CONTROVERSIAL MUSIC VIDEOS

Madonna - Like A Prayer (1989)

The highly controversial music video for the song was directed by Mary Lambert. It was criticised for its narrative which included Madonna making love to Saint Martin de Porres - which some thought was a black version of Christ. The Catholic iconography also offended people as it included a scene where Madonna developed stigmata, and cross burning imagery, however the video did gain praise for its interpretation on discrimination, rape, and faith. It even made MTV's countdown of "100 Videos That Broke The Rules" in 2005, and for the 25th anniversary of MTV (2006), the viewers voted this video as the "Most Groundbreaking Music Video of All Time". Shocking videos like this one really are the ones that we remember, as even now 20 years after it was made it’s still gripping, shocking and a great video for today’s audience, as shown by its acknowledgement in these recent polls.

Pink - Sober (2008)

This video seems fairly normal at first as it is Pink sitting on a bed singing, however we are given an indication as to the strange, surreal video ahead as there is a TV in the room flashing with white noise. We then see a party in the house Pink is in, she walks into the bathroom and another version on Pink is there (throwing up in the toilet). While it is actually quite common for artists to play more than one of themselves in a video, these characters never usually cross paths. As the video progresses it become more an more surreal and strange, soon we see flashes of Pink in a white room, dressed all in white, which signifies a mental hospital. Later on to add to the disturbing feel of the video, Pink is on her bed kissing, herself (the alter-ego she crossed paths with in the toilet) – very weird, and controversial as I am pretty sure that this has never been done before.