‘Vous Avez Dit Bizarre’ N°316 – Vintage 90s Music Videos

1 . Tori Amos – Cornflake Girl

“Cornflake Girl” by Tori Amos strikes a dissonant chord, both musically and thematically, with its unusual blend of piano-driven melodies and lyrics tackling betrayal among women.

Released as the first single from her 1994 album, “Under the Pink,” the track lures listeners with its catchy rhythm while confronting harsher realities, taking inspiration from Alice Walker’s “Possessing the Secret of Joy.”

The seemingly whimsical title belies the song’s depth, using “cornflake girl” as a biting metaphor for shallow and untrustworthy women, contrasted with the more resilient “raisin girl.”

Amos, co-producing alongside Eric Rosse, weaves an intricate musical narrative, supported by Merry Clayton’s standout backing vocals, adding subtle grit to the track’s ethereal tone.

Commercially, the song enjoyed strong international success, peaking at number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and topping Iceland’s charts, though its U.S. performance remained modest at number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The accompanying music video leans into surreal imagery, amplifying the themes of rebellion and estrangement through a lens of feminist resilience.

Even beyond its charts and visuals, the track carries peculiar historical echoes, referencing John Harvey Kellogg’s prudish anti-pleasure crusades, enriching its layered symbolism.

Like much of Amos’ catalog, “Cornflake Girl” bridges the abrasive and introspective, offering a sharp critique wrapped in enigmatic tones that continue to captivate audiences decades later.

Featured on the 1994 album “Under the Pink “.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

2 . OMC – On The Run

OMC’s “On The Run” captures a frantic energy that’s hard to miss, blending the eclectic styles that define the band’s signature sound—an unpredictable fusion of alternative hip hop, surf rock, and urban Pasifika vibes.

First released in 1996 as part of their breakout album *How Bizarre*, the track finds itself firmly eclipsed by the album’s title hit, yet remains a charming footnote to the era’s genre-blurring musical landscape.

The production, helmed by Pauly Fuemana in collaboration with Alan Jansson, is both polished and rough-edged, with its layered arrangement hinting at the duo’s penchant for experimentation.

Its chart performance barely registered, peaking modestly across scattered markets, but what it lacked in commercial achievement, it made up for in the cultural weight of representing an Auckland suburb’s ironic ambitions—hence the “Otara Millionaires Club” moniker.

Though its urgency and pulsating rhythm evoke motion and escape, the song’s existence feels more like a sprint through the backroads of OMC’s fame rather than a main road to their legacy.

Today, “On The Run” lingers in retrospectives and YouTube uploads, offering a glimpse into the fleeting brilliance of an act whose greatest success often overshadowed their nuanced, albeit inconsistent, repertoire.

Featured on the 1996 album “How Bizarre”.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Wikipedia

3 . Alisha’s Attic – Wish I Were You

Alisha’s Attic’s “Wish I Were You” hails from their debut album “Alisha Rules the World,” a record that mirrors the quirky sensibilities of its creators, sisters Karen and Shelly Poole.

Crafted with input from Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame, the song captures a unique blend of pop’s brighter tones with an undercurrent of melancholic charm, a dynamic that defined much of the group’s output.

The track’s commercial peak came in 1997, reaching No. 29 on the UK Singles Chart, but its resonance lies less in numbers and more in its layered composition and lyrical wit.

The accompanying music video, with its theatrical bent and stylistic flair, exemplifies the group’s balance of whimsy and artistry, carving out a visual identity that complemented their sound.

While it didn’t fully propel them into pop’s upper echelons, it cemented Alisha’s Attic as a duo committed to crafting inventive, if perhaps slightly overlooked, entries within ’90s pop chanson.

This is a group for listeners wanting something less conformist—idiosyncratic yet relatable, melodic yet finely textured.

Featured on the 1998 album “Illumina”.

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4 . PJ Harvey – The Wind

PJ Harvey’s “The Wind,” a standout track from her 1998 album *Is This Desire?*, swirls through mysticism and stark minimalism, crafting an eerie homage to Saint Catherine, steeped in the folklore of St. Catherine’s Chapel in Abbotsbury.

Harvey leans into her penchant for experimentation here, layering sparse instrumentation with a quiet urgency that flirts with trip-hop. It is less of a melody and more of a hypnotic lament that pulses alongside the haunting story woven through her lyrics.

The track, produced alongside Mick Harvey, Rob Ellis, and Flood, plays with contradiction: dreamy yet unsettling, sacred yet earthbound. The sound feels like it’s suspended in time while echoing Harvey’s fascination with history and place.

Matching the song’s mood, Maria Mochnacz’s accompanying music video frames Harvey against stark rural landscapes, amplifying the sense of isolation and devotion. “The Wind” doesn’t just play—it haunts, lingers, and challenges its listener to sit with its unease.

Featured on the 1998 album “Is This Desire?”.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Official Site

5 . Daisy Chainsaw – Love Your Money

The early ’90s alternative scene bore many oddities, yet “Love Your Money” by Daisy Chainsaw stands out for its peculiar blend of chaos and catchiness.

Released in 1991, this single from their debut album “Eleventeen” is a blitz of spiky guitar riffs that feel deliberately ragged, paired with KatieJane Garside’s wild-eyed vocal delivery that teeters between childlike sing-song and guttural shrieks.

The song’s frenzied energy clearly struck a chord, landing it at No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart, an impressive feat for a band reveling in such controlled absurdity.

Much of its charm lies in its refusal to commit to any traditional structure—less polished rock anthem and more gleeful tantrum.

The accompanying video, chaotic and vibrant under Gina Birch’s direction, amplified the song’s DIY punk ethos, earning it visibility on MTV’s alternative showcases of the time.

For all its rawness, the track carries a hook that nestles itself in your brain, as if mocking its own accessibility.

While the album “Eleventeen” saw moderate success, peaking at No. 62 on the UK Albums Chart, “Love Your Money” remains its most enduring relic, a snapshot of when messy imperfection could find both fanfare and airtime.

Even now, it sparks discussion online, where nostalgic fans dissect every screech and clang, reminding us that brilliance sometimes wears tattered clothing.

Featured on the 1992 album “Eleventeen”.

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6 . Sebadoh – Flame

“Flame,” a track that lives in two timelines, finds itself at the crossroads of Sebadoh’s evolution as indie rock torchbearers. One story ties it to their 1994 “Bakesale” era, drenched in lo-fi grit and melodic structuring, while the other fixes its spot in 1999’s “The Sebadoh,” under Lou Barlow’s introspective lens. Either way, the song is emotionally raw, driving, and tethered to relationship themes, a hallmark of the band’s catalog.

If 1994’s “Flame” feels like an intimate diary entry scrawled in the margins of alternative music’s mid-’90s boom, buoyed by Fort Apache Studios’ historic indie vibes, then its later iteration has 1999 stamped all over it—the bigger studio polish subtly modifying its DNA. Thanks to the production chops of Eric Masunaga and Rich Costey, the track emerges with cleaner lines, without entirely abandoning its indie core.

Its chart performance tells a tale: under the 1999 spotlight, it scraped into the UK Singles Chart at No. 30. For a genre allergic to gloss and excess, this isn’t shabby; for Sebadoh, it’s further proof of their resilience.

The music video tied to the ’94 version adds a scrappy visual texture to the mix—a hazy vignette of band shots stitched with abstract imagery. True to their ethos, it’s rough but sincere, leaving just enough in the frame to stay enigmatic.

Stripped-down but not simplistic, “Flame” flickers and burns with palpable emotional tension. Its legacy may not carry mainstream glory, but it nests comfortably among the gems of ’90s indie rock, where authenticity still matters more than sheen.

Featured on the 1999 album “The Sebadoh”.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

7 . Enya – Anywhere Is

“Anywhere Is” by Enya sits at the intersection of escapism and existential pondering, wrapped neatly in layered vocals and lush production.

Released in November 1995 as part of *The Memory of Trees*, it charts a curious course: ethereal, yet oddly upbeat—like a pop song caught daydreaming about the cosmos.

The track finds Enya collaborating once again with Roma Ryan for lyrics that flirt with abstraction, offering fragmented glimpses of personal and universal journeys.

Nicky Ryan, the song’s producer, manages to balance the sparseness of ambient textures with the accessibility of an uptempo melody, steering it away from being a mere sonic backdrop.

The result is captivating in its contradictions: simultaneously meditative and restless, a waltz that feels as if it’s running to catch up with itself.

The music video, directed by David Scheinmann, matches this mood with dreamlike visuals that don’t so much explain the song as heighten its sense of mystery.

Commercially, its numbers are decent, peaking well in the UK and Ireland while making minor splashes elsewhere, but the song’s charm is less about chart performance and more about its layered personality.

The silver certification in the UK for 200,000+ sales reflects both its wide appeal and niche status—ubiquitous enough to be recognized but not omnipresent.

Enya herself admits to the complexities of sculpting the track, shifting it from a march-like rhythm to its final form—an evolution that mirrors the essence of the song’s theme: searching, shifting, and not quite landing.

Its critical reception hovers in the realm of respectful admiration, nodding to its harmonic intricacies while marveling at its ability to masquerade as something simpler—a pop song, but with layers of thought and craft just beneath the surface.

Featured on the 1995 album “The Memory of Trees”.

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8 . Carter U.S.M. – Rubbish

“Rubbish” by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine barrels through with a brash synth-punk pulse, blending sequenced beats and sharp-witted lyrics into a chaotic concoction of indie commentary.

Released in the early ’90s and tied to their debut album “101 Damnations,” the track delivers incisive observations cloaked in the band’s wry humor, proving their knack for weaving the mundane with the biting.

Built on Simon Painter’s production at Important Notice Studios, the sound carves out space for drum machines, bass loops, and layered samples that defy genre conventions while complementing the unpolished vocal delivery.

The band’s live performances of such tracks routinely escalated their cult status, with their Reading Festival set in 1991 turning no-shows into a Carter-driven frenzy.

While “Rubbish” never stood in the spotlight as a single, its raw energy and clever wordplay ripple through the foundations of the era’s indie scene, stamping the duo’s irreverence in the annals of underground innovation.

Featured on the 1991 album “30 Something”.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Official Site

9 . Suede – Saturday Night

“Saturday Night,” released as Suede’s third single from their album *Coming Up* in 1997, captures the spirit of a Britpop era enamored with youthful liberation and introspection.

Written by Brett Anderson and Richard Oakes, this mid-tempo track trades the frenetic energy of Britpop’s peak for a reflective tone, pairing lush instrumentation with Anderson’s evocative lyrics.

Chart performance was solid—peaking at number six in the UK, alongside notable spots in Denmark, Finland, and Iceland—as the song cemented its commercial appeal across Europe.

The accompanying music video, directed by Pedro Romhanyi, eschews flash for simplicity, offering a continuous panning shot of passengers inside a London Underground train, with Anderson’s pensive delivery anchoring the atmosphere.

The production, overseen by longtime collaborator Ed Buller, enhances the track’s sense of poignant intimacy, a notable departure in tone from the more brash confidence of earlier singles like “Trash.”

Critically, “Saturday Night” received mixed reactions, with some drawing parallels to Elton John’s “Song for Guy” or Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight,” though others admired its earnestness within an album often celebrated for its biting exuberance.

Performed live during key television appearances, including *Top of the Pops,* the song further reinforced Suede’s artistic pivot towards emotional vulnerability, a shift that added nuance to their swagger-heavy Britpop identity.

Far from a mere afterthought on *Coming Up,* the track’s wistful narrative and understated grandeur ensured its lasting place in the band’s catalog, while hinting at deeper creative ambitions beneath Suede’s lacquered Britpop sheen.

Featured on the 1996 album “Coming Up“.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

10 . The Prodigy – Poison

“Poison” by The Prodigy is a gritty concoction of defiance, rhythm, and irreverence that refuses to be pigeonholed.

Released in 1995, it sits comfortably at the intersection of punk and electronic rebellion, wrapped in breakbeat techno bruises and hardcore swagger.

Crafted by Liam Howlett, with brash vocals from Maxim Reality, the song slinks and strikes with an audacious swagger.

The accompanying video, courtesy of Walter Stern, places the group in a dank, basement-like setting—a haunting homage to the raw, unpolished edge of their sound.

By the time Keith Flint dives into mud-wrestling, it’s clear: nothing about this track panders to the sanitized mainstream.

Its percussion shamelessly borrows from the rich drumming vocabulary of Skull Snaps and The Winstons, while Bernard Purdie’s groove gives it a heartbeat that’s alive and incendiary.

Chart-topping in Finland and a soundtrack mainstay in places like *The Jackal* and *FIFA 21 Volta*, “Poison” maintains its venom years later.

Though deeply rooted in the ’90s angst and experimentation, it sidesteps nostalgia traps, remaining a snarling testament to The Prodigy’s rebellious ethos.

Featured on the 1994 album “Music for the Jilted Generation“.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

11 . Enigma – Beyond The Invisible

Released in 1996 as part of the album “Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!”, “Beyond The Invisible” sits firmly within the electronic, ambient, and new-age genres, serving as an archetype of Michael Cretu’s production ethos.

The track melds Gregorian chants with samples from the Latvian folk tune “Sajāja Bramaņi,” creating a hypnotic fusion of tradition and modernity that resists simplistic classification.

While Sandra Cretu’s ethereal vocal contributions elevate the song’s atmospheric layers, it’s the interplay between light and dark themes, coupled with nods to reincarnation and Buddhism, that gives the single its conceptual heft.

Its commercial performance varied widely: chart-topping in Greece but making only a modest splash in the US, where it peaked at #81 on the Billboard Hot 100—a geographical polarity reflective of its niche appeal.

The music video adds another surreal dimension, showcasing Finnish ice skaters in an otherworldly forest setting, an image that complements the song’s dreamlike qualities.

Despite not clinching awards, the song’s enduring charm lies in its ability to juxtapose esoteric ideas with accessible melodies, a balance that has drawn both critical acclaim and a fervent listener base.

Featured on the 1996 album “Le Roi Est Mort Vive Le Roi!”.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Wikipedia

12 . Soul Asylum – Black Gold

“Black Gold” by Soul Asylum occupies a unique space in the early ’90s alternative rock catalog, grappling with heavy themes while maintaining a melodic accessibility that defined the band’s breakout era.

The track’s title serves as a loaded metaphor for oil, a commodity drenched in global conflict and capitalist tensions, which the lyrics transform into a subtle critique of societal consumption and competition.

Dave Pirner’s raw, slightly weary vocal delivery adds an edge of personal urgency, elevating the song beyond a straightforward rock anthem into something more introspective.

Instrumentally, the song leans on a steady, stripped-down arrangement without ever feeling sparse, its restrained guitar riffs and resolute drumbeat creating a kind of purposeful march.

The track hits its groove early and stays there, forgoing overblown theatrics in favor of something more grounded—and possibly more lasting.

Released as part of their 1992 album *Grave Dancers Union*, “Black Gold” quickly rose to prominence on the back of both MTV airplay and a broader collective anxiety over the Gulf War and resource-driven conflicts.

Zack Snyder’s music video, long before his Hollywood blockbuster days, mirrored the song’s natural tension, presenting simple yet evocative imagery that avoided excess and kept the focus on the track’s emotional weight.

While overshadowed commercially by “Runaway Train,” which became their signature hit, “Black Gold” remains a staple in the band’s setlists, holding its own as a cornerstone of their artistic legacy.

As polished as its production is, the song’s appeal lies in its refusal to offer easy answers, leaving its themes open-ended yet undeniably pointed.

In retrospect, “Black Gold” is not merely a relic of alternative rock’s golden decade but a prescient commentary on long-standing issues, maintaining resonance well beyond its chart tenure.

Featured on the 1992 album “Grave Dancers Union”.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Official Site