cash tops thriller with best video ever
by david smith

01.30.05

enough britney and jacko - the cream of the pop industry says the greatest music video of all time was made by a septuagenarian country singer facing his own mortality.

the video for 'hurt', johnny cash's valedictory single recorded just six months before his death, shows a frail and ailing cash at home, dressed in his usual black outfit, playing guitar and piano, interwoven with past footage of the 'man in black' in his heyday.

it proved a poignant elegy for the country music icon, who fought illness for the last decade of his life. he died from complications linked to diabetes in 2003, aged 71.

his posthumous triumph over the teen idols of the mtv generation comes in a poll of 31 pop stars, video directors, agents and journalists commissioned by mobile phone operator 3. the panel included natasha bedingfield, björk, tim burgess of the charlatans, norman 'fatboy slim' cook, jamie cullum, tom fletcher of mcfly, avril lavigne, mike 'the streets' skinner and amy winehouse.

the runner-up is the 14-minute horror film-style 1983 video for michael jackson's 'thriller' with pioneering special effects. third is another chiller, aphex twin's 1997 'come to daddy', which features a goblin screaming at a pensioner and a gang of children smashing up a london council estate.

jackson is the only artist with two videos in the top 20, with the clip for 'billie jean' - also from thriller - at number five.

the video for fatboy slim's 'praise you', which topped a survey of mtv's british viewers in 2001, ranks 19th according to the industry panel. the oldest entry, at number 18, is queen's 1975 hit 'bohemian rhapsody', credited by many with establishing the pop video as a major art form.

cash recorded 1,500 songs on 45 solo albums and had 14 number one country hits over 50 years. the video for 'hurt', a cover of a nine inch nails song, forgoes the visual pyrotechnics of its rivals for the simplicity of moody lighting, christian imagery and shots of the derelict house of cash museum. it also features his wife, june carter cash, who was to die a few months before her husband.

the director of the top video, mark romanek, who also directed the film one hour photo , said: 'johnny's music has always been candid. i didn't want to make a phoney video - i wanted to tell the truth.'

rem singer-songwriter michael stipe, who was a member of the judging panel, said it was 'just heartbreaking. kudos to mark romanek for having the audacity and courage to do a video like that. the moment i saw it i thought, "please don't let this be the last thing we know johnny cash for". yet he made the song his own and the video is just devastating. and beautiful. it touched me in a really big way.'

paul rees, editor of q magazine, said: 'in four minutes it managed the not inconsiderable feat of capturing everything great, mythical and iconoclastic about its subject. it is, too, the only music video to pack a genuine emotional punch.'

natasha bedingfield and tom fletcher both voted for 'thriller' , while björk chose the video for 'come to daddy', which was directed by her friend and collaborator chris cunningham. 'i know it's predictable for me to choose this video,' bjork said. 'but come on, it's hard to top that. it still scares me today. every time.'

the video for 'just', by radiohead, came fourth in the poll. judge garry mulholland, a music author and expert, said: 'the film completely overwhelms the song and the band. a man lies on the pavement in new york. when people stop to ask what's wrong, he says he can't tell them because they won't be able to take the truth. after a crowd begs him for this truth, he finally whispers it to the nearest person. the last shot shows everyone in the street lying motionless, rendered catatonic by whatever he said.

it was 'the most intense and mysterious short film i've ever seen,' mulholland said.

the phone company 3 commissioned the poll to publicise its video jukebox service, which puts music videos on handsets.

ring of fire, a new musical based on cash's life, is planned for the west end next year.

the top 20 music videos ever voted by pop stars, video directors, agents and journalists

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

hurt, johnny cash, 2003 thriller, michael jackson, 1983 come to daddy, aphex twin, 1997 just, radiohead, 1995 billie jean, michael jackson, 1983 take on me, a-ha, 1985 sledgehammer, peter gabriel, 1986 nothing compares 2 u, sinead o'connor, 1990 sabotage, beastie boys, 1994 vogue, madonna, 1990 human behaviour, bjork, 1993 rio, duran duran, 1982 two tribes, frankie goes to hollywood, 1984 coffee + tv, blur 1999 the hardest button to button, the white stripes, 2003 what's my age again?, blink- 182, 1999 ashes to ashes, david bowie, 1980 bohemian rhapsody, queen, 1975 praise you, fatboy slim, 1999 another brick in the wall, (part 2) , pink floyd, 1979

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