Rund's Halloween Makeup TutorialOct.27.2020
Music videos used to be a pretty big deal. Not only were they a way to drum up interest in an artist, and the album they were about to release, but they were also a way to promote ideas, merch, and even provided social commentary. The first video to appear on MTV was “Video Killed the Radio Star”. It debuted back in August of 1981. Pretty ironic name. MTV wasn’t an immediate hit. It actually took a while for it to catch on. Eventually, the popularity of music videos meant that many top artists considered making a music video a must. Most of these videos didn’t come cheap. Check out the price tags on some of the most expensive music videos ever.
It should really not come as much of a surprise that the “King of Pop”’s name is attached to the most expensive music video ever made. It aired in June of 1995 and featured the famous siblings in a futuristic/space setting. The song was actually a bitter condemnation of the invasive nature of paparazzi and the media. It was no secret Michael had been in and out of tabloids and hounded by reporters most of his life. The price tag on this “out of this world” romp? At the time, it reportedly cost close to 26 million AED to make. Adjusted for inflation, that figure jumps to a heart-stopping 42 million.
The Material Girl dropped some major coin on music videos at the height of her success. She actually occupies the next three spots on the most expensive videos of all-time list. Her videos for “Die Another Day” and “ Bedtime Stories” were also huge expenditures. However, it was the video for “Express Yourself” that would top them all when adjusted for modern-day inflation. When it premiered in 1989, this vid cost around 18.3 million AED to make. By today’s standards, Madonna would need to shell out over double that amount to make that same video. While it does have an interesting industrial/ art deco aesthetic, and some beautiful shots, it is hard to picture that much being needed to create it.
You might be a little shocked to see a hard rock band on this list. However, GnR put out some pretty epic music videos in their time. The video for “November Rain”, anyone? This one debuted in 1993, and reportedly clocked in at around 25.7 million AED to make in today’s money. It’s a loooong video too, at a running time of over 9 minutes. While it tackles some pretty interesting concepts, the video is a bit choppy-feeling. There’s concert footage spliced in between shots of lead singer Axl Rose strolling along a street filled with water that dolphins are swimming by in. There’s actually a lot of dolphins in this video. Soooooo, there’s that. But, who are we to tell people how to spend their money?
