I put together a little playlist of my favourite bicycle inspired music videos. Help to add more suggestions so we can make the ultimate playlist. Leave your suggestions in the comments below.
The Smiths – Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before
As a Northern lad I have to start with this to set the standard high. “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before” is a 1987 song by The Smiths. The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in the ‘80s. The band consisted of vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce. The music video was filmed by director Tim Broad, and opens with a picture of the poet Oscar Wilde hanging on a brick wall. It features scenes of the Salford Lads Club and surrounding areas of Deansgate being bicycled through by the lads and friends. A controversial lyric saw the song banned from airplay in the UK for many years. Thankfully now we can play it as much as we like.
Lily Allen – LDN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5JMjGZ6bRY
Lilly Allen jumps on her chopper and takes us on a tour of ‘crack ridden’ London. She’s on her bike because ‘the filth took away her license’. Naughty!
Lilly published a low resolution time lapse style film to her YouTube channel. The webcam style video became an instant hit with the web and not even with a Boris Bike in sight! Lilly got the cycling bug so much, she is featured riding her Chopper MK2 on the album cover Alright Still – 2006.
Ian Brown – F.E.A.R.
Staying with the London theme, Manchester Geezer Ian Brown gets the fear as he rides through Soho and China Town. Ian was the lead singer of the alternative rock band the Stone Roses from their formation in 1983 until they broke up in 1996. Ian went onto a successful solo career, much of that put down to his choice of bicycle! Taking to his lowrider, Ian looks as if he is hopelessly searching for Bez from Happy Mondays after a wild night out in the West End in his chart topping hit F.E.A.R.
According to the Ian Brown forum, Manchester dealer RideLow supplied the bike for the video http://ridelow.co.uk
Mark Ronson, The Business Intl. – The Bike Song
Don’t be fooled by the stylisation and sound of this track, it was created in 2010 and not the 1980s. It would seem Londoners really do love cycling so much, they can’t stop singing about it.
The music video was directed by Warren Fu and shot in a South London park. It features Kyle Falconer and Spank Rock as well as a cameo by Ronson’s wife, actress and musician Joséphine de La Baume, actress Felicity Jones and Rose Elinor Dougall. The song was so catchy for politicians and civil servants it was also used for a video promoting Cycling on the Transport For London website.
Flight of the Conchords Ep 7 ‘Mutha Uckers’
Too many mutha uckas, Uckin’ with my shi- There’s too many mutha uckas! New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords take a badass ride through Bronx and they aint taking no shi-
This could be the ultimate Friday feeling song, especially if your boss is grinding you down or just feeling the weight of Babylon on your shoulders. Take a cycle with the Conchords and you’ll feel much better. Now get out of here before I feel your beard off.
Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill 2003 Live
Hills aren’t most cyclists favourites, but Peter Gabriel doesn’t let it stop him jumping on his up bike for a cycle around the stage as he performs his 1977 hit Solsbury Hill. That’s really quite impressive Peter, what lungs. The bass player is quite spectacular in this performance.
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Bats In The Attic (Unravelled)
John Hopkins and King Creosote collaborated on the EP Honest Words (and is a re-working of of the track from the Mercury Music Prize nominated album ‘Diamond Mine’). The stop frame animation for Bats In The Attic is a beautiful animation of a young boy cycling away his fears and into his dreams on his BMX. This is truly one of the most beautiful tracks I have heard from a Hopkins collaboration. This video does it for me.
