Top 10 Most Controversial Music Videos of All Time
Nicki Minaj’s new single “Only” is the latest controversial music video that came under fire, and we’re not surprised because there have been many videos that has caused an uproar in the music scene over the years.
Here’s a list of the Top 10 most controversial videos from the history of music.
Warning: this list is NSFW and contains violent imagery, graphic nudity and more that may cause offence.
10. Try, Try, Try – The Smashing Pumpkins
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_0d01XbXg0]
Directed by Jonas Åkerlund, the unpolished video follows addicts Linda and Max who live on the streets and are desperate to score their next hit. They spend the day stealing food and begging for money until they finally manage to glean enough to get high before Linda overdoses while dreaming of more innocent days. Depicting the gritty reality of drug addiction, even the censored version of “Try, Try, Try” was considered too severe a portrayal to be played on MTV during the day.
9.Dancing In The Street - David Bowie & Mick Jagger
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G4jnaznUoQ]
Now for a completely different kind of controversy. Bowie and Jagger's version of the classes Martha And The Vandellas' original was shocking just because it's so bad, on so many levels. The song was mostly recorded in just four hours, so it's pretty much a demo, at which point they just out to shoot an almost entirely improvised video. Their egos told them it was all great, and the people around them were obviously too scared to tell them otherwise.
8.Born Free – M.I.A.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeMvUlxXyz8]
This video from MIA seems like it belongs more in that South Park episode. It features a mass genocide of ginger people by a SWAT team who proceed to round up every ginger they find into transport trucks. These prisoners are then driven to the desert and forced to run through a live minefield and to top it all off- it had a 12 year old boy being shot in the head.
As you may expect from this, YouTube swiftly banned it a day after release in North America and the UK.
7. Pussy - Rammstein
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C4N0lQdaCQ]
We've posted the censored version of this because the original features graphic sex. You can probably guess why the video is controversial.
6.Jeremy – Pearl Jam
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSE7rtIpdQs]
The true story about a student who shot himself in front of his classmates was retold in this Pearl Jam song, but the image of a boy putting a gun in his mouth proved too much for TV bosses who wanted it cut. That's the only version available now.
5.Like A Prayer - Madonna
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79fzeNUqQbQ]
If you think Madonna isn't rocking enough to appear on a UG list, you probably don't realize how ballsy she used to be. This video was designed from the start to cause controversy with the burning crosses and black Jesus - and Madonna loved every minute of stirring up the conservative Christian masses.
4.Heart Shaped Box – Nirvana
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffmx9eCu4d0]
Once again, a crucifix causes widespread offence - this time set against a backdrop and color palette inspired by the "Wizard of Oz" movie - but a little girl dressed in Ku Klux Klan uniform jumping at baby foetuses growing in a tree were pretty tough on the eye too.
3.Closer– Nine Inch Nails
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTFwQP86BRs]
A heavily edited version of the video appeared on TV, but that simply whet the appetite for fans to dig out the original (and this is before the days of YouTube). The worst image is probably that of a monkey being tied to a crucifix - not because of the religious imagery, but because the poor fella looks genuinely uncomfortable.
2.(S)aint- Marilyn Manson
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vinqaAbo9zE]
Marilyn Manson has been no stranger to controversy over the years and this was one of his more shocking videos- so shocking in fact that his own record label banned it. For starters it shows Manson cutting himself with razor blades then descends into a myriad of cocaine snorting, masturbation, S&M and other things not overly suitable for music videos.
It was also directed by Asia Argento, whose father is cult Italian horror director Dario Argento, which explains a lot really.
1.Smack My Bitch Up- The Prodigy
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q09EswJaUNk]
Four minutes of sheer hedonism from a first-person perspective. What is there that this video doesn't include? It's full of drug user, aggression, and nudity - but none of that was as offensive as the song name, which the BBC refused to name in its official chart rundown because of its connotations with domestic violence.
