Director Wendy Morgan’s video for this track from Gnarls Barkley’s second album is a sucker punch of joy. Morgan (who also helmed the similarly energetic promo for Janelle Monáe’s “Tightrope”) takes Barkley’s three-minute piece of percussive pop perfection and matches it to a story about a group of young men and women who discover a magical door to another dimension. Filmed in Jamaica and incorporating dancehall-inflected choreography, the video finds power in the movement of its Doc Martens–wearing local stars, who clap, sway, leap, slide and stomp across the screen with abandon. The push and pull between their synchronicity and wild free-for-all dancing (skip ahead to 1:25 for an example) make this clip dynamic in a way few others are.
The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos
Thirty years ago, MTV began to beam a budding art form — the music video — into homes across the U.S. TIME takes a look back at the most memorable clips from three decades' worth of music television
Gnarls Barkley, ‘Going On’ (2008)
Full List
1980s
- Talking Heads, ‘Once in a Lifetime’ (1980)
- Michael Jackson, ‘Thriller’ (1984)
- Godley and Creme, ‘Cry’ (1985)
- a-Ha, ‘Take On Me’ (1985)
- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’ (1985)
- Run-DMC, ‘Walk This Way’ (1986)
- Peter Gabriel, ‘Sledgehammer’ (1986)
- Madonna, ‘Express Yourself’ (1989)
1990s
- Sinéad O’Connor, ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ (1990)
- Nirvana, ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ (1993)
- Nine Inch Nails, ‘Closer’ (1994)
- The Beastie Boys, ‘Sabotage’ (1994)
- Weezer, ‘Buddy Holly’ (1994)
- Jamiroquai, ‘Virtual Insanity’ (1997)
- Missy Elliott, ‘The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)’ (1997)
- Pulp, ‘This Is Hardcore’ (1998)
- Blur, ‘Coffee & TV’ (1999)
- Björk, ‘All Is Full of Love’ (1999)
- Chemical Brothers, ‘Let Forever Be’ (1999)
- Fatboy Slim, ‘Praise You’ (1999)
2000s
- D’Angelo, ‘Untitled (How Does It Feel)’ (2000)
- Fatboy Slim, ‘Weapon of Choice’ (2001)
- Johnny Cash, ‘Hurt’ (2003)
- The White Stripes, ‘The Hardest Button to Button’ (2005)
- OK Go, ‘Here It Goes Again’ (2006)
- Gnarls Barkley, ‘Going On’ (2008)
- Beyoncé, ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’ (2008)
- Lady Gaga, ‘Bad Romance’ (2009)
- Kanye West, ‘Runaway’ (2010)
- Arcade Fire, ‘We Used To Wait/The Wilderness Downtown’ (2010)
