Two weeks ago while we were sifting through videos to make our 25 Most Influential Music Videos Of All Time list, we came across plenty of parodies of those 25 clips, mostly by Weird "Al" Yankovic and various Muppets, but there were a few crafty homemade ones as well. It got us into a video parody mode, and also had us jogging our brains for others.
The past few months there have a been a multitude of viral videos ripe for parody. Most Lady Gaga videos are hard to pull off, but enterprising people with almost any budget size can do it. Rebecca Black's "Friday" and Radiohead's Thom Yorke/Fred Astaire clip for "Lotus Flower" were both seemingly made to be mimicked. It worked for both artists, who reaped plenty of buzz and profit in the process.
Here are our ten favorite music video parodies. We managed to only include one Yankovic vid, so at least we know some sort of restraint in one part of our lives.
Beyonce, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)"
Radiohead, "Lotus Flower"
R.E.M., "Everybody Hurts"
Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody"