The 15 Best Music Videos of the '90s

We couldn’t just hate on the ‘90s and not give credit where credit is due. Like we mentioned in our 15 Worst Music Videos of the '90s post yesterday, there was a lot of good and a lot of bad that came out of the decade. This post is all about the former. The ‘90s brought a lot of exciting new styles to music with artists breaking stereotypes and deciding to try new things and us, and the influence still lives on today. Here we highlight the best that came out of that grungy, not-so-distant era in the form of music videos.

Year: 1997

Undoubtedly one of the iconic videos from the ‘90s. It’s middle-finger-to-society and non-conforming message is quite cliché now, but was such a staple of what ‘90s culture was about. The video embodies the message in a creative way; it’s such a simple idea that makes the video so unique.

Year: 1997

Ostentatious rap videos are still common today, but has there ever been one as fun as "Mo Money Mo Problems?" Probably not. Biggie, Ma$e, and of course Diddy, ball out in wild outfits, float around without gravity, and dance among pyrotechnics. It may not be the most creative video of all time, but Hype Williams captured a moment for rap music, and he made it look so damn entertaining.

Year: 1997

The idea behind both the song and the video for Radiohead's "Karmas Police" is simple: you get what you deserve. It features a car driven by an unknown driver with lead singer Thom Yorke in the back as it chases down a man running. However, it doesn't necessarily end the way you'd imagine, reinforcing the song's eerie message of how powerful karma can be. And if you think it sounds dark for even masters of gloom Radiohead, you may be right—director Jonathan Glazer first pitched the creepy concept to Marilyn Manson.

Year: 1995

With Spike Jonze in the directing chair you know you're getting a great music video. He brings artistic innovation to everything he does. The entire thing is shot backwards, then also replayed backwards to give us one of the most, if not the most, unique hip-hop videos from the decade. This creative camera work allows for Pharcyde to do some cool stuff and ultimately makes for an unforgettable video.

Year: 1997

Whether or not it’s actually Wilco skydiving while playing their song is irrelevant really, it still made for an awesome video. It’s impossible not to have a good time just watching them do this. And the best part about it is, I’m sure Wilco didn’t think, “What would it cost and why wouldn’t it work?” They probably just said, “Let’s do it.”

Year: 1993

They say you don't know a man until you've walked in his shoes for a day. After watching the clip for Ice Cube's "It Was A Good Day," you can safely say you really know the rapper, or at least the role he was playing in the '90s. The video features Ice going through a typical day, from eating breakfast with his family to playing dominoes with his friends and getting busy with a lady friend. It's not over the top, in that we're flooded with images of money and video vixens, and instead focuses on the how great the simple things can be. A perfect fit for a song that is so iconic, it really doesn't need the help of a video to make it more memorable.

Year: 1993

This right here is what apathetic slacker mentality was really all about in the '90s. Beck had his friend make a video for his hit "Loser" (which is actually an extension of songs he would play to see if people were even listening at his shows), and it basically ended up being a compilation of Beck doing whatever he wants. Beck is quoted as saying they were just "fucking around" and they weren't "making anything slick." That has '90s written all over it.

Year: 1995

When you first hear the title of 2Pac and Dr. Dre's "California Love," you may start picturing the two driving around in a convertible in the sun, palm trees in the background and bikini-clad babes in the back. Director Hype Williams though, had a different idea. Set in the future in the year 2095, it includes an evil tribe chief who has hot women slaves. That is, until 2Pac and Dr. Dre break in, save them, then take them to this magical land of Oakland. It's bizarre but completely fantastic, showing how cinematic music videos can be. Also, Dr. Dre is wearing an eye patch, and that just automatically wins.

Year: 1997

Standard procedure for a successful hip-hop music videos from the '90s: dancing in front of a fisheye lens with big colorful outfits and choreographed moves.  But nobody did it with as much style as Missy. Missy Elliot and her crew are so effortlessly cool and she was a unique enough character that "The Rain" looks just as fly in 2013 as it did in 1997.

Year: 1997

With what remains one of the most stylish, clever clips of MTV era, British band Jamiroquai catapulted themselves from acid jazz noodlers to temporarily bankable retro-leaning pop act (even if most people still think Jamiroquai is a one man band--and it's hard to blame them, since "Virtual Insanity" is essentially lead singer Jay Kay's show). The "how-did-they-do-that??" effect of a seemingly moving floor (the walls were actually what was being manipulated) combined with Jay Kay's idiosyncratic dance moves elevated "Virtual Insanity" to the level of visual magic trick, a curio of the pre-heavy-CGI era that's as impressive as anything computers are capable of whipping up.

Year: 1999

The best music video introduction to an artist of all time? Possibly. Em's Slim Shady persona was unlike anything rap had ever seen, and little did we know back then that we were getting our first glimpse into the mind of one of the best rappers of all time. With the "Slim Shady" video, Eminem may have been making fun of American culture, but what he may not have realized is that he'd go on to have so much influence on it.

Year: 1995

An unusually artistic and imaginative video for 1995. With unique visual effects, costumes, and camera techniques, "Tonight, Tonight" is one of the most visually striking videos to come out of the '90s, and if it came out today, it would be just as impressive.

Year: 1992

Few have ever done it as well as Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre in their prime. As establishing a clear image of street cred was a herald of rapper's fame in the early '90s, Snoop and Dre personified it with style, and the "Nuthin' But a G Thang" video gave a glimpse into the lifestyle that still has a lasting impact on hip-hop culture.

Year: 1994

What’s most surprising about this video is how well it worked. The idea of The Beastie Boys running around town in '70s cop outfits, acting like they’re in a cheesy crime drama sounds bad. At least on paper. But then you get Spike Jonze to direct it, and throw in some intangibles like how awesome The Beastie Boys are and how well the song pairs with the video, and all of a sudden it’s not so surprising that this was one of the best videos from the ‘90s.

Year: 1991

Nevermind was arguably the most important and defining album of the '90s, and the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" summed up Nirvana's influence perfectly. Kurt Cobain offerred many contradictory explanations about the song, and Dave Grohl explained, "Just seeing Kurt write the lyrics to a song five minutes before he first sings them, you just kind of find it a little bit hard to believe that the song has a lot to say about something. You need syllables to fill up this space or you need something that rhymes."

Even if the song didn't mean anything to Kurt when he wrote it, it ended up representing so much for the disillusioned and angst-ridden teens of the '90s, and the video symbolized that through a pep rally turned mosh pit. Much of Nirvana's music is filled with apathy, but underneath that there was a stirring call for rebellion that connected deeply with an entire generation. The '90s may not be remembered for a great cultural revolution, but there was a strong unity among those who were sick of the same old shit, and the uniform was plaid shirts and ripped jeans. And the soundtrack was "Smells Like Teen Spirit."