This is a difficult one, given that these monthly threads were always meant to be about the music.

As far as I’m concerned there’s a golden rule regarding music videos – ideally, they should never be more memorable than the song.

Having said that, if a great song has a great video, that’s a bonus.

Film clips for songs began to take on an outsized relevance from about the late seventies. A phenomenon observed in the very timely “Video killed the radio star” by the Buggles. This insatiable demand for ever more “cutting edge” music videos was able to sustain the televisual juggernaut that was MTV, launched as it was, in mid-1981. A memorable film clip for a song came to be regarded by most artists as an essential element of a “greater whole”.

Music videos portray performers in many and varied situations. These include:

· The performer(s) performing the song, live or in a studio

· The performer(s) portrayed in situations that may or may not have any relevance to the song

· Entirely unrelated images or video grabs that don’t even feature the performers

· Just about anything else you could imagine

I can’t think of any of my favourite songs where the film clip is the first thing that springs to mind. However, here are this month’s two intro tunes, both of which are just great songs, with the videos being a bonus.

Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer (the song was described by Gabriel as an homage to sixties soul)

The Chemical Brothers – Let Forever Be (directed by Michel Gondry)

Again, barely scratching the surface here. No doubt there’s a whole library of memorable videos that you’re just waiting to post in the comments thread.

So go for it Cats, you know you want to!