The 2000s were ruled by emo, ringtone hip-hop, post-hardcore, and pop punk’s mainstream explosion. Even as the iPod emerged and singles saturated the culture, there were still an overwhelming number of albums that turned heads across genres. Naturally, the decade’s music videos were just as varied, spanning hallucinatory rushes and meme collages to spoofs of the Beatles’ famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Whatever type of music you gravitate toward, everyone has their favorites, so we threw the question to our readers and asked them to vote on the best 2000s music videos. Find the top fan picks ranked below.
Read more: 9 bands commonly mistaken as emo who really aren’t
5. Green Day – “Jesus of Suburbia”
Green Day were operating on a new level with American Idiot, highlighted by the staggeringly impressive “Jesus of Suburbia.” The five-part song introduces the album’s leading character — a teen brought up on “a steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin” who ditches his suburban life for the big city. That story is represented brilliantly in the song’s two videos, directed by Samuel Bayer (who also helmed Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”). The first is a 12-minute version with dialogue, whereas the second is a nine-and-a-half-minute director’s cut that just includes the music. To top it all off, the video nods to “1979” by the Smashing Pumpkins.
4. Avril Lavigne – “Sk8er Boi”
“Complicated” introduced Avril Lavigne to the world, but “Sk8er Boi” was her shining moment as pop punk’s reigning princess. Everything about the Let Go classic (and setlist staple) still holds up, from the ill-fated love story between a skater and a ballet dancer to the striped tie Lavigne wore in the video, ripped straight from her dad’s closet. That visual was an empowering reminder to stay true to yourself as Lavigne rallies an impromptu concert on the street that gets raided by the police. Before she’s busted, Lavigne slams her guitar through a car windshield — just for good measure.
3. Panic! at the Disco – “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”
What’s left to say about “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” that hasn’t already been written? This Panic! at the Disco classic ranks high in their top songs. The Fever You Can’t Sweat Out cut is only heightened by the dramatics of its video, too — featuring over-the-top choreography, circus ringmasters, and botched weddings, all replete with supreme costuming and makeup. It reminds us of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’s exceeding maximalism (which the band will be playing in full at next year’s When We Were Young). It’s no wonder that readers voted it as one of the top music videos of the 2000s.
2. My Chemical Romance – “The Ghost of You”
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is filled with satisfying drama, but the video component for “The Ghost of You” feels like watching a masterful short film. Told through the eyes of Gerard Way while performing at a USO dance in the ’40s, the My Chemical Romance frontman undergoes intense flashbacks of a D-Day beach storm during World War 2 — including Guy Ritchie-esque gunfights in which his comrade, played by Mikey Way, gets shot. We don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Three Cheers changed lives for the better, and “The Ghost of You” demonstrated their immense (yet totally heartbreaking) eye for detail as they dominated the 2000s emo scene.
1. My Chemical Romance – “Helena”
My Chemical Romance’s videos are so powerful that they made this list twice. Also coming from Three Cheers, our readers pointed to “Helena” — the album’s pivotal opening track — as the best music video of the 2000s. Pulling influence from the death of the Way brothers’ grandmother, who passed during the album’s making, “Helena” is one of MCR’s most stunning and impressive performances. The song is immortalized by Gerard carrying a coffin on his shoulders in its video, which was filmed in a Los Angeles Presbyterian church. High octane and macabre, “Helena” holds a legacy that still ripples outward.