not what film clip because they’re all too bloody good! Over the years Client Liaison have managed to create an extremely strong aesthetic for themselves and I couldn’t enjoy it or their film clips more. ‘Free Of Fear’ shows Client Liaison take it up a notch from my other favourite, the pieced-together Australiana clips for ‘End Of The Earth’. In ‘Free Of Fear’, the costumes, props and overall branding is extremely dominant, but of course, that is intended.

“My favourite scene in this clip lasts for maybe three seconds max, but when Harvey kneels down in the desert to fill up a watering can from a water cooler surrounded by an endless stretch of nothing, I just lose it. With Monte’s dancing, reptiles, the colour scheme and the features of all things Client Liaison (fosters, filtered water and corporate brands), the overall storyline and presentation for ‘Free Of Fear’ leaves you with a big fat grin at the end. What a gem.”

Rachel Maria Cox: ‘All My Friends Are Leaving Town’ by Super Best Friends

“One day Johnny Barrington sent me a picture of him in a dog onesie asking for my professional opinion (I am a connoisseur of the onesie) for a new film clip. Not only was this my favourite song off Status Updates, but the number of dogs in this film clip, the ugly sweater, and of course the use of the onesie means this film clip is almost tailored to my interests. Who needs friends when you have dogs anyway?”

Hierophants: ‘I Want, Need, Love You’ by Black Diamonds

“As good as it gets. ‘I Want, Need, Love You’ is an odd song by an odd band from Lithgow in the Blue Mountains. The video is also odd because video clips are sort of rare for ’60s music. Standing down on the beach among the rocks they mime along to the song’s strange rhythm with sunglasses upside down looking silly. I get the feeling this might be from a TV show though because some edits have a little scene at the start with actors. A must-see!”

Yes I’m Leaving: ‘Whatareya? (You’re A Yob Or You’re A Wanker)’ by TISM

“When I was a teenager I would see pictures of these guys and it would leave me confused, terrified and a bit concerned. I guess I didn’t get the layers of sarcasm, irony and amazing dance gusto that get meshed in this clip with some kinda pop-punk one-two sentiment. This video is kinda perfect really. It captures the sentiment of the song and its driving dance beat perfectly, adding to it the suburban layabout hero amidst a morning TV aerobics hallucination. I have a feeling this band was much more than they seemed. Very impressive and inspiring stuff.”

Nothing Rhymes With David’: ‘Babe, I’m On Fire’ by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

“What’s the greatest Nick Cave video? Him getting all steamy with PJ Harvey? Sitting glumly at the piano and singing about ships? Fuck all that for a joke – let’s get him and all his mates going batshit crazy in a basement somewhere and putting on a heck of ridiculous costumes. For a three-minute song? Not a chance. We’re going for 15. 15 GODDAMN MINUTES.

“This is the final song on what is widely considered to be the Bad Seeds’ worst album, 2003’s Nocturama, and both this track and its video are seen as its key redemptive moment. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out exactly why that is – it’s a bit of classic Cave madness interspersed with some Countdown-level miming by the band. Seriously, keep your eye on guitarist Blixa Bargeld and violinist Warren Ellis – they may play two chords between them in the entire clip. A bit of dark, seedy debauchery from one of the single greatest purveyors of the stuff to ever wander the halls of Australian music history.”

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