The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos

The entire medium of music video owes Kevin Godley and Lol Creme an enormous debt. Established musicians in their own right — they formed a double act after splitting from the band 10cc — they were also behind some of the greatest videos of all time. If this list had stretched to, say, 50 clips, we’d surely be writing about their genius for their work with the Police (“Every Breath You Take”), Duran Duran (“Girls on Film”), Herbie Hancock (“Rockit”) and Frankie Goes to Hollywood (“Two Tribes”). But their most significant achievement might have been the self-directed video for their own track “Cry.” Certainly the most simple premise on this list, it was a pioneering example of morphing, the technique behind (in this case) blending two faces. (Fast-forward a few years and director John Landis would go the same route, albeit in color, at the end of Michael Jackson’s “Black or White.”) And while some of the actors aren’t exactly being subtle — hamming it up doesn’t even begin to come close to describe what they’re doing — beauty lies in the staggeringly seamless approach.