Top 10 Music Videos with Terrible Green Screen

In 1999, the Backstreet Boys were feeling pretty good about themselves, what after ushering in a new era of popmusic and all. So naturally when the time came to create a video for “Larger Than Life” they enlisted director Joseph Kahn for a $2M production catering to their overly-obsessive fan base. Aside from the self-indulgent cheese factor of it all, you’d think that a couple million dollars would allow for some more breathtaking greenscreen rather than predictable nonsense. After all, it’s not like anybody was expecting another Star Wars or Titanic 2, but no one was expecting this disaster.

If an artist makes a grand statement with a song title, brace yourself for an undeniably average video. For “Slave to the Music”, the early 90s Euro hit by Twenty 4 Seven, the directors apparently said “hey, that there greenscreen... what if we left it... green?” and then thought “and why not some lemon to go with that lime?” The results? Video magic! Being the visionaries that they were the “film” “makers” also gave us some classic white outlines as well as one enthusiastic toad.

Remember the recent past when everyone had them some “swag?” Well, Cher Lloyd joined the swaggy-swag party for her debut video, resembling more of a dress-up party than serious street style. You gotta give the directors credit, because they DID manage to construct any actual urban landscape – you know, because of that “swagger”. But the final result proved to be more of a confused, futuristic aesthetic as opposed to something raw and legitimately swag-worthy.

Even geniuses make huge mistakes from time to time, however by now, we’ve learned that Yeezy is most definitely not of the genius order, at least when it comes to music videos. To be fair, it was Nick Knight who directed this laughable production, complete with majestic horses, and of course, our dear Kim Kardashian doing whatever the hell she does best amid the scenic American southwest. Honestly, think of the layers and levels of talent and record label brass this had to have gone through and no one noticed it was this awful?

Over the years, artists have embraced the concept of surrealism in a variety of ways, and for this funk rock production, Swoop introduced the checkerboard music video and upped the ante with a green screen background featuring none other than Big Momma Nature. Decades after release, it’s still not clear what exactly is going on here, aside from the monster-ass sized checkerboard and the obvious use of green screen. Not only does this fiasco take away from the art itself, and perhaps even the concept of art, but it’s just offensive to the eyes in every possible way, which isn’t a good thing when the song is horrible to begin with.

Let's not reopen an old can of troll but let's face it: this song is terrible. With this “unique” video, Rebecca Black inadvertently announced herself to the world, for better and for mostly worse. Joining her is producer Patrice Wilson, who not only dropped a verse on “Friday” but also appears in the unfortunate green screen sequence in which appears he awkwardly navigates the blurry streets of a green screen cityscape. You know, because he couldn’t just drive in the city. All in all, “Friday” put a damper on everyone’s weekend plans during the Spring months of 2011 and still has that power today.

Upon the massive success of “All That She Wants” and “Beautiful Life”, one might’ve believed that Arista Records was ready to unleash a memorable Ace of Base music video on American audiences, but watching the devastating visuals of “Never Gonna Say I’m Sorry,” that clearly didn't pan out. While there’s much to be explored here, most certainly the pointing fingers, the most curious moments come when the members of Ace of Base gaze off screen with hunched-over postures. Their faces say it all - “we’re making a music video!” – but sadly, nobody actually seems to have understood what that entails.

Clearly Michael Jackson owed Eddie Murphy a favor after Murphy appeared in his music video for “Remember the Time”. And the result was the aptly titled “Whatzupwitu,” which either demonstrates the comedian’s slow descent into madness or the tragedy of stars that have nobody in their life wiling to say “NO.” Amazingly enough, Eddie seems to be vibing hard with MJ, but of course, they were just getting down in front of an actual greenscreen. Here’s an example of how a simple black and white video would’ve been just fine. Instead, we got peace signs and hearts with fricken angel wings.

Just the mention of David Hasselhoff is enough to offend the majority of the world’s population, so just imagine what happens when green screen footage gets thrown in the mix. For a cover of the classic “Hooked on a Feeling,” the Hoff contributed to the ongoing visual assault of Mother Nature in dastardly fashion. As an obvious predecessor to Kanye’s “Bound 2” disaster, one can see that Hoff and Mr. West are clearly in the same type of genius category, and they both seem to have a fascination with “realistic” landscapes and lifestyles.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Cry” (1998)
The Mavis’s

“Black Hole Sun” (1994)
Soundgarden

“Negasonic Teenage Warhead” (1995)
Monster Magnet

“Ice Ice Baby” (1990)
Vanilla Ice

“Survivor” (2001)
Destiny’s Child

With the arrival of MTV, countless rock bands had to ride or die when it came to executing their visual representations of art, so it’s hard to blame AC/DC for this early 80s mus-…wait… WHAT? This is from 2014? Oh boy, well now there’s really no excuse... Sure, we can handle Angus doing the regular performance shtick, but the collective visuals of “Play Ball” are just downright disturbing. Kind of like the 80s rock fan who can’t let go of his mullet. Nobody expects rock stars to play by the rules, especially AC/DC, but you gotta know the field before you can play ball.

So, do you agree with our selections? What music video do you think has the most devastating green screeneffects? For more mind-blowing Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.