The Best British Pop Music Videos

From the Beatles to Adele, check out our list of the best British pop music videos of all time!

The Beatles- A Day in the Life

The Beatles- A Day in the Life is a video that was released in 1967. The video features the band performing the song in a studio, as well as them footage of them walking around London. The video is considered to be one of the first music videos ever made.

The Rolling Stones- Gimme Shelter

The Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter: is a 1970 documentary film directed by David Maysles and Albert Maysles, showing The Rolling Stones preparing for and performing at their 1969 Altamont Speedway concert. The film includes footage of the audience, the Hells Angels who were hired as security guards, and incidents of violence and criminal activity.

David Bowie- Life on Mars

The late, great David Bowie was many things in his lifetime – a musician, an actor, a fashion icon, and a sexually ambiguous alien. But one of the most enduring images we have of him is from the iconic video for his 1972 hit, “Life on Mars.”

The video, which was directed by Bowie’s then-wife Angela Barnett, is a mix of live action and animation. It begins with a close-up of Bowie’s face as he lip syncs the opening lines of the song. His eyes are closed, and it looks like he’s in a dreamlike state.

The next thing we see is Bowie walking through what appears to be a post-apocalyptic landscape. The sky is red, there are abandoned cars everywhere, and it looks like the world has ended. But as Bowie walks through this deserted world, he sees people who are still living their lives – a mother and child eating dinner, two lovers kissing, etc.

The live action footage is intercut with animation by Rotraut Pape, which brings to life the lyrics of the song. We see images of outer space, planets colliding, and stars being born. It’s all very trippy and surreal.

In the end, Bowie opens his eyes and we realize that he was dreaming all along. The video ends with him walking away from the camera into the sunset.

“Life on Mars” is one of Bowie’s most beloved songs, and its accompanying video is considered one of the best British pop music videos ever made.

Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody

It was released as a single in 1975, and became an international hit when it was re-released in 1976. The song is a six-minute suite, consisting of several sections without a chorus: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. The single version was edited for radio play and time constraint issues, resulting in the song being cut down to about three minutes.

The song’s success propelled “Bohemian Rhapsody” to become one of the best-selling singles of all time. It is regularly voted one of the greatest songs of all time in various music publications and polls, and is considered by many to be Bohemian Rhapsody is widely regarded as one of Queen’s finest works and one of the greatest rock songs ever written. In 2004, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

The Who- My Generation

The Who- My Generation is a song by The Who, released as a single in December 1965, and featuring on their album My Generation the following month. Roger Daltrey’s lead vocal was double-tracked throughout. The record reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom and No. 74 in the United States when it was released as a single there in April 1966. “My Generation” is also notable for itsbuilding up of tempo and dynamics and for Townshend’s guitar playing, which included some revolutionary improvisation still considered highly influential today.