Seven Music Videos Staring A-List Celebrities

We’ve all seen it. An artist picks out a pretty face to star in their music video. Most of the time, they choose an unknown, someone they think will make their video stand out. Sometimes they turn into stars that we talk about years down the road.

Other times, a band will go for star power directly. If a celebrity likes their music, you might possibly like it too.

Perhaps this was the process behind the new video from British singer-songwriter Tom Odell, who released his video for “Here I Am” on Monday. The video stars Kevin Spacey walking up a never-ending winding staircase and playing witness to a number of odd scenes.

As stated, Odell is not the only indie artist to take the celebrity root when casting their video. Here are seven who were lucky enough to get A-List celebrities to star in their videos.

1.       Fat Boy Slim, “Weapon of Choice,” Christopher Walken: When this video came out in 2000, it seemed so odd that Christopher Walken would be in such an odd video. He’s so straight-laced that it doesn’t seem possible that he would dance around a hotel lobby. But it works and has become an iconic video for music producer Fatboy Slim. (Video)

2.       Vampire Weekend, “Giving Up the Gun,” Jake Gyllenhaal: There are a lot of cameos in this video, not just Jake Gyllenhaal. Featuring a little girl playing and winning at rounds of tennis against people much older than her, the video also stars a post-Jonas Brothers Joe Jonas, RZA and Lil Jon. That’s pretty star-studded for an indie band. (Video)

3.       Dashboard Confessional, “Stolen,” Olivia Wilde: Just before taking on a role in ‘House’ and kick-starting her acting career, Wilde starred in Dashboard Confessional’s video for the uncharacteristically happy single “Stolen.” In the video’s story, she plays the future girl from the tarot cards. (Video)

4.       Less Than Jake, “She’s Gonna Break Soon,” Alexis Bledel: At the height of ‘Gilmore Girls’ popularity, Alexis Bledel took a minute to star in the video for ska-punk band Less Than Jake’s video for “She’s Gonna Break Soon.” In it, she gets to have a massive freakout, pretty much destroying everything in her pretty pink room while the band plays, and watches, on. (Video)

5.        Jenny Lewis, “Just One of the Guys,” Anne Hathaway: Another video with more than one famous face, Hathaway is joined by Kristen Stewart and Brie Larson, as well as Jenny Lewis (it is her video), playing in Lewis’ back-up band and dressing like guys in tracksuits. (Video)

6.       The Offspring, “She’s Got Issues,” Zoey Deschanel: Before introducing the world to her perky brand of “twee,” Deschanel dyed her hair bright red and starred in The Offspring’s video for “She’s Got Issues.” The video is pretty much her hallucinating disturbing cartoon forms while the band plays on in another room. (Video)

7.       Mumford & Sons, “Hopeless Wanderer,” Jason Bateman: Besides Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Ed Helms and Will Forte starred in this hilarious video that almost seems like a parody of Mumford & Sons, until you realize that it’s the band parodying themselves. This also isn’t the first time Mumford had looked to the A-list for video stars. In their previous video for “Lover of the Light,” the band got Idris Elba to co-direct and star in the video as a blind man. (Video)

It's not unusual for artists to want someone recognizable in their video, after all, they want it to be seen. Having a celebrity's mark of approval is not a bad way to do that for both unknown and well-known artists. 

Music from all these artists, sans actors, can be found at Vinyl Bay 777. Come down and check out one of the largest selections of new and used vinyl, CDs, cassettes and more on Long Island!