If it seems like lately we've been slower than usual to answer your e-mails or update in the morning, we might claim it's because we've been revamping our website. But honestly? We've been spending hours enjoying YouTube, falling in love with the music video all over again.

So now we're making use of our video-inspired sloth, sharing 100 of our favorite music videos; simply, dozens of clips that, for various reasons (because they're so good, because they're so bad, because they feature the Jacksons imagining themselves as gigantic golden gods sprinkling gold dust on humanity), we enjoy watching and hope you'll enjoy as well.

When selecting the following vids we decided to chuck anything from the Director's Label Series-- virtually everything on those collections would be obvious candidates for a list like this-- and stick to clips roughly from the MTV era. Crucially, they also all had to be on YouTube-- we prefer giving you the chance to see a clip to simply talking about one. Best to check these out early and often, then-- it is possible that some record label funcrusher could come around and wrinkle his nose at us pointing you all to a commercial for his company's product.

A-Ha: "Take on Me"
1985
Directed by Steve Barron
Can be found on Headlines and Deadlines: The Hits of A-Ha DVD



Like Tron, "Take on Me" was a defining 1980s special-effects moment; not because it was ahead of its time technologically, but because it was exactly of its time. This video is nothing more than rotoscoping, which had been around for decades, but something about the girl-jumps-into-poorly-drawn-comic concept was striking enough to become as memory-stuck as the song's godly riff. [Rob Mitchum]

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Adam and the Ants: "Stand and Deliver"
1981
Directed by Mike Mansfield
Can be found on Digital Tenderness DVD [not yet released]



How to become a pop star: conflate Robin Hood, Native Americans, 18th-century vagabonds, and Marc Bolan. Sing in the most affected Little Lord Fauntleroy voice possible. Add Bo Diddley beat, surf twang, general air of New Romantic swish. Sell back to heartland America. Eventually make pile of money. [Jess Harvell]

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Air: "Kelly Watch the Stars"
1998
Directed by Mike Mills
Can be found on Talkie Walkie Japanese import CD/DVD



Crazy how so much kitsch-- slo-mo ping-pong, retro couture, acoustic guitars, out-of-body experiences, French people, and Pong for crissakes-- coalesces into a superlatively fun and surprise-filled play on the tired sports nail-biter. Doesn't hurt any that Kelly is totally crushworthy. [Matthew Solarski]

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Alex Gopher: "The Child"
1999
Directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet
Can be found on Gas TV 04 DVD



Font porn. [Peter Macia]

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Art of Noise: "Close (to the Edit)"
1984
Directed by Zbigniew Rybczynski
Can be found on Into Battle With the Art of Noise import CD/DVD



Sax carnage. Trumpets and violins trampled underfoot. An old wooden piano systematically destroyed by chainsaws and sledgehammers. A freak punk preteen tormenting an innocent puppy with encased meats. At seven years old, watching this on "Friday Night Videos" was one of those super insignificant media-consumer rites of passage, like seeing your first hockey fight or throat stabbing or man getting fucked to death by a horse. The world never looks the same. [Ryan Schreiber]

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The Avalanches: "Frontier Psychiatrist"
2001
Directed by Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire
Can be found on Frontier Psychiatrist DVD



Sometimes the most obvious concept for a video also turns out to be the best. Bringing the samples to life and spreading them across a stage like The Hall of Presidents, "Frontier Psychiatrist" simultaneously casts a wink toward the dismissal that DJs are boring to watch work and emphasizes the scope of the Avalanches' source material. Like their music, the assembled oddities-- the ghost choir is my favorite-- coalesce into an improbably coherent whole...except for the nightmarish old-man turtle, of course. [Rob Mitchum]

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Basement Jaxx: "Where's Your Head At?
2001
Directed by Traktor
Can be found on Basement Jaxx: The Videos DVD



Now that you've finally stopped having nightmares where homicidal children with Richard D. James' face pursue you...we're going to kindly remind you of this. [Matthew Solarski]

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Björk: "Triumph of a Heart"
2005
Directed by Spike Jonze
Can be found on Triumph of a Heart DVD



It's that same old song: Girl is vaguely but essentially dissatisfied with cat; girl leaves cat and goes out for night of debauchery and soul-searching; soul-searching turns into a cappella orgy and bruises to the forehead; cat (who has undoubtedly been peering into his soul as well) picks up girl from the side of the road, immediately recognizing the passionate young pixie he fell for all those year ago; couple basks in renewed love and performs dance of happiness (and also cat becomes huge). Love is the answer. [Dominique Leone]

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Blur: "Coffee & TV"
1999
Directed by Hammer & Tongs
Can be found on Blur: The Best of DVD



Reasons to like this video:
1. It perfectly translates the song's loping acoustic groove to imaginative visuals.
2. If only accidentally, it punctures the sanctimoniousness of Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train" video.
3. The expressions on the milk carton's face are funny, but it's those expressive little arms that really sell its humanity.
4. Its milk-carton protagonist has his own fan site.
5. It's all about Graham Coxon, not Damon Albarn [Stephen M. Deusner]

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Boards of Canada: "Dayvan Cowboy"
2006
Directed by Melissa Olson
Can be found on Dayvan Cowboy DVD



It's pretty easy to get wrapped up in the grainy, existential pulchritude of this thing and completely miss the cheeky self-reference. So, um, where can one surf in Canada? [Matthew Solarski]