It’s time for part two of our list of the greatest motorbike music videos ever made, after part one caused some controversy and plenty of suggestions.
Motorbikes, as you will agree, are one of, if not, the coolest form of transport as many musicians can attest. We have trawled though the internet to find the best, the worst and the weirdest motorcycles in music video history.
So sit back, relax and enjoy watching your favourite singers and bands perform their hit singles on every two-wheeled vehicle imaginable during part two of the greatest motorbike music videos ever made.
1. Lana Del Rey – Ride
Lana’s whole schtick is basically “goth vintage”. It’s yer standard “girl who likes the fifties” style. Still, it’s a winning formula as she’s managed to knock out four albums.
The video to Ride is ten minutes, including a good three minutes either side of the actual song featuring a meandering spoken word monologue. She’s a troubled girl seeking love in all the wrong places, including with an outlaw motorcycle club. Although in the context of the video she’s almost certainly at her happiest being driven through yet more stunning American scenery and larking about a desert campfire with the kind of clichéd American bikers that almost certainly haven’t really existed for a few decades now.
2. Kanye West – Bound 2
Leave it to the biggest rock star on the planet(© K West) to create the ultimate motorcycle video. Premiering in 2013, it features his then fiancé Kim Kardashian not wearing very much, sitting in a position that would definitely reduce Kanye’s vision if they were actually driving. Luckily they’re just sitting in a studio. One of those strange videos that starts off a bit silly, and stays silly all the way through to the end but is done with such conviction that you can’t help but be won over.
3. Iggy Pop – Sunday
This video highlights one of the problems with compiling these lists. When it was released, the presence of a motorcycle was enough for some sites to base their whole coverage around it.
“Wow,” thinks the motorcycle pop video fan. “Iggy Pop doing Tai Chi in his garden and Josh Homme driving a motorcycle around Joshua Tree? That sounds amazing!” And, well, it does deliver, technically. Iggy does indeed do Tai Chi in his garden and Josh Homme does indeed drive to his regular studio at Rancho de la Luna, looking effortlessly cool with good hair, before pootling off into the desert on what looks like a sweet custom bobber. But the bike is in the video for like 5 entire seconds. More time is spent on Josh chopping wood, but you don’t see any sites making that the hook of their coverage. Anyway.
4. Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See
Managing to survive the psychic shame of being famous enough to become the band politicians namedrop in an attempt to sound vaguely familiar with popular culture, Arctic Monkeys went to California, became mates with Queens of the Stone Age and reinvented themselves as real adult rock and rollers with a certain amount of success. They’re big fans of motorcycles, which have made some good appearances in their videos. In Suck It And See drummer Matt drives through the California desert with his groovy biker friends and a model riding pillion.
5. Grimes – Oblivion
Grimes, or Clare as she’s known to her friends, is one of the boldest talents to emerge in the last decade and at the vanguard of people making cool pop videos right now. The video to Oblivion features her singing/miming at various sporting events, including motocross. Apparently this footage was shot guerrilla style, without permission, and all the reactions of the people around her were real.
6. Migos – Bad & Boujee
Migos are a group from Georgia. With its catchy “raindrop, drop top” hook, Bad & Boujee quickly became a meme, probably the highest form of success in the modern world. The main concept behind the video is the contradiction between the luxurious and the everyday.
7. Richard Ashcroft – They Don’t Own Me
Sound the “Britpop guy’s solo career” alarm, because it’s that guy from The Verve.
They Don’t Own Me, got a video he alternates between driving around on a lovely vintage Triumph and strumming away at his guitar.
8. Queens of the Stone Age – Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
Now, Queens of the Stone Age are one of the best bands of the last couple of decades and entirely steeped in the lore and iconography of Bein’ Cool, which has to include motorcycles somewhere right? Their first motorcycle featuring video is for The lost art of keeping a secret.
9. Wooden Shjips – Motorbike
Wooden Shjips’ managed to get a good video, with Super 8 footage of someone driving a Kawasaki from San Francisco to Los Angeles. There’s something very appealing about the aesthetic of super 8 film, it makes everything look old and good.
10. Charli XCX – Superlove
Pop starlette supreme Charli XCX goes to Japan and hangs out with some Bōsōzoku, in this hit single.
What have we missed? Let us know on social media and your recommendation could appear in our next instalment. Stay tuned for part three.
https://www.bikesure.co.uk/bikesureblog/2015/11/bikesures-top-10-motorcycle-songs.html
