Lyrics-Video Mismatch
This describes the situation where a Music Video follows a distinct conceptual narrative—but it's a narrative which has absolutely nothing to do with the song's lyrics or theme nor with the band's overall image, save (perhaps) only the thinnest of connections. Typically, no justification of the concept (such as All Just a Dream) is ever attempted.
Many videos which qualify as homages might fit into this category; in fact, quite a few of our Notable Music Videos are examples of Lyrics-Video Mismatches. If taken too far, you can end up with a Surreal Music Video. Sometimes this results in Music Video Overshadowing.
Examples of Lyrics-Video Mismatch include:
Alternative Rock
- The Smashing Pumpkins, "Tonight Tonight". The video is essentially a shot-for-shot remake of the 1902 sci-fi short A Trip to the Moon.
- Garbage's "Special" looks like a clip out of Crimson Skies and it has nothing to do with the song.
- CAKE's "Love You Madly" depicts an Iron Chef-style cooking contest.
- Big Country
- "In a Big Country". Lyrics are about encouraging someone who's feeling depressed. The video is some sort of spy drama involving scuba diving and rappelling down a cliff.
- Starflyer 59's "No New Kinda Story". The lyrics are pretty vague, but seem to be about the singer's life being no different from a story. The video is a tribute to The Seventh Seal, with a man getting poisoned by his car's air conditioning and then losing a chess match against Death.
- Asian Kung-Fu Generation's "Kimi No Machi Made" is about a guy who wants to fly over to his lover's town like a bird. The music video, on the other hand, is about a synchronized swimming duo persevering despite getting attacked by a giant lobster in the middle of a competition.
- Cracker's "Low" is basically a Love Is a Drug song. The video, however, is mainly about their frontman boxing Sandra Bernhard... and losing pretty badly. It could be some sort of metaphor about dysfunctional relationships, mind you.
- The Birthday Massacre's "In The Dark" is a song about a screwed-up relationship where everything is going wrong. The video is about a strange doll that comes to life, leads the singer through a very weird landscape and abducts her.
- Foo Fighters' "Everlong" is a heartfelt love song... with a Surreal Music Video where the sparse romantic elements are played for laughs.
Country
- Shania Twain, "Gonna Getcha Good". Ah yes, I remember Tron.
Dance/Electronic
- Art vs. Science's video for "Parlez-Vous Francais". The song is about asking French girls to take off their shirts and something about spying on the sexy, Cha-Cha-ing neighbours. The video, on the otherhand, is about a bad mime picking a fight with another mime after being shown up at miming (or...something) and the escalating mime-battle that ensues. It's actually quite well choreographed.
Fan Works
- Any number of videos of movie tie-in songs, by virtue of the video desperately trying to make up for the fact that the song has no relation to the movie.
Hard Rock
- The Darkness' "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" features an alien attack straight out of the 1950s.
- Def Leppard, "Bringin' On The Heartbreak" (second version). The giant silos, a guy walking through a machine shop/factory, weird bondage fetishes on a raft with two guys wearing gas masks—none of this has anything to do with the song itself.
Heavy Metal
- Dio's "Holy Diver" looks like a somehow cheaper rendition of an Ator movie.
Industrial
- Angelspit's song 'Toxic Girl' is about a very evil woman. The video... shows three people who buy a sex doll, use it and are supernaturally compelled by it to kill themselves. Vividly.
Pop
- The Killers' "All These Things That I've Done" appears to be about the band trying to run out on their girlfriends... while wearing cowboy outfits... and then the women pursue them with boomerangs. The UK version, on the other hand, is pure Sweet Dreams Fuel.
- Ayumi Hamasaki, "Angel's Song" features Ayumi transforming into a werewolf and fighting off bad guys from her using kung fu.
- Will Young's "Friday's Child" opens with Will learning to swim and moves on through him improving, winning medals and eventually swimming the English Channel.
- Lights's "Ice". The lyrics are about a boyfriend who's a male Ice Queen, the music video is about Lights fighting her Evil Twin.
- "My Oh My" from Aqua. The lyrics involve references to medieval kingdoms and Robin Hood, but the music video is about how pirates treat their captives.
- "Take Me To Your Heart" from Rick Astley. The lyrics are about dating, but the music video is about studio work.
- Lady Gaga's video for "Telephone" is the queen of this trope.
- The "Alejandro" video might top "Telephone" in sheer lyrics/video disconnection.
- Though "Telephone" has a clear narrative. "Alejandro", not so much.
- The "Alejandro" video might top "Telephone" in sheer lyrics/video disconnection.
Pop Punk
- Just about any video by Coheed and Cambria. Considering how the band works, it isn't surprising.
- Their video for "Welcome Home" actually shows us much of what the song is about. "Devil in Jersey City" also shows us things in The Amory Wars, though not actually stuff that happens during the song. "The Suffering", however...
- The video for "A Favor House Atlantic" isn't just as far from the content of the song as you can get, it shows a fake band playing the song.
- And the video for "The Broken" has giant mechas blowing teach other to bits.
- Their video for "Welcome Home" actually shows us much of what the song is about. "Devil in Jersey City" also shows us things in The Amory Wars, though not actually stuff that happens during the song. "The Suffering", however...
- If anyone is willing to explain what Fall Out Boy's song "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me" has to do with vampire hunting, please enlighten us.
- A good number of Zebrahead's videos. Two good examples are "Broadcast to the World", which has the band as news reporters and has sock puppets destroying a city, and "Postcards From Hell", where the members of the bands are mysteriously dying. At the end, it's revealed that they were murdered by a man in a teddy bear costume.
Pop Rock
- Duran Duran, "Come Undone". The lyrics appear to be about offering to help a person who's coming apart at the seams. The video is about a woman performing an underwater escape from chains and a male transvestite, among other images.
Power Metal
- DragonForce's "Operation Ground and Pound"... tentatively linked, in a general sense, but the song does not mention Starcraft-esque ships at all. Also, the guitar solo features Herman and Sam playing a fighting game on a TurboGrafx-16.
Rock
- Pat Benatar, "Shadows Of The Night": she's a WWII flying ace.
- Don Johnson, "Heartbeat". Don, a photographer, chases a beautiful figment of his imagination while rocking out with Dweezil Zappa.
- Any number of Huey Lewis and The News' videos.
- Hoodoo Gurus, "My Girl": lead singer Dave Faulkner plays a racing greyhound trainer preparing his hound (named My Girl) for a big race. Totally tongue-in-cheek (but poignant in its own way), but people took it literally and assumed the song itself was about a dog! Eventually whenever reporters asked the band to explain any of their songs' lyrics, they'd always say "it's about a greyhound."
- Les Trois Accords skirts between this and Surreal Music Video. Then again, their songs are rife with surrealism and Word Salad Lyrics.
- "It's Inevitable" by Charlie is set in a huge bakery, and looks at first like its boy-stalks-girl lyrics will be played out by two of the chefs. Then one character's clumsiness kicks off a gigantic food fight, making it "inevitable" that everyone on the set will get a faceful of frosting.