The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos

There may be no better backstory in the history of music videos than that for the Mark Romanek–directed clip of Johnny Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt.” Filmed just seven months before the Man in Black’s death, the video juxtaposes images of the then 71-year-old Cash with footage of him from his earlier years. Romanek doesn’t romanticize the legendary country star: filming took place at the derelict House of Cash museum in Nashville, and the camera lingers over fruit and flowers in various states of decay (“That’s when I got the idea that maybe we could be extremely candid about the state of Johnny’s health, as candid as Johnny has always been in his songs,” said Romanek). It won a slew of awards, remains many people’s favorite video of all time and tugs at the heartstrings upon each and every watch. By the time it ends, with Cash closing a piano and brushing his hands over it, his epitaph has not so much been written as filmed.