User-generated music video: Lips 2 Da Floor

YouTube is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Crave primarily uses it to watch clips of people hurting themselves, or to see music videos from new or obscure artists, so you can imagine our joy when we unearthed a new spate of clips that combine the two.

We're not talking about 'total pwnage' montages with random backing tracks -- that's too easy. We're talking about artists that deliberately use YouTube clips as their official music video -- a phenomenon we've dubbed the user-generated music video.

As far as we're aware, the Barenaked Ladies were the first to do it with their Sound of Your Voice video. This featured various YouTubers, some better-known than others, lip-syncing to the track. Oh how we yawned.

Then there's the crème de la crème, the knees of the bees -- Britain's own Dubbledge, Mention and London Zoo with the phenomenal Lips 2 Da Floor (parental discretion is advised).

The premise for the video is incredibly simple: the song plays in tandem with clips of people hurting themselves or others around them. You've probably seen many of the clips in the past, but the true genius is in the editing and the brutal simplicity of the lyrics. Here's an example:

"You don't know about my socks //
Rudeboy I got tings in my socks //
I got very big tings in my socks, in my socks //
Got Pierre Green in my socks, in my socks //
And that's just one sock //
You don’t know about my other sock //
Bless my cotton socks //
Don't make me remind you about my socks"

We won't spoil any surprises, save to say each reference to the protagonist's socks is joined by a hilarious clip of someone completing an unbelievable sock-related feat, or hurting themselves in sock-related ways. It sounds basic, but the more you listen, the more you'll appreciate just how clever the lyrics and editing really are -- watch the video and let the hilarity unfold.

It's very satisfying to know that artists old and new are embracing their audiences in new and exciting ways. Crave wants to see more user-generated music videos. If you see any on your YouTube travels, let us know. -RR