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Music

Enter the Bizarre and Confusing World of 1990s Hardcore Rave Music Videos

Goblins, muppets, neanderthals, rednecks, dolls, skinheads and hippies galore!

The 1990s are back: Garage has conquered America, Calvin's making acid house, even JNCO jeans just announced plans to relaunch. Don't get so caught up in that acid-washed hype, though, some corners of the 90s are best left there. A trip down memory lane will have you very quickly on the wrong side of the tracks of time, lost in the nether regions of the late-millenium dance scene. Some of the most confusing, weird, strange, and odd music videos ever made were of that time. Check some of these out, but hold on to your LA Gears.

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Dolls United - "Eine Insel Mit Zwei Bergen"

Dolls United was a German "dancefloor project" that re-appropriated kids music, turned it into happy hardcore, and then had dolls act it out on camera. Think about all of those things for a second - Any one of them alone is enough to be weird, but all three lumped on top of each other reaches near-apocalyptic levels of odd.

Dune - "Hardcore Vibes"

Named after the series of science fiction novels by Frank Herbert, German electronic music band Dune brought fantastical thematics to the rave, as exemplified by their Midsummer Nights-esque video for "Hardcore Vibes"

Lipstick - "I'm a Raver"

Dutch happy hardcore act Lipstick cracked their home country's top ten with the tune "I'm a Raver." Riveting lyrics like "I'm a raver, can't you see. Don't you wanna rave with me?" captured the imaginations of gabber-fried Dutch dance-o-philes nationwide.

Technoheads - "I Wanna Be a Hippy"

In UK act Technoheads' video for "I Wanna Be a Hippy," three identical skinheads terrorize some hippie guy just hangin' out at the park. It's kind of fucked up. In the end, the flower child disappears into a mirror standing in a field. It's weird.

DJ Mark Van Dale vs. Klubbheads - "Raise Your Hands"

The video for this classic 1998 cut features a half-neanderthal-half-Klingon gentleman going wild in a spaceship with a bunch of fucked up muppets. I know it may sound like that's a purposely comedic phrasing, but we assure you, that's exactly what's going on here.

Rednex - "Cotton Eye Joe"

This is the classic of the era. Long before Avicii concieved the notion of melding dance music with country, Swedish dance band Rednex were putting the "ill" in "hillbilly." This track went to #1 in eight different countries and #25 on the Billboard singles chart in the US.