‘Vous Avez Dit Bizarre’ N°535 – Vintage 2000s Music Videos

1 . The Zutons – Pressure Point

Dragging listeners into a frantically ticking rhythm, “Pressure Point” by The Zutons captures that moment when life’s chaos starts to tilt into anxiety—and makes it sound strangely catchy.

Released as the first single from their debut album, *Who Killed…… The Zutons?*, the track slaps together indie rock grit with art-school quirkiness, with Ian Broudie’s production capturing the band’s restless edge.

Abi Harding’s saxophone undeniably sharpens the band’s toolkit, threading an off-kilter groove through the organized mayhem.

The song’s performance on the UK Singles Chart—peaking at 19—is respectable, though not revolutionary, but its impact lingers more in its cultural placements.

A Levi’s commercial, the video game *MVP Baseball 2005*, and even a PSP demo disk shouldered the track further into pop-culture ubiquity during its heyday.

The music video mirrors the song’s scrappy energy, throwing in a collapsing billboard and surreal visual tangents, balancing playfulness with chaos.

As the band’s only notable US chart entry, landing at 29 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks, it’s a curious export—frenetic but digestible enough to briefly cross the Atlantic divide.

The single’s accompanying B-sides, like “Zutonkhamuun,” give a slight nod to the band’s sense of humor, though they live in the shadow of this taut, nervy centerpiece.

While “Pressure Point” doesn’t reinvent its genre, it distills The Zutons’ peculiar streak into three minutes of anxious, sax-infused fervor, packing enough punch to stick with—or occasionally annoy—its listeners long after the fact.

Featured on the 2004 album “Who Killed…… The Zutons?”.

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

2 . Kings Of Leon – Four Kicks

“Four Kicks” by Kings of Leon is an iron-fisted anthem of defiance wrapped in blistering Southern rock aggression.

Emerging from their 2005 album *Aha Shake Heartbreak*, it captures the raw, unpolished energy that defined their early sound—equal parts garage grit and bluesy swagger.

The track is brash and unrelenting, with Caleb Followill’s snarling vocal delivery acting as the driving force amid chaotic guitar assaults and staccato drum patterns.

Inspired by a heated encounter at a bar, the lyrics ooze tension, violence, and a commitment to standing one’s ground, encapsulating a rebellious spirit that feels both personal and universal.

The accompanying music video, directed by David Sestito, mirrors the song’s intensity—a rapid-fire montage of gritty, almost cinematic visuals that doesn’t offer relief but enhances the chaos.

Charting modestly in the UK and Ireland, “Four Kicks” managed to punch above its weight as a live performance staple, bringing frenetic energy to stages alongside heavyweights like U2 and Bob Dylan.

It underscores the band’s ability to craft concise, gut-punching tracks capable of channeling seething rage without losing their hook-driven edge, even during their formative years.

The tension in “Four Kicks” is its lifeblood, refusing to slip into over-polished territory, which keeps it refreshing against a backdrop of more refined rock contemporaries.

While not the band’s most commercially successful work, its sheer audacity and ferocity remain a testament to the untamed spirit of early Kings of Leon.

Featured on the 2004 album “Aha Shake Heartbreak“.

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

3 . The Others – Lackey

“Lackey” struts into the mid-2000s with a sneer, an attitude-heavy concoction from The Others that punctuates their self-titled debut album.

Released in 2005 under Vertigo, a Universal Music Group label, it lands comfortably in the realm of punk-tinged indie rock, a genre synonymous with equal parts swagger and mess.

Charting respectably at No. 21 on the UK Top 40, its presence on the charts might not scream “anthemic,” but it certainly held its ground in a sea of more polished contemporaries.

The grit is palpable; the sound is raw, unvarnished, and insistent, tailored for those who found themselves skiving lectures to loiter in smoky pubs for unkempt live gigs.

The song’s rebellious energy pairs with an unpolished edge, offering just enough chaos to feel authentic without teetering into disorder.

The absence of notable details about its official video only adds to its intrigue, leaving the track to stand on its own sonic merits.

“Lackey” captures a time when indie rock flirted with punk’s disobedience, carving out small but memorable spaces in the chaos of mid-2000s music culture.

It’s not trying to reinvent anything, but its unapologetic brashness begs to be noticed, even if fleetingly.

Featured on the 2005 album “The Others”.

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4 . Lightspeed Champion – Tell Me What It’s Worth

“Tell Me What It’s Worth” by Lightspeed Champion, a project helmed by Devonté Hynes, distills a mix of melancholia and resolve into a folk-indie framework that lingers long after its final note.

Released as part of the 2008 album *Falling Off the Lavender Bridge*, the song addresses the weight of verbal abuse and racial hatred—a deeply personal thread for Hynes, who embeds his lived experiences within the lyrics.

The track finds its sonic identity at the intersection of stripped-down acoustics and emotive strings, with production by Mike Mogis lending it a bittersweet sheen. Hynes’ voice is raw yet controlled, a fitting vehicle for the song’s blend of political commentary and introspection.

The collaborative fingerprints of Emmy the Great, Clark Baechle, and members of Tilly and the Wall inform the album’s textured soundscape, though “Tell Me What It’s Worth” stands as a centerpiece for its stark honesty.

The accompanying music video offers a visual echo of the song’s themes, underscoring Hynes’ vision. While it charted modestly in the UK, “Tell Me What It’s Worth” carves out a space as a thoughtful rumination on identity and resilience, showcasing Hynes’ knack for unflinching storytelling.

Featured on the 2008 album “Falling Off the Lavender Bridge”.

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

5 . Sons And Daughters – Darling

“Darling” from Sons and Daughters’ 2008 album *This Gift* packs a sharp-edged punch with its jagged guitar riff and unapologetic energy.

Crafted under the seasoned hand of Bernard Butler at New York City’s Avatar Studios, the track’s aesthetic straddles punk grit and indie sophistication without overstaying its welcome.

It emerges as a standout, not for innovation, but for its ability to channel urgency into a slick, accessible package under Domino Records’ diverse catalog.

The Glasgow-based act released this as their second single and somehow managed to flirt with the UK Singles Chart, scraping in at 86—an achievement both humbling and telling of their niche appeal.

The accompanying music video leans into the band’s stark visual identity, offering a counterpart to the track’s raw yet polished sound.

Touring with Morrissey two years prior perhaps sharpened their live performance chops, but whether the song transcends its era or folds into indie rock’s crowded margins remains an open question.

What breaks through is the tension between Butler’s glossy production and the band’s scrappy roots, creating a track that both courts and resists mainstream cohesion.

With its moments of flair, “Darling” showcases a band tethering their bite to a hook but stops just short of redefining anything but their own lane.

Featured on the 2008 album “This Gift “.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Official Site

6 . The Wildhearts – Stormy In The North Karma In The South

“Stormy in the North, Karma in the South” steps into 2003 with a swagger that is pure Wildhearts, mixing snarling riffs with a melodic sharpness that avoids veering into the saccharine.

The track captures their signature concoction of hard rock, punk edge, and a faint glam sheen, creating a sound that feels as unruly as it is polished.

Even without being tied to a studio album at the time, it makes its presence felt, charting at #17 on the UK Singles Chart, a respectable feat for a band that thrives on a touch of chaos.

Produced by Conny Bloom, known for imbuing Electric Boys’ work with texture, and frontman Ginger, the production avoids over-slickness, allowing rawness to coexist with precision.

The track found a home eventually in their 2004 compilation, “Coupled With,” shoring up their non-album output into a cohesive reflection of the band’s restless spirit.

There’s a sense of call and response in the song’s structure, a kind of sparring between melodic hooks and the brash guitars.

The title itself teases a duality, capturing a tension that is mirrored in the volatile energy of the performance.

The music video, available online, fares better as a slice of rock exuberance rather than an exercise in narrative, sticking to the band’s bread and butter—raw, kinetic performance.

While The Wildhearts rarely aim to please the mainstream, this song goes just close enough to the edge to attract attention while keeping its middle finger firmly raised.

In a career marked more by peaks of cult worship than universal acclaim, this track gleams as a rare instance where their volatility translated into chart success without losing its bite.

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7 . Everlast – Black Jesus

Everlast’s “Black Jesus” steps in with a gritty swagger, melding blues rock, alternative hip-hop, and a pinch of alternative rock that mirrors the shifting musical persona of its creator.

Released in 2000 as the lead single from *Eat at Whitey’s*, the track doesn’t shy away from addressing weighty topics such as identity, race, addiction, and systemic despair, though it resists being pigeonholed into overt religiosity despite its provocative title.

The music video, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, paints a moody urban portrait as Everlast wanders London, his raspy vocals and introspective lyrics stitching together shots of concrete streets and dimly lit underground tunnels.

Two sequences—a building leap and a car wreck—didn’t make the cut for television, though they linger online as faint echoes of the song’s raw edge.

Lyrically, it’s raw storytelling with a personal edge, channeling Everlast’s experiences as filtered through poetry that doesn’t preach but relentlessly observes.

The track peaked respectably on rock-centric charts, climbing to #15 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks and finding pockets of recognition across Europe, from Scotland’s indie circuit (#9) to Sweden’s mainstream tally (#13).

“Black Jesus” carves a space as neither preachy sermon nor aimless angst; it’s the sound of an artist reconciling his past while boldly defining a future, unpolished and unapologetic.

Perhaps overshadowed by the collaborative fireworks on the broader album—where legends like Carlos Santana and B-Real shared the mic—this track is an anthem for those moments when life’s battles feel both deeply personal and uncomfortably universal.

Featured on the 2000 album “Eat at Whitey’s”.

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

8 . The Cooper Temple Clause – Waiting Game

Released in January 2007, “Waiting Game” by The Cooper Temple Clause occupies a peculiar moment in the band’s trajectory, straddling a hesitant line between reinvention and retreat.

Plucked from their third album, *Make This Your Own*, it signals the band’s move to Sanctuary Records after parting ways with RCA, a shift that hints at the turmoil bubbling beneath their alt-rock veneer.

Gone are the labyrinthine electronics that once defined their sound, replaced with a straightforward mingling of alternative rock, post-hardcore grit, and faint whispers of space rock.

The song peaked at a modest #41 on the UK Singles Chart, which feels symptomatic of the album’s identity crisis rather than its quality.

Didz Hammond’s departure leaves a palpable gap, both in spirit and sonic cohesion, while increased vocal duties from Fisher and Bellamy fail to mask the band’s growing fragmentation.

A fan-uploaded YouTube video exists, a quiet corner on the internet where neither anticipation nor nostalgia seems to linger.

“Waiting Game” isn’t a misstep, but it functions more like a holding pattern, a reflective pause that neither soars nor stumbles but simply waits.

Featured on the 2007 album “Make This Your Own”.

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9 . Koot – Mississippi Soul

“Mississippi Soul” lands in 1999 with a title suggesting a nod toward Southern roots and smoky blues bars, though it’s more of a cipher than an anthem.

The artist, enigmatically named Koot, operates under a shroud of anonymity, leaving us with more questions than answers about their place in the music landscape.

Issued on vinyl in two flavors—12″ 45 RPM and a promo variant—it clearly caters to crate-diggers and audiophiles, but its low profile hints at a release destined for the niche rather than the mainstream.

No chart records, no visible producer credits, no label pedigree to analyze—you’d think the song was erased from the annals of music history the very same day it arrived.

The title and its late-’90s release period might conjure a smoky, groove-laden intersection of soul and blues traditions, yet this feels more assumed than verified without a single confirmed sound descriptor.

Without visuals, accolades, or any surrounding drama, “Mississippi Soul” exists purely as an object to be excavated—a musical ghost that resists both fame and definite classification.

Perhaps that’s the true allure, standing less as a piece of art to consume than as an oddity to stumble upon, briefly contemplate, and return to the obscurity from which it came.

More by the same : Wikipedia

10 . Feeder – Just The Way I’M Feeling

“Just the Way I’m Feeling” by Feeder captures a moment of emotional introspection wrapped in the melodic comforts of early 2000s alternative rock.

Released in 2003 as part of their fourth album, *Comfort in Sound*, this track represents a band in transition following the tragic loss of drummer Jon Lee, with Mark Richardson stepping into the lineup.

Grant Nicholas anchors the song with a vocal delivery that mixes sincerity and restraint, channeling a sense of catharsis that mirrors Feeder’s evolving identity during this phase of their career.

The track’s layered guitars and precision-laden rhythm section create a lush yet accessible texture, straddling alternative rock and post-Britpop with an unassuming ease.

The accompanying music video plays with vintage film clips and isolated urban imagery, an aesthetic decision that heightens the track’s themes of vulnerability and renewal.

While it lands firmly in the realm of radio-friendly rock, its careful composition and poignant undertones push beyond the genre’s usual clichés.

Its enduring appeal lies in its ability to confront emotional turbulence without veering into melodrama, cementing its place in Feeder’s rich catalog.

Featured on the 2002 album “Comfort in Sound”.

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

11 . Elton John – This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore

Elton John’s “This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore,” the concluding track from his 2001 album *Songs from the West Coast,* is an introspective farewell steeped in weariness. The song strips back the bombast of his mid-career hits, relying instead on a sparse, piano-driven arrangement that harkens back to his early days. There’s no pretension here, just a quiet resignation that feels both personal and universal.

With lyrics provided by longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, the song acts as a mirror to Elton’s life and career, exchanging glamor for raw emotion. Taupin’s words navigate aging and fame with a blend of melancholy and detachment, making it as much a critique of stardom as an acceptance of its consequences. The title feels more like an epitaph—a declaration that the unrelenting, high-speed train of his earlier years has finally slowed to a manageable pace.

The music video, directed by David LaChapelle, adds layers of theatricality, featuring Justin Timberlake in full Elton drag, from platform shoes to oversized glasses. While the concept veers into parody territory, it cleverly underscores the song’s themes, portraying young Elton as a puppet of fame, manipulated by a gaudy, hedonistic machine. It’s simultaneously playful and haunting, a visual wink with a lingering aftertaste.

Despite its tender arrangement, the song avoids slipping into sentimental mush, thanks in part to its steady, assertive rhythm section. The production by Patrick Leonard avoids over-embellishment, letting the organic interplay between piano, bass, and drums create a grounded atmosphere. It shows restraint—a virtue increasingly rare in pop by the early 2000s.

The track’s placement on an album marketed as a return to Elton’s roots feels intentional; it caps off a record that, while self-aware, doesn’t wallow in nostalgia. Whether this is a swan song for his youthful exuberance or a palette cleanser for the years ahead is left for the listener to decide. What’s clear, however, is that the song signals a shift—a notable punctuation in a career defined by reinvention.

Featured on the 2001 album “Songs from the West Coast”.

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

12 . Keane – A Bad Dream

“A Bad Dream” from Keane’s sophomore album, *Under the Iron Sea*, delivers a brooding take on the alternative rock landscape, brimming with ethereal melancholy and simmering frustration.

Written by Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley, the song siphons existential musings from W.B. Yeats’ “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death,” blending poetic gravitas with a plaintive soundscape.

The production was helmed by the band themselves, recorded between Heliocentric Studios in East Sussex and The Magic Shop in New York, yielding a layered, resonant mix of haunting piano chords and Chaplin’s emotive falsetto.

The track slouched its way to a lukewarm No. 23 on the UK Singles Chart, a notable stumble in the band’s otherwise consistent climb, though it found modest placement elsewhere, including the Netherlands and UK Downloads chart.

Visually, the music video oscillates between stark black-and-white settings, a motif that mirrors the song’s lyrical tension, with an alternate version tossing in disheartened glimpses of Rice-Oxley and Hughes for good measure.

“A Bad Dream” injects its somber presence into pop culture via TV placements on shows like *The Hills* and *The O.C.*, though its live iterations prove more compelling, occasionally surfacing in the band’s arena tours for added emotional heft.

Available in formats as niche as a USB stick—remember those?—the single feels almost quaint in a post-streaming world, but its thematic weight and instrumental ambition ensure its place as a contemplative artifact of mid-2000s alternative rock.

Featured on the 2007 album “Under the Iron Sea “.

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