It is hard to imagine a time when a record label would give an artist anything close to seven million dollars to make a music video. Today, artists often have to find the cash or fund the music videos themselves if they want to make one. Bands like OK Go have made videos for next to nothing, coming up with their own choreography and filming the video themselves which have gone on to become music sensations. With MTV and VHI playing less and less actual music videos, artists have to find cheaper ways to fund their videos since they are largely going to be downloaded and watched free of charge on channels like dailymotion and youtube. With that history lesson, here is a selection of some of the most expensive music videos every made, full of large fish tanks, elaborate sets and choreography, all of them above the three million dollar mark.
Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson – Scream
The whole story of the universe is implicit in any part of it. The meditative eye can look through any single object and see, as through a window, the entire cosmos. Make the smell of roast duck in an old kitchen diaphanous and you will have a glimpse of everything, from the spiral nebulae to Mozart’s music and the stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi. The artistic problem is to produce diaphanousness in spots, selecting the spots so as to reveal only the most humanly significant of distant vistas behind the near familiar object.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
At seven million dollars, the video for MJ and Janet’s "Scream" is still the most expensive music ever made even when adjusted for inflation. What made "Scream" so expensive was the elaborate sets and choreography involved, with three different sets uniquely designed for the video, in which one of the directors described as a "military operation." The most famous scene involves Micahel Jackson in a science fiction space capsule. The video would go on to influence other award winning videos like TLC’s "No Scrubs" and "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama and Chris Brown.
Madonna – Die Another Day
There is a sound of music echoing
Through the open door
And in the field there is
Another sound tinkling in the cotton:
Chains of bondmen dragging on the ground.
—Arna Bontemps (1902–1973)
The theme song to the James Bond film of the same name, Madonna joined the ranks of artists such as Nancy Sinatra, Paul McCartney and Tina Turner to contribute original theme songs to the Bond film franchise. Madonna’s song was one of the most successful Bond theme’s since Duran Duran’s "A View to a Kill" and was include on her album "American Life." The music video featured elaborate scenes and references to famous Bond scenes and villains, and even the Luke Skywalker lightsaber battle with Darth Vader making it the second most expensive video ever made.
Alan McGee is a freelance writer from MN.