Provocative Music Videos

Intercutting between a Full-Metal Jacket-style drill sergeant, a baby held to the bosom of a soldier sporting an explosive device where his head should be, and the band itself jamming out in front of projections of battle footage, Muse creates an anthem against the military industrial complex that you can bang your head and march to all at once.

Miley’s branding revolution leapt from lascivious to grotesque in this video where her face is continuously showered with goopy glitter and various dairy products.

The rapper delivers a powerful battle cry for international refugees. Not only is the video politically relevant but—considering M.I.A.’s own experience as a refugee—uniquely heartfelt as well.

Profanity, nudity and torture abound in this scandalous depiction of revenge. When Rihanna finally does get her money—after kidnapping a blonde, torturing her, and murdering her husband—she takes a well-earned break on top of her stash…completely naked and covered in blood.

Long before Sean Penn went on his journalistic expedition, the rapper 2 Chainz created this 3-minute video tribute to the murderous Mexican drug lord.

When the camera is not right up in Bjork’s face, it’s literally in her mouth and down her throat. This invasive imagery, when coupled with lyrics about being silenced, is both disturbing and, in the end, triumphant.

FKA Twigs’ self-directed video for her latest EP is a 16-minute tour de force in which the singer is shown transforming into an inflatable doll and giving birth to a multicolored scarf.

There are no quaint visual metaphors here: Locked in a scrum that appears to have raged for an eternity, a young black man and a cop engage in an apparent deathmatch. They wrestle, stagger and lean into one another in a savage yet strangely intimate rendering of an ongoing inner city battle.

For the title track of his last album, the late great Bowie presents an interstellar dystopia complete with a bejeweled skull, crucified scarecrows, and a mysterious woman who sports a demonic tail. The meaning of it all is ripe for interpretations—beware of religion, ritual, false prophets?— but the images are universally mesmerizing.

With “Alright” touted as the “We Shall Overcome” of the Black Lives Matter generation, Grammy winner Lamar doubled down on his anthem with a black-and-white video that interweaves messages of hope with the grim realities of urban life. Instead of angrily stomping through the mean streets of Los Angeles, Lamar flies over them…. right until a patrolman shoots him down. The video’s final sequence packs a depressingly powerful punch, but instead of ending on a down note, Lamar gets the final shot: a close up of his face sporting a wickedly hopeful smile.