‘Vous Avez Dit Bizarre’ N°533 – Vintage 90s Music Videos

1 . Black Grape – Kelly’s Heroes

“Kelly’s Heroes” from Black Grape is a cheeky and irreverent satire wrapped in a mashup of hip hop swagger and rock attitude.

Landing in the upper echelons of the UK Singles Chart in 1995, it flaunts a compelling guitar riff under Shaun Ryder’s tongue-in-cheek verses, a hallmark of his post-Happy Mondays evolution.

Co-produced by Stephen Lironi and Danny Saber, the track humorously dismantles celebrity idolatry while tossing in absurd references—spanning from a Bruce Wayne nod to a reimagined, black Jesus.

The original hip hop-inspired lyrics, reportedly influenced by Wu-Tang Clan, underwent a facelift to sidestep controversy, resulting in the sardonic quip, “heroes sink like subs.”

Black Grape’s signature brazenness finds new form here, reflecting Ryder’s knack for blending cultural critique with absurdist humor.

It’s a reminder of their knack for taking rock tradition and flipping it on its head, without losing the beat.

Featured on the 1995 album “It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah”.

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2 . Sleeper – Inbetweener

Released in 1995, Sleeper’s “Inbetweener” finds its footing in the Britpop era’s heyday, standing out as a punchy anthem of suburban discontent.

The track slices through themes of mundane aspirations with Louise Wener’s slyly detached vocals, backed by jangly guitar work and a rhythmic tightness that speaks to its indie rock craftsmanship.

While it thrived on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at 16, its charm lies less in numbers and more in the breezy yet biting wit of its lyrics, which subtly critique suburban ennui without overindulgence.

Produced by Paul Corkett and housed under Indolent Records, “Inbetweener” deftly captures the spirit of mid-’90s British music, blending cheeky storytelling with a catchy melody designed for a sing-along moment.

The production, though plagued by minor technical hiccups, doesn’t mask the song’s raw energy—a small, almost endearing imperfection in an otherwise sharp composition.

Adding to its lore is the utterly oddball UK video featuring Dale Winton shaking Pringles cans like shakers in a supermarket, a tongue-in-cheek choice aligning with Britpop’s quirky tendencies.

For the North American crowd, Arista executed a toned-down video effort, perhaps reflecting a less irreverent vibe for that market.

The track is forever tied to Sleeper’s breakthrough moment, bolstered by their stint opening for Blur’s *Parklife* tour, where they rode the Britpop wave with evident ease yet retained their individuality.

Ultimately, “Inbetweener” champions the ordinary with a wry smirk, serving as both critique and celebration of the everyday, a quality that cements it as an essential entry in the Britpop catalog.

Featured on the 1995 album “Smart “.

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3 . Inspiral Carpets – Saturn 5

“Saturn 5,” by Inspiral Carpets, is not just a track—it’s a frenetic cosmic trip wrapped in indie rock defiance and 90s synth-pop swagger.

Released in 1994, it lands squarely in the overlap between the Britpop era and Madchester’s tail-end, its pulsating energy carried by a genre-blending mix of electronic and rock influences.

Recorded at Suite 16 Studios, with Pascal Gabriel as producer, the song’s production balances jangly guitar riffs and a swirling, galactic vibe stitched together with steady, driving rhythms.

The Saturn 5 space-themed video, dotted with Soviet imagery, is oddly jaunty in its approach, contrasting historical gravitas with irreverent zest.

If a ringtone for one’s hypothetical funeral sounds both bizarre and fitting, that’s precisely the duality this track introduces with its relentless propulsion.

Despite peaking modestly on the UK Singles Chart at 20, the song’s Indie Chart presence at number 3 underscores its appeal to die-hards of the underground scene.

Mark E. Smith even makes an intriguing sidebar cameo elsewhere on the same EP, a curious overlap of snarled sarcasm and Inspiral Carpets’ earnest dynamism.

It’s fun, chaotic, and somehow outlasts itself, like an artifact from an era where being quirky and bold was a mission statement, not a marketing ploy.

Featured on the 1994 album “Devil Hopping”.

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4 . Cast – Sandstorm

Released in 1996, “Sandstorm” by Cast is a quintessential product of the Britpop era, carrying both the triumph and clichés of the genre on its shoulders.

Taken from their debut album *All Change* and produced by John Leckie, the track pivots around energetic guitar riffs and John Power’s soaring vocals, creating a soundscape that’s as much a time capsule of mid-‘90s UK rock as it is a reminder of the movement’s saturation point.

The single performed respectably, reaching number eight on the UK Singles Chart, proving that Cast had firmly hooked themselves into the Britpop band’s gold-standard formula—relatively big choruses and lyrics you’d sing without really thinking too hard about them.

The CD and cassette track listings sprinkled a little variety: live recordings of “Back of My Mind” and “Alright” offer minor charm, though they hardly revolutionize the experience.

While “Sandstorm” doesn’t push any boundaries, it succeeds in doing exactly what it sets out to do: deliver catchy melodies with a straightforward, no-frills Britpop appeal.

Thematically unremarkable but effective for its genre, it’s a track that continues to occupy its niche comfortably amongst fans who hold nostalgia for Liverpool in 1996—always slightly jangly, always slightly earnest, and always firmly tethered to the cultural moment that birthed it.

Featured on the 1995 album “All Change “.

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5 . Monster Magnet – Powertrip

*Powertrip* by Monster Magnet channels an unbridled fusion of heavy metal, garage rock, and spaced-out psychedelia.

Released in 1998, this album captures the band’s swaggering embrace of excess, grit, and existential musings, with a freshly sharpened edge.

The opening track, “Crop Circle,” comes out swinging with distorted guitars and a near-apocalyptic atmosphere, hinting at a cosmic confrontation between human ambition and universal indifference.

“Powertrip,” the title track, doubles as the band’s mission statement—a thunderous ode to rebellion, lust, and the raw thrill of living dangerously, crackling with unfiltered fervor.

On “Bummer,” a brooding undercurrent takes hold, with frontman Dave Wyndorf spitting sardonic lyrics that twist personal strife into a slow-burning anthem of discontent.

The album’s undeniable highlight, “Space Lord,” blurs devotion and dominance, pairing stomping riffs with a hook tailor-made for arenas, while its surreal undertones add an edge of irony.

With vivid lyrics and a tight-knit lineup—including Wyndorf’s charismatic delivery and Jon Kleiman’s pounding drums—the album thrives on its dynamic interplay between aggression and introspection.

Its massive success in the UK charts, reinforced by wild music videos, grants *Powertrip* an undeniable staying power while epitomizing the late ’90s rock ethos: unrelenting, self-aware, and gloriously messy.

Featured on the 1998 album “Powertrip”.

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

6 . The Associates – Just Can’t Say Goodbye

“Just Can’t Say Goodbye” by The Associates is a curious blend of emotional introspection and synth-pop melodrama, casting a shadow of yearning that feels both modern and curiously dated.

Released in 1991 as part of their album *Wild and Lonely*, the track failed to ignite much chart momentum—peaking at 79 on the UK Singles Chart—but its layered production and earnest delivery reveal an artist grappling with the ghosts of former glories.

It’s hard not to hear the faint echoes of Billy Mackenzie’s earlier, boundary-pushing work with Alan Rankine, even though this stands as a purely Mackenzie-led effort post-Rankine’s departure in 1982.

The song’s experimental-pop DNA is unmistakable, but here it feels tempered, dulled slightly by a glossy synth sheen seemingly intent on courting radio favor rather than untamed invention.

There’s a haunting beauty in Mackenzie’s voice—an unrestrained falsetto that teeters between theatrical and vulnerable—but the production sometimes cages what should be wild.

Its thematic backbone of longing and self-reflection, while relatable, leans heavily on familiar tropes, lacking some of the razor-sharp wit or avant-garde risk their earlier work embodied.

Still, the effort to meld post-punk eccentricity with accessible hooks situates it as an intriguing artifact of shifting early ’90s soundscapes, born at a time when genres bled together in unexpected ways.

Oddly, the chart figures bear a convoluted story, as versions under different titles (“Fire to Ice” in the Netherlands, “Fever” in Ireland) failed equally to make a dent, despite some thematic overlap and Mackenzie’s undeniable star presence.

While this track lacks the fire of their ’80s output, it does showcase Mackenzie’s relentless ambition to adapt and surprise, even if the results feel uneven or tethered to industry expectations.

Decades later, this effort reads like a missed connection: heartfelt, sincere, and stylistically restless, yet somehow never landing quite where it wants to go.

Featured on the 1990 album “Wild and Lonely”.

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7 . Chumbawamba – Tubthumping

Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” crashes onto the scene with a rowdy swagger that’s part pub anthem, part protest chant, and entirely unforgettable.

Released in 1997 as part of the album *Tubthumper*, it rockets up the UK charts to No. 2 and climbs to No. 6 in the US, proving that a song about resilience and booze can unify the masses across continents.

The track’s horn-driven, funky structure envelopes a sing-along chorus that feels equally at home at a rally or a rowdy karaoke night.

Despite its mainstream appeal and EMI backing, it doesn’t completely shed Chumbawamba’s anarcho-punk roots.

“Tubthumping” toes the line between political edge and pop accessibility, with its title nodding to the act of aggressive political protesting.

Even its origins are unconventional, inspired by guitarist Boff Whalley’s neighbor belting out “Danny Boy.”

The band’s penchant for shock value extends to pelting Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott with water at the 1998 BRIT Awards in solidarity with Liverpool dockworkers, reaffirming their commitment to activism.

The accompanying music video, available on YouTube, amplifies the song’s scrappy energy with visuals that reflect its defiant spirit.

While its chart success solidifies it as a one-hit wonder in the eyes of many, “Tubthumping” remains a curious blend of punk ethos and pop sheen, a rebellious shout dressed in radio-friendly hooks.

Featured on the 1997 album “Tubthumper”.

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8 . The Psychedelic Furs – House

“House” by The Psychedelic Furs lands squarely in the late ’80s alternative rock milieu, polished yet gritty, with metallic riffs that stubbornly stick to a grey area between melancholic and brash.

From the moment Richard Butler’s dusky voice kicks in, the track feels drenched in a fog of regret, practically dripping with the age-old themes of fleeting time and disillusionment.

It’s a song about decay—of relationships, illusions, maybe even the house itself—but wrapped in such a sharp sonic package that you might not notice the cracks in its foundation until the second or third play.

Co-produced with David M. Allen, the production leans on a deliberate restraint, never too polished, refusing to bow to the bright, drum-machine-heavy aesthetic that plagued much of the era’s pop-driven New Wave spillovers.

By turning to their roots on the “Book of Days” album, the Furs welcomed back Vince Ely, an original member, and you can feel the revitalized energy as the band straddles the line between their earlier angular abrasiveness and late-career introspection.

The track did snag #1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks, though its #90 showing on the UK Singles Chart feels like a lukewarm shrug from their homeland—a curious irony considering the band’s British origin.

Its music video, predictably drenched in the kind of grey-toned aesthetics that scream “1989,” can still be stumbled upon online, for those interested in watching Butler saunter around with existential angst painted across his every gesture.

In the grand scheme of The Psychedelic Furs’ catalog, “House” might not carry the immediate iconic weight of “Love My Way” or “Pretty in Pink,” but it’s a testament to a band standing defiantly against entering autopilot mode in their later years.

Featured on the 1989 album “Book of Days”.

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9 . Frank Black – Men In Black

“Men in Black” from Frank Black’s 1995 album “The Cult of Ray” sits at a curious intersection of science fiction musings and alternative rock grit.

With its jagged dynamics, veering between subdued verses and bursts of noisy chorus, the track balances cryptic lyricism with sharp melodic hooks.

Producer Eric Drew Feldman sharpens the edges, crafting a sound that feels both raw and calculated, mirroring the alien intrigue woven into the song’s narrative.

Thematically, it flirts with the paranoia and wonder of UFO culture, though it never fully commits to exposition, letting the ambiguity run wild.

Its unconventional time signatures feel like a nod to Frank Black’s knack for pushing structural boundaries, even as the repeated chorus provides a sense of grounding amidst the chaos.

The music video, reintroduced to audiences on YouTube in 2018, reinforces the interstellar vibe with visual oddities, though perhaps not much more substance than the track itself.

What’s most striking is how the piece channels the tension between the mundane and the extraordinary, embodied in extraterrestrial observation as metaphor for life’s lesser-understood phenomena.

Ultimately, it recalls a time when rock wasn’t afraid to court the strange, but doesn’t entirely propel itself beyond the atmosphere of its influences.

Featured on the 1996 album “The Cult of Ray”.

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10 . Lush – Single Girl

“Single Girl” by Lush is a track from 1996 that captures the band’s pivot towards a more Britpop-oriented sound, shedding much of their earlier shoegaze haze but leaving traces of their dream pop origins intact.

Despite its bright sonics, the song mirrors a poignant undercurrent of loneliness, juxtaposing buoyant melodies with lyrics that dig into the aching realities of romantic detachment and self-awareness.

Initially teetering on the edge of being discarded for sounding too polished for the group’s usual approach, it was salvaged when producer Pete Bartlett championed its commercial potential.

Recorded at Protocol Studios in London, the track reflects a clean, radio-friendly aesthetic, underscored by crystalline production that contrasts with Lush’s formerly layered textures.

The accompanying video, featuring actors from “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” adds an odd cinematic flourish, though its visual charm stops short of softening the song’s introspective narrative.

Ultimately, “Single Girl” straddles the line between accessible pop and the band’s more introspective roots, resulting in a piece that alienates neither camp but doesn’t feel wholly at home in either.

Featured on the 1996 album “Lovelife”.

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11 . Apollo 440 – Astral America

“Astral America” by Apollo 440 plays like a neon-lit kaleidoscope spinning in the shadow of Jean Baudrillard’s existential theories.

The track, nestled within the 1994 album *Millennium Fever,* combines frenetic techno beats with an airy electronic polish, landing just high enough on the UK Singles Chart at number 36 to leave a faint yet shimmering mark.

Released under Stealth Sonic Recordings and distributed by Epic Records, it straddles the line between postmodern commentary and club-ready euphoria without looking back.

The song takes thematic cues from Baudrillard’s book *America,* distilling his reflective commentary on hyperreality and a culture addicted to surface sensations into sound rather than prose.

Its layered production unfolds like a musically encoded manifesto, yet it trades cohesive lyrical storytelling for abstraction and mood, mirroring the fragmented identity of its conceptual roots.

Without an accompanying video, “Astral America” remains a sonic entity untethered to visual cues, an intriguing choice that amplifies its introspective, almost spectral quality.

Listeners seeking clear anthemic highs or traditional hooks may find its swirling, intellectualized aesthetic elusive, but its ambition settles into an oddly satisfying middle ground—somewhere between a late-night rave and a philosophy seminar run haywire.

The song’s contradictions are part of its charm: cerebral yet chaotic, conceptual but unapologetically rhythmic, it invites the curious to question whether it critiques the very hedonism it immerses itself within.

Featured on the 1995 album “Millennium Fever”.

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12 . 3 Colours Red – Beautiful Day

“Beautiful Day” by 3 Colours Red is one of those late-‘90s tracks that toes the line between punk rock bluster and hard rock melodrama, all wrapped up with a touch of grunge-adjacent angst.

Lifted from the band’s sophomore album, *Revolt*, it leans heavily on Pete Vuckovic’s bass-driven songwriting and a production style courtesy of Dave Eringa that doesn’t shy away from stadium-ready ambition.

The song sidesteps any straightforward power ballad clichés with its jagged edges, but it’s no stranger to a sweeping, string-laden backdrop, seemingly designed to grab a piece of the American rock radio pie.

Released under Creation Records during an era when Britpop’s hangover was palpable, its charting within the UK Top 40 feels like a minor triumph, though its polished veneer may have ruffled some underground sensibilities.

On seven-inch vinyl, an acoustic demo offers an alternate lens—less polished, more earnest, but perhaps betraying an identity crisis at the band’s core.

The larger narrative surrounding *Revolt* includes its Andy Warhol-esque cover art and the creative tensions that would eventually lead to the group’s untimely unraveling, making “Beautiful Day” less a simple single and more a marker of collision—ambition versus individuality, polish versus grit.

Featured on the 1999 album “Revolt”.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Wikipedia