http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEh5pWjcWCg
^ Take this video as an example of why they add nothing to the song.
Now I'm being biased here, because when it comes to soul...I'm a purist.
I know this song is well liked, because it was covered by Soft Cell, but the imagery that the original puts in my mind is far superior to this crap, which not only adds nothing to the song, but looks like it has nothing to do with it either!
Marc Almond looks like a demented Kenneth Williams playing Nero at an English garden party. WTF.
How this video didn't ruin his carreer...God only knows.
When I listen to a song, the images I get in my head are personal to me and therefore superior in every way.
With the rare exception...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3neR407MxU
As fellow Mancunian, Richard Ashcroft demonstrates above. ^
As a rule, music vids are a waste of time.