My Picks For Top 5 Rock Videos of 2013

Many of us remember the days when a band could make a great music video and get played on MTV even if the song itself wasn't all that great. ( Flock Of Seagulls, Thompson Twins, Britny Fox, etc).  These days the Music Video Channels are mostly about stupid reality based shows and the video portion of the programming is not only secondary, but perhaps even tertiary .  I love music videos, unless it's merely the band lip syncing to the pre-recorded track of their song.  Gimme more...gimme some eye candy...create a mood for me with images that match the feel of the song.  That's what I want from a music video.  To me, these 5 videos do that.  These are my picks for the Top 5 Rock Videos of 2013 in no particular order.

Device - "Vilify"

Dave Draiman of Disturbed wanted to do something a bit more 'industrial' than what his breadwinner band had been doing, so he created Device.  The band's debut album spawned one #1 hit in "Vilify".  It's an angry song with a video to match.  Note, the hideous creature in the video is Dave's wife Lena who is pictured above the video for reference.

Puscifer - "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Maynard James Keenan has three bands, Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer.  Of the three, Puscifer is the most non-commercial and eclectic of the three.  Their remake of Queen's iconic song "Bohemian Rhapsody" is wonderful musically, and the video itself is hilarious.  Love it!

Five Finger Death Punch - "Battle Born"

From the band's second album release of 2013 "The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell", comes the song "Battle Born" that is currently #1 On Loudwire Reloaded.  The song lyrics and the video images depict life on the road in a rock band, very reminiscent of the video for Journey's "Faithfully", but without all the cheese!

Sick Puppies - "There's No Going Back"

It's hard to believe that a song with the F-bomb in the chorus was a massive radio hit, but the band and record label did just enough blurring of the line "F**k That Going Back" that is is FCC legal.  The video however is not edited, but the imagery is really cool.  Art, to me, means it's left open for the recipient's interpretation, and this Sick Puppies video has a touch of that as well.

Pearl Jam - "Mind Your Manners"

Eddie Vedder and the guys are pretty well established as a band that does not just perform for the camera while lip syncing to the recording of their song.  While the video for "Mind Your Manners" does have the band doing that in a semi-silhouette form, what's going on behind the band is what ties into the message of the song.  Pearl Jam is basically telling all the people that are effing up this planet to mind their manners.  Cool video, and a very punky type rock song from one of the survivors of the 90's grunge movement.