LINES OF ORATION PRESENTS: The Top 21 Music Videos of the 2000's

To kick off the New Year, I bring to you what I think are the 20 best music videos of the aughts. Look out for part three of the countdown. Enjoy!

21. Girl by Beck-This is pretty poor of me to put this in after the fact, but it deserves a mention. Beck is just cool, he really is. This video demonstrates that. It's clever, and I think you should watch it.


20. You Only Live Once by The Strokes-I love how they are all in white when the disgusting "sewage" comes pouring in, but I thoroughly enjoy how Julian Casablancas's hopping around never ceases.


19. I'll Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab For Cutie-It's a nice, and slightly sad song, but I like how the hole symbolizes the songs meaning.


18. Summer Song by Yacht-You don't have to see it to know your already crazy about it.


17. Such Great Heights by The Postal Service-I'm not entirely sure what is happening in the video, but I think it fits with the electronic-ness so well.


16. The Hardest Button to Button by The White Stripes-The general smoothness of the stop motion is really good, but it has to be the sheer amount of equipment they used.


15. Here it Goes Again by OK GO


14. My Girls by Animal Collective-Them only having lips and the fact that they soon begin to melt shows that Animal Collective are very weird without being stupidly outrageous. Also, the fact that they seem so into it makes the song that much more enjoyable.


13. Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games) by of Montreal-of Montreal would take an already cutesy song and make such a seemingly more adorable yet so morbid video out it.


12. Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim-Who knew Christopher Walken could dance so well?


11. Australia by The Shins-The concept of freeing helpless balloons by releasing them back to the atmosphere is adorable. This video is both comical and creative, and isn't the image of all the balloons at the end beautiful?


10. Evil by Interpol-Norman the puppet is the creepiest and coolest puppet, and the dancing is just too creepy for words. I think what did it for me was the fact that Norman fits Paul Bank's vocals eerily well.


9. D.A.N.C.E. by Justice-I'm not a fan of Justice. At all. However, this video is really great. The constant redesigning t-shirts are way cool, and the concept is purely unique. Do you not want some of those shirts?


8. 1901 by Phoenix-Not only was this one of the best songs of the year, it was definitely one of the best videos of the decade. Most of the videos here aren't too fancy, and this one really isn't. The projector idea fit the song insanely well and it's so wonderfully original.


7. A Million Ways by OK GO-You have to love OK GO. Before they were jumping around on treadmills, they were dancing in back yards. To the video that started it all.


6. A-Punk by Vampire Weekend-The endless thought of "How'd they get the lip-synch like that?" will never leave my mind.


5. Window in the Skies by U2-A lot of bands do music videos that compile footage of the band with a live performance or take random videos that "go" with the song. U2, however, took clips of performances by everyone from The Smiths to The Clash to Arcade Fire, and synched it up perfectly to the music. It's a walk through music history, and that, with the perfect lip-synch, is enough reason to love it.


4. Another John Doe by Thenewno2-You may not like Beatles's children's bands, but if you ever had any reason not to love Thenewno2, this video will far overshadow those thoughts. Directed by the bands own Oli Hecks, it's not just any stop motion. I mean, have you ever seen one that's this smooth?


3. Easy/Lucky/Free by Bright Eyes-This is the prime example of the simpler, the better. All he does throughout the video is write down some of the lyrics on a pane of glass. What's so genius is that he thought to do it, and it the product came out so well. It's simple, effective, and gets the songs message across without getting too serious.


2. Obstacle 1 by Interpol-No matter how many actors you hire or how facny the effects you use are, it will always be difficult to beat a band simply just performing the song. This is one of those videos. Interpol all look so cool and a song like "Obstacle 1" just shouldn't be messed up with an overdone video. The slight effects really add to the classic feel and I feel it just adds to the subtle brilliance that is "Obstacle 1".


1. Fluorescent Adolescent by Arctic Monkeys-Simply the best music video of the decade. When you first heard "Fluorescent Adolescent", you surely didn't think of homicidal clowns or a torn friendship, but once you saw the video, you cannot think of anything else. Jamie Cook himself has said "[it's] probably one of the best videos in the last, like, 10 years", and in my mind, it is the best.