John Walker's Electronic House

1. Dick In A Box – Justin Timberlake/SNL

Who know he had it in him? Or indeed that SNL had a joke left in them? It’s too obvious a choice, too widespread an internet phenomenon, but it’s obviously the best YouTube video of the year. NBC know what they’re doing with YouTube. Every network is trying to find a way to milk the memesis, but few are embracing the common sense of using it for defying the retardation of FCC regulations. No sooner had all the unofficial recordings of the censored broadcast version hit the site when NBC surprised everyone by posting an uncensored and usurping high quality alternative, now with just shy of 10 million views. (This is no defense of NBC. The hateful cretins are forcing YouTube to remove many clips of their daily talk shows, even when they contain promotions for their own future programming – the idiots).

But the Dick In A Box song isn’t simply a case of being barely rude on national television. It was being barely rude in a really funny way. The song is a superb spoof of the whole nu-crooning, and who better to send it up than its own crowned king, Timberlake? He wasn’t a one-trick pony either. His Ashton Kutcher pisstake is fantastic, and surprisingly cruel.

The greatest moment is certainly the counted explanation of how to create the seasonal gift, becoming the hook that’s inspired a thousand reply songs. It’s as peurile as its harshest critic can proclaim, and that’s why it’s great.

2. OK Go – Here It Goes Again

Had either of the excellent albums been released in 2006, they would certainly have appeared in my forgotten albums of the year. OK Go are far more than the novelty YouTube video band they’ve become. And again, as above, there couldn’t be a more obvious pick, but once more, it’s deserved.

The video that caused the real fire in 2005 was A Million Ways, which is still generating ludicrous numbers of copyist YouTube videos, from school performances to people far too old at parties. The choreography is unquestionably sublime, managing to capture snatches of the most famous video dances of the last forty years. However, this year’s was even more impressive.

This is partly thanks to Here It Goes Again being a far better song, and partly because, well, dancing on treadmills is just awesome. Six treadmills, four men, one continuous shot. I daren’t imagine how many takes. And quite a few less copy videos, oddly enough. That, however, doesn’t dampen the attention, with the version of the video linked below alone recording over 3,200,000 views. There’s few bands that could make such a boast, let alone those that almost no one could name a third song by. Check out both albums, they’re well worth it.

(more to come)