#2 "Hanggang Ngayon" by Kyla
Year released: 2001
Director: Lyle Sacris
Why it's really good: Cockroaches on a dinner plate and a dead guy in a murky bathtub, two strong images you would probably expect in an experimental rock track, make up the very surreal first video of R&B Princess Kyla. Singing about the lingering feelings of a dead romance, Kyla appears as a specter in a creepy mansion–metaphors that Sacris used to add another level to this gloomy song. The video made such an impact in the international community that it nabbed the 2001 MTV Viewer's Choice Award for Southeast Asia, the final one ever given to any SEA artist.
#1 "Ang Huling El Bimbo" by Eraserheads
Year released: 1996
Director: Aureus Solito
Why it's really good: In an interview on IBC's MVTV in 1996, lead vocalist Ely Buendia explained that this would be the band's very first video on film. With a big budget, high production value, and hired talents, the guys stated that, unlike the many performance-heavy clips produced in those days, "Ang Huling El Bimbo" was the very first major Pinoy music video to ever incorporate a movie-like storyline.
"Ang Huling El Bimbo" narrates the tragic tale of a man who was never able to express his love to a childhood sweetheart. Director Aureus Solito was able to find the right balance of images and narrative techniques that steered the video away from becoming too literal and too cheesy, shaping it into something that was memorable and locally avant-garde (in the '90s). Dare we even say it? No other local music video has ever come close to the beauty and impact of Mr. Solito's visual telling of this iconic Eraserheads song.
