From Alanis Morissette’s ‘Thank U’ to Lady Gaga’s ‘Telephone,’ artists have been stripping down in their clips.
By Gil Kaufman
Erykah Badu in her video for “Window Seat”
Photo: Universal Motown
Nudity and music videos — two great tastes that go great together. From Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s raunchy “Relax” in 1983, to Madonna’s S&M-fueled “Justify My Love” clip in 1990, artists have been pushing the envelope for years, while mostly letting the extras do the dirty work.
But in the revealing clip for “Window Seat,” from Erykah Badu’s New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), the soul high priestess latches on to a lesser-followed path in altogether videos: the full-frontal artist reveal. Over the course of the nearly five-minute, one-take clip, Badu casually strips out of a black overcoat, purple hoodie, black pants, sheer white T-shirt and black underwear and bra as she walks toward the intersection in Dallas where President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. The guerrilla-style video was shot on St. Patrick’s Day and Badu tweeted that it went off without a hitch, though she did get heckled by some parents for the stunt.
The intro to the clip pays homage to Matt And Kim’s very similar 2009 video for “Lessons Learned,” in which the duo strip as they walk through Times Square and Kim gets flattened by a bus at the end. Only in Badu’s version, like Kennedy, she is taken out by an unseen assassin’s bullet. Badu said she asked for the group’s permission to remake their video before filming “Seat,” and surely she’s aware that music-video history is littered with acres of celebrity skin.
Blink-182 hustled down the streets wearing only their tats in their landmark 1999 “What’s My Age Again?” clip, released a year after Alanis Morissette bared it all while doling out hugs to strangers during the “Thank U” video. D’Angelo nearly revealed his naughty bits (and way-chiseled abs) in 2000’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel).” Robbie Williams stripped off his clothes (and his skin) to impress girls in the “Rock DJ” video that same year, and Britney Spears wore only some carefully placed sequins in her iconic “Toxic” clip while using her hands and some steam to cover up in 2008’s “Womanizer.”
More recently, Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne went full monty for “Watching the Planets.” And who could forget Lady Gaga nearly showing us her bits in the intro to the epic “Telephone” video?
Did we forget anything? What’s your favorite naked video? Let us know in the comments!
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