10 Incredibly Awesome Lego-fied Music Videos
?Making a video by animating Legos — also know as “brickfilming” — can be crazy-hard. Still, when Legos come alive to tell a story or play a Nirvana song, perhaps, they can make actors look secondary.
Now, Lego-fied music videos are all over YouTube and beyond, and among the dozens of homemade ones, we’re finding stop-motion masterpieces ranging from Wu-Tang Clan and Michael Jackson, to System of a Down and Queen. And, yeah, we know the White Stripes’ music video “Fell Love with a Girl” is pretty awesome, too, but 1) it wasn’t all Lego, and 2) famed French director Michel Gondry did that.
Today’s list looks at those nerds who drained countless hours Lego-izing bands for a school project, YouTube notoriety… or just a few laughs.
10) “No One Else,” Weezer
Depending on how you hear it, “No One Else” is a girlfriend-bashing or a girlfriend-suppressing song, but a classic in the Weezer catalogue nonetheless. In this interpretation, the camera follows the girlfriend’s evolution from a housewife of sorts to a single ready to mingle. She can thank that giant spider and “The Smelling Salts” band.
9) “Eleanor Rigby,” The Beatles
Here’s hoping this is the definitive “Eleanor Rigby” video. Obi-Wan plays Father McKenzie and Eleanor falls to the sword of Darth Vader. We see more Star Wars characters as the camera pans across “all the lonely people,” including Chewbacca.
8) “Knights of Cydonia,” Muse
If you’ve seen the actual “Knights of Cydonia” video, you know it’s essentially a Western/scifi cheeseball, like other Muse vids. So Muse – yeah, we’re callin’ you out – you guys should thank Ola Tandstad and Christian Loken for putting a Lego spin on this cinematic train wreck. We like the heroic cowboy’s makeout session, Flaming Lego Fists, Drunken Sidewenger of Death and Silent Ninja Style. What sucks is that it’s much shorter than the real video. Damn school projects.
7) “Feuer Frei,” Rammstein
Bang, bang! Say it again. With this video, Nuclear Retardation Studios – three metal dudes, really – capture Rammstein’s industrial-metal frenzy, one of pyrotechnics, flying V guitars and lots of goth clothing. Makes a concert vid seem like a ton of work, but these guys got it right.
6) “Sugar,” System of a Down
YouTuber Jake Kohler has a handful of System of a Lego vids, and among those, “Sugar” is most excellent. It is simple, but Lego “Serj Tankian” and his bandmates tear up a room full of sugar. The best moment is perhaps when the guitarists and Serj thrash out during the racing “Fuck You” outro.
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5) “1234,” The Scha La Las
The Schla La Las broke up a while ago, but before that happened the girls’ animation buddy Ben Cowell made a video for their catchy post-punk-pop single “1234.” It’s all about impromptu dance parties and rockin’ out at the show. In fact, this might feature the best concert setup in Lego London.
4) “Sabotage,” Beastie Boys
Project Sabotage is a tasty example of Lego nerdery – and it’s awesome. The team behind the project plans to brickfilm the entire “Sabotage” video scene-by-scene, including the porn ‘staches, aviator sunglasses and chase scenes. We’re looking at the trailer here because the project isn’t finished yet. Hurry up, dudes!
3) “Beat It,” Michael Jackson
Indeed, kick-ass brickfilming happens when the director follows an original video scene-by-scene – and does it well, of course. Like the original video, this one concludes with the knife fight and synchronized dance sequences (and we love that this includes the convulsing, bespectacled thug). The costumes are super-accurate, too.
2) “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Queen
You know, this literal interpretation of Queen’s epic is pretty rad, and even though it is mostly literal, it has some satirical flavor. For instance, this is the only place where Lego Freddie Mercury battles the devil in a fiery pit of Salsa, dicing up Satan and closing the lid – all thanks to his mother’s homicide. The piano sequences are cute, and so is the credits epilogue, a nod to Shakira and Wyclef Jean.
1) “Da Mystery Of Chessboxin’,” Wu-Tang Clan
Battling grim reapers, wizards, knights, skeletons, giant swords – give us more. The Lego “Chessboxin'” makes the actual video look like staler than it already is, reviving this deep cut from Wu’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). It has a cool bullet-time-y shot, and some fun dismemberments spliced between close-ups on the Clan, including RZA, Ghostface Killah and Ol’ Dirty Bastard (R.I.P), whose farmer outfit is ridiculous yet hilarious in context. Cheers to “Davo” for knowing his Wu shit.